NORWAY WITH THE NATIVES
The guide stands with an axe in his hands.
He takes a swing at a log on the chopping
block. Only it's not a log.
It's dried fish, the basis of Norway's food
chain. Yeah, the stuff is hard as wood. "A
good assault weapon," one local quips.
Slivers are handed around. Fish jerky. Not
bad. It's not the first surprise for me here.
Hurtigruten's cruise on the Millennium Class
MS Trollfjord up Norway's coast is not so
much a boat trip as it is a chance to see
another culture ... to travel with the locals,
to meet the people of the land. And, oh yes,
to nibble their food.
It doesn't hurt that you are in the same
"hotel" for seven days, spared
the hassle of incessant packing and unpacking
while the world passes by your nose.
We started in Bergen, with its rich history
of the Hanseatic League (a Middle Ages German
trade guild that controlled everything),
its wonderful museums, its narrow alleys
with centuries-old wood buildings, its even
more wonderful fish market full of smoked
salmon and cod but better yet, of cheap caviar.
And we ended far north of the Arctic Circle,
having sailed through fjords so narrow, you
could touch the rock walls from our not exactly
small cruise ship, having met the native
Samis, having visited incredible churches
of sculpted stone and soaring stained glass
windows, and having bounced in a tiny rubber
boat on the edge of the "bottomless"
whirlpool described in Jules Verne's "Journey
to the Center of the Earth."
You get the idea I really love Norway. And
yes, it's tempting to consider moving there.
The way they do things just makes sense.
And wow, are they all TALL. Even the women
are over 6 feet. You should see what a jet
full of locals look like on SAS.
Meanwhile.....
HERE ARE A FEW THINGS WE BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW
ABOUT NORWAY
1. Norway's strawberries and carrots, grown
on postage stamp lots in the fjords are famous
throughout Europe for being super sweet.
It is a combination of cold to shock the
plants into producing extra sugar and lots
of sunlight in summer. Do NOT miss fresh
Norwegian fruit.
2. Winter is a great time to visit. The weather
is actually drier then, the skies are clear,
the northern lights are fantastic and along
the coast, the temperatures are mild. Even
at its darkest, there is light ... a dreamy
blue that is starlight and moonlight reflected
off the snow.
3. Norwegians eat more pizza per capita than
any other people on Earth, which you'll soon
discover when you sniff your way through
the city centers of Bergen and Oslo. Meanwhile,
The tiny arctic town of Stordal, population
1,000, makes and exports frozen pizza and
as a result, the unemployment rate is zero.
4. Virtually all Norwegians speak English.
They study it from Grade 4 on.
5. The Sami people are not Norwegians. They
are related to Finns, Hungarians ... and
Koreans ... with round faces, high cheekbones,
dark hair and slightly slanted eyes. They
have their own non-Viking history going back
thousands of years and today also have their
own parliament. Okay, and their tents are
like teepees, which makes you wonder about
a connection with American natives.
6. Vikings never wore hats with horns. Credit
this myth to Wagner's Valkyrie opera. Nor
did they "bury" their dead by sending
burning ships to sea. We've got a Kirk Douglas
movie to thank for that.
7. The Polar Circle marker is actually either
300 yards or 1.2 miles south of the real
circle (depending on who you read) but it
remains where it is because this spot is
more photogenic. The North Cape, at 71.10.21
North (a mere 1,255 miles from the North
Pole, by the way), isn't Europe's northernmost
point. The real north point is around another
cove and can only be reached by a LOT of
hiking. But, hey, the North Cape has Europe's
northernmost gift shop, post office ... and
flush toilet.
8. We're not normally a fan of cruise ships
but honestly, the best way to see the most
stuff in Norway (and without going broke
too fast) is by cruise ship. Hurtigruten
has been ferrying the locals and their cargo
up and down the coast since 1893 and it's
closer in spirit to the Alaskan Marine Ferry
than NCL.
USEFUL LINKS
For everything Norway: www.visitnorway.com/us
For Hurtigruten Cruises: www.hurtigruten.us
For Oslo: www.visitoslo.com