Leading Life: Norvège

On Friday, July 3rd I left Marseille for Oslo, Norway. In 2008, while in Costa Rica, I became friends with a Norwegian girl and have since maintained email contact. Well, she just happened to be in France a couple of weeks back, so we met in Avignon and I showed her and her friend around. She said that if I ever wanted to come to Norway, I have a free place to stay. So, I bought the tickets. Norway is not a member of the European Union and still maintains its’ own currency, the Norwegian Crown (Kroner). It is the home of the Midnight sun during the summer (in the northernmost half), the most vivid sights of the Aurora Borealis during the winter, and Nordkapp, Europe’s northernmost point. Oslo is a city of about 500,000 people and is the fourth most expensive city in the world and is an important port with a great history. I would be staying in downtown Oslo for two days before traveling an hour and a half north to Kolbu, where I would stay until my flight back to France on July 8th .
I arrived in Norway the night of July 3rd at an airport named “Oslo Torp”. What I failed to realize is that when they named this airport “Oslo Torp”, they really meant “Nowhere near Oslo”. I took a bus to meet Tina downtown. After twenty minutes in, I noticed a sign saying “Oslo – 120 kms”. It was then I realized why my tickets were very cheap. After a two hour bus ride (an hour of it probably spent in tunnels) I ended up downtown safely. The next day we pretty much walked all the way around Oslo. I visited the home of the King and Queen of Norway (pretty much like the queen of England, just a country figure), visited the historical port of Oslo, the Oslo Opera House, and an overview of the entire city. The city is beautiful, and is very spread out. The transit system in the city was flawless, with a mix of buses, trams, and subways, making it easy to access any part of the city quickly. The city was also very multicultural, and is a popular attraction for tourists of all parts of the world. The common language used is English, as Norwegians take English every year of school, making the majority of the country fluent in English. However, it is still respectful to try to pick up at least a little Norwegian while there. The exchange rate for the Norwegian Crown is approximately 9 Crowns to one Euro. The average sandwich cost about 60 Crowns, or about €6.50 to give you an idea. Oslo has very beautiful architecture, with few buildings taller than five or six stories. The people (at least those I met), are very nice and very interested in your visit to Oslo. They share tips and locations on seeing the city and all share a sense of pride in their country (more noticeable than most). Overall, my two days in Oslo were great, and the city was quite exciting.
After two days in Oslo, we headed to Tina’s family’s house in the small town of Kolbu. If you want an idea of what Norway looks like, let me help you. Imagine rolling hills and scattered lakes, now put every shade of green possible on and around everything. Norway is by far the greenest country I have ever seen and the care put into the fields is great. I can understand why environmentalists and “tree-huggers” enjoy trips to this country. Kolbu is very much farm country, with tractors driving on the roads and fields surrounding the area. Her family was great, all speaking English of course (making me feel a little bad), they were eager to tell me about their area. On a side note, Tina’s mom, Heidi, lived in the United States for a while in the 80s. When I asked where, she responded with the town of Conway, SC, which is the town where I was born (small world?). On another note, Kolbu lies at a longitude of 61° North (Juno, Alaska is 58° North), meaning that in the summer, the sun sets very late and rises very early. For example, the first day was the only very clear day I had, and the sun set around 11, just to rise again between 2 and 3 am. Also, it never really got completely dark. Even during the night, the sun being not far out of sight provided a light, well enough to not have to turn lights on in the house to read. If I would have driven just a couple hours north, I would have reached a point where the sun never sets during the summer months.
The nearest large town, Gjøvik, is a very historical city and very significant in this part of Norway. While visiting Gjøvik, I visited the sight of the 1994 winter Olympics. For the Olympics, Norway constructed the “Olympiske Fjellhall”, the world’s largest underground cavern in the side of a mountain in Gjøvik. With a full arena and complex underground system (including swimming pools), it was quite impressive. Also in Gjøvik, the “Skibladner”, the world oldest working steamship does voyages in the nearby lake, Norway’s largest lake. We made sure to visit that as well, and chat with the captain of course. Also in Gjøvik, we visited a famous glassblowing site, which specializes in their very rare “blue glass”, well-known from that area. I got to witness the entire process, which is extremely intricate.
Overall, the countryside of Norway struck me as a very peaceful, untouched area that was full of culture. Sheep in the fields, moose crossing roads (although I didn’t see any), and the overall innocence of the place made it a great place to visit and I would recommend it to anyone. I know that if I ever get the chance, I will definitely return to Norway for a road trip to Nordkapp to see the Northern Lights. I really enjoyed staying with a family that could tell me anything and everything about the area, and provide me with some great food! For example, typical Norwegian meatcakes (believe me, they are better than they sound), Norwegian pancakes, and of course Norwegian brown cheese, all of which was amazing. Oslo was also gorgeous, and I will make sure to provide as many pictures below as possible without putting too much on the page (for loading reasons).
Before flying to Oslo, I spent the day visiting Marseille, where I flew out of in the evening. Marseille now marks as one of my favorite cities, or at least the first impressions make it so. I, however, locked my camera in a locker in the train station and did not have it with me during my tour of the city. My friends whom I was with took plenty of pictures, and I will wait to write about it until I have swapped pictures with them.

The "Skibladner"