Category — Norway

July 27

I couldn’t leave Oslo without paying them a visit. I mean, I literally could have, but it would have been a pity.

Train to Stockholm was leaving at 4pm, so I took a boat to Bygdøy, museum island. First stop, at the Fram museum,

specially built to host the famous polar exploring ship.

Started by Fridtjof Nansen and continued by Roald Amundsen, these were the voyages I was amazed by when i was a kid. Had no idea what a huge post-polar personality Nansen got to be, humanitarian work done after the war, with famine in Russia, the Nansen Passport for war prisoners repatriation, with the armenians - he was the only Westerner Lenin and his folks would talk to. He did so many things, and was still surprized when getting the Peace Nobel prize.

But before all that, there was Fram,

with its peculiar  egg-shaped body, so it doesn’t get crushed by ice, but lifted above. That was the revolutionary idea, to be lifted on ice and drift on polar currents from Russia to Norway. It took 3 years, but it worked. The ship passed closer to the North Pole than any other conventional ship before, or since then (!).

The museum is nice for fans, cheap (~3 EUR, like 0.5L of mineral water), you can climb the bridge,

go to the wheel,

get inside, where it’s both austere

as well as with traces of elegance.

I liked it, I learned/remembered about adventures I was once reading about. About Scott, too (Fram had taken Amundsen to Antarctica).

Fore example, I didnt know that Amundsen had disappeared in a rescue mission for Umberto Nobile, who had stranded somewhere on the ice with his zeppelin. Amundsen was asked to help, he said 2 words - “right away” - and those are the last words people know him say. He left on a plane to find them, and never came back. 30 people died trying to save Nobile, who eventually was indeed saved, but his name is on the Norwegian black list…

The second objective of the day was related to a very different, although similarily crazy explorer - Thor Heyerdahl and his Kon Tiki.

The museum displays stuff about several of his expeditions, most notably Kon Tiki itself – this is the balsa wood raft he crossed the Pacific on - rebuilt, as the original one shattered on the pacific reefs

6 people crossed from south america to polinesia, with this

Then the RA II expedition, a papyrus raft

crossing the Atlantic with a multinational crew, to prove that Europeans (even ancient Egyptians) could have reached America before Columbus.

Back to the city

whee I boarded the microwave train. That because it was unbelievably hot, no air conditioning, no reserved seat… Some swiss people had my seat, and their approach was interesting. Whenever someone is sitting on MY seat, I ask a tentative question - do you have these seats on your ticket, are you sure? type thing, always assuming that i might be wrong or it could be a simple mistake. This lady on the other hand told me bluntly - “these are our seats”. Period. No doubt. Getout. Now.

It annoyed me. Kids however were very polite, said “thank you” twice, even though, after all, it was their damn seat.

I remembered the Japanese family on the train to Bergen. Parents + 2 kids. Very interesting dynamic. parents were very “japanese”, quiet, speaking rarely, and then with their mouths closed, very polite, very “proper”. kids, however, seemed raised in a “western” way (indeed I found out they had been raised in Israel, where the family was living), and they were filling the whole train with their crystal voices, loud, laughing, speaking a lot, opening their mouth when speaking japanese - I realized I had never heard this language spoken like this, “with full heart”. Enjoyed it a lot :D.

Anyway, back to the Stockholm train, i finally found a seat and kept it for the whole journey.

July 25-26

The simplest way to see some of the fjords is “Norway in a nutshell”, a package trip taking you to the most famous UNESCO heritage fjords. Train from Oslo to Myrdahl, one of the most scenic train routes in the world, from there bus to Voss, and then by boat to I dont’ remember the name, from where you take the train to Bergen. All in one day, leaving at 8am from Oslo, at 8pm arrival in Bergen

It’s worth it.

Of course, I was tired, and the train effect kicked in - I cannot stay awake in trains, so fell asleep during the first part of the scenic route. When I woke up, I saw stuff like this

The Mirror-Lakes are what I remember most vividly from this region. Something I haven’t seen before.

Like a trip companion said, “I thought this exists only in postcards”.

.

Another defining element for the area are cascades, big foamy ones

or narrow tall ones.

We “reached the water” and started the boat trip, with seagulls playing with the air currents around us.

I learned that fjords are glacier valleys where the sea water infiltrated. The difference between a glacier valley and a river valley is that glaciers can “dig” till below sea level, which rivers obviously don’t. This way the sea water could enter in these valleys once the Ice age with its mammoths and saber tigers & squirrels melted down. Now it looks something like this

like bit swiss lakes, more complicated maybe sort of large Vierwaldstaedter See’s.

With waterfalls thrown around like by a God’s dice,

This was the scenery for a few hours. Then, by bus we cruised Transfăgărăşan/type valleys,

more waterfalls, more mirror-lakes.

Shortly after arrival in Bergen, the sun set

with a fish and chips with two good friends made on the trip. My friends then left to their “appartments”, while I continued to roam the city

since I had only one night available. Climbed with the last cablecar up to the panorama spot (alone in the car, had it all for myself)

and it was worth it.

The Bergen harbor sunset view is eerie, with a mercury-colored water.

After descending with the last cablecar down, continued roaming the city

a must being the trademark hanseatic houses in the harbor

next to party-full boats.

I felt the place “decadent”, and thought that even though Bergen is sheer splendid, I feel here less “at home” than in a Copenhagen-type metropolis. Guess this extreme partying atmosphere is tiring me. Partly age, partly preference. So I thought of checking out a more quiet place, e.g., the cathedral

and this artificial lake behind some houses in the centre,

before going to bed. In the morning, my bus was leaving at 7:30, when the city was still asleep.

After a little stress with finding accomodation back in Oslo (I had decided to return), I managed and felt much relieved starting the trip back along another fjord, the Hardanger (pronounced “hardanyer”, and Oslo is pronounced “Ooshloo” :). It was “more of the same”. From Bergen, bus to Nordheimsund,

take the boat through corners of Nordic paradise

towards Voss.

At the beginning, when climbing the boat,

I thought I heard the guide saying “hi, my name is Adina and I will be your guide today”. Hm… Adina sounds Romanian, and haven’t heard it in any other language. I’ll look into that, I said, and then fell asleep in my chair. Woke up later, coz it was cold at 9am on the water, and went to look for the guide.
She is indeed Romanian, from Tulcea, summer guide in Norway and winter guide in Lapland, Finland. Wow.

We made a stop and at her recommendation I took a trip to some waterfall

in the middle of nowhere, where I found… another Romanian girl working at the hotel.

After a pleasant conversation in mother tongue among fjords and cascades, we went back along more waterfalls

and incredibly green valleys

and - there I was, back to Oslo, in a room with two fun Polish guys who had come specifically for the Ice Cube concert (what a transition in 3 days, from Iron Maiden to Ice Cube). Let’s get some sleep, coz tomorrow is a(nother) long day.

July 23

The first words I heard in Oslo were “stai, ţine asta”.
Turned around - 2 blondes. I thought I heard wrong. But then - “La cât vine autobuzul?”
Come on, that’s too much Romanian to be just in my mind. So I turned to them and asked them for the Storgata street - “nu vă supăraţi, unde e strada Storgata?”
They didn’t know, but in good Romanian fashion, still pointed at a certain direction, and then hurriedly climbed the bus.

I went in that direction, which turned out to be wrong. After a while I found the street though, and reached the hostel when it was starting to get dark. Around 10-11pm.

I enter “my” room - 4 girls. Oops. Reception told me afterwards that they had promised them to try a “girls only” room for them, if possible. Obviously, I was the one making it not possible, as they didnt have any spare beds. I asked the girls (2 american, 1 german, 1 polish) if it’s ok with them for me to sleep there. They said ok, fine. So i left the luggage, took the laptop and went down to check internet and write stuff up. Came back late, went straight to bed.

Woke up late, around 10 am. Just couldnt earlier, was too tired. I sit up - no trace of the girls. Just a…boy who was yawning, waking up as well. Hmmm… it means their “ok, fine” wasn’t entirely “ok, fine”. Typically feminine? :P. They must have “escaped” last night before I came back.

Went to the railway station, and made the decision to buy an Interrail ticket - the second half of the trip is going to be “on the ground”. Advice: buy the interrail ticket from OUTSIDE the country where you will start your journey. You get better conditions. For me it was too late - I had been lazy in Copenhagen, didn’t want to stand in a queue - price to pay was not so good conditions for the ticket, (10 days in 22, instead of one full month), but it should do for my purposes. Of course, I needed my passport, which I wasn’t carrying with me, so I had to turn back to the hostel to fetch it - not before climbing the tower of the Radisson hotel, with this elevator

to the 33rd floor, where… i coulnt get in. The bar was closed, and the panorama floor too. When I was about to descend, an electrician comes out. “What are you doing here?” “Well, I was hoping to see the panorama”. “Come on, I’ll show you”.

?!?

No further questions asked, I follow him to a spot from where you see the city.

and then another. He says, “i shouldnt let you roam here, but i hope you wont jump.” I wont jump.

All the time i thought - there must be a catch. he cannot just “be nice” and break the law just to show a complete stranger around.

But he did. There was no catch. He showed me to the elevator, we went down, said goodbye and went on with his business.

Well, once more, thank you.

On the way to the hostel I took a detour by the new opera house

a cool futuristique place,

which has raised controvercies, of course,

but i liked it a lot.

It also had mermaids in the menu.

On the way “home” I took a peek at Karl Johans gata,

full of rockers with Iron Maiden shirts. I had read that Oslo is sort of a Black Metal capital, so I wondered if this is the way people look “normally”. Later I found out there is an Iron Maiden concert that night.

…

After buying the railway ticket I returned on the main street

which feeds into the royal palace.

But till then, I saw this Dar ţambal with skateboard în dotare, one of the most eclectic combinations I’ve seen.

Did I mention how hot it was, the weather? Unbelievably hot, I found out later there were 25 degrees in the shadow. Donno how many there were in the fountain.

As you look back to KJG, there’s a cozy park

with more fountains.

The royal palace & gardens with relaxed people reading,

and serious security.

I feel sorry for these ultra-taken-pictures-of guards, I have apocalyptic visions sometimes how it would be if they lose control one day and start beating up tourists who are harrassing them.

Next, to the harbor, with old ships n houses

and the Anker festing (fortress),

with renaissanceish castle inside

which was closed by now, but I walked on the walls outside

climbed nevertheless for the panorama

viewed by relaxed people enjoying global warming.

This cruise ship was just leaving. Was almost as tall as the fortress on the hill..

So I left as well, by tram, up to Vigelandspark. This man Vigeland, in my humble opinion, had a fair amount of birds in the attic. I mean, was a bit cuckoo. That was probably the reason why he made the spectacular  decoration for this parc. Statues showing people in diverse situations. For example, at the entrance

which seen from above looks like this.

But the sweet spot is this mausoleum

which contains stuff like this

very ingeniously expressed emotions

Very interesting.

Walked back to the center, to breathe the city in, and discovered both that it’s not too big, and that it has some cool residential areas suggesting a very decent lifestyle.

Back on the main street, before turning left to go home, I stood for a while listening to the cymbal player/skateboarder,

whom I didnt film though. After the Yul episode, I’m a bit reluctant to film people on streets. I just listened. And then called it a day.