Bergen is the gateway to the Fjords, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. We stayed in the Bryggen area, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The temperature when we were there was in the mid-60s and sunny, which was perfect for us! I read in an article while in Bergen that the Norwegians have a saying: “there’s no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”
Fjord photos (below)
Fjords – We did the Norway in a Nutshell tour, which consisted of taking a 1.5 hour train ride from Bergen to Voss, and then a 1 hour bus ride from Voss to Gudvangen, a 2 hour boat ride from there to Flam, and then 7 hours on 2 trains from Flam (via Myrdal, where the train was 20 minutes late arriving) to Oslo, arriving in Oslo around 11:30pm. The fjords are made up of 40 islands, and while we only saw a small portion of that, it was simply amazing!! We are HUGE fans of waterfalls and we were not disappointed! The scenery and topography reminded me of a mixture of Hawaii and Alaska. The Flam railway is one of the steepest in the world for trains that run on normal tracks. The town of Flam has a population of 400 people but has 500,000 visitors a year! The temperature on the boat was in the low 60s with some wind, but the temperature in Flam was around 75 and sunny – gorgeous!
Oslo – Oslo was founded by the Vikings with timber as their main industry in Old Oslo around 1000AD. In 1875, this was written about in a poem and was compared to a tiger fighting a horse. So, for the 1000 year anniversary in the year 2000, they asked for a statue of a tiger, which is now near the train station, as the city is known as the Tiger City. In 2018, Norway was considered to be one of the safest countries to visit. Oslo is seen as a happening place, and is divided into the East (which is more lively) and the West (which is residential and more calm).
In 1349, a ship came from England to the other side of Norway and brought the Black Death. The following year, it wiped out more than half of the population, which was the start of the recession period in Norway. As a result, Denmark formed a union with Norway so they would be in charge of Norway. In 1624, there was a fire that burned for 3 days and required them to rebuild the city. The king took his glove off and declared the road where he did that to be the site of the new city. They also renamed the city from Oslo to Christiania after the king. It was changed back to Oslo in 1925, which is Norse for “God’s Meadow.” In 1814, Norway was given to Sweden from Denmark. The Kingdom of Norway was re-established for a month with a constitution, but then Karl Johan took over in Norway. However, he allowed them to keep their institutions (including the constitution). Their constitution is the second oldest behind the US Constitution.
The Parliament building is the place where the government runs. In front of the Parliament building are lions that were made by a prisoner who had originally been sentenced to death, but was pardoned after he completed the lions. The king is a ceremonial head of state, while the 64 members of parliament run things (they are conservatively ruled right now). Unemployment is low (4.2%), and healthcare and education are free for all. They have high taxes, but they receive good social services.
Interesting/fun fact: The city has been a trading post for most of its history, and it is now building up, including an opera house and a library. And there is an area in the financial district that is called the “Bar Code area” because all of the buildings in that area look like a bar code.
The Fortress (circa 1299) is important to the identity of the city. It was built to protect the city from the Swedes. At the start of WWII, Norway was neutral in order to avoid conflict. However, Norway was identified by Nazi Germany to be a strategic target to get access to Scandinavia. In 1940, there was an unprovoked attack on Denmark and Norway, and Norway was not prepared. They fought for 2 months and initially received help from the allies, but then France was sent to a different area to help out. The Royal Family fled and established the government in exile. As a result, the head of the Norwegian Party declared himself to be the new Prime Minister. During this time, Jews and those who opposed the war were captured and executed or sent to Auschwitz from the pier next to the Fortress. Only 34 returned to Norway. In 1945, the country was liberated and shortly after that, the executioners were executed.
The Nobel Peace Prize: The Nobel Peace Center used to be one of Oslo’s two main railway stations, and has been used in its current capacity since 2005. The main hall of City Hall is where the Nobel Peace Prize is given.
The Prize was established by Alfred Nobel, who was born in 1833 in Stockholm to a rich family. His father went bankrupt when Alfred was born, and Alfred had to sell matches to help make money for his family. His father then moved to Russia to work for the Navy, which was lucrative, and he moved the family out there to live with him. After Nobel finished school, he wanted to become a poet, but his father told him he needed “a real job.” Nobel met chemists and other scientists and became interested in those subjects. He also learned 5 languages fluently. During this time, they were trying to invent safe explosives and made liquid nitroglycerin. The factory where they working blew up while Nobel was next door drinking tea and one of his brothers died in the explosion. Nobel became a workaholic, trying to find a safe explosive, and from that hard work came his invention – dynamite. He became a true citizen of the world and worked many places, but probably never went to Norway. He may have been inspired by his secretary (an Austrian woman) to make the peace prize. She was tasked with putting together the prizes and prize money when he died.
Nobel died in 1896 in Italy and was buried in Stockholm. His will was a surprise to others in that he asked that all of his items be sold and that the money raised be put into a fund, and from that fund, the prize money for the Peace Prize would be taken. HIs family was not happy, as he was the richest man in Europe (and possibly the entire world) when he died. The Swedish king wasn’t happy either because Nobel was from Sweden and did not leave any money to them! Prizes were handed out for the first time in 1901.
Nobel did not dictate who could be elected to the committee, but he said it had to be done by Parliament. When a controversial winner won it in 1935 (A German who was against Hitler, which made Hitler mad at Norway), they changed the protocol for who would be elected to the committee in that those members would be separate from Parliament. In 2010, there was another controversial winner (a Chinese person who was against their government). They emphasized that this is not an award that is given out on behalf of or as a representation of Norway.
Nobel identified three categories for peace work for which the prize can be awarded: working to improve brotherhood, working to reduce the modern army (disarmament), and organize or hold peace rallies. Some feel that the categories are stretched (e.g., a Kenyan woman won for planting trees). Some winners are controversial because they seem to not fit with Nobel’s will. An example is the most recent winner, ICAN, which is a group/idea that is pushing for eradication of nuclear weapons, but has not done anything about it (e.g., “has not removed nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.”). A resolution was signed by 120 countries with regard to this issue, but NATO countries were not present for that meeting.
All Laureates are given a medal, a certificate, and 9 million Swedish Kroner. In order to win the award, you must do something to promote peace, and be nominated for the award by professors, parliamentarians, previous winner, or a judge on an international court. There are no regulations about who can be a candidate (e.g., Stalin and Hitler were nominated). Once the candidates are nominated, the Nobel Committee will discuss until they choose a winner. The decision is announced on the first or second Friday of October by the chairperson of the committee. The Prize is then handed out in City Hall on December 10, which is the date of Nobel’s death, at his request.
Interesting Tidbit: The tour guide we had at the Peace Center said that they do not know why Norway was the place designated by Nobel to hand out the Peace Prize, when all other prizes are given out in Sweden. He theorized that it could be because Norway had never started a war, or it was a way for him to be nice to Norway. Our Swedish tour guide at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm was surprised when we told them this, and they have an actual explanation for why the Peace Prize is handed out in Norway, which you can read in the section on Sweden. The other Nobel categories include literature, physics, chemistry, and mathematics.