Old enough for the museum?

Oslo opera house inspired by Sydney´s.

Sorry, we spent a few days in the wifi nirvana. I can assure you there is life outside the internet. And sightseeing. Yes, we did it again.

 We crossed the border to Norway and were introduced to currency #4: After the Danish and the Swedish Krona we have the Norwegian one now. All of them have more or less the same value. In order to calculate the  value in euros you need to divide the amount by 8, 9 or 10. And what do you do with the coins and bills at the border that you couldn’t spend besides buying worthless souvenirs or healthier drinks or ice-cream?

Park in the shopping area of Oslo.

You can complain about the  euro but I think it was one of the most valuable inventions of the EU. Only the peace that comes with EU is of more value.

Getting appropriate respect from the next generation.

I forgot our topic for today is sightseeing in Oslo. I visited Oslo 30 years ago. Not much left in my memories except that it was a relaxed city. We can confirm this after today´s city tour. Though the city is more vibrant and busy than 30 years ago, it has many parks with benches and meadows to sit down, enjoy a shady spot without any waiter asking you what you want to drink. Street musicians are all over the place. Some with a good performance. Others will get paid to stop singing or blowing.

Typical church form in Norway.

As the highlight of the day we take a 15-minute ferry ride to the island where you find museums about Norway´s maritime history as well as the Norsk Folkemuseum, Norway's largest museum of cultural history featuring a large open-air exhibition. They feature daily life and living conditions in Norway from the 16th century to present time. The open air part is our target because it is allowed to take dogs inside.

When we walk through the exhibition which is a large park where they have re-built old farm houses with many artefacts and photographs. In the farm area they even have staff working in  period costumes and with the tools of a specific period. We ask them questions and they give a lot of background information. It is amazing.

Working like a few years ago? I remember doing this work in summer.

We walk to another section where we found a fuel station and a Volkswagen beetle. “I’ve seen older ones!” I say to my wife. “You remember the ones with the small rear window?” 

Next to the fuel station is a house from the 1950s. Nicely remodelled. I go inside. It is a house with 4 flats. Name tags are at the doors but they are open. Though I am in museum I get a funny feeling going into someone´s home and sneaking around: kitchen, living room and bed rooms filled up with kitchen utensils and toothpaste squeezed.

Do you remember this car?

I walk farther up. Wooden steps creak under my shoes. I try to avoid any noise, being afraid that a big guy shows up asking me what I am doing there. I can hear music coming from one of the rooms in the back. It sounds like The Stones. I poke my head around the door post and look into the room. It seems to belong to a teenaged boy guessing from the posters on the wall. The faces are familiar to me. Then I see an old tape record with open reels. Exactly the model that I had as a teen and used it for recording music from the radio because I didn´t have enough money to buy the records.

I walk slowly down. It takes me 2 flights of steps to arrive in today and see JY and Umbria.

Should I already feel old enough to become an artefact in a museum?

In the house were various styles from the 40s to 60s, more changes than in a few centuries before, but fewer than iPhone models in the last 10 years. This realisation is stunning. A fundamental change for us as humans. What does it mean?

Applying this finding to travelling I compare our trip to Goethe's famous travel to Italy in 1786-88. He took 2 years to explore Italy from Verona to Sicily. It took us 2 weeks from Düsseldorf to Oslo with less insight and learning. More a check-off the milestones and Lonely Planet sights.

We need to slow down and get back in touch with the real world.

Now we know the true meaning of roof garden.