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Nostalgic Norway

Feb 25 2008 | Views 516 | Comments (11)

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Nostalgic Norway

Sreechandra Banerjee

Loud clapping woke me and I realized that the wheels had finally touched Gadermoen Airport at Oslo. Oh! When would I return back to Kolkata to clap as these Norwegians are doing now? Three months away from home, oh, no!! I must make the best of my sojourn here and visit Scandinavia as far as practicable.

It was a Lufthansa connecting flight which I had boarded at Frankfurt. I was on an official assignment there in Oslo and the flight from Kolkata had departed on 12^th of March at about 3 a.m. (Kolkata time), and arrived at about 8-50 a.m. at Frankfurt. The connecting flight was scheduled at 10-15 a.m. and reached Oslo at 12-10 a.m.

As far as I remember they had served turkey sandwich and a chocolate which served the purpose of a late lunch as my appetite was strictly adhering to our very own (IST) Indian Standard Time, appetite-wise we are very punctual, I must say. Remember, the film ‘Sound Of Music’, where the nuns at the Abbey when discussing about Maria by singing “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” said:” She is late for everything except for every meal!”? Well, it is probably true for most of us who abide by IST!!

Anyway homesickness and uncertainties of a foreign land reigned supreme and had probably also conquered my appetite.

I looked out the window and thankfully the landscape beside the runway appeared not to be snow covered as two-three days back I had heard that it was snowing in Oslo. But then it was gloomy and the sky was overcast.

The same landscape was however snow-covered when I returned from England in April after having spent my Easter holidays there.

As I didn’t have too much luggage, took the train (Flytoget, as they call in Norwegian, “tog” means train in Norwegian) instead of a taxi, to the city. However, at other times, whenever I traveled to and from Oslo airport, I used to take the service of the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) bus, which used to go to very near my hotel. These buses stop at Radisson SAS hotels and one way ticket to the airport from the end station was about 90 NOK (as far as I remember). There are some other bus services which plied to and from the city. These buses are cheaper than the “flytoget.”

Norwegians speak English well. Apart from Norwegian, they also speak Sami. Norwegian language is similar to Swedish.

The train journey took about 40 minutes to the station Nationaltheatret. The scene out the window intrigued me, surrounding hills were snow-clad and it appeared that it had been raining the whole morning. Though I had been to Europe before, the scenario only made me feel a strong urge to see Scandinavia, a land that to me was only confined to Geography books and to, may be episodes of Lonely Planet.

Norway, the westernmost country of the Scandinavian peninsular, is bordered by Sweden, Finland and Russia in the east and the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and Skagerak on the west and south and the Barent’s Sea on the north. Its coastline stretching over 2500 km is interspersed with fjords and about 50000 islands.

Even 12000 years ago, i.e. in 10^th Millennium B.C., Norway was inhabited as is indicated by archaeological finds. These inhabitants initially settled along the coastline and came from either southern regions (northern Germany), or from the north-east (northern Finland or Russia). There were in fact some petty kingdoms in the 9^th century.

The constitutional monarchy of Norway is a Schengen country. Using the Central European Time, corresponding to the 15 ⁰east longitude, time-wise it is one hour plus from GMT, with respect to IST, it was minus four and half hours till 24^th March. Who said that “Time and Tide wait for none”? See, time waited for me to arrive and then it leapt forward without looking to partially catch up with IST and then it was lagging by 3 and half hours from IST. Actually it was to observe the Daylight Saving Time, which is observed from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday in October.

Norway has a well developed welfare system and was ranked first among all countries in human development from 2001 to 2006. Further it has also been rated as the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index. The development of oil and gas reserves off its coast has rendered rapid economic growth since World War II and now Norway is among the wealthiest countries in the world.

Although the marine deposits constitute the coastline and lower elevations of the land, the land is made of hard granite and gneiss rock. Slate, sandstone and limestone also constitute a considerable portion of the land. Scandinavian mountains occupy large areas of the land and hence Norway is one of Europe’s most mountainous countries. The average elevation is 460 m and 32% of the mainland is located above the tree line. According to Geologists, these mountains are part of the single range (comprising mountains of Scotland, Ireland, Appalachian mountains of North America, etc.) before the ancient super-continent Pangaea broke up.

Warmer temperatures and more precipitation than expected in such northern latitudes can be found due to the Gulf Stream and prevailing westerlies. There are four distinct seasons in the mainland and winters are colder than in coastal Norway with less precipitation. Maritime Subarctic climate is prevalent in the northernmost part. Arctic tundra climate can be found in Svalbard.

From the station to my hotel, it was an uphill journey as Oslo is situated on a hilly terrain. The hotel where I stayed was next to a park, the Slottsparken (Castle in a park, and “en” is the definite article attached at the end as per Norwegian grammar). The Royal Palace (or the “Slott”, “Slottet” with the definite article “et”) was on one side of the park. This palace can be seen in one of the photographs of the National Day celebrations. National theatre flanked the other side of the park. In winter, this park is white with snow, whereas the greenery and blossom in summer makes you forget that winter is also a season here in Norway and can be harsh.

I don’t know about the charges of this hotel as my Company took care of that. Besides, my stay was for long term. Internet facility was available in the machine in the lobby, but then, most of the time it was occupied. Tea and coffee were available free for 24 hours as there was a vending machine in the lobby. But, hotel prices usually start from 300NOK. (I USD= 5.43 NOK as on January 2008) for single bed. Cheaper hotel rooms without attached bath and dormitory accommodations may also be found. Breakfast (frokost in Norwegian) may or may not be included depending on prices. Sometimes, packages are offered and good deals may be availed. These can be found on the internet (www.visitoslo.com).

Ibsen Museum featuring the famous writer Henrik Ibsen was located near this park.

The climate of Oslo can be termed as humid continental with average summer temperatures of 21.5 deg. C with occasional heat waves during the summer months with temperatures upto 31 deg. C. The highest temperature ever recorded was 35 deg. C in 1901. Winters are chilly and wet, with snowfalls usually from November to March, although I experienced mild snowfall in April too. Temperatures may drop down to -20 deg. C. However with global warming, higher temperatures were prevalent in recent years.

Although Oslo is an expensive city, yet there are eateries and restaurants for all price ranges. Normally I used to cook my own food in the kitchen of my hotel room. In Gronland, famous for Indian and Pakistani shops and restaurants, there are restaurants where main course could be eaten for 60 NOK. However in many other restaurants, a full meal may be priced at about 150-200 NOK. Once I tried a tortilla (Spanish omelet) in a Spanish restaurant which I think was for 50 NOK. On another occasion, my Norwegian and Swedish colleagues treated me in a restaurant and I remember the garnish and topping that they made in each and every item served, was aesthetically pleasing. The design made on the dessert with the hot chocolate impressed me the most. Cod, salmon preparations were mainly served for lunch in my Office canteen. There were some other sea fish varieties too. A Norwegian lady once invited me to her residence and she prepared a special traditional Norwegian sweet dish which was indeed delicious. I have now forgotten the name of this dish. No matter how good lighting is there, one is always greeted by the kindling flame of a candle, because as per Norwegian custom, a candle is lighted and placed on the dining table.

The famous Karl Johans (pronounced as Yohan) Gate, the principal street of Oslo stretches from the King’s Palace to the Central Station. This street almost leads to all other streets of the small city Oslo. It is essentially a pedestrian area, although sometimes rickshaws ply on this street. Big stores like HMM, numerous shops, bars, cafes, restaurants intersperse important buildings of Parliament, Oslo Church, National Theatre, Grand Hotel. Tourists throng the place amidst musicians, street vendors and entertainers as many of the shops put out their wares on the cobbled sidewalks. On Saturday mornings, strolling down this street is fun as one can find merchandise at cheaper rates.

Shopaholics beware! You will find a big hole in your pocket in no time. Besides there may be pinchers too! Norway is reputed for its low crime rate, yet it is always better to be careful about your valuables. There are fairs and merchandise is sold at cheaper rates on Saturdays near Gronland.

Week-end afternoons were mainly spent in Aker Brygge. This unique sea-front area, located west of an arm of the Oslo fjord, was a shipyard ( Akers Mekaniske Verksted) established in 1854. Before that, the area was known as Holmen with some industrial corporations and a suburban establishment. The development of the recent Aker Brygge was started after the old wharf was closed in 1982. Now this area has turned into a tourist attraction spot housing restaurants, shopping malls (built from old workshop halls), a cinema, a theatre, health-and-fitness centre. More than 5000 people live and work here.

Modern architecture was well incorporated to transform the old shipyard buildings to render this majestic look to the place. The dock for many cruise-ships, are next to this place.

Prices of some items in these shopping malls were higher than in other areas. However, in Norway, specially, at the end of winter season, there are some good offers, “tilbud” as they call them, when heavy discounts are given.

The old fortress of Akershuss, built in 1299, is next to this Aker Brygge.

The City Hall comprising the City Council, City administration, art studios and galleries, is located very near to Aker Brygge. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded on the 10^th of December every year in this City Hall as per the wishes of Alfred Nobel (for the Peace Prize). The Nobel Laureate receives the diploma, a medal and a document stating the prize amount in front of the King and the next day the Nobel Peace Prize Concert is held.

Sometimes, on weekends, some of my Indian colleagues and I used to take any route on the metro and go to the end station. Frognerseteren was such an end station and it was fun to watch the train wind its way up through the hills and mountains. The overlooking valleys offered a pleasant view. As we passed the outskirts, we noticed people playing football in a football court located at a lower altitude. There was a lake in Frognersteren which was covered in snow, when we went there in March. There were one or two huts nearby and also a slip and a swing. The way was slippery, yet we tried to play an improvised football with a ball which was locally available. It was nice to see the blue lake in end of May when a little boy could be seen playing with a small play motor-boat.

Sometimes we strolled on the banks of the river Akerselva flowing through Oslo. This 8.2 kilometers long river has an altitude difference of about 149 meters and we used to pass meadows, rocks, woodlands, housing establishments on its banks.

Songsvann, is another lake, which I liked. It is a big lake and walking around its azure blue waters in May, through woods, hills and green meadows was fun. An eatery cum ice-cream parlor at the entrance had motivated the wandering around the lake.

On a Saturday, we had taken a ferry from Aker Brygge and had gone to Bygdoy, a peninsular at the southwest of Oslo. Buses also ply from Oslo. There are some museums in Bygdoy. This Norwegian peninsular is famous for its beautiful parks, forests and popular beaches. Huk beach was our favorite hunt which we often visited. It is rocky although there is a small sandy patch and we enjoyed watching the blue cold waters of the North Sea and ships sailing by.

The museums in Bygdoy include Viking Ship Museum exhibiting the Viking ships dug up in late 19^th and 20^th century; Norwegian Folkemuseum for Norway’s cultural history, housing a large open air museum; Kon Tiki Museum housing the raft used by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl while traveling from Peru through the Atlantic ocean to the Polynesian islands; Fram Museum exhibiting the vessel “Fram” used by Fritdjof Nansenfor for exploring the arctic and by Amundsen to reach the South Pole.

And then there are many museums in and around Oslo like the Munch Museum featuring the famous painter Edvard Munch. His famous painting “The Scream” is however exhibited in the National Gallery. Paintings of J. C. Dahl and other artists were exhibited in this gallery. I was surprised when I visited this National gallery as never heard about so many Norwegian artists whose works really impressed me. Then the Natural History Museum is there, where the collection is enormous. Photographing was allowed in this museum and I managed to take some snaps.

The Botanical garden at Toyen, near the Munch Museum really fascinated me. The Magnolia tree and many other species of plants, The Zoological museum, Paleontological, and Geological museums are found inside this garden.

Vigeland Sculpture Park, located north west of the city is famous for its exhibits of 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. The sculpture of an angry boy is the most famous of his sculptures.

On a Saturday, with some of my Indian colleagues, we took a tour inside the Parliament at Stortinggate . There are conducted tours at fixed timings inside the Parliament and we felt so important being able to stand at the speaker’s desk and also take seats.

In Holmenkollen, is located a Ski jump which hosted the world’s second oldest ski jump competition. The oldest one is located nearby at Seterkollen. The present tower extends 60 meters above ground and 417 meters above sea level. Lift goes upto a certain height, after which we had to take the staircase, in turn were rewarded by the spectacular view of Oslo. The world’s oldest ski museum, founded in 1923, is located at the base of this ski jump.

There are many Shopping centers in Oslo, but in Gronland, located east of the Central Station, one can find all sorts of food and clothes from around the world. Then the shopping malls “Oslo City” and “Byporten” at the Central Station have much more to offer. Beautiful souvenirs like crafted soaps, crafted clothes hanging clips etc. can be found here. “Glassmagasinet” is famous for Scandinavian crystals though prices were beyond my reach. And of course, various shops and malls at Aker Brygge and the downtown area of Karl Johans Gate, Majorstuen, Toyen, etc, give a good time for window shoppers and a good shopping experience for shoppers.

Weeks and then months passed by and finally the month of May arrived, should I say that ‘Then came May and it made me gay’ as “ If ‘May’ comes, can ‘June’ be far behind?” I decided to take the Norway in a Nutshell trip. Although there are many other tours, e.g. The Fjord Tour, the Sognefjord Tour, this Norway in a Nutshell is a famous one covering the important fjords of western Norway. I have heard about the scenic beauty of western Norway and the world famous Flam Railway. Western Norway receives rainfall almost throughout the year and people said that may be in May the weather might be fine. Unfortunately it had drizzled throughout the tour.

The mountain ranges separate western Norway from the mainland and thus mainland Norway is not a victim of the westerlies!

On 25^th May morning I embarked on this tour by catching the train to Myrdal from Nationaltheatret station. This train on the Bergen Railway starts at Oslo Central(Sentral in Norwegian) station at 8-11 a.m. and comes to Nationaltheatret at about 8-15 a.m. I took the roundtrip from Oslo to Bergen via Voss (1950 NOK). This was a “regiontog” (train plying between different regions as against “lokaltog”) of NSB( Norges Statsbanner – Norwegian National Railway).

This Bergen Railway experience is considered to be one of the top 20 railway experiences in the world as it is winds its way through tunnels, snow shelter tunnels and high altitude. It is in fact Northern Europe’s highest altitude railway line.

The journey to Myrdal on this Bergen railway took about five hours (scheduled to reach Myrdal at 12.53 hours). As the train moved out of the station and picked up speed traveling past the outskirts, towns, villages, farms, forested hills and waterfalls, bigger hills with towering pine forests came into view. Towns and villages were sparse as the train attained higher and higher altitude and only few houses could be seen from the train, scattered here and there. At a number of places the train traveled above the tree line. Snow fences were in sight and at places near Finse, it was actually snowing. The Hardangerjokulen glacier could be seen at a distance at Finse station as this station is probably located on top of the Northern Europe’s biggest mountain plateau. I was advised by my Norwegian Colleagues to take a seat on the left side to get a better view and so at the time of buying the tickets, I had checked that it was a left side window seat. The kaleidoscoping landscape of greener hills to snow-clad mountains with the intermediary rocky hills and the interspersing waterfalls was a prelude to the scenic beauty of Western Norway. It was like an overture to the orchestra of the spectacular sublime fjords of Norway.

Myrdal is a remote hill station, engulfed in a mystic beauty imparted to it by fog, mist and rain and the surrounding waterfalls that flow down to the Flam valley. I heard that many fjords are near to this place too, but as I was in a hurry to catch the next train, couldn’t afford to appreciate the beauty of the place.

At Myrdal, I boarded the train for Flam. I was a bit apprehensive whether I would be able to take this train to Myrdal was late, most probably due to weather conditions and the scheduled time for this train to Flam was at 13.00 hours. But this Flam railway train was waiting on the adjacent platform.

The 55 minutes ride on this Flam railway (Flamsbanna) covers an altitude difference of 863.6 with its upper mountain station at Myrdal (865.5 meters above sea level) on the Bergen Railway and lower station at Flam (2 meters above sea level) located in the innermost corner of the beautiful Aurlandfjord, which is a tributary of the world’s second longest fjord, the Sognefjord. This railway line is one of the steepest lines on normal gauge in the world with a gradient of 1 in 18. It took 20 years for constructing this railway and was completed in 1940. As the train winds its way in and out of 20 tunnels, mountains, gorges, pastures etc. one is held captivated by the breathtaking view that this world famous railway offers.

The train stops at the gorgeous roaring Kjosfosssen waterfalls. Kjosfossen Power station is supposed to be providing electricity to Flam railway, though I am not quite sure of this.

Wherever a spectacular view can be enjoyed, the train either slows down or stops.

There are some restaurants in the small picturesque village Flam, located by the Aurlandsfjord, where I decided to eat an apple tart and drink some tea, although I had munched some blueberry muffins (which I had brought) on the way to Myrdal amidst the varied view of the steep mountains and cascading waterfalls. The next part of the journey was a boat to Gudvangen, which was scheduled at 15.10 hours.

The boat journey starts from Aurlandsfjord and after Aurland and Undredal it takes the Naeroyfjord, the narrowest fjord in Europe and now a member of the UNESCO’s famous World Heritage sites. This fjord, a branch of the Sognefjord, is encapsulated by steep mountains upto 1800 meters high.

In the ice ages, Norway was virtually covered with a thick ice sheet and movement of ice resulted in deep U shaped valleys because of the abrasion of the surrounding bedrock by the embedded sediments. Glaciers retreated at the end of last ice age and melting ice resulted in a rise of the sea level (over 100 m after last ice age) which thus inundated the valleys to form these famous fjords. These are thus long, narrow bays surrounded by steep sides and inundated by rising sea water levels.

As mentioned earlier, Sognefjord is the second longest (204 km) and the second deepest fjord (1308 meters) in the world. Scoresby Sund in Greenland is the world’s longest fjord (350 km) and Skelton inlet in Antartica is the world’s deepest fjord (1933 meters). Hardengerfjord, world’s third longest fjord (179 km), is covered in “Hardengerfjord in a Nutshell tour”.

Throughout this boat journey it was drizzling and I had to take shelter inside a glass shade on the deck. Yet sometimes, when the rains spared me, I tried to chase seagulls with my camera lens. Traveling alone, it was difficult chasing seagulls, yet being careful enough not to fall overboard. These places are where not only “Where ‘seagulls’ dare”, but tourists like I dare too!

On its way, the boat had stopped at Aurland, a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, consisting of the villages of Vangen, Flam, Undredal and Gudvangen.

Apart from the enthralling view of the fjords, typical Norwegian landscape of steep mountains, glaciers, sometimes dotted with green high altitude farmlands with some grazing goats and Norwegian villages scattered here and there seemed to have “fast forwarded” the voyage (1 hour and forty minutes) to the landing place at Gudvangen. The boat moored at Gudvangen. It was indeed very cold and clammy with an overcast sky. Occasional drizzling made me take shelter in a souvenir shop with an adjoining restaurant.

The bus, leaving Gudvangen after 5 p.m., took the steep Stalheimskleiva (road to Stalheimskleiva), one of Northern Europe’s steepest road (gradient of 1:5) with 13 steep bends. This journey through the narrow lane was really breathtaking, with charming beauty of the landscape on one hand and the frightening steepness of the narrow way imparting a feeling that the bus was on the verge of falling. This road is closed in winter from October to April for safety reasons. The striking waterfalls Stalheimsfossen and Sivlefossen wash away all the troubles and fear of the way and the bus gradually winds its way up and makes a 15 minute stop at Stalheim hotel. This Stalheim overlooks the beautiful Naeroy Valley with the surrounding snow covered mountains. The picturesque spot made me think that time stood still and it was like a Sonata of natural landscape.

The rest of the journey to Voss continued with a rivulet flowing by the side of our bus. Rain lashed on the green meadows and the distant rocky and snow-covered mountains. The sun and the clouds had decided to play a hide and seek game and streaks of sunlight made the green forests on mountain tops and the far away glaciers shine, casting a sublime hue to the changing landscape.

Nearing Voss, I noticed a gas station, but amidst the natural beauty of the forests, snow covered mountains, lakes, rivers, it looked a bit odd, yet we are now in 21^st Century and thus such things are quite natural. True, that such a scenery can boast “Men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever”. Although modern days’ moving wheels of urbanization have ruined such sceneries and the vitiated atmosphere has destroyed a lot of flora and fauna, but Norway is conscious about protecting the environment and so tourists are rewarded with such pleasures of the eye.

On reaching Voss, a lakeside winter ski village, there was hardly any time to see this city as I saw the train for Bergen waiting at the station beside the mountain. The train started at about 6 p.m. (One can check the exact timings on the internet with “ Norway Round trips” with any of the search engines).

The train reached Bergen at about 8.05 p.m. Normally there are night trains which depart Bergen at 22.58 hours and reach Oslo at 6.26 hours. However on Saturdays and on Public holidays there are no night trains. In my case it was a Saturday, so while planning the journey, I had booked a hotel near to the rail station. I managed to walk to the station, after enquiring about the directions from local people and a Finish lady in the train from Voss. After checking in at the hotel I realized how tired I was and was unable to go out for eateries, so I decided to go for the high priced buffet diner at the hotel.

Bergen is located on the south-western coast and is the second largest city. It is an important cultural centre in the region and was one of nine European cities honoured with the title European City of Culture in the year 2000. This city is also famous for being host to the large oil industry and deep sea operations. There are some Museums and the fish market (Fisketorget) is also famous. Bergen is famous for its Hanseatic harbour and the spectacular view from top of the Mount Floyen (320 meters from sea level). I had previously planned to take the funicular railway (or the Floybanen as Norwegians call it) to this place but was too tired and next morning after a breakfast in the hotel (included with the room charges) I headed for the station to catch the train at 10.20 back to Oslo. It reached Oslo sometime late afternoon after 5 p.m.

Thankfully it didn’t rain when I was in Bergen as Bergen is the warmest and the wettest city in Norway, as its annual average precipitation is 2250 mm and most of this occurs as rain.

This spectacular tour orchestrates pleasant memories and I hope that there would be an “encore” to this.

Some take the coastal voyage “Hurtigruten” which departs daily from Bergen and Kirkenes ( near Russian border). This tour crosses the arctic-circle to the North Cape, where the midnight sun can be experienced. Well, I didn’t venture to take this one all on my own and besides it was end of May and I had to return back to good old Kolkata in early June.

So came the date of departure. Early in the morning, I started for Gadermoen airport. The flight for Frankfurt was on time and I watched out the window as the plane on the runway started speeding before taking its wheels off the ground. Then I found myself leaning back to get a last view of Oslo, the city where I had managed to spend three months away from home! Well, this was possible for all my Norwegian colleagues and mostly my Indian colleagues who were then in Oslo, who really made Oslo a home away from home and without whom life would indeed be miserable on a far away land. And last but not the least, the support and encouragement that I got from my family members and friends here in Kolkata, for whom I ventured to visit all these places.

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sreechandrab.sulekha.com

Nostalgic Norway

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