Norwegian Wood (this bird has flown)*

*song title changed from "knowing she would" by Lennon/McCartney; set in a medieval church mode called mixolydian; title later used for Murakami's novel.

Yes, it is a year and a half after the fact, but if I never finish this, I'll go crazy.  Two posts remain - that of my week in Norway and of my 10-hour embarkation on Rome while I waited for my early morning flight home.

Norway's naval history is like none other. After retirement, these viking vessels used as burial containers for chiefs. They were found buried inland (not near the coast).  

 My pictures do not do it justice, so I've omitted the images I took at the museum containing the Fram, the wooden vessel which carried Norwegian explorers to the North Pole - and the first to do so.

Remnants of less preserved viking ship.

Weekend trip to Kine's family cabin some hours north of Oslo - with Simen, Marianne, and Kine. "Our cabin is in Gudbrandsdalen (that's the valley below, where the main road from Lillehammer to Trondheim, E6, goes). More specifically, it's situated by Musdalsætra, which is where the farmers from the valley brought their cows in summer. You can also say that it lies right in the middle between the alpine ski resorts Hafjell and Skeikampen (the second of which we have a great view to from the cabin)."

Plenty of hiking and levitating around Oslo

 Oslo is a harbor and the capital, and the most accessible "big" city I've ever traversed. The city is surrounded by three concentric roadways, the outermost being a highs-speed thoroughfare. Public transportation within the city makes sense. But biking from one end to the other is easy and sensible too, as I found out using K-A's brake-less bike.

And the bay in the background

Haunting sculptures in Oslo's Vigelandsparken (named after the artist) depicting Norwegian values. 

The sculpture park is part of a bigger park called Frognerparken.

The reason I went to Norway - Kine, M-A, and K-A (this was after the bean game, which preceded the barbarian game)