Last Stop Oslo......

Finally back on line after several days wifi free......

We drove from Fagernes to Oslo for the last stay of our visit to Norway. During the drive, (about 3 hours), we reflected on the various animals that are depicted on road signs. The commonest sign warns against the mighty Moose, with warning signs liberally spread along every highway and by-way. The signs also show the number of up-coming kilometres in which you are likely to encounter them. Needless to say, we saw hide nor hair of any of them. There were a couple of moose tours advertised in places we stopped, with marketing statements like, "there is a good chance to see moose" but only if you pay us half of your monthly salary in advance, so we chose to remain moose virgins.

The other warning signs included deer, (fairly prevalent), reindeer, (only on the high country), cows, sheep or sometimes cows and sheep combined (and these were seen in various parts). Other signs warned of horses, horses and riders, children, (watch out for kids on roller skis rocketing across zebra crossings) and finally just before reaching Oslo, a sign warning us of Hen!

I have to confess though, that Hen is a town, not a dangerous, road beastie.

The only encounters with wild things on our so far had been a dead badger in Sweden and various birds such as the ubiqitous Pied Wagtails, (rare in Britain but everywhere in Scandinavia), Magpies, Jackdaws and the (very) occasional Raven. It was good to know that Odin was keeping an eye on us though.
Finally, at last, we encountered a living, wild thing, (other than a bird), when a red squirrel scurried across the road in front of us and leapt up a tree. I almost passed out with excitement! Iris continued knitting.

On then to Oslo and our campsite, (the only one near the city), centred in a huge area of playing fields and recreational areas. These were mainly football pitches but there was a horse riding area, mountain bike trails and a minigolf. We played 18 holes and with the aid of what I could only describe as liberal interpretation of the rules by a certain Scouser, after which we agreed a draw, (or all square if that's the correct terminology). The same Scouse managed a hole-in-one by nefarious means too and took her opportunity to gloat (and gloat and gloat).

During our walk back to the campsite we chanced upon a very strange event, (for Oslo), a cricket game:

 

The game was an official league game, (apparently, there are 56 teams in two divisions in Oslo), between the fielding team comprised of mainly Pakistani players, (but which included one Australian and two Norwegians) and the batting side who were totally Sri Lankan in origin. I had a nice chat with the Sri lankan wicketkeeper, although things threatened to turn nasty when he mentioned that New Zealand had just been beaten by Zimbabwe. The best part of the bit that I watched was seeing the token Aussie drop two catches in quick succession. I was unable to resist a couple of ribald comments such as "hard luck old chap", (or more correctly, "you useless Aussie git").

 

Shortly after leaving the match, (as I had to make tea for she who must be fed and watered), I checked the weather forecast for Oslo. The cricket players had offended the weather gods as always and steady rain started after our tea.

 

The forecast for Oslo was good and was in "real time" (note 7.42pm on the forecast):

 

 

 Whereas the actual weather was like this:

 

 

And it rained solidly for the next 10 hours, with the result that the campsite resembled the Mato Grosso sans trees.

 

The weather had cleared by 0900 the next day so we had a sojourn into Oslo for the day. First stop was the Munch Museum where there was a joint exhibition of Munch and van Goch that was intended to show the similarities between the two artists both in their development as artists and their finished works. There were also paintings by Monet, Toulouse L'Autrec and other well known 19th and early 20th century artists thrown in. I would have dearly loved to rob the place as there were so many treasures on display.

 

To my untrained eye, apart from the fact that Munch/van Goch occasionally shared titles for their paintings and both men suffered badly from depression during their lives, their paintings lacked any similarity at all. The exhibition was very well done but cameras were not allowed, so no photos for the blog, (there was an armed guard every 5 metres holding a machete, with instructions to sever the hand holding a camera at the wrist, if caught in use).

 

We both loved "Starry Night" by van Goch, it was absolutely fascinating and mesmerising,  (Munch's "Starry Night" was, to use an artistic term, a mess of blobs), and I was very attracted to "Jealousy" by Munch. One of the many versions of the Scream was there, but not a really good one. A self-portrait by van Goch also stood out for me as it really captured his mental anguish and torture. It looked like his head was exploding (and that could also have resulted in a mess of blobs).

 

We then walked around Oslo for a while at cross purposes. I was trying to locate Iris' favourite coffee bar from a previous visit to Oslo, whilst she thought we were looking for the Art and Design museum. We found neither and after lunch at a substitute coffee place, we moved on through the main shopping centre, a tram trip to a completely unintended suburb (and back) and thence to the Norwegian Resistance Museum, that is located in the Akershus Fortress next to the harbour.

 

This museum was a very old-fashioned presentation of Norway's experiences during the Nazi occupation from 1941-45 but it was really interesting despite that. The whole display was very pro-British and anti-German. This bias recalled a conversation that we had with two Norwegians in Kent who, when I asked them about a memorial to the crew of Tirpitz in Tromso, (where one of them came from), deflected the question and simply said "we don't really like Germans".

 

 

Several things stood out from the Resistance Museum:

 



 

Quisling, the Norwegian Nazi, used Norway's 1814 constitution to justify removing Jews from Norway, as the constitution prohibited their presence in the country. It doesn't seem possible that a supposedly enlightened country could write such a thing into their constitution as recently as 200 years ago.

 

 

This map showed the number of concentration camps in Germany or German occupied zones during the second world war. The white dots were camps where Norwegians were sent. I had no idea of the scale and number of these camps until I saw this map. Most of the camps weren't death camps like Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen, (which we passed close to when driving through Germany) but were camps where people were worked or starved to death. The end result being quite similar however.

 

The next day we left the campsite heading for Sweden. I couldn't resist one last photo of the national animal:

 

 

 Parking forbidden, even for the Norwegian Moose!

 

We then left the country via the motorway south but stopped briefly at the border town of Moss to spend all our Norwegian Krone in the supermarket there. Only to discover that we had entered the Hotel California. We parked in a rear carpark, (no moose around) and went in to do our shop. We could not then get out. We wandered round floors, up escalators, down stairs, came to street doors (locked) and in doing so discovered that what had seemed like a small collection of 5-6 shops when we entered, covered several town blocks linked by bridges over streets and a system of tunnels, (god they love their tunnels in Norway). At one point we found an outside door and got out to the street but after walking round the complete block, discovered that it was not the one adjacent to our car park. So back in and try again, until eventually we got out through a coffee bar to freedom, our motorhome and Sweden.

 

Having got to Sweden we then repeated the same exercise as Moss by deciding that we would have a look in an IKEA store, as neither of us had visited one before. This place was enormous on the inside and tiny on the outside, a la Tardis. The concept used by IKEA is that the only way out after entering, is by following the arrows illuminated in the floor. This seems a reasonable concept at first until you realise that these direct you through every display and room in the shopping centre before you end up in a vast warehouse to collect the several tonnes of goods and appliances that you have, (supposedly), bought. Then, having spent several weeks and untold calories in your search, you need to spend some time in the IKEA restaurant, followed by doing your weekly grocery shop in the IKEA supermarket. And only then can you proceed past the cashier with your goods, (which in our case were a non-stick spatula and a plastic box for Iris to rest her feet on in the van). I also stole an IKEA pencil as a souvenir, (they give you these to write down your wish list on wish paper).

 

After IKEA it was a short drive to a very nice camp on the edge of the North Sea. The check in procedures were very laid back here, so laid back in fact, that it was the day after tomorrow when they were completed.

 

Next to our camp in Sweden.