Dear driver, please be aware that the speed limit is no longer 60kph.

Also, please watch out for kangaroos.

...

Nesodden has kangaroos!!!

...

Nesodden has kangaroos???

Labels: Norway, photos

KK at the top of the hill waiting for the carnage below to clear out.


KK post downhill.

There were three other girls on the dogsledding expedition with us (okay, maybe "expedition" is stretching it a little) and they all fell off at least once. So I guess there is some agility involved in standing on a moving dogsled!

Labels: Norway, photos

Labels: Norway, photos

KK & I went dogsledding this morning. It was much fun, if I'd known it was so much fun I would have done it in Alaska. Silly me. First we got to meet the doggies. Actually, first we met the 4 puppies, but I was too busy playing with them to take any photos. They were the most adorable things (although I suppose I would say that about any other puppy I came across also).


Then we got to meet the sled dogs. They each had their own house in the kennel and loved to say hi & give hugs & kisses. So cute. I was covered in dog hair in 17 seconds. Luckily for my clothing we were wearing Arctic Adventure issued boots, snowsuits & gloves.


They had the the dogs we were taking outside already harnessed and waiting to be clipped in. As soon as we started moving around the sleds they all took up barking, "choose me! choose me!" We were instructed to stand on the brake while the handlers hooked up the dogs to the gurney lines.

Here's Kirsten with no dogs yet but already holding on for dear life.


Now she has dogs! Her sled is still staked to the ground.


Kirsten made a successful dog musher. The snow piled up some on her sled because it was so slushy that when you use the brake it would pile up and spill onto the sled. I enjoyed it immensely even if it was soft corn snow. I tried kicking too on some of the uphills but in the soft snow the dogs were way more effective than I was. (Plus, most of the time I had to use the brake, they didn't exactly need my help.)


My doggies did a good job!

Labels: Norway

Labels: Norway

They claim these rock carvings are about 4500 years old. The red paint is not quite that old. The red paint does make it easier to see the figures but I did actually run my fingers over the rock to make sure there actually were lines carved in it.



Kirsten claimed that she couldn't really read this sign because it was written in the local dialect. She still did a pretty good job of deciphering though.

Labels: Norway

Labels: Norway

Hunting was the major commercial activity in Northern Norway & the Polar Museum started out with some very well done but rather sad (from our very sheltered and PETA-influenced point of view).

...an Arctic Fox couple, one of whom is about to be stoned to death and one of whom is about to be traumatized & bereaved for life


...a reindeer being slaughtered


...baby seals about to be bludgeoned to death



No one was trying to kill this seal at the moment, though I imagine they would shoot it with a rifle. I was trying to make kk look like she was kissing the seal, but she started laughing so it didn't really work out for us.

Tromsø has been the last jumping off point for many Arctic expeditions. Someone tried to fly a hot air balloon over the North Pole (he didn't make it).


A model of the Latham 47, the plane that Roald Amundsen disappeared in.

Then there was a polar bear skin on the floor. The amount of fur in this museum was staggering.

Kirsten was actually afraid in this photo because they had audio of a softly growling bear. I had to coax her into getting even this close to the bear. True story.

So I had known about Roald Amundsen & his expeditions to the North & South poles & how Norwegians were so proud of him. Who I didn't know about until today was Fridtjof Nansen maybe because his name is so much harder to pronounce. Nansen is my new hero. He attempted the North Pole in 1893... didn't make it BUT he had an amazing expedition. It was three years before they returned (that was part of the plan) and all the crew members survived & the boat "Fram" survived and was, in fact, used by Amundsen on his expedition to the South Pole. I really need to read his book, Farthest North. Here's an unofficial summary...

Nansen develops his polar drift theory, that a boat stuck in the drift ice will cross over the pole region (and when it gets close enough you dog sled/ski over to the pole). Outfitted an expedition. Developed a boat able to resist the crushing pressure of the sea ice. Once Fram (the boat) was stuck in the ice, they set up shop. The had a windmill to provide electricity for lighting & Nansen had all kinds of scientific devices to gather data (Nansen was a zoologist, Oceonographer & also kick started the fields of neurology & fluid dynamics). Nansen expected the journey to take three years, so he outfitted for five and also had workshops so his crew could work while stuck in the ice.

Someways into it he realized his theory was wrong and that the ship wasn't going to pass through to Alaska area. So Nansen asked Hjalmer Johansen to join him in SKIING to the north pole (with dog teams). They took 100days of rations & 30days worth for the dogs. At the 50th day in they turned back. Broke a watch. The dogs died off. Nansen fell through the ice. Johansen almost got eaten by a Polar bear. Nansen had to SWIM after their kayaks when they almost floated away. They built a stone hut to overwinter for NINE months. Stayed friends. Made their way all the way to Franz Josef Land and found an English research camp in the spring. Amazing. I'll stop babbling now!

Labels: Norway

view from the ferry Nesoddtange->Oslo. This is a little island where people have summer homes.
My first flight with Norwegian Air.
I think the entire country of Norway is beautiful.

KK & I got to do the full travel menagerie again yesterday... bus/ferry/subway/train/plane/car. Maybe that's just how things go around here and I shouldn't be so impressed

Labels: Norway