Today we ventured out with a locale guide, Agnes, to see some of the top sights. Agnes was born and raised in Oslo and has served as a guide for more than 20 years. Our hotel is located just two blocks from the main street. It is cold and windy.
Oslo Town Center
Central Oslo Cathedral
The Participants In The Aurora Borealis Expedition: Kendal, Sue, Roselie, Andre
Oslo, founded in 1049 (at the end of the Viking period), is just slightly smaller than San Francisco and about the same size as Zurich. In fact, it reminded us of Zurich with its cobblestone streets, trams, and buses throughout. It is super-clean and free of street people except for the occasional Romanian Gypsy selling magazines, entertaining with an accordion, displaying ice sculptures, or begging for change. They were allowed entry on temporary 3 month visas, are monitored, and must leave when their visas expire.
Norway’s Parliament At Night
All expressways, throughways, and highways are underground in the main part of the city. Consequently, surface traffic consists of very few cars, taxis, and an occasional delivery trucks. The pedestrians rule – except when in a bus or a tram lane.
Oslo Main Train Station
National Theatre
Our walking tour started along the main street, with the royal palace on one end, passing by the parliament building, and ending at the main train station at the other end. We also passed by the cathedral and the original fire station. Historically, the country is predominantly Lutheran. However, the churches are mostly empty – there is rarely any mention of God or religious art work.
Bar Code Office Complex
The city has endured many catastrophic events over the centuries. Originally it was built, burned, and rebuilt several times with wood. In the 1600’s, following the complete destruction of Oslo by fire, the king dictated that the city be rebuilt, but only with brick and stone. The more devastating event was the Black Death, in the 1350’s. About 70% of Oslo’s population died, including the monarchy. In fact, the whole nation and most of Europe suffered similarly fates. As a result, the country was so weak that Denmark came to the ‘rescue’ by providing aid and protection. This good neighbor act evolved into the ultimate annexation and control of the country. Norway had no government, no monarchy, and no military force.
During the Napoleonic war years – 1803-1815, Sweden initially took on the cloak of neutrality. Britain, fearing Napoleon’s advance to the north, convinced Sweden to help fight his advancing army. In exchange, Britain committed to ‘give’ Norway [still part of Denmark] to Sweden. When Napoleon was defeated, the bully Britain, just took Norway from a weak Denmark and gave it to Sweden. Subsequently Sweden ruled Norway for several centuries, with Copenhagen as the capital.
Finally in the early 1900’s, Sweden and Norway, in a very civilized and benign manner, both agreed to dissolve the union. Norway became an independent country. One problem remained: they had no monarchy but wanted one. So the Norwegians asked a Danish prince, who had married a British woman, to start the new lineage of Norwegian royalty. The family remains the monarchy to this day. Just like many other countries with monarchies, they have no power but instead are more like an accessory that renders the home or a dress more attractive. It’s all about good ceremony.
Norwegian National Opera
Our next stop was the fabulous Norwegian National Opera House & Ballet. Architecturally, it is striking – as noteworthy as the opera house in Sydney, Australia. From a distance the roof appears to be sheets of ice that have collided and stacked up over each other. We could walk all over the roof, as you can see in the enclosed photos. Inside, the use of wood as modern, fluid walls, reach several stories high and are spectacular.
Walking The Roof Of The National Opera
It’s All Downhill On The Roof
Opera House
Inside Of Opera House
Akershus Fortress
Proceeding to walk along the water front, we passed through the 13th century Akershus Fortress built to defend the city from attacks by a Norwegian nobleman. The fortress was enhanced several times over the centuries. The fort also afforded a great view of another architectural gem, the Astrup Fearnley Modern Art Museum that opened in 2012. We did not have time, but hope to see it next week when we return to Oslo for two more days.
Astrup Fearnley Museum Of Modern Art
The final stop on our tour was City Hall that was completed in 1950. It was started in 1931, but delayed by WWII, and built using only Norwegian originated materials. It is the official host for the annual Nobel Peace Prize awards. All the other Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel was very specific in defining that a five-person committee of Norwegians shall select the winner, and that it be awarded in Oslo. The list of American winners includes Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Al Gore, and Barack Obama, among others.
Oslo City Hall – Host Of The Nobel Peace Prize
City Hall’s Central Hall
After a typical Norwegian lunch (only 2 stars), we used the local bus to the Viking Ship Museum. The museum displayed three burial ships. After lengthy use, some Viking ships were used as burial ships for important men and women. The wooden ships, laden with the body (or bodies) of important people, food, animals, jewelry, weapons, and rich tapestry for their final journey, were buried in clay graves. The clay was a great preservative, but could not deter looters from removing key and valuable items. The lack of any record keeping and the work of looters has largely prevented us from understanding the Viking period.
Viking Burial Ship
Spending time with Agnes, we learned several interesting things, which put in perspective the current drama in the USA:
On the topic of immigration, the first major wave occurred in the 1970’s after Norway recruited/encouraged people to immigrate. Norway needed a large workforce to support infrastructure construction financed by the newly discovered oil and gas fields. The largest group came from Pakistan and settled in an enclave – their choice – in Oslo. They worked to ensure their children could acquire a good education. Many achieved high degrees. Now into the third generation, the enclave is diffusing rapidly, and entropy is at work. This is similar to what happened in the USA as Irish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, and Japanese groups settled in concentrated clusters around some of our cities. Most clusters or neighborhoods have dissolved. Where is the Italian section of San Francisco? This life cycle of accepting large groups who settle in concentrated areas for security and cultural preservation purposes, naturally begin to dissolve over the next one or two generations, until they are completely absorbed by the adjacent cultures. This results in our becoming the ‘melting pot’ of people – admired by the rest of the world. Obviously stress points develop depending on whether the immigrant groups are the result of an invitation (Norway), or pseudo-invasion driven by economics or war in their native countries (Syria).
The current advocacy of building a wall between Mexico and the USA is lunacy at its peak, and is a perfect example of failed leadership, failed understanding of driving forces, and lack of any strategic foresight. On one hand there is a need for a labor force in the USA that current residents cannot or are unwilling to fill. Who is going to pick strawberries and other crops from the fields? Many US farmers have tried to hire citizens, by raising salaries, or providing benefits, only to discover that people cannot or will not do the work. Many other countries accept the need, and then create a guest worker program that allows control, security, and availability without the need to offer permanent residency. At the end of a day, a week, or perhaps a season, they return home to their native country. Such a civilized way of dealing with the issue!
The current wave of imposed immigration is from the Middle East. Most that enter Norway come to Oslo. The government has provided support: converting unused hospitals and schools into apartments or dormitories, renting summer cottages from citizens to assign to immigrant families, renting spare hotel rooms, providing orientation and language classes, and more – all at the government’s The only complaints seem to be coming from some of the educated or wealthier refugees. Some feel the government is not providing quality facilities. Say what? There is some tension. The value systems of the two cultures are far apart. The positioning and treatment of women is one example: the incoming wave considers women as property – but I won’t go down this path – there isn’t enough space or time to describe it. Cultural integration is the real, hard work that must be done. It is NOT the sole responsibility of the hosting country or culture to accept and adapt to the immigrant’s culture. It IS the responsibility of the immigrating party to adapt and connect with the host culture and laws. My stepfather made this very clear when we immigrated to Canada and subsequently to the USA. We had to adapt and adjust to the country we were in. If we didn’t like it, then we should return to Switzerland. The language at home was to be English, our behaviors and adherence to laws and cultural norms had to be the same as our new country. I still remember my first Halloween. What a great event.
While overall crime is increasing, it has not spiked because of the refugees, as some right-wing-nuts claim. Yes, the new refugees are 2-3 times more likely to commit a crime, but proportionately it is not significant to the overall crime rate committed by Norwegians. The refugees and their culture ‘own’ the responsibility to manage their culture gap to bring the probability of crime in line (or better) with the Norwegians. Most Norwegians are not alarmed by immigrant crime, but are focused on drug related crimes of their citizens.
After the discovery of oil and gas in 1970, the government decided to invest this windfall of wealth by building up Norwegian infrastructure, and improving their people’s lives with national programs like universal health care. After 20 years of infrastructure building, they had completed all major projects, and could now move forward at lower rate of building. They decided to save the government money and to hold it for some future day, when oil may run out, or when the world no longer has need- in other words saving for a ‘rainy day.’ Well, the rainy day is here. The price of oil has dropped dramatically, no longer providing the historical cash flow. But they are not worried… they expected it to come and they are prepared. Because of the huge bank account, the unemployment rate has increase just slight from close to 0% to 4.8%. They believe this is a temporary phenomena that will be dealt with as the economy shifts slightly to other areas. They trust the government – very strategic thinking and behavior. Unfortunately we can’t say that about our current national environment. Need I say more? Our government representatives cannot think beyond their personal financial interest and are consumed with just running for and winning their next election – mostly paid for and sponsored by private financial interests.
As we were checking out of our hotel, waiting for our taxi to the airport, we talked with the young man at the reception desk. He was born and lives in Oslo – in his mid 20’s. He is very proud of his countrymen and the governing bodies. There is mutual respect. He knows and acknowledges that the government provides a great life, and he is happy to pay high taxes for it. Oslo is expensive, and thus requires both parents to work. He knows that some rich people get richer – and he is ok with that and does not carry a grudge. The average person has enough, with government programs to live a delightful, rich life. It was obvious that he was well informed about what was happening in the USA. He loves Bernie Sanders. So we talked about the election of a new president. He cannot believe what Trump and the other clowns (my label, not his) say and do. He is shocked. We offered that we are deeply embarrassed and ashamed of our state of governing. He simple answered, “Yes, you should be ashamed,” with a smile and understanding. Enough said.
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