There are about 5 million or so Norwegians in the world. Most of them are probably in Norway!
The famous Notre Dame football coach, Knute Rockne, was from Voss Norway. You may have also heard of Peter Bang & Svend Olufsen, who produced audio products starting in 1925.
Norway is known to be an athletic nation competing in both summer and winter Olympics. The people are proud, intelligent, funny and friendly. This sign was posted along a small arena.
I have visited Norway twice in my life: once solo in 1979, and in 2019 with my wife, Kathie. When the sun is out, you can’t beat Norway!
Both visits began in Oslo, the capital. Since 1979, the place has grown tremendously. We stayed in one of the largest hotels in Oslo this past time: The Radisson. We like this chain as the hotels are comfortable and have superb breakfasts.
The view from our 36th floor room was outstanding.
I loved the pool area near the top floor.
It was a nice surprise going to the main foyer and finding this display, July 4th, 2019.
We walked by the very busy waterfront. In 1979, I remember purchasing cooked “shrimp” from the boat. It was not one of my favorite meals.
The waterfront now has a number of cafe’s and packed with tourists in the summer.
The twin towers in the background I do recognize from 1979.
Like in 1979, I took Kathie to their famous Viking Museum. There are a number of longships and plenty of artifacts. It is one of my favorite museums. I regretfully have to relate that I did purchase a good size poster of this famous ship pictured in 1979. I lost it along my travels that summer.
Unlike 1979, we did manage to see the Kon-Tiki Museum in walking distance of the Viking Museum. As some of you know, Kon-Tike was large raft made of balsa logs. The raft in 1947 floated 101 days across the Pacific from Peru to Raroia . The expedition was led by Thor Heyerdahl.
The expedition proved that people could have floated to or from South America.
We walked along a narrow river from our hotel to a food hall. The river was just big enough to fit these kayakers.
We have come across a number of food halls in our European travels: London, Lisbon and Amsterdam. The Oslo food hall was just as inviting. We met an Italian chef who married a Norwegian woman.
One day Kathie and I trekked across town. There are a number of interesting neighborhoods filled with interesting murals and sculptures.
On another day we trekked to Oslo’s famous Vigeland Park. It is the largest park filled with sculptures done by one person: Gustav Vigeland. There are 212 granite, bronze and cast-iron sculptures.
One of the most recognizable statues is of the “Angry Boy.”
Women, particularly, have a difficult time keeping their hands off this statue.
The Palace was not far away.
On that trek we came across our first robotic lawnmower.
As the line into the Palace was long, we decided to walk around the Palace and came across this pleasant guard.
We took a tram to get to Oslo’s famous Holmenkollbakken (yes, 16 letters) Ski Jump. This arena holds 70,000 people and is the home to a number of World Cup events. The old sky jump was used for 1952 Olympics.
The views are indeed majestic.
