Crikey, it's August already!

...well, I'm back in the UK where internet is cheaper (read: FREE in the local library), so will now backdate this blog. For those of you who were wondering what I've been up to, read on. For those of you who weren't wondering what I've been up to, well, I guess you can always surf on to another site. Try the links down the side. :)

After leaving Flekkeroy (there is no key on British keyboards for that cool Norwegian O with a line through it), I arrived back in Oslo. Right, that's as far as I got last blog. So here goes...


WEDNESDAY 13 JULY

I spent this day at Vigelandsparken in Oslo. This park was designed by famous sculptor Gustav? Vigeland, and it's filled with many different statues of life-size human figures at various stages of life, doing lots of different things. I took some cool pictures, and will soon put them up here for you all to see. After seeing them, I lay in the sun for a couple hours, waking up when the trees' shadows stretched over me and made it cooler. Then I moved and snoozed for another hour or so in the sun, moving out of the park when the shadows once again reached me.

Back at the hostel, I met two new guys who were staying in my room. Both from Colombia, they were working and living in Madrid, and spending a week travelling around Norway. Their names were Henry and Freddy, and we had a great time conversing in my little Spanish and their little English. A lot of help was provided by Freddy's English-Spanish/Spanish-English dictionary, when neither of us could think of the words. At around midnight, we went out the front of the hostel and I played guitar for a bit. Freddy was a Clapton fan, but I only know "Lay Down Sally". Moving on in my repertoire (in a folder I carry with me), I found they did know quite a few Cranberries songs, so they were able to join in with "Just My Imagination" and "Dreams".

I got to bed around 1 or 2am, which was a bit silly, cause my flight the next day was for 7:30... meaning I needed a 5:24 bus...

THURSDAY 14 JULY

Woke up at 5:30, grabbed my bags, ran out of the hostel, caught the 5:54 bus. Got to the airport in good time, and checked in for my flight to Tromso.

I arrived in Tromso a little after 9 in the morning. At over 69 degrees north, it's almost two hours flying time north of Oslo. To put that in perspective, it's approximately the same distance from Oslo as Rome is. It's four days' sailing from Bergen. If you have a sailboat, which I don't. So I flew.

I caught a bus into town, and after a change of buses, found the campsite in Tromsdalen, across the sound (and a high bridge) from Tromso itself, which is on an island, Tromsoya. Even campsites are expensive (not by Norwegian standards, but on conversion to Aussie dollars), but they gave me a discount since I was staying a whole week, and then I went off to set up my tent in the rain, and then have a sleep.

FRIDAY 15 JULY

On Friday I visited Tromso Domkirke, the town's cathedral, and the world's northernmost Protestant cathedral. I also visited the Polarmuseet, which had very interesting exhibits on Nansen and Amundsen (who left from Tromso on their Arctic adventures). Also an interesting exhibit on Arctic hunting, including a display where the mannequin is about to club a cute baby seal. Hmmmmm.

SATURDAY 16 JULY

On Saturday I went to the Tromso Museum, which is open till 8pm every night in summer.

That sentence reminded me - the use of the word "till" in English. You may or may not realise that a lot of our English words are from Saxon, a Germanic/Danish language derived from Old Norse. Back in the days of William the Bastard of Normandy (so called because his daddy the Duke didn't marry his mummy the maid), who later conquered the Saxons in 1066 and gained a much nicer epithet, the Saxons, Norse and Danes could basically talk their own languages but still understand each other. Nowadays the linguistic differences and divergence is quite more pronounced... but written Norwegian is still almost readable for me. Back to my point. In modern Norwegian, the word "til" means "to", in the sense of "Jeg reise til Oslo" (I travel to Oslo) or "konserter fra kl. 2330 til kl.2400" (the concert is from 11:30pm to midnight). But in English, we use "until" or "til" only in the time sense, not the distance sense. Interesting. Back to the story.

The Tromso Museum was very interesting, and I was there for almost three hours. There were displays on Sami culture, and a very interesting room on the Sami history and politics through the 70s, with interactive screens where you could listen to interviews with various people of Northern Norway, on their thoughts of the 70s political movements, and the Sami language, and other related things.

SUNDAY 17 JULY

MONDAY 18 JULY

This day I visited the world's northernmost brewery - Mack's. The Olhallen pub owned by the brewery is the oldest pub in Tromso. The guided tour of the brewery was interesting. As well as producing lots of varieties of beer (new recipes every year, as well as having seasonal ranges - their summer beer of 2004 won the 2004 Best Beer Award or something), they are also the world's northernmost producer and bottler of Coca-Cola. According to Coca-Cola (so our guide said), they've also got some of the best-tasting Coke.

After the tour, which was conducted in Norwegian and English (for the benefit of myself and a Hungarian tourist), we went downstairs to the pub for our complimentary half-litre. The lady who'd guided us round the brewery recommended a 50-50 blend of the draught beer with the bottled dark beer, so that's what David (the Hungarian) and I opted for. We got chatting, about travels, about Hungarian, Finnish, the Norwegian word for "cheers", the Hungarian word for "cheers" (I've forgotten it now, but I had a lot of trouble pronouncing it)... etc. Then David and I caught a bus across town to check out the world's northernmost Botanical Gardens, which are open 24 hours a day, and showcase only Arctic and Alpine plants. After all, they're the only ones that'll grow this far north. :)

Back in town, David headed back for his hotel, as he was heading off to the Lofoten Islands in the morning. I wandered through town, wondering if I'd splurge and eat a restaurant meal. After all, in Tromso, I should eat some local speciality, or seafood, or something. So I went into a restaurant, and ordered a steak. WHALE steak. It was darker than beef, but tasted similar to beef. Well, beef from a cow that's spent its life soaking in salt-water. There was a slight watery/salty hint or aftertaste. It tasted great, and was served with some vegetables, couscous and a curry sauce. Washed down with a beer from Mack's. Excellent - I highly recommend whale steak. If you can buy it without getting a lecture from Greenpeace... :)

TUESDAY 19 JULY



WEDNESDAY 20 JULY

In the afternoon, I recharged my Turistkort on the bus, paying for another 24 hours, knowing that there was a local bus route that went past the airport during the week.

THURSDAY 21 JULY

I had my bags packed and tent all packed up by noon. Ate a small lunch, and then caught a bus into town, using my turistkort. My flight wasn't till 7:30pm, and my bus pass didn't run out until around 4pm, so I sat by the docks as the fishermen sold their fresh prawns, and wrote eight postcards to family and friends back home. These I kept in my bag - postage in Norway is so expensive, I would post them from the UK when I returned. (Note: these were posted in the first week of August)

This blog will be edited later, and updated... there are a few gaps, and I only have so much time on this computer.

Still to come on euroglenn.blogspot.com... U2 in Oslo!