14 - Dispatch From Why and How

We crammed too much into a month. We failed to take advantage of our retired status.  Instead, we kept on a schedule - not slowing, looking, tasting, observing - too little time to think about what we have seen, what we have learned. 

 

Scandinavia is worth some observation, worthy of more than a passing sniff and a kiss.  The time to put it all together only began on a sunny deck overlooking a Norwegian fjord at the end of our trip.  It required some homework.  

As we slowly biked and ferried from village to village on traffic free roads, in the rain - we chewed over our impressions. Some pieces of this Nordic puzzle are somewhat hard for this American to swallow. Whys and hows?

How do they have a more literate population?  Is it because they offer free education, K thru grad school, and even paid language classes for emigrants?  Why their lower mortality and longer life spans?  Perhaps their almost free universal healthcare, 6-week vacations and long maternity and paternity leave ... or the bikes?

Why more school spending, less prison spending, fewer hand guns, no drug war, no death penalty? Why only 3.5 percent don't have jobs?  Why does Denmark have the highest global rate of business start-ups?  How can Norway have the lowest unemployment?

Oldest stone church - one service per year.

How do they keep the roads and bridges flawless and their streets free of trash, graffiti and bums in the doorways? Why is the world's lowest church attendance in Sweden?

Viking stave church - one service per year.

Forbes writes about the World Prosperity Index, which has some interesting categories to compare - but overall ... 

Norway, Denmark, Sweden?  1-2-3.  http://www.prosperity.com/Ranking.aspx 

Gallup did a recent survey to determine which country had the happiest people.  Again - Norway, Denmark, Sweden 1-2-3.

Our cheapest meal - $35

Sure, they have a generous social welfare system, but that requires taxes around 50%+ and high prices. The richest really getting zapped - as you can tell because everybody’s tax return is public record.  

One veeeeerrry wealthy Norwegian paying 80% put it this way, “What we're doing when we are paying taxes is buying a product. So the question isn't how much you pay for the product; it's the quality of the product."  Hmmm. We have found that Scandinavians are quite understandably happy with the “product” their system is giving them.

But how and why are they so well off? A Scandinavian economist supposedly told Milton Friedman: "In Scandinavia we have no poverty." Friedman replied, "In America, among Scandinavians, we have no poverty either."  But this sure ain’t America and these ain't Americans.

So after meeting, talking, biking and walking with them - riding in their busses, ferries, trollies and trains - we think Scandinavia works ... 

...  because this place is so full of Scandinavians.  

With that decided ... we’re going home.

- Suppositions Stew

We gonna climb that?  (NO!)

200 miles by car - 2 by ferry.

Solvang?

Nice bike ride ... down.

This one has a name - Kjosfossen Falls

This one does too.

13 - Dispatch From the Fjord

Last visit, it was winter - snow so deep that helicopters had to shoo moose using the snow-cleared tracks, so trains could get people to the Winter Olympics.  This time, they thank us for bringing the “California weather.”  Tank-tops, plaid shorts and the cruise ship hoards -  welcome us back to a sunny Norway.

Boats fill the fjords of Oslo and Bergen, both with harbors worthy of their Viking sons - like Amundsen and Heyerdahl.  Sled-dogging to the South Pole with the former never attracted me, but Easter Island did.  I studied Thor Heyerdahl’s theory and read Kon-Tiki on my sail from the Galapagos to Easter Island 40 years ago.  I thought he had it figured out, but DNA and other new science has made it all a mystery again - solved only in theory.

1973 Easter Island

2013 Oslo

Current theory that does make sense is that Easter Islanders sailed in, populated and then squandered their little world.  They cut down the trees while building those huge statues - and the rats they brought in ate all the tree seeds. No wood = no boats = no fish = starvation.

100 yr. old dried codfish

For hundreds of years, Norway too depended on a fishing empire.  Mummified in the salty wind, the fish kept for ages and provided Friday feed for much of Medieval Europe.  But all that fish flesh they removed was the incoming nutrients - the food chain that supported baby fish.  Without it, the cold still waters of the fjords were starved.

Fish Farms in the Fjords

Small tides, a constant cap of lighter fresh over the salt, and the very deep water, trapped other nutrients on the bottom of the fjords - and the wild fishery collapsed. 

Another No Name falls - Fresh into salt 

Beautiful Bergen

But Norway still gets its “nutrients” from the sea - fish farms, North Sea oil and thousands of cruise ships, fill the coffers.  Likewise Easter Island now has a runway to fly in the tourists.  Both human populations are doing well - but the trees and the fish are still gone. 

We are wishing the cruse ships were too.

- Seasalt Stew

Amundsen - 90 South and back -14 Dec. 1911

Oslo City Hall & Nobel venue - nudes and headscarfs.

Gay Pride week in Norway

 Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo

A lifetime of carving 100s of statues - all nude.

Oslo's opera house

Oslo book store Edward Munch specials.

Norway's favorite son - Munch's Scream

12 - Dispatch From the Forest

It is always a temptation to leave the safe and explored, to stash the guidebook deep in your pack, step off the path and seek those who live deep in the forest.  We have come to a land of cold water and many wooded islands - peopled by the heirs of the Vikings. It is said that these are a sun-worshiping people, believers in elves and trolls - we hope to witness their legendary Mid-Summer rites.  We accept their invitation.

They send a guide, the daughter of the Hi Priestess, and several young escorts.  She arranges for safe passage across deep waters to a small island. Their tribal village consists of the Yellow House, where generations of Chieftains have reigned, and several smaller huts and outbuildings called by other colors, that house clan members and initiated visitors.

And our initiation starts at once. Strange foods are set before us - uncooked fishes, animal flesh, some cheeses and tall cups of a clear bubbling drink with a section of lime.  We drink and they are pleased - so we have another. All our garments are taken from us and set out for the sun to purify.  

The Chieftain and the Hi Priestess sit with us for a time then suddenly, about midnight, they depart leaving us relegated to the smallest of the huts, called the Red House.  Jean settles into a bedding of feathers and quickly falls asleep - but I am bothered by the lack of darkness and anticipation of what might lay ahead. 

I don’t know what time they returned, as it was still light, but we were quickly taken into the woods, marched to other parts of the island and displayed to other villagers.  

 

We encountered various beasts and pass by some relics of their sea-going ancestors on our way to sacred viewpoints.  

Sauna at the Grey House

Then again, they set out their foods and we eat our fill.  Fires are lit and ritual baths performed.

Village life is disrupted by our presence, but more so by preparations for the Mid-Summer rites.  Clan members are arriving from near and far, and outsiders are seen coming toward the islands in a great numbers and kinds of boats.  

The White House

Vast fields of grass are mowed, flags unfurled and we too are employed - 

Jean in the kitchens with many other women, and me to the docks to weave a strange basket-box and prepare the Chieftain’s longboat for his ceremonial first sail of the summer.

Grams to Cups on the iPad

  

After several days of preparation, the time has come - the longest day of the year.  Tables are set at the White House, honored elders are seated, many containers are opened, chants are sung, glasses raised to toast the sun.  

The warriors lead the clan in games of skill and speed - I am among the injured, but all survive.  

As the sun reaches the top of its arc, the island’s villagers come together to raise up the Midsommarstång.  All must dance around it in Pagan revelry. 

It goes long into the night, with maidens and young warriors writhing to loud song and drumbeat.

As the sun rises on the first day of summer, we must travel by sea to a far island bearing gifts for another village.  Their custom is to spread more food and drink inside their hut, sing Nordic chants unknown to us, and down more strong drink.    

Nearby vessels salute our passing.

Then my worth is tested as the Chieftain boards his longboat.  Up the fjord we glide, to and fro, in front of his village.  On the deck of our hut, the Hi Priestess blesses his passing.  

 

The Yellow House

We dock at the Yellow House and are allowed to enter.  Inside the Chieftain displays the heads of his ancestors and tells of their great sagas late into the night.

Sun Room

The Red House

Jean and I return to the Red House alone to sleep, to dream.  The sun has finally set and the forest is quiet.  Tomorrow we must leave the village, and return to our wandering ways - enriched and grateful.

- Swedish-ish Stew

Ander, Diane, Cookie, Bella, Lars, "Fred", "Leroy" and all the Jacobi Clan - Tack så mycket!!!!