Quote of the Day

Mater artium necessitas
[Necessity is the mother of invention]
- Latin proverb

Gudbrandsjuvet

Gudbrandsjuvet (Gudbrand is a Norwegian male name, a "juv" is a ravine) is yet another tourist attraction I had no idea existed. It's along county road 63, one of several National Tourist Roads in Norway.

The main fall isn't all that spectacular.


And the main stream is almost hidden from view (the reason the pic looks a bit fuzzy is because of the mist from the water spray).


The bridge spanning the ravine is from 1919.


There are several bizarre holes and rifts in the mountain walls along the ravine.


The river Valldøla as it disappears from view. The river has plenty of salmon for the discerning fisherman.

More west coast pics

Just south of Molde there is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean called Langfjorden (The Long Fjord). Here, there's a ferry connection over to the other side. I believe the only alternative is to drive an hour or two around the fjord. I can't remember how much the ferry ride cost, but you can be reasonably certain that the price was 1) exorbitant and 2) heavily subsidized, in this case by the county. Anyways, these brief sailings provide the discerning tourist (me) with plenty options for photographic loot, which is still free, thank fuck.

This was the sight that greeted me when I drove up to the ferry place. Wail.


I used the wait to take some more landscape pics; this is the view back out towards the open sea.


The main route southeast, which I didn't take this time.


The little village on the other side of the strait.

The Atlantic Road

The Atlantic Road is a 5 miles (8 km) stretch of road on the midwestern coast of Norway. It begins in Kristiansund and stretches west, roughly along the coast and connects several islands with the mainland (such as it is in those parts). It's windswept out there but also quite purdy and great for tourists who just want to see a bit of majestic nature before getting into their snug campers or RVs and drive home. If I had to live out here I'd be hitting the proverbial wall within a matter of days. Most of Norway is, sadly, an acquired taste...

Ok for a quick visit, but can you imagine actually living here?


Some inland parts look quite nice.


Taking pictures from a moving vehicle. As stated before on this blog, I'm a menace to society, yo.


This motif must be in a million tourist pictures and videos in Germany, The Netherlands and Japan.


From the other side.


Naturally, I was skeptical of the Atlantic Road.

Quote of the Day

Abusus non tollit usum
[Abuse does not exclude use]
- Latin legal expression

Quote of the Day

Facias ipse quod faciamus suades
[Practice what you preach]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

"Well, would you like to know what you'd be without us, the good ol' U.S. of A. to protect you? I'll tell you. The smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire, that's what. So don't call me stupid, lady. Just thank me!"
- Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda"

Quote of the Day

"I ain't got time to bleed!"
- Jesse Ventura in "Predator"

Quote of the Day

Homer: Marge, I'm bored.
Marge: Why don't you read a book, then?
Homer: Because I'm trying to reduce my boredom.
- The Simpsons

Quote of the Day

"If you ever get a son, I hope his dog dies!"
- Lauren Holly in "Ford Fairlane"

Quote of the Day

"I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They’re the bane of my life. They’re like insects: they should be got rid of as early as possible.”
- Pam Ferris in "Matilda"

Bergen

I'd been to Bergen a couple of times before, but never as a tourist. I believe the last time I was there was sometime in the mid 90s, so I couldn't even remotely claim to have any knowledge of the city, nor any of its many sights. I spent two nights there and was pleasantly surprised at the city, though most of my suspicions about its natives were also confirmed (as I've written on another blog of mine, the now almost defunct "Ask A Norwegian", "...today's Bergensians: The bastard offspring of horny, drunken Krauts and Norwegian prostitutes.")

Anyway, I took some pictures of the center of town and it was actually quite nice. The Latin here is quite easy to translate: "The House of the Hanseatics greets you". It is found at the entrance to one of the so-called Schøtstue, house where one could go and eat heated meals. Open fire was not allowed in the important buildings on the actual quay, so these places were usually put behind them. This custom is similar to a lot of wooden structures, for example in the US, where the kitchen building was separate from the house itself.


From the great hall. At first I thought he was flipping me the bird, but on closer inspection he was just admonishing, as religious nutcases always do, to no avail in my case.


From the cellar of a Schøtstue.


St Mary's Church, the oldest building in Bergen. Built in the 1100s as a parish church, it was used by the German Hanseatics from 1408 till 1766 and after that it was still in use by a German congregation till 1874. Sermons were still given in German till after the first World War. It is unusually richly decorated for a Norwegian church, since the Krauts had money to burn.


A memorial to the aforementioned WW1. Norway remained neutral, but our merchant marine took some hits.


Fløibanen goes from the city centre up to a mountain with great views over the city. I couldn't be bothered, but maybe next time.


This statue, standing in a very quaint little square is of the Danish-Norwegian author Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen.


The quay ("bryggen" in Norwegian).


Ouside the town library is a statue of the Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson.


Purdy buildings and cozy streets:

Quote of the Day

"I want fat, I want cholesterol! I wanna eat butter and bacon and BUCKETS of cheese!"
- Denis Leary in "Demolition Man"

Quote of the Day

"I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in braille. I used to rub the dirty parts."
- Woody Allen in "Bananas"

Quote of the Day

Faith means not wanting to know what’s true.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
- Emo Phillips

Quote of the Day

No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Quote of the Day

The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella,
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust stole the just's umbrella.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers

Quote of the Day

I imagine, therefore I belong and am free.
- Emily Dickinson

Quote of the Day

A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.
- Aristotle

Quote of the Day

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.
- James Arthur Baldwin

Quote of the Day

I wouldn’t mind dying - it’s the business of having to stay dead that scares the shit out of me.
- R. Geis

Quote of the Day

Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

Calvin: Sometimes when I’m talking, my words can’t keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak.
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist, "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum
[To err is human, to continue erring is diabolic]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

I have no relish for the country. It is a kind of healthy grave.
- Sydney Smith

Quote of the Day

It is with our passions as it is with fire and water, they are good servants, but bad masters.
- Sir Roger L’Estrange

Bergen: The Hanseatic House

Bergen is Norway's second largest city, situated on the west coast. For a time in the Middle Ages it was our capital, until people came to their senses and moved it to the much drier Oslo. One important feature of Bergen was its time as one of four trade hubs for the Hanseatic League (the three others were in Brugge, Belgium; Novgorod, Russia and London). The German traders of the League had their own laws and lived somewhat separate from the rest of the city. Their living quarters on the quay of Bergen burned several times, but some structures are as old as the last main fire in 1702. The buildings are preserved and the quay is considered a world heritage site by UNESCO, even though most of them are housing shops that carry on a brisk trade to this very day.

These pictures are from one such house, today a museum, called The Hanseatic Museum. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the pics, but flash photography was verboten (except for a couple of pics from the sleeping quarters, when no one was around and I just couldn't be arsed to turn the flash off. I'm a menace to society, yo!).

A reconstructed office.


Internal, decorated wall.


Nicely painted doors.


Seals of various trading ports.


The main item of export was the stockfish. Caught by fishermen in the north, they were brought to Bergen where they were sorted according to quality.


Sleeping quarters.


Beautiful colors on the inside wall, reconstructed.


A painting on the inside of a sleeping space. Possibly an early example of German porn.

Quote of the Day

I am not afraid of priests. They have tried upon me all their various batteries of pious whining, hypocritical canting, lying and slandering. I have contemplated their order from the Magi of the East to the Saints of the West and I have found no difference of character, but of more or less caution, in proportion to their information or ignorance on whom their interested duperies were to be played off.
- Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day

Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

Philosophers have merely interpreted the world. The point is to change it.
- Karl Marx

Quote of the Day

A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and mask on his face. They are both more or less what the law declares them: lawbreakers, destroyers of constitutional rights and liberties and ultimately destroyers of a free America.
- Lyndon B. Johnson

Quote of the Day

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.
- George Santayana

Quote of the Day

There are some who speak one moment before they think.
- Jean De La Bruyère

Fjords

I passed some fjords along the way, but the one I stopped to take pictures of was the Hardanger Fjord. It is the 4th longest in the world, the 2nd longest in Norway and much of the road along its northern side needs to be broadened, if need be with nukes. But I digress. It is also wewy, wewy pwetty there.

The village of Norheimsund lies cozy and pretty in a nook of the fjord.


The main fjord, running southwest from Norheimsund.


A bit further east.


Looking due east.


This bridge crosses a northern arm of the fjord called Fyksesund fjord.


This was some fjord closer to Bergen. The Norwegian west coast is just one pretty postcard view after another.

Steinsdalsfossen

On the way back I stopped to take pics of this waterfall, called Steinsdalsfossen (Stone Valley Fall).

Purdy waterwall.


A bit closer one could get drenched by the spray. One may also walk up behind the falls, but I could not be bothered.


Naturally, I was skeptical of Steinsdalsfossen.


Nice surroundings too.


A nice stream flowed from the falls.


Lifelike wooden images of Swedes.

This year's trip to the West Coast

After a few weeks in Norway I started feeling antsy, so a couple of weekends back I took a quick trip over the mountains to Norway's #2 city: Bergen. On the way I stopped to take pics of the lovely Vøringsfossen.

The water still runs deeeeeep.


On to the sea.


From a place just west of the falls, where the sun fell just so.


This, to me, is the essence of Norway. And yes, that's snow on the hilltops.