Thread: Norway - An idiosyncratic country.

Originally Posted by ForeverYoung

had friends there so got to see quite a bit and stay in some local homes in different areas.
fantastic scenery.

found there were plenty of dry areas - no alcohol sold.
so, the locals made their own.
they said close to 100% proof. I dunno. But they said it was so pure you didn't get a hangover
tradition was to put it in the black coffee and called it coffee doctor.

FY (I like the moniker. Deny everything and lie with abandon)

Was that all in Tromsø?

And was the local's grog illegal, as in Oz, or was that a loophole in the law? I am thinking that having regard to the alcohol laws in general it would have to be moonshine. Having said that it occurs to me, from my visit to the Bivrost distillery that to be called whiskey it has to be three years old or it is not: Whiskey that is. Perhaps if it is drunk after two years and 360 days, say, it is not whiskey, although I concede it would be alcohol.



Regards
Paul

Nice posts Bushmiller.
We've been to Norway twice now and love it.
Last year we landed in Oslo and stayed a few days before flying to Tromso.
We also went to the Lyngen mountains for what we thought was a dog sled ride.
It turned out we were to drive the dog sled.
It was a 10-12 km round trip with the first part including numerous uphill sections with deep snow so you had to run and push the sled or use it like a scooter to help the dogs.
We had a rest period at the half way mark where i just laid on the sled for 10-15 mins to recover.
The return section was mostly downhill and on hard packed ice/snow so we got going fairly rapidly.
On this section you had to stand on the brakes to varying degrees to keep safe.
Oh and this was in complete darkness with only head mounted torches for light.
It was bloody hard work but ultimately a great experience.
From Tromso we caught the Hurtigruten to Kirkenes. We did see the northern lights while on the boat.
Stopped of at North Cape, the northern most point of the European mainland.
And Kirkenes is about 5km from Russia.
We stayed in the Ice hotel there. It was bloody cold and I wouldn't do it again but we're glad we did.
Next day we did have a dog sled ride on the frozen fjord with a team expertly driven by a young woman called Lucky.
The Finnmarkslopet was to have a stage finish in front of the hotel we stayed at in Kirkenes.
We also watched a lot of this race as it was on the tele all over.
Just amazing feats of endurance by those dog teams and drivers.
Denmark is the only country in scandinavia that has independant liquor outlets.
Sweden - its the vinbolaget.
Iceland - its the vinbuo
Finland - its the Alko and as you say in Norway its the vinmonopolet.
I remember asking in Kalmar sweden in the vinbolaget if they had any champagne cold. the answer was no as that would be discriminatory to the others that weren't refrigerated.
A lot of swedes actually go to Denmark to buy their alcohol according to people we know there.
The previous trip to Norway we did a fair bit of driving and visited places like the Lofoten islands which are spectacular. we drove to a place called Solvorn and stayed in the Walaker hotel that had been in the same family since 1690.
We really enjoyed driving around Norway and would love to do it again.

Thanks for your posts, they brought back some great memories

Frank

mattocks

I am now very envious that you got to watch the Finnmarkslopet. I became quite enamoured by the race to the extent I followed it every day on the web (son does not have TV ) There is a specific thread I started on the Forums:

Finnmark Sløpet (woodworkforums.com)

Also there is a link to a video about sleds in the second post with the aforementioned son who worked at the Ice Hotel at Kirkenes as a musher. At one time he assisted in building the hotel.

I had not realised the booze monopoly extended to some of the other Scandinavian countries.

Regards
Paul

Kitchen utensils

A while back Norway commissioned a feature by the British comedian John Clesse to spruik their country. Of course giving carte blanche to somebody like Cleese was asking for trouble and the verdict was the only good thing to come out of Norway was the cheese slicer, reputed to have been devised around 1928.

I tried Simon's and was sold on it:

This is the one I bought from the Sami expedition and is a bit fancy with the antler handle.

P1090500.jpgP1090501.jpgP1090502.jpg

Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite as well as the one Simon had, which was absolute magic. This is on cheese

P1090503.jpgP1090504.jpg

and this is on hard butter straight from the fridge. Added to that the handle has come loose and SWMBO has removed it.

P1090505.jpg

I think I know how to fix both problems.

This is the type of slicer Simon had and as can be seen it has a much narrower "toe"

Norway cheese slicer.jpg

I don't neccesarily think that is the reason it performed better. It may be to do with the mouth opening although there would be less tendency for the cheese to stick to the "toe" plate.

Kitchen cabinetry

The kitchen had a slide-out pantry that prohibited access to a cupboard

P1090470.jpg

A mechanism allowed the space to be used:

P1090463.jpgP1090468.jpg P1090466.jpg

Buildings

Just up the road from where Simon was living there was a fabulous shed, which I suppose was a barn as most of the house along the fjord were small farms of 100acres or so:

P1090440.jpgP1090442.jpgP1090441.jpg

I so love that roofline. Further up the road a very old shed with that roofline was being dismantled. They achieve the curved rafter by laminating thin strips to the required shape.

I want one!


Woodworking

I did not see too much evidence of traditional tools, but I forgot to mention earlier when I posted on the visit to the Arctic Museum that there was a Sami exhibit that had these small European style block planes:

Planes - group.jpg

Slightly closer up

Planes bottom.jpgPlanes top.jpg

Regards
Paul

A small problem with the above post showing attachments. There are no more attachments, but trying to correct this issue.

Regards
Paul

Update: I have deleted all the pix and re-loaded them. It has made no difference. The "attachments" seem to be some sort of duplication, but is apparently above my technology level. If the administrators are able to offer some advice it would be greatly received. There is nothing missing from the content of the post. I am now completely bald .

When do we see the saws you brought back !!!!

Cheers Matt.

Paul

Is that brown cheese in your photos. That's quite a culinary experience!

Brunost - Wikipedia

Looking at those barnes I couldn't but think of upturned Viking boat hull...

Originally Posted by Simplicity

When do we see the saws you brought back !!!!

Cheers Matt.

Matt

I looked on "Finn," which is a sort of equivalent to Ebay, but only saw one Sandvik No.280 saw I was specifically looking for. It was "offers only" and overnight it sold anyway. So I walked away in disgust. Since then I found a similar saw in the US, much cheaper too, providing you ignore an astronomical shipping bill.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by NeilS

Paul

Is that brown cheese in your photos. That's quite a culinary experience!

Brunost - Wikipedia

Looking at those barnes I couldn't but think of upturned Viking boat hull...

Neil

Yes, brown cheese. It's a big thing in Norway. On a good day I am a finikey eater, mostly for ridiculous reasons, and I could not get my head around the colour.

I am trying to work out how I can have a shed with that profile: It would be two storey.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Update: I have deleted all the pix and re-loaded them. It has made no difference. The "attachments" seem to be some sort of duplication, but is apparently above my technology level. If the administrators are able to offer some advice it would be greatly received. There is nothing missing from the content of the post. I am now completely bald .

Fixed

Originally Posted by DJ’s Timber

Fixed

Wonderful DJ

Thanks

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

...

Was that all in Tromsø?

And was the local's grog illegal, as in Oz, or was that a loophole in the law? I am thinking that having regard to the alcohol laws in general it would have to be moonshine. ...

it was moonshine.
to be honest it was a long time ago and the diaries are long gone.
but the 1st place was not far out of Oslo, Honefoss rings a bell.

I never got as far north as Tromsø.
there was another place I stayed, small farm, and they made it too and that was up past Trondheim.
I was hitching, that was an experience in itself, getting stranded in some odd places; once when the 2 females in the front seat started having a yelling match in Norwegian.

Clothing

When a person mentions Norway we think of of an absurdly cold place, but over on the West coast it is relatively mild, at least, compared to further inland. The subject of clothing was a constant source of discussion in our household before travelling and SWMBO was freaking out that we would be cold. Simon was advocating to just bring extra clothes. She did buy some extra thermal gear and a cheap "puffer" coat from Aldi. I dug out some old thermal underwear that I last used in about 1978 and amazingly was still pretty much the same as when it was packed away and other than an even older old pair of gloves, in which the lining had disintegrated, I took no special clothing. Yes, there were heavy socks and my heaviest pullover.

In addition I took a pair of lightweight hiking boots and a beanie. When I got to Tromso, we chanced in at a second hand clothing store and I bought a heavy jacket for $50. It was very old school as today everybody was wearing the lightweight puffer jackets. At another store I bought a better pair of gloves brand new for just under $100.

This gives you some idea of both coats. I may have another pic somewhere and will add it if found (done):

Northern Lights3 (2).JPG Coat.jpg

Thermal wear was really only needed when going further inland, for bad weather or when participating in rides such as the snowmobiles (which was also a little inland).

Winter footwear purchased in Norway tends to have non slip soles compared to conventional shoes and boots. If the ground is icy you really do need extra grip and this is cheaply provided by crampons. This is the type we used.

These studs are very similar to those found on the car tyres.

Crampons 1.jpgCrampons 2.jpg


They work extremely well and are cheap: Much much cheaper than a special pair of shoes. but are a little bit of a fiddle to put on. Most shops, for example, require you to either remove the crampons or the shoes themselves before entering the premises. This is quite understandable as the "spikes," which are only 2 to 3mm in length, do scratch floors. If you want to buy some boots the lined short wellies are a good buy and not expensive. Fashion in Tromso during the winter is a low priority for most people!

The cheese slicer with the antler horn handle was lying on the kitchen bench dismantled so I included that too. The horn is surprisingly heavy for it's size.

Well, that is about the end of my observations and reminiscences from the trip. Perhaps I can just exit with a pic of the primary reason for travelling to a cold country 14,493Kms away

Millmerran to Tromso.jpg

and it is this:

Ayla and Paul (2).jpg

Ayla (pronounced Eye ler), the first young lady (that I can remember) lying on the floor with me other than SWMBO for approaching 50 years. Note the authentic platypus (made in Australia: Not China) that is a favourite toy and is grabbed mercilessly by the snout. She wields it like Bam Bam from the Flintstones used to wield his club.

Thanks for staying with the travelogue.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Ayla (pronounced Eye ler), the first young lady (that I can remember) lying on the floor with me other than SWMBO for approaching 50 years. Note the authentic platypus (made in Australia: Not China) that is a favourite toy and is grabbed mercilessly by the snout. She wields it like Bam Bam from the Flintstones used to wield his club.

She's a cute!

They grow up so quickly, so you are just going to have go back there very often...

Thanks for sharing your Nordic experiences.