Where The Hell is Ian?: Halfway Somewhere

I am slightly past the halfway point of my 43-day Europe sojourn. Somehow, the feeling of being on the downward slope is palpable even though I know it's ridiculous to think in terms of having "only" three weeks left or "only" five countries to go. Part of it is probably having the rest of the time mostly planned out as opposed to the yawning gulf of time I had when I set out; I find that time compresses when it has to conform to a schedule. Other than that, I suppose human psychology just loves milestones.

Tonight is my last night in Oslo. Tomorrow I'm off to Gotherburg, then Copenhagen etc. The Upcoming Tour Dates have been updated to reflect the latest plans.

I am excited to have booked a daylight night scuba dive for my time in Iceland. It is between two continental plates in some of the clearest water in the world. Being able to see a hundred meters or more will be a far cry from my 0-1m visibility training dives in Seattle, and all far water that's only slightly colder!

Oslo: 27 - 30 July

I arrived in Oslo Sunday evening and was met by my friend Sarah at the train station. Sarah is a friend from Grinnell; she and her Norwegian husband Nikolai have been kind enough to have me on their couch. They also started my Nordic culinary journey by feeding me Wasa hard bread topped salmon caviar (from a tube) and cheese. It was delicious

Oslo Fjord from Sarah & Nikolai's

Oslo Fjord from the Opera House

On Monday, Sarah and I went sightseeing in downtown Oslo: the palace and the changing of the guard, the National Theatre, and the Parliament Building are all along a main pedestrian thoroughfare. Plenty of buskers were at hand, with my favorite being a few Roma men playing authentic gypsy jazz. Then, we climbed up the Opera House to see the view.

Oslo Opera House from the fjord

Completing the tourist checklist we visited Frogner Park, famous for its Vigeland sculptures. One could easily spend hours picking out all of the details on so many sculptures. Several of my favorites didn't photograph well at all; no angle captured enough of the sculpture for it to make much impact. Perhaps that's the mark of a good sculpture--if 3D artwork is adequately captured in a 2D medium, then perhaps the art is not taking full advantage of its medium.

A rare moment in front of the camera.

Each gate was a unique work.

Poor attempt at capturing my favorite

A small dinner party with friends and games completed my first day in Oslo.

Brunost

Tuesday was a day of rest and planning the next leg of my journey. In the evening we took a five minute ferry ride and barbecued on the island of Hovedøya. The island is forested, rural, and even has sheep. Having it so accessible from downtown--the ferry uses the same passes as the metro--provides an easy contrast to urban life. We got to grill amongst canons overlooking the harbor and take full advantage of having warm sunshine until 9pm. My food explorations continued with brown cheese. I'm told it's a polarizing topic, but I adored it.

Sarah and her friend Matt

Wednesday was largely a visit to the Norwegian Folkmuseum. Buildings of different ages have been relocated there from all over Norway. There were farmhouses and a church over 600 years old, a whole traditional 17th century village square, an 18th century merchant house, some schoolhouses that would be at home in the American pioneer days, and bits of Oslo's urban center including an apartment building and a pharmacy. In our afternoon there we saw maybe half of the buildings on site. Some days the place is swarming with people in traditional dress populating the buildings, much like an authentic Disneyland. We did get to see some folk dancing, but the place was quiet for our visit.

The church made interesting use of space. Not as tall or as grand as even a modest younger church, it nevertheless managed to inspire a sense of awe. Stepping through the doors--tall and narrow, framed by intricate carvings--was almost an act of faith because nothing could be seen past them after the bright daylight. The church has no windows, so it is slowly revealed as the pupils adjust, but it still seems to continue up forever with the ceiling shrouded in darkness.

I continued my food exploration with lefse and a smørbrød (open sandwich) covered in butter, scrambled eggs, and salmon. Notably, the cafe gave me free refills of coffee. That's the first time I've had free refills of anything in Europe. The coffee was terrible, but I had two cups on principle.