(rather long guide to) OSLO

WARNING: this blogpost is really long, so make sure to grab a cup of tea with a biscuit

OSLO

Let’s start with Oslo. For someone (that someone being me) who dreamt about visiting Norwegian’s capital for years it’s been literally dream come true. If you ever come to visit, which I would highly recommend if you are already heading up to Scandinavia, be ready for higher prices, becasue Oslo is the most expensive city to visit as a tourist according to this Telegraph's article. 

Oslo opera

Royal palace

view from Sørenga on the Barcode (business area)

How to get ready for Oslo?

• download or get USE-IT map, which is awesome series of maps of European’s cities for young travellers. It is for free and you can find some cool (not so every age category) tips. 

• if you are planning to visit any of those museums than I would recommend you to get an Oslo pass, which also works as a ticket for public transport. 2 in 1 cool right? Or actually even more, because there are also some discounts in other places than just museums. Head over to their website to find out more.

• flying to and from the Gardemoen Lufthavn? You can either buy ticket for the special airport express (takes around 15 minutes to get to the main train station from the airport, cost 90 NOK each ride) or you can save some crowns and use the normal train, which takes around 20 minutes. Or there is a bus, but I hate buses, so…

• because of the Oslo's expensiveness, I would highly recommend you to rent an airbnb or hostel, where you can get some pretty cool prices easily comparable with other European capitals. 

• don’t ever use taxis. It’s even more expensive than you even think. Luckily, I never had to take a taxi, but I'm just passing a practical info to others, because sharing is caring. 

• if you are planning to buy yourself a beer in a supermarket (the cheapest place to buy alcohol, of course), be aware of their restrictions. On weekdays you can get alcohol until 8pm, Saturday only until 6pm and Sunday is a big no-no for alcohol. And as I heard the shop assistants are very strict. 

Oslo cityhall

Barcode (business area)

Places worth seeing:

• Oslo Opera ( I LOVE this building!!!)

• Barcode business area - every building has a different style, but somehow they go perfectly together

• Sørenga neighbourhood - modern buildings right next to the fjord, also with an outside swimming pool in the fjord

• Aker Brygge - in the afternoon when those who can afford it are having fancy - dinners and the seaside is filled with people

• Holmenkollen - I would recommend this only to those, who are the same freak as me when it comes to skiing

• Tjuvholmen - neighborouhood, something similar as Sørenga, but its connected with Aker Brygge

• The city center as itself - no need to mention that, the famous Karl Johans Gate street can take you all the way from the main train station (Østbanehalen) to the City hall (which holds Nobel price every year)

• The Royal palace - not so majestic as the Buckingham palace, but it still has guards and a very nice street leading up to the palace

• Akerselva - the river you can sport along to, its really nice place to walk along to start/end the day

• Grunnerløkka - neighbourhood famous for being hype place for young people (or to be honest - hipsters #noshame)

• Botanical garden - which is for free and it is part of a another park, there are some nice, this place has been actual the biggest surprise for me, because I didn’t know about it at all

My last and probably the most important tip from me is going to be "just walk". Walk around and walk a lot. Oslo is a lot about architecture. About the contrast between new and old and the best way to see it is to just walk and look up.

Holmenkollen

Sørenga

Nobel peace prize museum

Other things to be ready for in Oslo:

• 7eleven everywhere … e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, you never heard of 7eleven? In this place you can buy newspapers, coffee, snickers or the public transport ticket. Practically anything. 

• in the city centre you see a lot of junk people, but no need to worry they won’t bother you any longer, when you say “no” to them at the first place

• people are sporty, like super super sporty. You see people running, cycling or walking. I have to admit that you see this even more than in Denmark. Is there some sort of equation that the more north you are the more active people get?

• even though that the people ride their (not shitty at all) bikes a lot, you don’t get to see a lot of cycle paths, so I guess you have to be fearless, when you are commuting on this vehicle

• after living in Denmark for almost a year I was kind of expecting the same things, when it comes to fashion, but heeell no. People don’t wear #allblack (no as much as they do in Denmark). You can see people walking in the city centre in a sporty outfit, which I kinda like and get it. 

• one more thing to compare when it comes to Denmark and Norway.  People don’t give a sh*t about red light on the pedestrian crossing. So come on Danes, man up and be rebels. :D

• you find parks or little bit of “green” every few blocks and when the sun is out people spend the long summer night chilling and eating fresh food from the grill

on the Oslo's opera

inside of the opera 

streets of Oslo

Botanical garden

Botanical garden

Botanical garden

If you made it all the way down here than you are just amazing and I love you stranger from the internet. I hope this little article will be helpful for someone or it will inspire some of you to head over to Norwegian's capital. 

xx

Gibraltar

Gibraltar 

Na Gibraltar jsme málem vůbec nedojely, ale nakonec jsme se tam podívaly a ještě poznaly zajímavou osobu, se kterou jsme v podstatě strávily den.

Vše začalo tím, že jsme pozdě vycházely z domu (né naší vinou). Musely jsme jít asi 25 minutovou cestu během 20 minut a ještě najít zastávku na autobus. Na zastávku jsme dorazily 11:21 a autobus měl přijet v 11:20. No velký šance jsme tomu nedávaly. Znáte to, tady ve Španělsku to chodí jinak než u nás a autobus může přijet buď moc brzy nebo zase moc pozdě. Nakonec po asi půl hodině autobus přijel. My byly radostí bez sebe. Jenže tady to nekončilo. Měly jsme navazující autobus v Tarifě do La Líney (odkud člověk přejde španělsko-britskou hranici). Takže my dvě seděly v autobuse s půlhodinovým zpožděním a jenom jsme doufaly, aby navazující spoj měl taky podobně obří zpoždění. A on fakt měl! Wohoo! A ještě jako bonus jsme se seznámily s Michelle, která je z Kanady a je 3 měsíce v Evropě a procestovává Španělsko. 

Tak a teď k samotnýmu Gibraltaru. Věřte nevěřte, bylo to super. Přestože Španělé Gibraltar hodně odsuzují (pro pochopení - Anglie ve Španělsku), tak pro nás ostatní je to zážitek. Když už člověk na Gibraltaru je, tak musí na The Rock of Gibraltar (to je ta velká hora/skála, kde jsou opice). Ať už lanovkou či mikrobusem. S Michelle jsme zvolily lanovku a byl to zážitek samo o sobě. Nahoře na nás čekal naprosto dechberoucí výhled a opičky. Měly jsme štěstí a krásně jsme dohlédly až do Afriky (Maroko). Dechberoucí, spektakulární, famózní a já nevim co ještě. :) 

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EN

We almost didn't even get to Gibraltar, but luckily we made it there and also met very nice and inspirating person.

The story starts with leaving the house late for the bus(not our fault). We had to made 25 minutes long walk into 20 minutes and also find bus stop. We came to the bus stop at 11:21 and the bus was supposed to be there at 11:20. We were not giving it a big chance. But here in Spain you never know. The bus could already have been there or it also could have been extremely delayed. But finally after half an hour the bus arrived. We were so happy! But it doesn't end up here. We had to transfer in Tarifa for bus to La Línea (from where you can cross the spanish-british boarder). So the two of us sitting in the bus with 30 minutes delay praying for the next bus to be delayed. And it actually was! Wohoo! And one more bonus to it we met a girl called Michelle. She is from Quebec, Canada and she was travelling three months in Europe (but mainly in Spain). 

Now to Gibraltar as itself. Believe it or not it was superb! Even though spanish people don't like these british    peninsula (for understandind piece of Britain in Spain), but for us it was a great experience. When you are on Gibraltar you really need (and must) to go on The Rock of Gibraltar (the mountain/rock where are monkeys). Either cable car or with minibus. Me and Michelle chose the cable car and it was an amazing experience. The view, monkeys and the view again! Really the view was unbelievable. We were lucky to see Africa (Morocco), because normally is the top of the rock covered in cloud. Breathtaking, spectacular, amazing and I don't know what more. :)

afrika!

stay awesome!

The Urge

CZ

Nutkání napsat článek už mám fakt hodně dlouho. Problém je v tom, že nevím o čem. Nemůžu říct, že by můj život byl nuda a nic se v něm nedělo, ale prostě nevím, kde začít. Maturita, vejška, léto, prázdniny...nevím, co dřív.

Maturita
Úspěšně odmaturováno. Bylo to v pohodě a ani jsem se nestresovala (tak moc). Když se mě někdo zeptal, jak se cejtim, tak jsem řekla: "v pohodě". Mám tu jeden vtipnej příběh. Celej svaťák jsem si dělala srandu, že si z němčiny vytáhnu Umweltschutz (=životní prostředí) a taky že jo! Pěkně jsme se s profesorkou zasmály. A nakonec jsem byla ráda, že jsem šla uplně uplně uplně první.
#stayzmaturant

Léto
Moje původní plány bylo zůstat v Praze a cestovat. Jenže jak se znám, tak bych stejně půlku léta proseděla doma. Naprostou náhodou (a to jako vážně) jedu do Španělska pracovat jako au-pair (zase). a to vše díky mojí kamarádce Aničce, se kterou budu v podstatě půlku léta. (chudák) Strašně se tam těším, protože jsem ve Španělsku nikdy nebyla! A ještě než tam odjedeme, tak spolu poletíme do Portugalska, kde sem taky nikdy nebyla. To bude ale fotek a článků, že už se sama nemůžu dočkat!

Vejška
"Co ty a vejška?" otázka, kterou slýchám tak 2x denně. Tohle téma bych ještě nechala, tak trochu, schované, protože sama nevím a nechci nic zakřiknout. Takže o tom až někdy příště, ale palce mi držet můžete. :)

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EN

I have had this urge to write something for a long time. The problem was (and still is), that I don't know where to start. It is not, that I have a boring life, but there is too many things, which I could write about such as final exam, university, summer, holidays .... etc. I don't know, where to start

Final exam
Successfully passed. Done. No more. Yay! Surprisingly I wasn't nervous (that much). When someone asked on how am I doing I was just like "I am okay". Funny story:  the whole revising time I was making fun, that I will pick Umweltschutz(= Environment) from German language and I did. I laughed a lot. At the end I was glad, that I was the first, who was examined.

Summer
My original plans were to stay at home in Prague and just travel. But by a massive coincidence and luck I will be working as an au-pair again! This time I will be in Spain, even though I started to learn Spanish just one week ago. Haha. Big thanks to my friend Anička, because we will be basically spending the summer together. But before Spain me and Anička are heading off to Portugal. I literally CAN'T WAIT!!! I have never been to Spain, neither Portugal, so it's exiting. There will be a lot of pictures and blog posts! :)

University
So what about you and Uni? Question I got asked like two times a day. I don't know! Please stop asking. I want to let this topic to be opened, because I don't want to jinx anything. So about it maybe next time, but you can cross your fingers and wish me luck.


Let me end this blog post with some ridiculous skyporn pictures from last week.

#stayawesome

Cliffs of Moher

CZ

Poslední víkend v Irsku a já se najednou začla těšit domů. Poslední víkend v Irsku a já konečně navštívila Cliffs of Moher. Poslední víkend v Irsku... Blablabla. Aneb já, Maruška a Dominika jsme se na poslední chvíli rozhodly, že navštívíme vyhlášené útesy, kam se prý každý musí podívat. Modlily jsme se, aby počasí vyšlo, protože záleží na počasí jestli se poštěstí útesy vidět či mít před očima jenom mlhu. Chytli jsme dobré počasí, takže jsme útesy viděly. Yes! Jelikož bylo moc složitý najít všechny busy/vlaky, kterýma bychom se na západ země dostaly, tak jsme si koupily jednodenní zájezd od Paddywagon ( společnost, která pořádá všelijaký výlety za super cenu ). Taky jsem konečně vyzkoušela jaké to je spát v hostelu, protože jsme s Domčou jely v pátek do Dublinu a přespaly v Isaacs hostel ( doporučuju, hrozně vtipnej recepční, kterej se chlubil jak dobře napsal moje jméno, když jsem mu ho spelovala do telefonu, ale nakonec ze mě byla ProchazKOZA ). Odjezd v 8:00 a dlouhé cestování přes celé Irsko, ale stálo to za to. Nakonec jsme navšívili ještě další útesy " Baby cliffs ", které nebyly tak strašně moc turisticky okupovaný, ale stejně krásný. Na " Cliffs of Moher " se natáčely scény do Harryho Pottera - Prince dvojí krve. Další zajímavostí ( smutnějšího rázu ) je, že na těchto útesech spáchalo mnoho lidí sebevraždu. :( Jinak skvěle užitá sobota. Myslím, že jsem perfektně zakočila svůj pobyt tady v Irsku. Teď už jenom nějak zvládnout dnešek, zítřek a pátek a pak - ahoj Irsko. Letím v sobotu a opravdu už se nemůžu dočkat až budu zpátky v Praze!

Baby cliffs

Jooo a v neděli mě Tom ( hostfather ) nominoval na Ice Bucket challenge, tak jsem to rychle odbyla ještě téhož dne, protože počasí bylo opravdu krásné! 

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EN

Last weekend in Ireland and I started to look forward to be back home. Last weekend in Ireland and I finally visited Cliffs of Moher. Last weekend in Ireland... Blahblahblah. Me, Mary and Dominika have decided on a last minute, that we'll visit the famous Cliffs of Moher, where everyone should go. We were praying for a good wheather, because it's only up to wheather if you're lucky enough to see those cliffs or you'll just have a fog in front of your eyes. We were lucky and saw those cliffs! Yes! It was too complicated to plan the journey up there, so we use the opportunity buy a trip with Paddywagon ( company, which makes all kinds of tours for great prices ). And I finally now how it's like to sleep in hostel, because me and Dominika went to Dublin on friday and sleptover at Isaacs hostel ( recommend, there was a super funny receptionist, who taught, that he spellt my name correctly, he didn't ). Departure at 8:00 and long travelling in bus across the Ireland really worth it. We'd visited one more cliffs called " Baby cliffs ", which were not occupied by tourists so much. Did you know, that on Cliffs of Moher were shot some scenes of Harry Potter and half blood prince?! And one ( not so great ) interesting thing about these cliffs is that quite a lots of people commited suicide here. :( But I enjoyed every single minute of the trip and I can say, that it was a perfect ending of my stay here. Now I just have to make it through thursday and friday and then - bye bye Ireland. My flight is on saturday and I literally can't wait! 

Tom ( hostfather ) nominated me on sunday for the Ice Bucket challenge, so I did it the same day, because it was a beautiful weather. 

Photo by GoPro:

Baby cliffs

Cliffs of Moher

Domča, Maru, já 

Stay awesome!

Xx