Norway 2016

We started this holiday in Oslo, where we arrived on a Sunday afternoon and found a city quieter than Perth. All the shops were closed, roads deserted. The only exception was the park in the city centre, around the Royal Palace, which seemed to be the realm of gypsies and pickpockets, as well as lost tourists. Manele being played loudly, discarded cigarette packages with warning signs on them giving away their origin.

Lots of interesting places to see, we only managed to fit a few in our 2.5 day stay.

The town hall is an interesting building. It has very nice wooden sculptures on the outside depicting local mythology. The inside is a modernistic kitsch style, reminding me of Romanian communist propaganda paintings, some of them worse than Sabin Balasa`s, some of them not too bad.

We kept walking, went to Var Freiser cemetery as well to see the tombs of Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch; along the fjord promenade and past Nobel`s peace hall – the Nobel peace price is awarded each year in December in the Oslo Town Hall (all the other Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm).

The Oslo Opera house was very interesting – built in oak brought from Ukraine and Finland to fit accoustic requirements; Cararra marble and Norwegian granite. Outside, floating on icy cold water, is Monica Bonvicini’s “She Lies” sculpture representing a ship crumpled by ice and based on Caspar David Friedrich’s painting “The Sea of Ice”. The seats are made so that the sound reflects off then as if there was a spectator sitting there even when empty. The stage is one the most modern / high tech ones in the world. A masterpiece!

We caught the ferry to Bygdoy peninsula to see the Viking ship museum – on display they have, among other things, ships that were used as caves / coffins for prominent Vikings, that were uncovered in the late 1940s. Interesting how one of them had the head and tail of a snake, so they must have thought they were in its belly). There is a small Kon-tiki museum next to it, about Thor Heyerdahls voyages on Kon-tiki and 2 Ras. Fram museum is also very interesting, covering Nansen’s and Amundsen’s polar expeditions.

Next attraction was Vigelands Park with its amazing and expressive sculptures.

We did a quick trip to Holmenkollen ski jump and ski museum (to see the aspiring olympians training on wheeled skis for cross country skiing).

We also visited Henrik Ibsens house,

We went to Ekeberg Park as well, which is home to some beautiful Rodin sculptures, including a beige upside-down Maradona; Dali’s Venus de Milo with drawers, and the place where the Scream happened – overlooking Oslo and above Oslo hospital, the asylum where Munch`s sister, Sophie, was an inpatient for severe depression.

The National Gallery has some amazing paintings of Edvard Munch (unfortunately the Scream was away) and his teacher, Christian Krohg.

From Oslo we flew to Kirkenes – well, not quite.The plane was not able to land in Kirkenes due to wind and fog, so we landed at Lakselv and then they took us by bus to Kirkenes – just under 300 km, about 4 hours of driving through unfriendly baren land of stone, low lying evergreens and very cold wind. We got very close to the Russian border and also saw some reindeer on the way!

We boarded the Hurtigruten ship around midday the following day: MS Finnmarken, a beautiful vessel that also served temporarily as dongas for Barrow Island workers! Winds were very strong the first day, so the swell / waves danced nicely with the ship and we had to follow their rhythm.

First day we went to Nord Kapp for breakfast and also to see the almost northernmost point of continental Europe. It was COLD and windy, we even saw some snow flakes at Nord Kapp! There were also quite a few brave bike riders, as well as LOTS of German caravans (parked, not that many on the road).

The actual cruise through the fjords was spectacular. On the third day we entered Trollfjord all the way in, and then the cruiseship turned to get back out. It must have been quite a spectacular sight for those on shore to see this clumsy giant turning 180 degreees on what looked like a waterhole surrounded by steep cliffs.

We did a horse riding trip in the Lofoten Islands – not exactly ideal when you only have one change of clothes, but still worth it! We went to the other forgotten end of the world, to this island with cold but white sandy beaches, Viking settlements and names, and wooden racks flying dead crows while drying fish to be made into snacks by the Scandinavians and other explorers, Bacalhau by Portuguese and Brazilians, or fish soup by Malaysians and Sri Lankans.

In Trondheim we went for a guided city walk which was quite informative. We learned that the music hall in Trondheim – aka The Golden Tooth – was reported to authorities during construction that its roof had caved in! It`s interesting to see how all the private houses are very conservative, all the same, while most public buildings are innovative and quite different.

In 1681 a fire destroyed the city. The kneejerk reaction? They banned having kitchens or any fires in the homes, so the women had to walk through snow and cold winds to cook in a communal kitchen, and the houses were cold and wet! Apparently this law remained valid till 1976, but it wasn`t really inforced any more in the later years. However the wooden houses are a big problem / fire risk, so they never leave electrical appliances plugged in, and definitely not working, when they are not at home. So no washing machine running, no slow cooker to find nice warm food when coming back home, no bread maker…. Even the famous and wealthy had their houses built of timber – see the royal residence in Trondheim!

The Nidaros cathedral in the centre of the city looks for all intents and purposes Catholic, but it was actually built for a Protestant nation, and is now an ecumenical church, holding Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox services. And at the very top there`s Archangel Michael whose face is nobody else’s but Bob Dylan`s!

The city had the first nursing home built in the 1600s. And the building is still used as an “old people`s home” today. The first hospital was built in 1061 – that is before the Battle of Hastings in 1066!

In the centre of the town is the statue / column of Olav Tryggvason – aka the first European sundial. In the name of disability they destroyed the cobblestones surrounding it, and now they decided to re-do them as they were actually part of the sundial calendar!

There is a bicycle lift for one of the steeper hills in the city – closed in winter, probably because the icy hill is too slippery and it doesn`t hold!

The fjord / river goes a fair bit into the city, so salmon swims up the river and people fish salmon off the bridges / quays. 38 kg the biggest, 15 kg average – that would be a good dinner!

The cathedral had a sacred well with water coming out nearby the tomb of Olav 2nd… gone now, probably somewhere under the holly foundation.

The cruise itself? An amazing picture of an endagered Western European lifestyle: mostly old people barely able to walk, most of them limping; very rude, pushing to get in front of any queue (especially if it involved food), taking extra food from the buffet breakfast to last them for lunch; old fashioned, decorated chairs; end-of-the-trip festivity with the captain, chief engineer and chief chef walking around with a glass of champagne. The English-speaking groups were always the smallest, the majority being French and Norwegian, followed by Germans.
The food was pretty nice, especially (or only) if you liked fish and bread. The vegetarian or fruity options were not that diverse.

We disembarked in Molde where we slept in a interesting hotel that is sail-shaped, on the side of the fjord, with beautiful views of the water and surroundings.

We drove via the Trolls highway to Viksdalen and slept in a B&B place called Tuftegarden.

Next day we drove via Snovegen (snow road) to Flams and took the Flamsbana railway.

We slept close to Bergen and visited it before driving back to Oslo the next day. The Hanseatic Museum and the Schotsuene were very interesting – the meeting place for the Hanseatics where they used to have weird initiation ceremonies, whipping the novices with walrus penises. Also the only place where they were allowed to have fire ie light, heat and food!

The drive back to Olso was very interesting, across hills and under very long tunnels that had roundabouts undeground!