A Roll in the Universe

First of all: My apologies to my readers. Before I left for my trip, I did no research or reading or buying of guide book. Truth is, I plumb forgot. Second of all: Apologies to myself. I felt left out, unprepared and extremely clueless, especially in Dresden. We had an excellent Swedish guide (which is par for the course on Norwegian tours - "Local guide speaks Scandinavian" meaning you'll get a Swede) who was an architect and in love with Dresden, and took us through some amazing neighborhoods, and all I got out of it was that last names ending in -witz are Sorb . So I bumbled around in Dresden, me and my camera, and snapped a bunch of baroque buildings, but never felt awed. Isn't that weird? Look at these pictures from the complex called Zwinger ! How can one not feel awe? The guide took great pains to explain to us that the black is actually the oxidation of the naturally occurring iron in the sandstone. Me, I was amused by the naughty-looking Pan/Bacchus...

I do have more to tell - or show, really - from Dresden and the rest of my trip. I just sort of have to figure out how to pare down all the photos. And figure out what to say. The truth is that I have some gorgeous photos from Dresden - and nothing to say about the city. It - didn't move me. But Dresden matters, even in my story. Here's one reason: You see, you can't go through Norwegian school or Norwegian life without thinking about Martin Luther at some point. His protest, nailed to a door in Wittenberg, started the reformation and forever changed Norway's Catholic churches to Protestant ones. The official state religion of Norway is Lutheran Evangelical. As a child in a Norwegian school, I had to take a religion history class (called Christianity class) which introduced us to his catechisms, the big and the little. I got good grades in that class, simply because I was able to pay attention and learn (most of the other kids hated that class). It never converted ...

My trip to Berlin was enjoyable in part because I got to travel by train (through very beautiful scenery but impossible to get a good picture of)… …and by ferry from Oslo down to Copenhagen (and home again from Kiel). I am used to thinking of international ferry trips from Bergen which have to cross the open and often mean North Sea, whether headed for Newcastle or Hirtshals (look 'em up). It finally dawned on me that the shelter of Denmark makes the ferry lines from Oslo down to the continent more comfortable. Here we are passing by the nuclear power plant Barsebäck, on Sweden's shore. We drove from Copenhagen down to the end of Falsen, and from there took a ferry to Rostock, in Germany. Rostock would have been in the former East-Germany (DDR). It was already late in the afternoon and we didn't arrive in Dresden until around 8:30 pm. To the hotel's credit, we were served a delicious, fresh and hot dinner. The next day we were on a bus tour of Dresden in the ...

One of my regular diets is Fail Blog and recently it gave me a really good laugh: Now, if that guy were Norwegian, he could be a proud man, because the Norwegian alphabet runs from A to Å (not Z):

Wordless Wednesday Warming hands in the Fretheim hotel in Flåm.

Well, I'm back - back from a one week tour of the former East Germany, of the cities of Dresden and (East) Berlin. I stepped off the train from Oslo just an hour ago, so I'm still digesting the trip. I have never travelled to that part of Germany before, and also didn't read up on anything before I went. I'm sure I missed a few things because of my lack of knowledge, but I enjoyed my trip and I did take lots of pictures, like this sign post in Berlin: So stay tuned, my dear readers. More travelogue coming up in the days ahead!

A couple of times people have asked me what it takes to move to Norway. Besides a plane ticket, I have no idea. One of my childhood memories involves visiting all sorts of pawn shops and the like with my grandparents in search of old-fashioned steamer trunks. Big, solid black trunks that open up like a wardrobe when stood on end. Drawers on one side and a big open space on the other. I can still remember the pale green lining. My grandparents found three and shipped their drapes, silverware, books and knick-knacks in them. Their intention was to retire in Spain and they were taking their home with them. Bringing me along for what was to be a summer vacation changed their plans - and my life. I did go back to California, and my first job after high school involved using a computer. Steamer trunks and computers. They both are the reason why, when I returned to Norway in 1981, I got a job immediately because Norway needed data entry operators, and with it, the prized document ...