🚡 Dear STEEM Community 🚡
The next day of our Interrail Trip is leading us to the world-famous Holmenkollen. It is a neighborhood in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo but it became synonymous with the ski jumping hill that you see in the photo below.
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It's a true arena of sports. The entire area is made for training and competitions. You see how tiny I am? This place is massive!
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The area is covered in Norwegian Flags. The Holmenkollen is a true place of national pride. It's probably the most famous landmark of Oslo, even though it's a little bit outside. The name Holmenkollen is a compound of the farm name Holmen and the finite form of Kolle meaning hill or rounded mountain top.
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Ski jumping however is not the only activity that you can do at Holmenkollen. We visited a huge ski festival. Thousands of kids were racing in numerous competitions. It had a folkloric feel to it, even though everybody was wearing high-tech ski boots.
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Even the smallest of the smallest get to ski. I wasn't even sure if some of the children could already walk. But they could clearly ski. Well, maybe some of them fell asleep before making it to the goal, like this little sweetheart.
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One of the girls in the competition was so kind to teach me how to do the famous Telemark landing from ski jumping. The Telemark is actually a traditional region in the south of Norway, but people internationally it's more known for the landing style of the successful Norwegian eagles.
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It was impressive to see how natural the children were moving in the snow. I had never tried skiing or snowboarding. It looked like magic to me.
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I'm wondering if I had developed any talent in winter sports if I had been born in Norway. But probably I'm too small and wimpy in order to make a sports career at -10°C.
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The sun already set at 3pm that day. That's why it always makes sense to be out there in the sun as early as possible because the nights are longs enough anyway. Despite the low temperatures, I didn't freeze that day. The sun was up and we had no strong winds. Luckily.
One more wonderful thing about Oslo is the public transport. It's pretty easy and straight forward, how you can get around town. Or you just follow the people with the ski. They will surely lead you to the Holmenkollen - in case you get lost.
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Communication is super easy, because basically everybody speaks english. Even the kids. So don't be shy and travel up there. Even in winter! It will be a great experience. I promise!
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Have a fantastic start into the new week! Keep skiing and trying new things. Enjoy!
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Yours,
❄️ Elena & Ale ❄️
I would love to be out there in the snow right now!
Perfect time for skiing :)