Poscht ausm Wilden Weschtn

Hiking the classic Aurlandsdalen trail in Western Norway was more beautiful, but also more painful than expected, First, i was lucky with the weather: after a week of heavy rain in Oslo and other parts of the country (including the Hardangervidda Plateau, where the trailhead in Finse is located) the weather brightened up just in time for the weekend. On Friday afternoon I walked around sunny Youngstorget in Oslo, and bought some last supplies in the pedestrian zone of Torgsgata: a new headlamp, some trekking food, oil for waterproofing my leather boots, and a good hiking map of the region at the DNT office.. In the evening, after I had packed my backpack, I found out there was no metro early on Saturday morning that would bring me to Oslo Central Station in time to catch my 6.25 train to Finse. So my hike started earlier than expected: i had to leave my apartment at 5.20 a.m., walk 40 minutes to Majorstuen, and take the first train (6:07 according to the Ruter brochure) to Osl...

In my last posting I gave you a virtual tour through the most remarkable drawings of Norwegian landscapes & scenery. Now it's time to see the real thing! After i received the rest of my camping equipment last weekend (thanks to my parents & girlfriend, who made effective use of their free onboard luggage capacities) it is finally time to hit the trail and head out into the wilderness! Norway has vast possibilities when it comes to hiking, but since the summer season is rather short in the mountaineous areas, my range of options was fairly limited - at least of those regions which I had familiarized myself with and taken into consideration. The peaks of popular Jotunheimen NP or Rondane NP can already be snowy and cold in late September (given their latitude and elevation) and what the vast Hardangervidda Plateau between Oslo and Bergen lacks in high summits, it more than makes up with treacherous snowstorms and sudden winter outbursts as early as September (2 Scottish ...

Vergangenes Wochenende waren meine Eltern und meine Freundin zu Besuch, und nachdem wir am Freitag im Rahmen der "Kulturnatt Oslo" ( eine Art Tag, oder besser gesagt Nacht der offenen Tür zahlreicher Kultureinrichtungen der Stadt) alle 326 Stufen bis aufs Dach des Rathauses geklettert waren, und am Samstag eine (mehr als gewollt) abenteuerliche Fahrradtour durch die Nordmarka unernommen hatten, beschlossen wir es am Sonntag ruhiger anzugehen und uns 2 Museen anzusehen - die Nationalgallerie ( Nasjonalgalleriet ) und das Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst und Design ( Kunstindustrimuseet ). Letzteres unterhielt gerade eine Ausstellung über Vinyl Cover Art  (also Kunst auf Schallplattenhüllen) die mich interessierte, aber das Highlight des Tages war zweifelsohne die Hauptausstellung der Nationalgallerie! Sie trägt den Namen "The Dance of Life" und enthält eine chronologische Sammlung von Kunstwerken von der Antike bis 1950, mit einem Schwerpunkt auf norwegischer Maler...

I've been meaning to write about this for a while now: the ways in which Norway often reminds me of the United States, or more precisely the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Whether it's red brick buildings piercing cloudy silver-grey skies, the lush green of trees & lawns due to high amounts of precipitation, or just the way they pack & sell their bread here, and the types of products and  brands you find on supermarket shelves (I've never seen "Hellman's Mayonnaise" being sold anywhere in Austria)... not to mention the amount of flannel shirts or lumbersexual hipster beards that you see on the streets, which I'd say is neither coincidental nor the result of a globalized trend - geographically speaking, these two regions have a lot in common and thrived on the same industries in the past (fishing, lumber, railroads). And many a Northwesterner in the US might actually be of Norwegian descent - after all, 750.000 Norwegians escaped hardship ...