Adventures in Norway, the most expensive place on Earth!

Recently my friend Monica visited and we decided to travel to Norway because it is so close. It is also very expensive, and Oslo is often regarded as the most expensive city in the world. Us being two broke college kids had no chance of staying on a budget in such a place, so we charged everything to our parents' credit cards. (Sorry Mom.) Sweden is expensive, but if Scandinavia were casual dining establishments, Norway would be the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and Sweden would be the IHOP. (Denmark would be Chili's, in between.)

Oslo is very picturesque. (Literally, I took lots of pictures.) It is on a fjord, surrounded by mountains, which makes for a very dramatic setting. We were there on a very warm and clear day, and could even see the Olympic ski-jump tower in Lillehammer. It isn't as historic as Stockholm, and there is not as much notable architecture, but the views of the city are beautiful.

 

The view of the fjord is incredible, it looks like the end of the Earth. While it was sunny when we were there, the above photos were taken around noon, although they look like sunrise.

Oslo is a conundrum, while it is an incredible wealthy city, it's difficult to see any of it on display. Oil wealth has made Norway fabulously rich - it's the only Western country to run a budget surplus during the recession, and it's national pension fund is the largest in the world. However, it is difficult to see any of that wealth in day to day life.

One of the first things I noticed about Norway was how dirty it is. There is actual filth on the streets - cigarette butts, bottles, food wrappers - which is never seen in Stockholm. There is extensive graffiti in the city, some political, others just tags. The neighborhood where our hostel was located was an odd place. It was apparently home to the Kurdish community and it was mostly comprised of downmarket wig shops. Poverty was visible. However, this is to be expected in a city that is one-quarter immigrant.

So just how expensive was it? A beer in a bar would usually cost $8. A mixed drink $12 - 15. Lunch would cost around $15 - 20, and dinner + $20. And with minimal exceptions we were trying to do everything as cheaply as possible. I had heard very negative things about Norwegian food, so I was pleasantly surprised by the food there. While we never ate any traditional Norwegian cuisine, we did have delicious Thai and American food while we were there. Strangely, there is a considerable amount of nostalgia for retro Americana in Oslo. We ate at the historic Teddy's Soft Bar, which is a fifties style juke joint. They served American food like Chili beans and bacon, which was life affirmingly good. They even had genuine rockabilly patrons, including the reincarnation of Kim Novak. Throughout the city there were many 1950s American style cafes, which is interesting for a country that never experienced that culture firsthand. I don't know if it's appropriate to fetishize the 1950s without considering the pain and turmoil the Civil Rights movement and the Sexual Revolution experienced in the 1960s. They did not entirely ignore the 1960s, we did go to a 60's style Tiki bar that was very Gilligan's Island. Even the bartender's name was Ginger, and she was from Hawaii!

Overall, Oslo was much cooler than I expected it to be. Sweden, and especially Stockholm get a reputation for being hip, but I think Oslo is more interesting. Stockholm is elegant but conformist, while Oslo is messy and weird. There were real sub-cultures, like the rockabillies, or the hippies and stoners. I was surprised by how different Oslo felt from Sweden, and while I've never been there, it's what I imagine Vancouver to be like.

As I prepare to leave Sweden this weekend, I will try to write once more about my last times in Sweden, including a visit to Gothenburg.

God Jul!

 

This year I spent Christmas away from home for the first time. Instead of returning to Canada, I spent the holidays with my friend Fennia in western Sweden. I did miss some Canadian and family traditions, for instance they don't show all the same Christmas specials here (No Rudolph, No Christmas Story, No Christmas episode of the Flintstones even!) Sweden does have its own Christmas viewing traditions though, and I watched Kalle Anka, or "Karl Duck" which is what they call Donald Duck here. He is arguably more popular than Mickey Mouse (or Musse Pygg "Energetic Mouse"). A lot of the clips on Kalle Anka were familiar from my childhood though, which was a nice touch. 

It was extremely snowy in Vastgotland, the area where I stayed. I heard that Toronto only received a little snow, but there were several feet of snow in Sweden, and more has continued to fall. Above is the guest house I stayed in at my friend's farm. 

 

Sweden is sometimes regarded as the least religious country in the world, but Christmas is still enormously important. It's mostly celebrated in a secular way, about cultural traditions rather than Jesus. I did attend a Christmas morning service for the first time in life. The service was in Swedish, so I didn't understand too much, but it was an interesting mix of old Sweden (The building was hundreds of years old, lit only by candles) with new (The minister was female and instead of telling the traditional story of Jesus' birth, she told a story about Astrid Lindgren.) 

 

While the weather was incredibly cold during Christmas (-15 celsius) it was relatively sunny. I think that Vastgotland is perhaps the most beautiful part of Sweden I've been to. Unlike the South, which is extremely flat, Vastgotland has hills and forests, and looks like what I imagined Sweden would look like. The architecture in the area is also very traditional and Nordic. 

These were some of the shortest days of the year, and this picture was taken shortly before noon. The sun just doesn't get any higher in the sky than this.

My favorite part of Christmas in Sweden was the food. For the Christmas julbord we had julskinka (Ham), turkey, meatballs (which I helped to make), herring, cheese, two kinds of sausage, mashed potatoes, and Jonssons frestelse, which I used to hate but it's now my favorite. It's a potato gratin with anchovy, and is a very strange and interesting flavor. 

Above is a symbol of Sweden's large and influential Jewish community, so powerful that every house displays a menorah in each window! Either they are menorahs or a Swedish Christmas candelabra, but it's funny to see something that would be identified very differently in North America. 

 

My friend lives on a pig farm, one that raises piglets. I had the chance to see the farm firsthand, which was alternately horrifying and delightful. Seeing the pregnant sows was somewhat horrifying. I was surprised at how large they were, although many were friendly and curious to see me. Also horrifying was the smells, a collection of some of the worst odors I've ever experienced. Each room in the pig farm smelled bad in a different way, according to the particular combination of urine, feces and pigs located there. The worst was the room where sick piglets were quarantined, which was such a noxious smell I had a vertigo sensation. After an hour though I couldn't really notice the smell anymore, and I was surprised by how strongly the smell clung to me and my clothes after I left.

The piglets themselves were very cute. They were shy of people, and scattered when we came. They mostly just nurse from their mothers or pile under the heat lamp. Interestingly, the piglets themselves don't smell bad, they smell rather like babies do. The piglets are very soft as well. The above piglet was a feisty one, and quite the screamer. The piglets varied in color, most pink but others gray, black or a combination of all three. Piglets are undoubtedly cute, but seeing them live first hand and what they grow up to become kills some of the cute piglet fantasy. They are livestock, not pets.

Seeing the piglets did not make me any more squeamish towards meat. Farming is not always pleasant, but seeing livestock in the flesh strips any romantic notions of pastoral farm animals. Farming is an industry now, and the animals are its products. The pigs leave brief, but not terrible lives, before they end up as food for us. The very same day I saw the piglets, I ate ham from a pig-shaped platter. I don't feel bad about eating pigs, they would probably do the same to us if given the chance.