Travel Flashback – Still more from the Lake Mývatn region of Iceland (2008)

February 23, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Iceland, despite its cold name, is actually the closest I’ve ever been to the scalding centre of the earth. The last part of our day in the Lake Mývatn region brought that into sharp focus, as we walked back and forth across the very place where the North American and the European continental plates collide.

Collision of the North American (left) and European (right) continental plates at Grjótagjá

This collision isn’t just theoretical: you can see the gap! At Dimmuborgir (see previous post), we were able to place one foot each in North America and Europe, as the gap was only about two feet wide. Later that day, at Grjótagjá, the gap was larger and it would take some substantial gymnastics to straddle the continents. However, you can also explore the famous caves here just below the surface. Like a couple of other places that I’ve seen recently, Grjótagjá has been used in the TV series “Game of Thrones”.

I can’t promise that you would still be able to straddle the continents at these precise locations. The continental plates are moving apart slowly but surely and the landscape is changing over time. However, tourism is quite important to this part of Iceland and I’m sure that there will still be access to the colliding continents…even if it is a little further down the road.

The Viti crater at Krafla (note people at top of far rim)

Speaking of “just down the road”, that’s also the location of the massive volcanic crater at Krafla called “Víti”. In Icelandic, “Víti” means “hell” and it is not difficult to see why that name was applied here. This is the same crater that resulted in the lava flows reaching the village of Reykjahlíð in the early 1700s. While there is a trail that goes around the rim of the crater, we did not have time to walk on it. We were at least able to ascend to the rim and take some photographs. While all this volcanic activity might be kind of scary for building anything, there is in fact a geothermal power station here…you can see some of the (above-ground) infrastructure at the top of this post and in the photo below!

On the way back from Krafla, we stopped at yet another outdoor thermal pool: the Mývatn Nature Baths at Jarðbaðshólar. This is similar to the Blue Lagoon (near Reykjavík), as you can enjoy the outdoor pool at any time of year; it’s also very close to a 3 km deep geothermal borehole.

This borehole goes 3km into the earth — This geothermal borehole goes 3km into the earth – we couldn’t get any closer because of the extreme heat

Finally, after three blog entries’ worth of sights, it was time to return to Akureyri. We loved our time in Akureyri and I’m sure that it will be the subject of a future flashback post on this blog. There won’t be many more flashbacks in the near future, however: it’s almost time to cross the Atlantic again. Be sure to check back here regularly for the whole story; I am looking forward to blogging in real time again!

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Travel Flashback – the Lake Mývatn region of Iceland (2008)

February 16, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post dealt solely with the otherworldly scenery at Námaskarð in northern Iceland. However, that was only one brief stop on an incredible day tour of the the Lake Mývatn region. We went on the tour just after our memorable day trip to the Arctic Circle on the very remote island of Grímsey and I wasn’t sure if anything else could live up to that journey. I needn’t have worried!

Goðafoss ("Waterfall of the Gods"), Bárðardalur district of Iceland — The misty Goðafoss (“Waterfall of the Gods”), Bárðardalur district of Iceland

Our first stop after leaving Akureyri was the famous Goðafoss waterfall. The name translates as “waterfall of the gods”: around the year 1000, Christianity became the official religion of Iceland and a local leader threw his statues of the Norse gods into this waterfall as a repudiation of his prior faith. The volume of water here is still immense and the mist was everywhere: the river became even more of a raging torrent as it dramatically narrowed just beyond the waterfalls. Despite all this fury, the landscape surrounding was eerily still.

Pseudocraters in Skútustaðahreppur on Lake Mývatn — Pseudocraters at Skútustaðahreppur on Lake Mývatn

After leaving Goðafoss, our next stop was (Lake) Mývatn. In Icelandic, “Mý” means “Midge” and “Vatn” means lake: this lake is apparently infested with midges in the summer. We were fortunate enough to escape any such infestation despite the sunny skies and (relatively) warm weather. The lake is characterized by “pseudocraters”, as you can see from the photo above this paragraph. A pseudocrater is volcanic in origin but it is not an actual vent for lava. Instead, pseudocraters are formed by steam explosions when flowing hot lava (from another location) crosses over a wet surface.

Lava fields at Dimmuborgir

The bizarre rock formations at Dimmuborgir are also volcanic in origin. Dimmuborgir can be translated as “dark castles”: we hiked around and through these for a while. It is hard to imagine how such a landscape could evolve from lava fields, but that is indeed how it was formed. The Mývatn pseudocraters stopped the flow of lava and created some temporary lava lakes. When the lava eventually drained from these lakes, a forest of rock pillars was left behind at Dimmuborgir.

Path through the "Dark Castles" at Dimmuborgir — Path through the “Dark Castles” at Dimmuborgir

I haven’t said much about traditional Icelandic food yet, as much of it is from the sea and we don’t eat a whole lot of seafood. However, I always enjoy interesting bread and we found some here. When Icelandic rye bread is baked by burying it in the ground near a hot spring, it is known as hverabrauð or “hot-spring-bread”. We had some for lunch in the village of Reykjahlíð: with a hearty soup, we did not need to eat for the rest of the day.

Old lava flows in the town of Reykjahlíð — Old lava flows in the village of Reykjahlíð

The village of Reykjahlíð is located right beside Mývatn and has also had to deal with lava flows. When a nearby volcano erupted in 1729, the village was destroyed by a lava stream from the eruption. However, the villagers were spared when the lava flow stopped in front of the village church. Legend has it that this was a result of the village priest’s prayers.

The photo at the top of this post was also taken from the Lake Mývatn shore: time and again in Iceland, despite the complete deforestation, we were confronted with bold and brilliant colours. It was a great place to try out my brand new digital camera!

Stay tuned for yet another post from our remarkable day trip to the Mývatn region!

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: Hveraröndor/Hverir at Námaskarð, Iceland (2008)

February 8, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I was flipping through my photos from Iceland when I came across this series of pictures from our trip to the mud cauldrons, fumaroles and boiling earth at Námaskarð. It was easy to remember why we were so impressed on our trip to Iceland!

Looking back to the pass that descends into Hverir

It was like nothing else I have seen on earth. We’d visited hot springs and geysers on our way to northern Iceland…but nothing like this. This was a full-on assault on the senses: shockingly vivid colours, offensive sulphuric odours everywhere, a complete lack of plant or animal life, the earth bubbling and belching at your feet, and steam hissing as it gets ejected from the bowels of the earth.

Actually, it doesn’t feel like “earth” at all. The area has the desolation and lifelessness of the moon, while everything else feels like the underworld…except that we saw it under blue skies and with the temperature at a comfortable 13’C. It popped up without warning, too: we had just descended through the Námaskarð mountain pass and there it was!

I’ve been to some dangerous places before but this one had a heightened element of danger. If you wandered off the marked paths or stepped over a thin rope, you could fall into the scalding earth.

That thin rope is all that stands between visitors and great harm!

I was glad that we had a wise guide to show us around the place and make sure we didn’t get into any trouble. As with many Icelanders, Siggi had some relatives in Canada and seemed genuinely happy to have some Canadians on his tour. He also had the expertise to know which bizarre substances were safe to touch: you can see him handling some warm sulphuric matter in one of these photos.

I could have taken pictures here all day; as it was, all of today’s photos were taken within about 30 minutes. Yes, this was just one of many destinations on our one-day tour of the Lake Mývatn region: I’ll be reporting on the other spectacular sites in future blogs. I think it remains the most prolific day of sightseeing that I have ever done.

Stay tuned for more from spectacular northern Iceland!

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Travel Flashback: Europe Behind the Curtain (1991)

January 31, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I recently watched “Heisser Sommer” (“Hot Summer”), the East German beach movie that took the Eastern Bloc by storm in 1968. There weren’t many Communist musicals, and even fewer that followed the American beach movie template, but this is one of them! It is a fascinating artifact from a bygone age: this link shows one of the better songs. At the same time, one cannot forget that 1968 also saw brutal repression in nearby Czechoslovakia.

I’ve since been to Eastern Europe several times, but the very first time was in 1991 when the world was still adjusting to the fall of the Iron Curtain. This was the standard post-university Eurail/backpacking/youth hostel trip before the Internet: several weeks with little else but a Eurail route map, a Hosteling International booklet showing its network of European hostels, and a “Let’s Go Europe” book to guide me. It was my first truly solo trip and I’ll probably write some more about it in the future. For now, I’ll just share a couple of my experiences from my visits to Yugoslavia and Hungary.

Post office at Sentilk, Yugoslavia (June 18, 1991) — Post office at Sentilj, Yugoslavia (June 18, 1991)

When I was in the southern Austrian city of Graz, I decided to hop a train south to the border station of Spielfield-Strasse. For reasons I can’t remember, I walked from there to the corresponding Yugoslavian border town of Sentilj. There was a reason that I felt rifles were trained on me as I crossed the border: although it wasn’t actually part of the Eastern Bloc, Yugoslavia was about to enter a brutal civil war that would result in the partitioning of the country. Only 6 days after, there were deaths at this very same border and Slovenia would declare its independence. Accordingly, the picture at the top of this post is probably one of the very last photos of the “Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” sign at the Austrian/Yugoslavian border.

Tanks being deported from Tata, Hungary (June 22, 1991)

I didn’t do much in Sentilj, as I needed to walk back to Spielfeld-Strasse and catch a train back to Graz that afternoon. I did, however, send a bunch of postcards from Sentilj’s ancient post office; I made note of the fact that Marshal Tito’s picture still gazed paternally from the post office wall. I also bought some Yugoslavian chocolate in an attempt to get rid of my leftover Yugoslavian dinars.

Gödöllői utca 13: this is where I stayed in Budapest (June 24, 1991) — Gödöllői utca: this is where I stayed in Budapest (June 24, 1991)

From Graz, I spent some time in Vienna before taking a train to Budapest, Hungary. Along the way, I saw a freight train carrying dozens of Soviet tanks that were apparently on their way back east. The arrival in Budapest was chaotic, as dozens of newly capitalistic Hungarians rushed onto the train to convince passengers to stay in their homes. I pretended that I had already made arrangements and escaped the steamy train. At a comfortable distance from the chaos of the train, a more restrained and seemingly trustworthy fellow offered a room for $5.00 per night (including tram tickets).

Poster for an upcoming Beatles cover band concert (Budapest, Hungary - June 24, 1991) — Poster for an upcoming Beatles tribute concert (Budapest, Hungary – June 24, 1991)

Upon arrival at his relatively suburban house, I discovered that the room was shared: the first night’s roommate was from Hong Kong while the next two nights saw a chain-smoking Russian share my space. Although it wasn’t what I had envisioned, it was still a safe place to stay.

Street leading to the main BUdapest railway station (Budapest Keleti pályaudvar); June 22, 1991 — Street leading to the main Budapest railway station (Keleti pályaudvar); June 22, 1991

While the Iron Curtain had fallen, Hungary was still very much in a state of transition to an open economy. Prices were incredibly low but I also remember ordering a “cucumber salad” in a restaurant: it consisted solely of a single pickle sliced into 4 quarters. Although the restaurant was practically empty, there was still a very large (and bored) contingent of formally-dressed waiters who seemed rather annoyed that I had shown up. Outside, you could still see the beauty of Budapest – it was just obscured by what seemed like decades of gray dust. Nonetheless, I still had some great experiences in Hungary (including a Paul Simon concert!) and was happy to return in 2014 to this proud and much-changed country.

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Uppsala and Squeaky Cheese (2012/2016)

January 22, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Our 2012 trip to Scandinavia started off with 2 nights in Uppsala. Although it’s the 4th largest city in Sweden, it only has about 140,000 inhabitants. We chose it because it was close to the Stockholm airport and it looked like a good place to acclimatize for our upcoming journey into the former Soviet republic of Estonia. As our return flight was also departing from Stockholm, we thought we’d defer spending time in the capital until we returned from the east.

Bees at Uppsala's Botanical Gardens — Bees at Uppsala’s Botanical Gardens

Everything about Uppsala was pleasant: the parks, the streets, the historical sites and the university (founded in 1477 and Scandinavia’s oldest centre of higher learning). As we had hoped, it was easy to get into the European rhythm. We did some very mundane things to start: we went to a local mall to buy shorts, as it was warmer than we had anticipated and I had also forgotten to bring shorts with me. As a result, I remain the proud owner of Swedish “pirate shorts”: a little longer than usual but still comfortable on a hot summer’s day.

Uppsala's Cathedral up close — Uppsala Cathedral up close

We shed our jet lag with leisurely visits to Uppsala Castle, the adjacent Botanical Garden (both pictured at the top of this post), and the Domkyrka (Uppsala Cathedral). The Cathedral goes back to the 13th century and dominates the skyline of the small city. While I wouldn’t say that Uppsala has a lot of bucket list sights, we enjoyed wandering around the city and soaking in the academic vibe. We both thought it would be a great place to attend university, should we ever decide to pursue further studies!

Uppsala Cathedral at a more sensible distance

I was prompted to write about Sweden today because I decided to try a Scandinavian cheese called Juustoleipa (in Finnish) or Ostbrod (in Swedish) for lunch. The name translates as “bread cheese” and it’s described on the package as a “buttery-flavoured flat and squeaky cheese”. I found it at our neighbourhood supermarket, among the other specialty cheeses.

Frying up some Juuhtopapesi — Frying up some Juustoleipa at base camp!

To make Juustoleipa, you just heat it in a skillet for four minutes on each side. The end result is quite similar to fried halloumi with hints of mozzarella and the texture of cheese curd. It was warm throughout with a bread-like crust on the outside. While the instructions recommended serving it with jam, honey or syrup, we went with plain fresh croissants instead. It was delicious; I look forward to trying it again with something sweet. Speaking of sweet Swedish food, that is my favourite culinary memory of Uppsala: we enjoyed terrific crepes al fresco at a charming downtown cafe.

This post was delayed a bit because of some photo uploading challenges, although everything seems to be sorted out now. In the meantime, we were able to take care of immunizations and some logistical planning for our summer journey to the southern hemisphere. This is one of my favourite parts of travel planning: seeing everything slowly fall into place and realizing that “yes, this is actually going to happen!” We’re really going to see three new countries!

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Ottawa in a Blizzard

January 12, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post talked about our trip to the Supreme Court of Canada, but that wasn’t the only national site we visited on December 29. We also braved the snows to take a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint.

The Royal Canadian Mint actually has two locations now. The original facility in Ottawa now produces only special commemorative and investment coins, while the newer facility in Winnipeg now handles the minting of the standard everyday coinage. The upside of this is that you get to see some seriously valuable metal in Ottawa, as virtually everything is made of silver or gold. It also produces specialty items, such as the medals awarded during the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2015 Pan-Am Games.

Security Gate outside the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa

After the tour, we were able to lift a gold bar worth about $680,000.00. It is securely attached and under the watchful eyes of two security guards; it is also a lot heavier than you’d expect! The tour is not long but it is also not that expensive; however, you do need to sign up in advance so that you are able to go through the guard post at the entrance to the facility. Unfortunately, no photographs are permitted during the tour itself.

Bank Street in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood — Bank Street in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood

As we had both previously been on tours of the Parliament Buildings, we weren’t too disappointed to find out that the day’s tours were already fully booked by the time we got there. You can only get tickets on the day of the tour; as a result, there are often line-ups first thing in the morning and all of the day’s tickets were gone by 10:30 a.m. If the timing works for us, we will try to take one of these tours the next time we are in Ottawa.

Inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa

That evening, we went to a family-run Persian restaurant called “Saffron” in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood. It was not fancy but we really enjoyed the food. They were very accommodating and even suggested that my wife order something that was not on the menu.

The previous day, we spent an entire afternoon at the Canadian War Museum. It is huge: there are 4 separate halls plus a large temporary exhibit area: we were there for about three hours and only saw the “Cold War” hall and the temporary exhibit on Women in War.

Odd device from the National War Museum in Ottawa — Electropsychometer (Lie Detector) from the National War Museum in Ottawa

The Cold War hall focused naturally on the period between World War II and the early 1990s. It is strange to walk through a museum and see things that you actually remember being part of your own life: for us, seeing the small display of “Cold War music videos from the 1980s” was especially poignant as we remember when these songs and videos first came out.

A piece of the Berlin Wall at the War Museum. This is the side that faced West Berlin; there was nothing on the side facing East Berlin

I spent some time at the Cold War Simulator, watching the two “best guesses” of how a conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact might have unfolded. Even though these were only simulations, it was still very scary to see a desperate, last-ditch use of chemical weapons followed by a single retaliatory nuclear strike.

My next major trip is now less than 2 months away; I’ve been very busy with finalizing those arrangements and doing the “macro planning” for this summer’s southern hemisphere journey. Stay tuned for more on those trips and some more travel flashbacks!

Posts from the road

The Supreme Court of Canada

January 4, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

One of the fun experiences during our December getaway to Ottawa was a guided tour of the Supreme Court of Canada. As a lawyer, of course, this was the ultimate career-related tour for me. Other than a visit to the Federal Court of Appeal (housed in the same building) twenty years ago as a law student with one of my professors, I had never been to the Supreme Court.

You cannot just show up for guided Supreme Court tours but it is possible to book them online. Perhaps because of the raging and long-awaited blizzard on December 29, our tour consisted of just the two of us and our guide. I think he enjoyed providing a bit more detail than he would normally provide to non-lawyers.

A closer look at the Supreme Court of Canada – this is a colour photograph!

The building looks very severe from the outside (see snowy photo at the top of this blog – it’s also a colour photograph!), reflecting the rationality that is necessarily part of the Supreme Court’s role. Despite a huge foyer and impressive staircases, the Supreme Court courtroom is actually not that large. I have been in larger local courtrooms, although not quite as plush. Of course, the Supreme Court does not require space for jurors or witnesses: proceedings here are appeals from lower courts and do not require new testimony. The appeals are relatively technical and free from the unpredictability of live witnesses.

Main foyer of the Supreme Court of Canada - the stairs lead to the main courtroom; you can also see the formal judge's robe at the bottom left — Main foyer of the Supreme Court of Canada – the stairs lead to the main courtroom; you can also see the formal judge’s robe at the bottom left

Even in front of one judge, presenting legal arguments can be somewhat intimidating. Imagine presenting to a panel of 9 judges! I stood at the lectern and was surprised by how close the judges would be in “real life”. While some hearings are handled by “only” 5 or 7 judges, a lawyer at the Supreme Court is still trying to make very precise and subtle arguments to a lot of very brilliant minds. Their time is very valuable and you cannot waste it with irrelevancies. Not only that, but they are also able to communicate with each other during the course of the hearing. Yes, they have “chat” capability on their computers! This allows them to focus even more on the most important issues.

Inside the Supreme Court! The judges sit in the 9 chairs facing the camera; the lawyer arguing stands at the lectern near the bottom left

We also spent some time in the Federal Court of Appeal, where a panel is typically composed of three judges. This portion of the tour is a little more informal and tour participants can even be photographed on the judges’ bench wearing supplied “judge robes” (which were, in this case, identical to my own legal robes). We decided to take advantage of the opportunity!

Renegade panel of judges at the Federal Court of Appeal

You do not need to be on a guided tour to observe proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada. It is possible to just show up and watch: even these highest levels of our court system are open to the public, subject to spectator capacity, security checks and respectful behaviour. Hearings are also streamed over the Internet. However, unlike trials with live witnesses, the Supreme Court drama lies in the intellectual challenge and the broader impacts of the decisions on society.

My next blog entry will have more on our wintry trip to Ottawa!

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More buckets!

December 27, 2015 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I decided to look back at what I was writing at this time last year, when I had just finished my year of (almost) constant travel. I must admit that I really enjoyed reading my post about the Top 5 “Wow” Moments of 2014 and I invite you to take a look at it.

A summer evening's view of Bergen, Norway from the top of the Fløibanen funicular — A summer evening’s view of Bergen, Norway from the top of the Fløibanen funicular

Other than a very quick trip to France, most of my 2015 travel was in Canada. As a result, my passport is well-rested and looking forward to more of a workout in 2016. I previously mentioned that I would be skiing in the Via Lattea (“Milky Way”) region of Italy this winter; I have since added some other sightseeing nearby and am keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.

However, there will be a bigger trip during the summer of 2016: this time, it will incorporate at least two and maybe even three countries in the Southern Hemisphere that I’ve never visited before! We are really excited about this one…it includes a couple of bucket list items that have been kicking around for a very long time. After my tremendously enjoyable visit to Peru, I knew it was only a matter of time before I crossed the Equator again.

The Olympic ski-jumping facilities in Lillehammer, Norway

Of course, it is impossible to do everything that you want to do. Even in 2014, when I had a great deal of flexibility, there were some things that just didn’t happen despite my best efforts. Here’s a brief list of missed experiences from that year:

1. Memphis, U.S.A. I had great plans for this trip, including visits to Graceland, Sun Records, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Unfortunately, my flight out of Chicago was cancelled due to a rare southern ice storm and I ended up spending the time in Chicago instead. I really enjoyed Chicago but still want to get to Memphis someday.

Costumed Interpreters at the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo, Norway

2. Day trip to Albania. The hostel in Kotor, Montenegro, advertised day trips to the mysterious country of Albania. This was a very insular place during the Cold War years and I really hoped to take a look. However, there was not enough demand to offer the trip and I ended up visiting Durmitor National Park in northern Montenegro instead.

3. Climbing Croagh Patrick. This distinctive mountain just outside of Westport, Ireland, was clearly visible from my B&B. It was calling to me and I really wanted to climb it. Alas, the allotted day was plagued by a “fine Irish mist” and it would have been a miserable exercise. I had to move on to Northern Ireland the next day.

The Norwegian Glacier Museum in Mundal (Fjærland), Norway

4. Wadlopen in the Netherlands. The ancient northern Netherlands sport of wadlopen (“mudwalking”) also was calling to me. I even went as far as renting the requisite boots. Alas, the walking conditions were nasty on the day of the hike. We still enjoyed a great day on the island of Schiermonnikoog and, after seeing some pictures of how messy wadlopen really is, I don’t really regret missing out on the mud.

Kjosfossen waterfall near Myrdal, Norway

5. Waterfall Rappelling in Costa Rica. This “adrenaline” experience looked like it would have been a lot of fun. Alas, my injured shoulder was at its worst when I visited Costa Rica and I didn’t want to undertake anything risky with one useless arm. As with wadlopen, however, I found a substitute activity that might even have been better!

As a tribute to Santa Claus and the North Pole, today’s pictures are all previously unposted photographs from the nearby northern nation of Norway. Stay tuned – the next post will be from the road!

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback – Cultural Sights in Oslo (2010)

December 20, 2015 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

There is more to Oslo than the sporting thrills described in my previous post. We found a lot of cultural sights as well, many of them located on the Bygdøy peninsula. While we took a bus to get back from Bygdøy to downtown Oslo afterwards, it was more fun to take a ferry there and feel like we were escaping urban life.

Our first stop was the Norwegian Folk Museum (Norsk Folkemuseum) a 35-acre outdoor complex including more than 150 buildings brought from all over Norway. From grass-roofed farm buildings and old stave churches to cobblestoned villages and recreations of 20th century apartments, every conceivable aspect of Norwegian life over the past 1000 years was on display here. There were costumed guides and farm animals too – I’ve included the pig photo as they just looked so happy!

Stave church from 1212, re-assembled at the Norwegian Folk Museum

We found the more recent displays on 20th century living to be especially interesting, as they were just modern enough to look familiar but still different enough to show how much things have changed in a relatively short period of time. Although we could have spent the entire day here, there were more Bygdøy sights to be seen. First up was the Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskiphuset).

Not-too-distant Norwegian past: the early 20th-century on display at the Norwegian Folk Museum

The Viking Ship Museum is not huge, nor does it have very many items on display. However, the well-preserved pair of ships from the 9th and 10th centuries are extremely impressive. Seeing these elegant but nonetheless lightweight boats, particularly after our experience sailing off the northern coast of Iceland, reinforced our immense respect for the bravery of the maritime Vikings.

From the Viking Ship Museum, it was a short walk to the Maritime Museum, the Fram Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum, all focusing on Norway’s seafaring history. We skipped the Maritime Museum but were glad that we had enough time to visit the other two.

The Fram Museum (Frammuseet) is essentially just a shell hosting the 125-foot Fram boat used by famous Norwegian explorers Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen to travel farther into the Arctic and Antarctic oceans than anyone else had done. We could climb and explore all over this famous ship; while fascinating (they had a piano!), it also reinforced how lonely, cold and confined these journeys must have been. Indeed, it was difficult to take any worthwhile photos, given the cramped quarters inside.

Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki Raft — Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki Raft

Claustrophobia was the least of Thor Heyerdahl’s worries when he sailed the Kon-Tiki raft from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. Built entirely out of materials that would have been available to early South Americans (and using only tools and techniques available to them), the idea was to show that these ancient people could have settled Polynesia. As with the Viking ships from more than 1000 years ago, you will have immense respect for Mr. Heyerdahl and his crew once you see the lightness of the balsa-wood raft…even if the ancient Peruvians probably didn’t make such a journey themselves.

Centrepiece of Vigeland Park, Oslo — Gustav Vigeland’s Monolith at Frogner Park, Oslo

We ended our cultural day with a walk around Oslo’s Frogner Park, a 75-acre city park whose 192 sculpture groups represent the “life statement” of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The photo at the top of this post shows the centrepiece of the park, including the writhing Monolith that you see just above this paragraph. While visitor impressions of the sculptures (especially the Monolith) range from fascination to being totally creeped out, the park remains a massive and well-used safe place in the heart of the city.

Hopefully, this account of one day in Oslo gives an idea of how many cultural sights there are in Oslo…and I haven’t even talked about “The Scream” yet!

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Travel Flashback: Exciting Oslo! (2010)

December 12, 2015 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Today’s flashback takes us to Oslo, Norway. In English, the name of this city is probably the least exciting of the northern European capitals. After visiting Bergen and the mighty fjords, we anticipated seeing a few major sights and then moving on to somewhere in Sweden or southern Norway with a better travel reputation. Oslo’s legendarily high costs also weighed heavily on our minds. Surely, we wouldn’t spend the entire remaining week of our vacation there?

But a funny thing happened on the way to somewhere else: Oslo grew on us!

View from the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway

The high costs were partially offset by the saving grace of Scandinavian tourism: because business travel basically shuts down during the summer, Oslo’s better hotels all compete mightily for the modest number of tourists that find their way to the city. The result: 4-star hotels at (almost) bargain prices. The unforgettable (and included) smorgasbord breakfasts remain the same year-round, so we were able to skip lunch most days…as long as we treated ourselves to some hitherto unheralded Norwegian gelato in the early afternoon!

View of the Holmenkollen ski jump from the "take-off" point — View of the Holmenkollen ski jump from the “take-off” point

Norwegians are sports-crazy and it is only fitting that two of our favourite Oslo experiences were sports-related…and yes, very exciting! The first was a journey to the legendary Holmenkollen ski jump facility (also known as Holmenkollbakken) in the northern part of the city. The Norwegians excel at ski jumping and this facility is the Mecca of ski jumping in Norway. The ski jumping events at the 1952 Winter Olympics were held here and it has continued to host prestigious meets ever since.

Looking down the still-under-construction Holmenkollen ski jump

When we visited Holmenkollen, the structure was in the process of a complete rebuild. Nonetheless, we could still go to the top and look down from the top of the ski jump. I’ll cut to the chase: if you think flying off a ski jump is crazy, don’t go to the top of a ski jump and look down. It looks even crazier, with a steep, narrow path ending in absolute nothingness and seemingly certain death. It is definitely scary, even for someone who has spent on awful lot of time on skis.

The facility also has a ski museum that traces the development of skiing from its earliest cross-country roots to modern day alpine skiing, ski jumping and freestyle skiing. For a kitschy bonus, I decided to take a ride on the alpine skiing simulator set up there. Along with a handful of strangers, I got to experience a World Cup ski race…complete with chattering ice and every other unnerving effect you can imagine.

The skiing simulator in action - I'm inside and in the process of being horrified — The skiing simulator in action – I’m inside and in the process of being terrified

I once experienced a scary radar-gun-verified speed of 85 km/h on skis on a controlled slope in Switzerland and, after seeing a colleague take a bad spill at roughly that speed, it was something I resolved to never try again. However, that uneasy feeling was nothing compared to this terrifying simulation at roughly twice that speed. Ski racing is just as crazy as ski jumping!

The other sports experience in Oslo was seeing a professional soccer game at Ullevaal Stadion, home ground for Oslo’s legendary Vålerenga soccer team (wearing blue, in the photo at the top of this post) . As with our visit to an international match in Stockholm two years later, we had a great time at the game itself and really felt like we had experienced a “real” aspect of life in Oslo. There were few tourists here!

Vålerenga fans show their colours before the game

It was great to see a lot of goals, as Vålerenga romped to an 8-1 victory over IK Start from Kristiansand. Despite the one-sided result, fans of both teams were boisterous but well-behaved. We’ll never forget the fans from Kristiansand singing on the subway out to the game! We were also impressed with Vålerenga’s appreciation for their supporters. As with Feyenoord in the Netherlands, jersey #12 is reserved for the Vålerenga fans as the “12th player” and the players diligently saluted their fans when the game was over.

Vålerenga salutes their fans after an easy 8-1 victory

While these sporting expeditions were memorable, there is plenty more to see and do in Oslo. Stay tuned for details!

Pierre Vanderhout's Travel Blog

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