Author: Grubb

Post by Grubb. In 1360 a guild of German merchants, the Hansa, created an overseas office in Bergen. These merchants, the renowned Hanseatic League, dominated trade between north-east and north-west Europe for the next couple of hundred years.  The area where they had their offices in Bergen, the Bryggen, has retained the original architecture from that…

Post by Grubb. Ella’s frustration mounted yesterday when, on our trek back to the AirBnb I elected, once again, to choose the path that zigzagged uphill instead of just using the stairs. Today, descending from the upper reaches of Bergen, the switchback route was designed to meet my meandering needs.  

Post by Grubb. While our train was slowing to a stop at Voss Station (way back on Saturday), I drew Ella’s attention to a hang-glider in a red rig that was swirling way too fast for a safe landing.  The lake at the bottom of the Voss valley warms up during the day and the thermals…

Post by Grubb Mythological creature come to life, or Internet monster?  

Post by Grubb. This morning we took the Fløibanen funicular up Fløyen Mountain overlooking Bergen.  We joined a scattered group of Indian tourists on a terrace that provided  a view of bayside Bergen.   Then we took a path into the woods and paid heed to the warning signs. In our search for the “Troll garden” we saw…

Post by Grubb Bergen is known for being a university town.  Most of the college is centered in the heart of the city so the streets have the rushabout clamorous energy that students bring with them.  Yesterday, after we checked  in at our AirBnb, we walked down to the docks to mingle with the Saturday afternoon strollers and…

Post by Grubb. I saw this poster outside a theater in Oslo. It’s for Ibsen’s play, “Enemy of the People.” It opens in June at Oslo’s Nye Theater. Nothing unusual about any of that, but I was struck by the play being advertised with a photo of a woman hold a baby. Then I checked…

Post by Grubb. The bane of any travel enterprise is, of course, other travelers clustering in groups.  They can gather in front masterpieces, squeeze you off the sidewalk, or storm the restaurant you’ve been considering, so we’ve learned to dodge the sudden visitor swarm by doing a dart and slide dance with the occasional spin.  Call it…

Post by Grubb. Walking by the Oslo Cathedral it’s easy to miss the Devil of Oslo, a nine-hundred year old stone relief on the corner of the building depicting a man attacked on both sides by a lion and a dragon.

There’s the raft that fights the elements for five-thousand miles, then there’s the raft that is a floating sauna drifting around the Oslo bay.   Knut would say, “There you go.  Fixation becomes relaxation.  Karl Ové can get all gnarled up with anxiety, but that’s progress.”

Post by Grubb. We popped into the National Museum today for a couple of hours.  The modern design exhibit was overwhelming.  Furniture, appliances, cutlery, you name it, they had the Scandinavian prototype in mint condition.  After that it was hard to absorb Chinese porcelain throughout the ages, or decorative German tankards.  But there was a large, somberly lighted room…

Post by Grubb. Cities have their symbols.  Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Rome, the coliseum, New York, the Statue of Liberty, Albuquerque, the car without a license plate.  In Oslo, from what I’ve seen this last week, it has to be the hammer.  First there was Ibsen’s grave.  Then, just today alone, I ran across these variations. And these…

Post by Grubb. This morning on our Oslo ramble we came across a small square where little bronze figurines were crammed into even smaller squares.  It was hard not to trip over them. Artist: Korean American Do Ho Suh. 

Post by Grubb In Albuquerque you’re getting about nine hours of darkness at night starting around 8:35 PM.  Here, in Oslo, night shades its way to an unconvincing black around 10:30 PM giving us six hours of darkness.  I find I’m  falling asleep later and later.  Then I wake up when it’s light outside and find that it is…