As Far As You Know

Took a seven-plus hour train ride from Bergen to Oslo. Supposedly this is the highest train route in Northern Europe (I guess that means other than the Alps). We certainly were above the snow line for part of the trip--kind of freaky to see a winter landscape in mid-June! But I am settled into my hotel in Oslo now (having missed dinner tonight) and will explore the city tomorrow.

As I find myself in Norway this morning, here is the country's best known band (a-ha) performings its biggest hit ("Take On Me").

Before this trip, most of what I knew about Scandanavia was based on stuff like this:

and this:

I've gotten pretty good at deciphering some of Norwegian. It's similar to German in many ways, but with some different-looking letters: "å" and "ø" primarily.

Most people here seem pretty fluent in English. Bookstores routinely carry English-language books and familiar pop songs from back home are ubiquitous.

In late May, Norway topped the list of 121 countries as "the most peaceful country" in a study called The Global Peace Index, which was compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The survey looked at 24 factors to determine how peaceful each country was. The United States finished 96th on the list, while Iraq was last. The top five: Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, and Japan. (Interesting that the latter two each had a particularly un-peaceful 20th century--Japan as a militarist power in the 1930s and 1940s, and Ireland with civil warfare and "The Troubles" over the course of many decades--so there is hope for all, it seems!)

This is "You're A God" by Vertical Horizon.

Today I head to Tromsø, which is north of the Artic Circle. It's near the top of the map above.

I am back in the Oslo airport, experiencing sunshine for the first time in days. Tromsø was charming, but a pretty gray place overall; I never saw the sun once in my time there. I can only imagine the wintertime in Tromsø would be absolutely depressing, what with lots of snow and two full months of polar night--the place gets just a couple of hours of dusky light each day. (You can see exactly how much light the town gets at various times of year on this site.)

At any rate, I am killing time on a layover until my flight to Stockholm. I got caught up with the International Herald Tribune and USA Today as well as the latest Time magazine. I also am catching up on some podcasts. I have a handful that I listen to at least weekly, as well as a bunch I check out more sporadically. For those of you who might care, here is my current subscription list:

More Or Less Weekly Listens:

KCRW’s Left, Right and Center - a weekly political roundtable
SModcast - filmmakers Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier sally forth with great (if often twisted) humor
The News From Lake Wobegon - Garrison Keillor's monologues from A Prarie Home Companion radio show
The Ricky Gervais Show - not currently in production, but hilarious interaction between the British comedian, his co-creator Stephen Merchant, and their bone-headed sidekick Karl Pilkington
Wild Boars Tennis Podcast - my own handiwork, updated only in the spring

Sporadic Listens:

David Pogue - the technology columnist for the New York Times
In Our Time - in-depth consideration of eclectic topics, from BBC Radio Four
Car Talk - the NPR show featuring the brothers Magliozzi
The Onion Radio News - 60 seconds of humor you'd expect, given the source
Slate Magazine Daily Podcast - articles from the online magazine