Norway.
Posted by: George J on 12 September 2014
Well I am back from a lovely week in Norway. We never visited one tourist attraction, but walked many tens of miles, fished, and set nets, conversed muchly, and shared great traditional Norwegian food of the oldest sort. We had mutton in cabbage stew for every other other meal for a whole week. Once it is a week old and cooked for a good twenty four hours you cannot imagine what a subtle concoction it becomes! At fifty two I caught my first ever fish which was breakfast next day. A little Norwegian Wild Trout, and that is something like a rainbow trout, but with much less bright colouring than we think of as a rainbow trout.
Moose meat, and salami and goats cheese formed the rest of the diet. No milk, but sour cream on the potatoes. No butter on the bread, but the bread is so good you do not need to tart it up with butter. ...
The journeys consisted of cars, planes and trains. Norwegian transport is model we might take as an example in the UK, though the roads are as full of single occupant cars sitting for ages in traffic jams on a Friday as anything in the UK. The whole country it does seem leaves the town for wilds at lunch time each Friday ...
Saw my two cousins, who are immediate neighbours to my Aunty, and also her five grandchildren. Amazing that each [between five and thirteen] was totally fluent in better English than most adult British people can muster. Perhaps UK education can learn something from this. My most junior Norwegian relative, at five years old, was able to explain clearly and correctly that his birthday was on a certain day between now and Christmas. In fact only one of us has a birthday not in the first two weeks of December, so that is a statistical aberration if ever!
Anyway, the Mozart calls. I had an ear worm over the whole week, being Mozart's Magic Flute Overture. So I have played it over, plus the rest of the Opera, so as to give my brain a rest from this great music. There was no television or music radio at all, which is a very good thing!
ATB from George
A friend of mine has been persisting with a "you must visit" so I did.
Excellent flights from Norwegian air to Oslo and not at all expensive. Well done NA.
Stayed nr Oslo and drove to Geilo, a ski resort but out of the ski season. One hell of a beautiful clean country with lakes, greenery and scenery galore. Just wall to wall. Stunning is appropriate.
I couldn't live there.
Poor selection of goods eg supermarket food ( as reinforced by Missus friend) and expensive. Very and not made up for in quality either.
What is "very"? 10 GBP for a small ale. My friend is in the 7 figure GBP asset class and even HE balks at taking the family out for something as unexotic as a burger!
Nanny state:typified by the lack of a few beers in the supermarket after 18:00! Yes they take them off you at the checkout! Remarkable.
And you cant buy wine etc except for in what I believe to be state sponsored outlets, no doubt with other antiquated rules and regs.
Give me British freedom and choice any day.
More than happy to be corrected on these points.
PopI
Norway has a restrictive policy on alcohol consumption and so has fewer problems from alcoholism [than the UK] as a result. The State Vinmonopolet is a thoroughly good idea in my view.
I would not call it nanny statism, but merely requiring people to plan ahead for a good party rather than random alcoholic preference. I could easily live with such rules myself, if someone else regards them as petty ...
ATB from George
Exactly!
Norway has a restrictive policy on alcohol consumption and so has fewer problems from alcoholism [than the UK] as a result. The State Vinmonopolet is a thoroughly good idea in my view.
I would not call it nanny statism, but merely requiring people to plan ahead for a good party rather than random alcoholic preference. I could easily live with such rules myself, if someone else regards them as petty ...
I lived and worked in Sweden for six months in 1967.
Relative to UK prices, it was very expensive. But when you earn your living in such places, relativity is parity and you can afford a normal life. Sure there were alcohol restrictions and one or two other rules, but all of these were pretty insignificant in the great scheme of life. And having saved something like 50% of my wages in Sweden, that went a long, long way in real terms back in the UK..
Even places like Canada have limited outlets for alcohol. No big deal.
It's Christmas and I have the time to google the forum, I then discovered the Norway thread.
It's very interesting reading, and sending this reply from the train after visiting family in the south, then go by plane Oslo- Trondheim this evening.
Some of you people's statments (not you George) makes some words from Martin Sheen come to my mind, in those days when Paul Watson was supposed to sit in a Norwegian prison for his work against whalehunting. Sheen proclaimed that if Watson was put in a Norwegian jail, he would never come out alive
George. I have drove by car through Skurdalen several times, on my way to Geilo or the Western part of Norway. Have done a lot of skiing at Dagali which is not far from there. I love the mountains up there, they are exceptional for cross country skiing. You posted the picrure of Hallingskarvet, I have been there also, at the top, both summer and winter and I can recommend it as your next tour when in Skurdalen.
"Rallarvegen" is mentioned and is very special and not far away, starts at Haugastøl. You can choose to go by train or bicycle, or both.
I was born some 300km south of Skurdalen, but have lived in Trondheim for the last 24 years. To find a "Norwegian" post at Naim-Forum, was a delight for me.
Merry Christmas,
Steinar
Dear Steinar,
Your lovely post gave a great deal of pleasure to read. Thanks.
I am seriously considering trying to emigrate permanently to Norway in the next two years if the possibility can be made a practical one. I could well end up living in a nice part of Oslo, which would please me as a lifetime ambition fulfilled. Look up Grakamveien. Almost in the forest!
In any case, here is photo from about 1967 or '68, where I am rowing for the first time. This was a really heavy two man rowing boat. It was so big that my grandmother considered it safe enough to not wear life-vests! My brother is at the back of the boat, and this is in Skurdalen. This very boat was made for great grand father in 1918, and still exists - upside down on the lake shore - but now with cracked planks so it would sink!
Best wishes from George
PS: The old boat in September, almost 100 years old!
PS: My great grandfather Fiske was born of a Trondheim familly, and you will find the phone book is full of Fiskes still there!
He married my great grandmother [who was born in Oslo] sometime during or before the First World War. I met him in 1967, and though he was in his last year he was amazing, spoke good English, and actually played with my brother and me as four and five year olds! He was born in 1875, so is the oldest person I have ever met in terms of being born the soonest! He was an engineer with some famous and still used patents to his credit.
George
A Norwegian born in the late 1800 and speaking good English is quite unusual/ remarkable. I was born in 62 and my grandfathers where very far from English speaking. Also remeber rowing boat at that age, as you say they where quite heavy to handle for a five year old. Still I remember this as very good memories, rowing, swimming in the lakes and fishing. Thank you for refreshing those memories
I must admit Oslo is not my favourite, to big and "unpersonal", but living outside centre may be a good choice. You will be surprised how close nature and countryside are, to the city actually. Compared to major cities in the UK, Oslo's a small town though.
How is the oil price fall changing the Norwegian economy or has so much money been invested away that the country can ride out the price shock until the price goes back up again.
At least you have the new roads, bridges and tunnels to grow a new economy on.
Dear Derek,
Here is a link to an article on how the oil price and Norwegian Krone [NOK] is linked and the affects of the recent oil price drop.
I think the article explains it quite well.
In the case of Norway, the results of extreme prudence with respect to how the oil money is used really mean that Norway is much less at risk from the oil price drop than other countries with different policies. The Norwegian currency has fallen in value but nothing like some other oil producers.
http://www.ft.com/fastft/23473...ed-krone-knocked-oil
ATB from George
Thanks for the pointer, I did the Hurtigruten in 2013 and so saw quite a bit of the coastal infrastructure and some the oil and gas plants. Most impressive.
Now if the weather in Bergen could be improved it would be an even better place to visit.
Dear Steinar,
Your lovely post gave a great deal of pleasure to read. Thanks.
I am seriously considering trying to emigrate permanently to Norway in the next two years if the possibility can be made a practical one. I could well end up living in a nice part of Oslo, which would please me as a lifetime ambition fulfilled. Look up Grakamveien. Almost in the forest!
In any case, here is photo from about 1967 or '68, where I am rowing for the first time. This was a really heavy two man rowing boat. It was so big that my grandmother considered it safe enough to not wear life-vests! My brother is at the back of the boat, and this is in Skurdalen. This very boat was made for great grand father in 1918, and still exists - upside down on the lake shore - but now with cracked planks so it would sink!
Best wishes from George
PS: The old boat in September, almost 100 years old!
Fabulous photo. (needs the horizon straightened, though. Looking again, I'd crop the horizon out. The tree would look crooked if you straightened the horizon, and you would lose too much of the rest of the shot)
This takes me back to 1976 when I had a two week walking holiday in Norway. I am part Danish, and I was staying with my mum's oldest Norwegian school friend. We set out from her family chalet in Ustaoset, and just walked and walked! Orientation skills were called for (no commercially available GPS in 1976!), so my Duke of Edinburgh's training to use compass and map paid off. I remember many of the paths were marked with 'DNT' (Norwegian Tourist Board), and we stopped at boarding chalets overnight. Basic accommodation, but superb and plentiful food (mutton stew, etc.), and a healthy 'pack-up' each morning (open salami and cheese sandwiches) to take as packed lunch. The scenery was breathtaking, and a jump in the glacier lakes is a memory that will endure. The outside loos were just a plank with a hole over a pit, but the spectacular views of scenery are probably the best of any loo in the world! All too soon the holiday was over and it was time to return to Bergen to make the journey home. So many happy memories and the spectacular jaw-dropping scenery remains etched in my mind to this day.
ATB. George.
Thanks for all the lovely replies.
Dear Winki,
I expect that you will understand me when I say that sometimes I attempt a set piece photo that may even have some merit, but mostly - as in this case - the sole objective was to capture one more time a sense of the ancient boat. Rotting away, but still not collapsed. If you consider the boat only, it serves the purpose well enough, but I would be the last to say this was a good photo in any artistic sense!
I looked at it, and wondered. To crop or to leave the surroundings in? Sometimes a crop works very well at disguising a photo that is not upright, but in this case to crop away all that part would sort of ruin what is already there ... I probably [if unconsciously] took the tree as my upright, and most of the trees up there are far from upright in reality. Only the tall ones in a dense stand of forestry tend to dead upright, rather than this disorganised and isolated specimen!
If I could afford to have a such a boat made from new, I'd commission it tomorrow. It would cost a lot of money nowadays. The art of wooden boat building is not lost, but it is certainly artisan work, and comes at artisan prices! The plastic boat rules now, and yet they are not so enjoyable. Though this old wooden boat with a substantial keel profile is weighty, it is responsive in a straight line, and keeps the line well in cross-winds. The lightweight plastic boats that usually only have an apology for a keel get blown sideways so easily when rowing. Of course many people would prefer a boat with a flat part at the back for an engine and then countering cross-winds is much easier. I'd rather the old style with a proper point at each end and a true keel. Not motor possible!
Odd to think that a plastic boat and motor would be cheaper than a wooden boat like this without a an engine.
Another issue with wooden boats is that they require annual work to keep them in good order, and must be sunk for a week in Spring once the ice has gone to tighten them up so they don't take on water like a sponge! All wooden boats leak a bit even then.
Best wishes and Happy New Year to everyone here, from George
Dear Winki,
This is a better photo taken in September 2000, when the boat was still strong enough to risk turning it the right way up.
I still make no claims that photo is an example of photographic art, but at least vertical is vertical!
ATB from George
From the mid-1980s. My grandmother and I had been out with the nets [pre-Chenobyl days] and had a reasonable haul!
ATB from George