A Nudist Encounter

Finally on a gorgeous and warm summer day in Oslo I decided to venture over to the forested areas of Bygdøy, which is something I haven't done in the two years I lived in Oslo (unfortunate that I waited so long). The weather this past summer was... well, worse than all the other summers I had spent there. Actually, it was the coldest summer I have ever experienced in all my life. I think I've changed my shorts 3 times a day sometimes and have worn my rain jacket most days.

On this particular nice day, I decided to head out to Bygdøy. Most people know this as the peninsula where all of the most important museums are located. However, there are also nice beaches and walking/jogging trails and cross country skiing tracks in the winter. I really wish I had discovered what Bygdøy had to offer much earlier in my Oslo adventure, especially since it's only about a 10 minute walk away from where I lived...

I had a perfect day of walking through the trees and enjoying the views of the bay. Oh how I love to be next to the sea! As I was sitting on a bench for a good hour or so, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man hanging out on a rock as if he was taking a break from swimming. And then I noticed that he was nude. I thought it was strange that in such a public place he would be nude, but I didn't think much of it because I'd seen skinny dippers in Oslo before and really couldn't blame him on such a nice day; I thought "Maybe he forgot his suit and just couldn't resist a dip in the nice cool waters", right? Anyway, I enjoyed a good 5 hours or so in Bygdøy and then decided to head back home. Just as I was about to exit Bygdøy and be engrossed by traffic and the usual city life, my path crossed with an interesting soul. To best describe him, he looked like a "woodlands Santa Claus".

Source

We initially chatted for a bit about what I thought of Oslo (since he knew that I obviously was not from here) and he gave me tips on how to take pictures in different lighting (I was walking past him as he was taking a picture of a house.. or barn.. something like that). He then went on to tell me that he teaches a photography class and sometimes he shoots nude models, which then prompted him to give me tips for taking pictures of nudes and how to model nude. Then he told me that he is a naturist (aka nudist) starting from when he was 20 years old and how he has a nude mural of himself in his living room. He went on about this for a while. It was then when he dawned on me about Huk, a nudist beach somewhere in Bygdøy, and I had just entered the outskirts of it: if I would have decided to walk just a little bit further, I would have came upon a big surprise.

After some more chatter, he told me my "aura" showed that I was a kind, open-minded person restrained by some religious influences from my past. He then, of course, invited me to the nude beach... just to check it out. I didn't need to participate or anything but just to open my mind about these things. I politely declined and he accepted that response. As we were parting ways, he told me he was heading to the beach to photograph people...

Definitely one of the most interesting characters I've run into in Norway so far.