Thread: Norway - An idiosyncratic country.

spent some time there many decades ago.
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.

Northern Lights

Well, the Tromsø area is famous for being one of the best places to see the Northern lights, but to see them the atmospherics have to be good. I have to say that I am a bit of a killjoy in regard to all this and I am completely against the trend in that I went to Norway to see the granddaughter and anything else was incidental and a small bonus. My daughter and her partner desperately wanted to see the lights and would set an alarm to get up and watch for them every hour during the night. In the ten days they were there they did not see anything. We saw this:

46521761-8797-4dbe-b0d0-5358b554e55c.JPG9b899f04-af48-4d51-b242-174a3006129f.JPG9843789e-4392-4a60-9683-1ea05b4dd6b7.JPG203680fc-814d-4045-986d-7732843d8231.JPG

The next night SWMBO got up and saw an even better show so she said, but no camera. I just stayed in bed!! We did inform the daughter and partner, who by that stage had travelled down South to Oslo. The daughter was miffed, but philosophical. The partner was and still hasn't spoken to us.



One small point and I don't know if it is my eyes, but I did not see the green fluorescence in real life that you can see in the pix above. I saw the shapes as a grey/white image and they were amazing with the patterns changing really quite quickly. But no green.



Dog Sled

We went for a dog sled ride at the Villmarksenter and that was very enjoyable. You can be driven by one of the Senter's mushers or you can opt to self-drive. We were happy to be chauffeured around. We had a small connection with this outfit as Simon's partner until the day before our excursion had been working there. The people were very pleasant and it was a good day. The experience was so good that I delved into the racing aspect as by chance the Finnmarksølpet was about to setoff.

Some pix from our day. Clearly we are not photographers:

IMG_3308.jpgIMG_3325.jpgIMG_3317.jpgIMG_3310.jpgIMG_3312.jpg


IMG_3314.jpgDog sled 1.jpgDog sled 2.jpg

Heavy thermal suits and bots were provided:

Dog sled 3.jpgDog sled 4.jpg

This, for me, was one of the best excursions.

Regards
Paul

Welcome back Paul!

I was in Stavanger in the early 90’s on a port visit during a NATO exercise; I recall alcohol being fairly available in the few bars…but ruinously expensive at the equivalent cost now of around $20 per beer… what is the actual price now?

The Northern Lights are truly spectacular; I’m glad you got to see at least one good display although it appears you may have adopted an attitude of “once you’ve seen one Aurora Borealis you’ve seen ‘em all…” I had the privilege of seeing it several times at sea; once you take away the land-based light pollution you can see every little wave and flicker and sometimes the flashes were painfully bright. The bridge watchkeepers were half amazed by the display and half pee’d off with their loss of night vision!

Love the Pics Paul, I spent a lot of time travelling but never made it to Norway - perhaps one day

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Welcome back Paul!

I was in Stavanger in the early 90’s on a port visit during a NATO exercise; I recall alcohol being fairly available in the few bars…but ruinously expensive at the equivalent cost now of around $20 per beer… what is the actual price now?

The Northern Lights are truly spectacular; I’m glad you got to see at least one good display although it appears you may have adopted an attitude of “once you’ve seen one Aurora Borealis you’ve seen ‘em all…” I had the privilege of seeing it several times at sea; once you take away the land-based light pollution you can see every little wave and flicker and sometimes the flashes were painfully bright. The bridge watchkeepers were half amazed by the display and half pee’d off with their loss of night vision!

Chief

Everything is a little more expensive in Norway. The booze is deliberately more expensive, apparently to discourage consumption, but I didn't buy any beer so I am not too sure there. Spirits seemed to be about 10% to 20% more expensive providing you did not go to exotica, but that is probably the same in any country.

At a restaurant the wine was expensive, but I am comparing to Millmerran. If I habitually dined out in Brisbane, the differential may not have appeared to be so much.

Regards
Paul

Thanks for sharing these experiences and photos.

Our family visited Norway as part of a longer trip across the region. I loved Trompso. The road network with the tunnels you described were amazing. I'd never experienced anything like it, and still haven't. We were there December/January, which added another experience of darkness 24 hours/day.

While I enjoyed seeing the Aurora, my absolute favourite activity was the dog-sleds. We were given 10 minutes of instruction, and then off we went, driving our own dogsleds across the forest area. Truely amazing experience.

Thanks again for the walk down memory lane.

cheers,

ajw

In the electricity thread (post#2005) NeilS showed this warning:

Takras.JPG

Clearly a warning about falling snow and he says it roughly translates into 'ROOF AVALANCHE Proceed at own risk'

I did not see that sign myself, but in a supermarket, I did see a very large electronic notice board similar in size to the information screens we see in our supermarkets except it was advising the "Avalanche Risk" for the future. I found myself equating it to our high UV awareness signs seen on the roads.

In fact, during our Snowmobiling excursion in the Lyngen Alps we paused for a moment and I was talking with one of our three guides. He pointed to some mountains and said they were popular for skiers. He went on to say that a young man in his twenties from Tromsø had been killed there on the hills we were viewing in an avalanche the previous year.

Sami Experience

We visited a Sami camp and went on a reindeer sled ride. This involved hand feeding reindeer and then jumping on a sled and being led around in a circle by a man on foot. It was a little less than exhilarating and not helped by windy, miserable weather. I am trying not to be negative on this one as overall the experience was good. We were fed a stew and hot drinks and given a talk about the changing world for the Sami people. As the indigenous population of the North, they have many challenges. An example is the effect of climate change on their reindeer. Also the Norwegian Sea Eagles kill the newborn calves, but the eagle is protected. The Sami are allowed to kill one eagle a year and the body is removed immediately by the government instead of allowing it to remain as a warning to other birds. Apparently, the eagles learn pretty quickly when something is fraught with danger. I don't wish to diminish the importance of reindeer as the Sami are the only ones allowed to farm or rather herd reindeer and it forms a huge part of their existence. As they pointed out, it is their entire life.

Moose

While talking reindeer, I should also mention moose. The Norwegians have similar trouble with moose on the roads as we have with kangaroos. We had to take Simon's car in for a small repair at a smash repairer and he came back out and pointed to a car that happened to be the same model as his. The roof was completely caved in and the front windscreen was knocked back to the seats. It looked as though an elephant had stepped on it, but in fact a moose had landed on it. A bull moose can weigh up to 600Kg and they make a significant mess of the vehicle with all their weight up high on long legs, which is the opposite of a roo.

Taxis

I don't think uber exists in Norway. All the taxis are more traditional and include Mercedes, BMWs and many electric vehicles of course and one that surprised me, an EV Porsche. I did a double take on that one. It was a SUV type and not a 911.

Still a little more to come.

Regards
Paul

Cost of Living

Chief Tiff asked whether alcohol was still expensive and yes it is, but not the only thing that is expensive. Generally, the cost of living seems higher than in Australia, which is also relatively high. An example of this is fuel. If the average in Australia is $2 per litre, it $3 per litre in Norway. I find this a little ironic in that Norway has made it's fortune from North Sea Oil. Perhaps it is all exported and they don't refine any themselves. Food too is more expensive than here. One little anomaly was Salmon and Sea Trout. The Norwegians tend to buy Sea Trout instead of Salmon both of which are readily available as frozen product in the supermarket freezers. I think this is on the grounds of the Salmon being farmed, which tends to be an ecological nightmare.

I have not looked into whether the wages reflect the high standard of living.

Regards
Paul

My wife's brothers son lives in Norway on one of the Northern Islands he is some sort of geologist and takes a rifle with him when out doing his job, he has to be very mindful of Polar bears.

Like you Richard my wife's brother visits to see the grandchild, but I don't think he understands his sons choice of where to live, after finishing his PHd Luke (the son) got offered two jobs one was to do with volcano's in Hawaii and the other Norway, you can guess which one Richard would have preferred him to take

Camelot's mention of polar bears brings me indirectly the subject of museums in Tromsø. We visited four museums (we were there for a month, but not just in the museums! In Tromsø ):

The Troll Museum

As the name suggests, this centered around the mythology of Trolls, which is prominent in Norwegian culture. It was interesting with quite a few interactive features. Probably one of the few museums that would interest small children too.

The Artic Museum

This is a scientific museum associated with the university, although it does go into Sami culture too and was so good we went back a second time. This was not to revisit like watching a movie again, but because we only got halfway around the first time. Fortunately, we qualified as seniors and got a reduced entry fee. Some of the exhibits in the first area, which was really about the history of the earth, were very enlightening. For example, associated with the age of the earth there was a stack of A4 sheets of paper about 2.5m high. A variety of coloured sheets represented the various periods. The very top sheet (a single sheet) was pulled out a little from the stack as otherwise it would have been invisible: It represented the time when man appeared. We all know how new we are to the planet, but it was such a graphic representation. It also emphasised how we have changed the planets development in such a small proportion of earth's life.

The Polaria Museum

Our daughter and partner, who are both fiercely against animals being kept in captivity (other than rescued and injured critters) would not visit this one as they have five seals in a water enclosure, which is during the coming year being rebuilt to be many times larger. We visited and were glad to. There were many marine based exhibits and it was very worthwhile. Interestingly one pair of seals had bred and there was a baby pup swimming around too. So maybe there were not too unhappy. Or there was not much else for them to do.

The Polar Museum

If the previous museum was a challenge for our eco warriors, then this one was a definite no no! It traced the early history of Norway that fundamentally, before oil was discovered, formed the basis of their existence and centered around seal fishing and even more disturbingly hunting polar bears. Of course that is mainly in the past, but is still hugely confronting for practically anybody. However, if you can get past the willful killing of these creatures and highlight as a tool as to what should not be done it is both revealing and arguably enlightening. There was also two separate exhibitions on two famous Norwegians, Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen. These were both extensive and worthwhile, particularly if the history interests you. The building itself was also of interest being quite old.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

The Polar Museum

The building itself was also of interest being quite old.

Paul

I didn't have time in Tromsø to visit any of the museums, but that old building on the waterfront where the Polar Museum is housed caught my attention with its regulation red with white window trim. The other less common colour scheme being ochre with white door and window trim. Must make deciding what colour to paint a building easy!

IMG_7825.JPG

Originally Posted by NeilS

Paul

I didn't have time in Tromsø to visit any of the museums, but that old building on the waterfront where the Polar Museum is housed caught my attention with its regulation red with white window trim. The other less common colour scheme being ochre with white door and window trim. Must make deciding what colour to paint a building easy!

IMG_7825.JPG

Neil

The colours of Norwegian buildings in general are miles apart from what would be considered in a fit in Oz. Perhaps they are these colours so you can easily find them in the snow.

The ground floor of the Polar Museum appeared to be wide, thick boards, heavily varnished and very rounded over across their width (I would guess at 50mm thick). I don't know the timber, but my first guess would be Birch as that it used extensively. However, Birch trees don't generally grow to large diameters and I am not sure they could have recovered such wide (200mm+) timbers easily.

Regards
Paul

Something I have not mentioned is the proliferation of souvenir shops. They seem to be everywhere and of course smaller versions are at the tourist venues too. There are the usual gimmickry including T-Shirts, Mugs, Trolls etc.. One thing that is different is the Sami Knives. I am the proud owner of one of these, which I think is as good as any I saw and better than most, but it was given to me by Simon when he visited Oz a while back. The style of knife is reasonable unique (an oxymoron or just a contradiction in terms?) to Northern Scandinavia and you can see my version here.

Individual knives are available in a range of sizes, but only a couple of times did I see the combination sheath.

A good range of pullovers are usually available at the dedicated souvenir shops in the city too.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

In the electricity thread (post#2005) NeilS showed this warning:

Attachment 536556

Clearly a warning about falling snow and he says it roughly translates into 'ROOF AVALANCHE Proceed at own risk'

This attachment didn’t upload