Hey Everyone! Apologies for the delay on this post. We’ve made the arduous trip back to the United States and it was difficult to find time (and, frankly, energy) to get these posts done. That being stated, I’m back home and well rested and I will now account for our last two days in Oslo, and our last days in Northern Europe.

Our second morning in Oslo, we decided to check out our hotel’s continental breakfast buffet. It was quite busy, as was the hotel we were staying in, so deft maneuvering was required to get a full plate of food. I don’t have too much to report here, other than it was free and it was fine. There was certainly more on offer, and more fresh items, than at a typical continental breakfast in the US, but it was still food made in bulk to serve an entire hotel full of people. I was pleased to find some actual hot sauce. It was Tabasco, so nothing too crazy, but it was the spiciest thing I consumed in Northern Europe.

After elbowing, budging, and scraping our way through the buffet, we decided to check out an island right off the coast of the Oslo city center called Hovedøya. A lovely location with ample walking trails and some 12th century ruins, we took time to walk around, breath the fresh air, and exist around ruins older than our home country. We stopped at a cafe located on the island to try another item on our list, smørrebrød, which is an open face sandwich popular in Denmark and Norway (though I’m sure you can get something the same or similar in Sweden and Finland). Shay and I were still mostly full from breakfast at this point, but duty called and we decided to split one. Served on a lovely fresh bread, this open faced sandwich was piled high with a small mountain of shrimp salad on a bed of lettuce. I can’t recall a time I sat in one place and ate this much shrimp in one sitting. It was delicious, don’t get me wrong, it was just a lot of shrimp! We enjoyed our smørrebrød, played some cards, and had a cup of coffee in the cool, overcast weather.

After the couple games of cards (Smear and Golf) we set out to explore the island a bit more. We came across the location of the island’s old defenses, complete with some cannons. Of course, Derek and I knew immediately what needed to be done, picture below:

Don’t worry, I don’t think it was loaded.

We wandered a bit longer, checking out the remnants of an old church and various buildings, and ferried back to the mainland. Returning to our hotel, we decided to split up again. Shay and I head for the Sauna, which I am pleased to report was a proper Sauna, not one of those “don’t pour water on the rocks” saunas that plague our United States. As always, a sauna really helps with relaxation and easing of anxiousness.

Derek and Madi decided to check out a record store. They said it was really cool, albeit very cramped. The way Derek described it, if you went down an aisle, you had to sidle and turning around was not an option (unless you wanted to knock over the merchandise). They got some merch and head back to the hotel.

I will reiterate, by this point in the trip we were all pretty fried. It had been nearly two weeks since we slept comfortably in our own beds, and we were on the move constantly. We hadn’t lingered in one place longer than 3 days. We experienced various methods of travel connecting all these cities, which was also taxing in and of itself. All this to say, we were bushed. We decided to lay low in the hotel for the remainder of the evening. We had a couple other stops planned that we would check out the following day.

Our final full day in Oslo started the same as the previous, at the hotel buffet. It was still free and it was still fine. We shed some of our Minnesota timidness this time around and secured some plates of food. Eggs, bacon, toast, that sort of thing.

Now running on full stomachs, we opted to check out the Norwegian Folk Museum. This place was pretty cool! It covers the establishment and development of Norwegian “folk art” since its early history. It was fascinating looking over all the pieces they had from all over the country. Many of the items came from agrarian communities of farmers and field workers, but great care was always given to make even something like a large trunk beautiful. There were so many great examples of classic Rosemaling, a style that still echoes to this day, including across the Atlantic here at home.

A large section of the grounds were also a sort of living historical exhibit. Old style Norwegian structures and various actors and tour guides all dressed up in period appropriate clothing, acting out what would be an average day for a medieval(?) Norwegian. Think of something like the Norwegian equivalent of 1880 Town in South Dakota.

Also on the grounds was a beautiful Stave Church and a French Garden.

From the folk museum we made out way to yet another bakery (sick of hearing about bakeries yet?), Apent Bakeri Paleet. Madi and Derek split a School Bun (similar to our Stockholm Bun) and Shay and I had a Wienerbrød, which is a Danish pastry frequently called a “Danish” here in The States. Both were delicious! The school bun was iced and coated with sweet coconut and was filled with custard. Our Wienerbrød also had a custard filling, but also a crisp lemon frosting.

The unfortunate truth then settled in our minds: tomorrow morning we would be up by 3AM to pack up and head to the train to the airport. Saddening, but also a relief. The homesickness had set in quite hard at this point, and we were eager to be back among our friends, family, and pets. We head back to the hotel to turn in early.

And that’s just about everything! That concludes our Nordic Adventure. We were certainly worn out by the time we got to Norway, but we still had a lovely time in Oslo. I will be ruminating a bit on our travels in totality over the next couple days and I’ll write up a grand summary at some point in the near future. For now, from all of us here at Krown Bakery, thank you all.

This trip was only possible because of our fantastic staff, so Thank You Brenna, Paul, Freya, Cady, Caleb, Carmen and Savannah. You are all absolute rock stars and you killed it the past two weeks. Thank you all so much!

A big “Thank You” to Kelly as well: thanks for stopping in to do some impromptu maintenance work and check in on things. Also big thank you for delivering that order!

Of course, a huge “Thank You” to you! Thank you for reading my meandering scribbling these past two weeks. I really did not expect that anyone would end up reading this, but I was delighted to hear from many of you.

And finally, one final “Thank You” to our customers. Your enthusiasm for Nordic Baking keeps us going and keeps us busy. We have learned so much from you all the past three years, and we are now more determined than ever to deliver the quality and variety you all deserve. We are chock full of new inspirations, but please be patient with us. We will be developing and working out a number of new recipes to serve up at Krown (and Oakwood Cafe too)!

To anyone I may have missed (jet-lag brain), thank you as well.

Days 11 & 12 – Our Final Days in Oslo and Northern Europe

Krown Bakery & Eatery