A Hilly Ride into Sweden

Oslo sits at sea level, on the shore of the Oslo fjord, and is surrounded by mountains. Because of this, our bike ride out of Oslo today began with a 500 foot climb. The rest of the ride was a series of climbs and descents, making today by far the hilliest day of trip so far. We spent much of the day on quiet, scenic roads, but some of the time we were on busy roads with cars and trucks whizzing by fairly close to us (though the drivers were polite, giving us as much room as possible when passing). At mile 60, we crossed into Sweden, and biked 5 more miles to our hotel in Tocksfors, a town of 1150 inhabitants.

We will be spending the next two weeks in Sweden, biking east to Stockholm and then north to Umea, before crossing by ferry to Finland. Sweden has almost double the population of Norway (9.5 million vs. 5 million) and a significantly lower GDP per capita: ~ $41K for Sweden vs. $60K for Norway (the United States, for comparison, has a GDP per capita of ~ $49K). Once we've been on Sweden a little longer, we'll get a sense of some of the similarities and differences between the two countries.

View from an overlook, as we biked out of Oslo. The large complex in the foreground comprises the "bar code" buildings, which have generated controversy for their style and size that are out of sync with the rest of the city.

Scenes from our ride from Oslo to Sweden

Crossing into Sweden

Biking in Sweden