Neutrality

Thursday 15th Dec
Collette had left for work at early at 7:00am so by the time I had woken up at 9:00am, I found myself alone. She had mentioned something about going to a party later that night, so I had the whole day to wallow in my own crapulence. After I fixed myself breakfast, unpacked and got ready, I set out to do something which was beginning to become a habit for me (and is one my favourite things to do!) – go out and explore a completely unknown city by myself for the first time!! Ahhh, Basel…..let’s see what you have to offer!!

I left around 11:00am and fortunately Collette lives close to the city centre – 2 tram stops – however as I still wasn’t sure where I was going I decided to walk there which only took 10mins. I prefer exploring places on foot as you take in much more and also learn the streets quicker so that if ever get lost or need to backtrack, you can find your way easily.

I walked around and saw as much as I could, but when I went to take some photos I realised I’d forgotten to take my camera with me!! Stupid! Stupid!! But it would waste too much time going back to fetch it and besides, I thought ‘I’m going to be here for a whole week – surely I’ll have a chance to come back and see some of the most important things again…’ Ha!! Little did I know……………………….

So, although I didn’t get any pictures, I saw a lot of really nice things in Basel; the old Cathedral which I went into, a wall onto which hundred of pieces of smashed up ceramic plates with writing on them had been stuck, a shallow water fountain containing all sorts of mechanical perpetual motion machines (all designed by the same inventor), the theatre, and of course many shops.

Also, at this time of year, people go to the Christmas markets where there are a whole lot of stalls set up selling homemade food (mostly sweets and cakes, but practically anything else you could want), ornaments, jewellery, handmade crafts and other festive paraphernalia. The markets were jolly nice, but there wasn’t anything really there of interest to me. I next crossed the bridge over the Rhine (where I’m told people swim all year round – yes, even in the middle of winter when it’s 0C!!) and entered into the ‘new’ city (the river divides the new part of the ciyu from the old town).

Though the Swiss are supposed to be trilingual (German, French and Italian), in practice that’s not the case. Increasingly, English is becoming more widely used and could almost be considered a fourth unofficial language. Though most Swiss could probably understand and get by with the basics of all three, they invariably have one dominant tongue which depends on the region of Switzerland you’re in – in fact, people actually resent using either of the other two languages – so much so that they would prefer to engage non-speaking tourists in English!! Basel, being in the German part of Switzerland, is almost completely Deutsche – to my great chagrin, as I was keen to brush up on my French which by now had deteriorated to such an extent I was struggling to remember even simple conversation.

I didn’t venture too far on the other side of the river because there didn’t seem to be anything too interesting close by, however by now all the walking had mad me ravenous so I kept my eyes peeled for somewhere to grab a bite. Walking past a small bagel stand I thought I’d try my luck and see if the woman there spoke French (somehow I just had a feeling she might!) and it turned out my hunch proved to be was correct! So I got a bagel and a couple of breadsticks to tide me over.

Walking back across the river, I continued my aimless wandering and just enjoyed taking in the sites and watching the Swiss go about their daily lives. Soon I was hungry again -the empty bagels didn’t fill me up at all – I needed something heavier, something more substantial. Which is when I came across the European equivalent of the late-night, fatty, fast-food special: the gyros kebap!! I would describe it as ‘a yiros in sandwich form’; basically everything in a yiros wrapped in some kind of flat pita bread (CHF8.50 + drink = CHF11.10). And, oh boy, did it do the trick! This marvellous creation is simply made for travellers! It’s quick, cheap (relatively speaking) and filling, so you can walk for hours! Since every restaurant in Europe has a cover charge, going somewhere to sit down and eat is out of the question. This way, I could take-away and eat while I continued walking, thereby saving time and letting me get a lot more done. So the fabled kebap would virtually become my staple food source over the coming weeks (kebap shops are located on practically every street corner, underground station, etc.) – so while it’s safe to say I wasn’t eating the healthiest or best quality food around, I was saving money (and time) – but they sure did taste good!!

Once I thought I’d had a good enough look at the city, I though I’d go and check out a nice little walking trail Collette had told me about before it got dark. Located a few minutes walk from Collette’s apartment (in the opposite direction to the city), it’s a little dirt track which runs along a creek and is surrounded by lush grass and trees. There’s also a fitness course marked out on the track with the idea being you run to one checkpoint where there’s a little board outlining a number of simple exercises/stretches to do (i.e. 20 star jumps, etc), and directions to the next checkpoint – so you run there, do those exercises, etc till you end up at the start. And there 3 levels; easy, medium and hard! Pretty mad!

So I walked along there which was quite nice in the early evening, but I eventually got to a point where the track started going uphill and into some kind of forest so I turned back and made it to Collette’s at 5:30pm - just before it got dark (lucky, cos I would’ve been stuffed trying to make my way back in the dark!).

Collette got home by 6:15pm and almost immediately we had to leave to catch the tram to go to Ravi’s place, and he would take us to this party. Ravi is one of Collette’s work friends and he’s a really jovial and friendly. He’s Indian but speaks with a thick British accent and is rather a large fellow with a booming voice. He also likes his ‘toys’ - we got in his BMW and had this gadget which he attached to his dashboard which acted like a satellite navigation system and guided him to the best path to get to the destination.

What they didn’t tell me was that this party was in Germany!! You know, as if it’s completely normal (which it IS in Europe, but was unreal to me but so very extremely cool!) – “I’m just going to go to this party tonight – it’s in another country, but that’s OK, I’ll be back tonight!” This person we were going to visit, Tania, another of Collette’s work friends, was having a birthday dinner that night. She lives in Rhinefelden (literally meaning ‘fields of the Rhine’ in German, obviously due to it’s geographical location on the banks of the Rhine) but she works in Basel (only 30mins drive) so everyday she goes to Switzerland for work – how cool! We just passed straight through the border control – they didn’t check this time, but often they do, so I needed to have my passport with me.

Anyway, the dinner party itself was pretty boring because it was just a sit down, adult affair, apart from two things; Ravi and his joke/story telling – he was the life of the party and always had a good joke to fill any gaps in the conversation, and the other thing was the food; Tania had been taking Spanish cooking classes and was keen to try out her new recipes – I don’t know what half of them were but they were pretty nice! There were some kind of meatballs and then this chick pea dish that was alright too.

Most of the people there were from Collette’s work: there were two German couples there, Collette, Ravi, Tania, a Swiss woman and me. Most of the table conversation was in English, though on occasions smaller Deutsche convos would break out. Because, Collette had work the next day (and it was getting pretty boring) we left with Ravi who dropped us back at Collette’s at around 11:30pm.

Like Clockwork

Wednesday 14th Dec
My flight to Zurich was scheduled for takeoff at 4:25pm today, so I woke up at 9:00am aiming to get everything done which I had left until the last day; packing and shopping (which I hadn’t done mainly before mainly because I couldn’t afford it!). So I quickly packed and headed to Karl Johans Gate where I searched long and hard for a nice present which my sister would like but wasn’t hideously overpriced – not easy!! I did manage, however, to find a nice pink butterfly necklace for my sister (149Kr) in a Glitter store. And just in time too! I arrived back at the apartment at 1:30pm where Zlatko and I had a quick sandwich lunch (he had taken the afternoon off work to see me off – despite my protestations – which I thought was very nice of him). As a gift in return for his kindness and hospitality, I gave Zlatko a movie iPod which he really enjoyed – although he did already have one, it had a much smaller capacity and couldn’t play movies (besides, it was technically supposed to be for work, but he used it at home – now he could have his own personal one).

So we caught the tram to the Sentral Stasjon (not so easy with mountains of luggage!) which is where we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I caught the train to the airport (80Kr) and had a quick bite to eat because I wouldn’t get to Zurich till 6:30pm and probably wouldn’t get a chance to eat till I got to Collette’s place in Basel. So I had a baguette and a muffin and some iced tea. Despite the ridiculously high airport prices and my best efforts to use them all up, I still had some Crowns left so I used them up on the internet machines checking emails.

Well, we arrived in Zurich on time, but by the time I had collected my luggage and figured out which train to catch to Basel (CHF30, Swiss francs) and where to catch it, I just missed it!! I just saw the 7:04pm train departing as I got to the platform! Grrr!! I would have to wait till the next one at 8:04pm (lucky I ate at the airport when I had the chance!). So I SMSed Collette to let her know I’d be late and then spent probably the most boring hour of the entire trip just waiting for the train!

I eventually did arrive in Basel where Collette was waiting at the train station. We caught the tram to her apartment which is on the 2nd floor above a Honda shop. To my surprise I had a whole room to myself which was as impeccably neat and tidy as the rest of the apartment.

Me and Collette.

Collette is Louise’s sister who’s from Ireland and now works for Roche in Switzerland. I only had faint memories of her from the brief time that she stayed with us while she was in Adelaide – but she said my family had been so nice to her that she was more than glad to repay the favour by letting me stay! Well, we are family! I didn’t bother unpacking and Collette and I just had a few beers and chatted for a while – she was telling me of her impressions of the Swiss; reserved, conservative and extremely polite. They like rules and order and this generally makes things run very smoothly and efficiently. However, she finds that because they impose so many rules and restrictions upon practically everything they can be rigid and uncompromising if things need to be done which aren’t clearly defined by a certain set of rules. They are very black and white – and anything that’s grey they struggle with (like tram drivers leaving precisely on the dot even when there may be an elderly lady who is a few metres from the door and obviously wants to get on and is hobbling to reach it in time).

My room.

It was good to catch up with Collette, but she had work the next day and the traveling had worn me out so by 11:30pm we were both ready for bed.

"I may be some time..."

Tuesday 13th Dec
By far my busiest day in Oslo, it didn’t start in a particularly hectic fashion. I got up at 9:30am and took my time getting ready. I was browsing through the Norwegian cable TV over breakfast and came across a music channel which had a ‘Top 10 at 10’ segment featuring GNR VS The Darkness. Finally setting out at around 11:00am, the first place I went to was the Norsk Folkemuseum (45Kr – Norske Kroner, NOK) which was meant to encapsulate everyday Norwegian life thoroughout various time periods from the 1820’s to the present. The majority of the folk museum is in the form of an open air ‘village’ where people can walk through and look inside cottages which had been faithfully reconstructed to match the era they were representing. Though it is quite large, it just didn’t have any real charm for some reason. Although there were plaques by some exhibits and audio information, I think people would get a lot more out of it if there were guides who led you through and explained things, rather than leaving you to your own devices to wander about on your own.

There were also indoor displays of national folk costumes, toys and old black a nd white photographs – all pretty boring stuff. However, one thing I did find interesting was an exhibit documenting all the alcohol associated difficulties faced by the Norwegians when alcohol first became introduced and widespread – apparently this brought about big problems in Scandinavian culture where people are so reserved that they take to alcohol to loosen their inhibitions, but often to excess, which was the case when it was first introduced. Many laws had to be introduced, including periods of prohibition, to try and remedy the situation as it was getting quite bad. I have since been told something interesting which makes sense to me now – all locally produced beers in Norway now have nauseating agents added to them which make you feel sick regardless of the quantity of beer consumed – this serves to make a connection between drinking alcohol and feeling terrible afterwards.

Next I headed to the Vikingshipshuset (around the corner from the Folk Museum) which I was really looking forward to as I love Norse mythology and Viking history and all that kind of stuff! I was a little disappointed when I found out it was just one big hall with the rotting remains of three viking ships within. Still, it was pretty cool and they were quite well preserved because they had actually been discovered frozen in huge block of ice. Because they were only small, they were thought to be ceremonial burial ships upon which fallen heroes were placed along with all their belongings and pushed out to sea to go join the Gods in the great halls of Valhalla (Boromir, anyone?).

Preserved ceremonial burial ships from the Viking era.

So after a short time at the Vikingshiphuset, I walked to the bus stop to catch the bus to the Kon-Tiki museum (25Kr). This museum is devoted to the exploits of Thor Heyerdahl, famous Norwegian scientist, explorer and environmentalist, who in 1947 sailed 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Raroia in a raft constructed from papyrus reeds, called Kon-Tiki, in order to prove that travel from South America to Polynesia was possible with the technology available at the time that colonisation is believed to have occurred all those thousands of years ago. Now that’s what I call science!! In all, he made two other similar voyages, the Ra II from Morocco to Barbados and the Tigris from India to Djibouti, and also made a documentary about his travels which won the 1951 Oscar for best documentary.

Out of focus shots of replicas of the Kon-Tiki and Ra II rafts used by Thor Heyerdahl.

In the museum, were replicas of the boats used in this expeditions as well as items from the journey and other stories. While I found the story of Thor Heyerdahl incredibly fascinating, unfortunately the museum exhibits themselves were not overly stimulating. When I showed my student card to the woman at the cashier, she said, “You’re from Australia? I lived in Brisbane for a time while I was studying!” And then she talked about how she loved it there and wants to go back.

Right across from the Kon-Tiki museum were two others; however I was running out of NOK and there weren’t any ATM’s nearby, and besides it was getting late, so I had to make a choice. I decided on visiting the Frammuseet (20Kr) which is a large triangular prism of a building which houses the actual Fram ship which was used in the expeditions to the South Pole. In 1911, Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole beating Englishman Scott of the Antarctic who arrived two months later only to see the Norwegian flag already there. He died on the return journey.

The Fram.

It was good because you could actually get on the Fram and walk around its decks and cabins – I just kept imagining how incredibly difficult the conditions must’ve been for he sailors – crazy times. There was also a whole lot of information on the walls and accounts from people who went on the expeditions about all the problems they faced – interesting stuff. The Norwegians really were the unmatched masters of arctic navigation.

By the time I was done looking at the Fram it was 3:15pm, and as I was waiting for the bus, I got a call from Madde, Simon’s girlfriend, who said she had some time to meet up. So I got off the bus outside the National Theatre where I met Madde and we went into a café for a coffee and a hot chocolat (60K!!) which was the perfect thing to warm up on a freezing night. We chatted for a while which was nice and I had one of those freakish moments again where I thought how bizarre it was for me to be sitting in a café in Oslo talking to Madde when a few weeks ago we had been doing the exact same thing on the other side of the world in Adelaide!! I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t do more things together as she would have a better idea about what’s fun to do in Oslo for young people than Zlatko probably would, but I understand that she had only just got back to Oslo a little while ago and had a lot things to do and catch up on, especially family and friends who she hadn’t seen in ages. So I did appreciate the short time we spent together.

Afterwards, I caught the Metro back to MajorStuen and walked back to the apartment to wait for Zlatko to get home from work. Tonight, we were going to go to one of his favourite restaurants ‘Peppe’s Pizza’ which is a chain of restaurants that is quite pricey but serves gourmet pizzas. The one we went to was by the dock, and on the way we walked past the City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held each year. The pizza we had was half ‘Blue Moon’ and hald ‘Fly Away’ (380Kr) and I must say, they were exceptionally good and went down well with a Heineken (50Kr). We had invited Madde to join us for dinner but she declined.

After dinner we caught a taxi to a place called the Underwater Pub. Zlakto often comes here and says the owner is a real opera fanatic which is why some nights he allows young opera singer students come and have the chance to sing in front of a crowd to practice. It’s also good entertainment for the other patrons. At first I though, “Oh no, how boring” as I’m not the greatest fan of opera singing, but I must say that experiencing this is something quite different. Because it’s such a small enclosed venue and you’re so close to the performers (literally a few metres), you really ‘feel’ their voice when they start belting out the high or low notes. There were three young singers who did a few short pieces and I have to say, it wasn’t to bad – a very unique experience! I also tried a local Norwegian beer called Ringnes which was pretty nice.

Sunset over a lake in Oslo.

At about 11 o’clock we caught a taxi back to the apartment where we finished watching ROTK. Also, when I started thinking about packing for tomorrow, I realised that I had completely forgotten to wash any clothes while I was in Oslo, so at 11:30pm we put a load in and hoped that it would be dry by tomorrow!

Iced Earth

Monday 12th Dec
Woke up late to find Zlatko had already gone to work. Checked out Norwegian cable TV while eating breakfast – and was surprised to find that Andy Milonakis (the ‘FBI Agent’!) has his own show now!! It was another beautiful clear day so I got ready and left at 11:00am to go to the famous sculpture park ‘Vigelandsparken’ which is only a 5min walk from Zlatko’s apartment. This had been described to me as ‘the only touristy thing to do in Oslo’ so I thought I’d better go and see it then! It is a whole park full of stone sculptures all made by one person - it was created by the famous Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland between the years 1907 and 1942 and most of the sculptures date from the years 1926 to 1942. And best of all…..it’s free!

Unfortunately, the fountain at the Vigelandsparken was off, however it's still an impressive site.

I really liked the park and was quite impressed – all the sculptures are of the same style which presented featureless human forms in various poses – I felt like there was probably a greater all-encompassing theme behind the park and that there was meaning behind Vigeland’s scupltures which eluded me. Nevertheless, the statues intrigued me, most of all the centrepiece – the great ‘Monolith’ which is a 14m column which is essentially an arrangement of human bodies packed together to form a giant pillar, and another one where a group of bodies was intertwined into a ring. Captivating!

The Monolith and the ring of people.

I spent longer than I had intended at the park and once again, the brevity of Norwegian day was about to get the better of me – but I still wanted to get to the ski jump (the other major ‘attraction’ of Oslo). I didn’t realise the bus journey there would take so long (it’s a little out of the city) and by the time I got there it wasn’t long before the sun would set and I’d be left trying to find my way back in the dark which would prove infinitely more complicated than when I could see where I was going! It didn’t help that I got off one stop too early and had to walk the rest of the way – but I did coincidentally meet a friendly Londoner who was staying with his Norwegian friends who helped me find my way.

The ski jump in all it's glory (from a distance) and the view of Oslo from atop the surrounding hillside.

Finally reaching the ski jump just before dusk, it was a bit of a let down because…..well, it’s just a massive ski jump – which is not that exciting in itself without people performing amazing aerial acrobatic manoeuvres on it. However, it was well worth it for the spectacular view of the city which is granted from the vantage point at the base of he ski jump. Well, at least I got to see it and I also got to see a tiny bit of the Norwegian countryside outside the city.

The beautiful Norwegian 'wilderness'.

Arriving back at the apartment, Zlatko had just returned from work, so after dinner we just relaxed and watched the first half of ‘Return of the King’.

Winter Wonderland

Sunday 11th Dec
Zlatko had some things to do at work today, so when I woke up around 10:00am, I found he’d already left. So after I fixed myself breakfast I ventured out to do some exploring on my own. Zlakto had kindly given me a one-week metro pass which gave me unlimited access to public transport in Oslo (trams, buses and subway) and a map of the city - which was all I needed!!

So, all rugged up, I set out to the nearest tram stop. It was freezing cold, but the air was so fresh and pure and though it wasn’t snowing, the snow from the previous fall still covered the ground. Two minutes from Zlatko’s apartment is a park which is completely open but it’s still cold enough for them to play ice hockey on – it’s called Frogner Stadion.

Frogner Stadion at night.

I managed to get to the city centre no problem and had a wander around – only to discover that it really is quite tiny, consisting of the main street (Karl Johans Gate), the train station which has a shopping centre complex within and a few other smaller streets and that’s about it! Basically, everything Zlato had shown me the other night! Though the population of Oslo is only 500,00 people, being the capital I thought there would be more to it, for some reason…………..

Now I don’t know if it was just because it was winter and it was dark and cold, but the Norwegians didn’t seem to enjoy a very active nightlife. Then again - I don’t really blame them – when it’s dark by 3:30pm and 0 C outside, a cosy night in by the fire watching TV sounds very appealing. It might also be due the nature of the Norwegians who have a reputation of being very reserved. But whatever it was, there wasn’t that much going on – that I could find, anyway……

But I did have a good look around and managed to find a Vulture Street CD for Zlatko for AU$40 (out of interest, I had a look and their selection of Australian music was minimal – I was lucky to even find that!). Had dinner at Burger King and then caught the tram to Oslo University to meet Zlako. He was just putting some finishing touches on his website which is a promotional/tourism website for various locations in Croatia translated into English and Norwegian – many of the photos he had taken himself. As I arrived the sun was beginning to set so we didn’t stay there long and I didn’t get a chance to see any of the labs which I would’ve liked, but oh well!

The view from Zlatko's office: it's not hard to get motivated for work when this stunning view greets you when you look out of your window.

We caught the tram back to the apartment where we watched the last half of The Two Towers. I quickly got the feeling that Zlatko sometimes gets a bit lonely - not surprising considering he lives a solitary life and lives in a county where he only knows a little of the language - he has picked up some Norwegian but because you can quite easily get by knowing only English (which is what he speaks at work anyway), he said there’s been less incentive to learn Norwegian properly. But I think he really enjoyed having some companionship and just someone to talk to – (especially in Croatian which he has been missing!!) even more so when we could talk about science, LOTR, etc. And I really enjoyed it too which I was a bit reluctant to just bail on him and leave him alone while I go out – after all, he was letting me stay there. Not that there would’ve been that much to do at night (especially on weekdays), which is why I was happy to just watch the extended LOTR films.

Hammer of the Gods

"I come from the land of the ice and snow, of the midnight sun where the hot springs flow..."

Sat 10th Dec
Indeed, there was a light snow covering the ground as I awoke to my first Norwegian morning but inside it was so well heated, it was almost t-shirt weather! I tried to SMS my sister to wish her a happy birthday but my SIM card still wasn’t working and it didn’t get through. After breakfast, we finished watching FOTR and at about 2:00pm we went out and Zlatko showed me around the city. He took me to the main street, Karl Johans Gate and we had lunch at Burger King – a regular thing for Zlatko. A medium size meal costs AU$15!! We also went to see the National Theatre which in winter has an ice-skating rink set up outside for the kiddies.

Fun and games at the iceskating rink in front of the National Theatre.

It was already starting to get dark (even earlier than in London) so we caught the tram back to the apartment. Living alone as a bachelor hasn’t worked miracles for Zlatko’s cooking skills (which explains the regular visits to Burger King!) and when he does cook, he sticks to things which are easy to prepare – on this particular night he made hrenovke. Not that I minded at all – they were good (and besides, when you’re travelling, what you eat for dinner is your last concern). I did, however, like his array of snackables, such as these terribly addictive perppercake biscuits, and his ingenious concoction of Pepsi + Mozell (a carbonated apple cider drink) which I drank litres of while I was there!!

Over dinner we discussing music and as it happened we shared a similar taste yet again. So after dinner he hooked up his iPod and we spent some time going through it as he played me some of his favourites. He played one song and asked me to guess it, and though I hadn’t heard it before, I picked it as a Deep Purple song. When he found out I was a fan, he asked me what my favourite song was – and when I said ‘Child In Time’ and he exclaimed “Mine too!! Have you heard this version?” So he played this awesome live version I hadn’t heard before (and put it on my iPod) and as we both sat entranced and listened to it in complete silence for the whole 12+ minutes I had one of those trippy moments: it just suddenly struck me that I was sitting in Oslo, Norway, on a cold, dark night, listening to Deep Purple with a guy twice my age who I only met yesterday – what the?!? I was the first time I had stopped and thought about the trip, rather than living it in the now and then I thought about the week in London all the things I did there by myself and how less than two weeks ago I was lounging around sunny Adelaide. Freaky……….

Once we’d finally come out of our trance, he got me onto some good bands that I hadn’t heard much of before: Grand Funk Railroad, Focus and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He asked me if there were any good Australian bands going around and I played him some Powderfinger which he took quite a shine to – so a made a mental note of that. Before bedtime, we managed to fit in the first half ‘The Two Towers’.

Valhalla I Am Coming...

Fri 9th Dec
Woke up at 6:30am, left the keys in the studio and walked to Russel Square station with all my luggage (not easy!) and caught the Picadilly line to Heathrow Terminal 3. On the way I noticed it was extremely foggy (yes, the underground does surface at some points!) – a real pea-souper! In fact, when I arrived to check-in for my flight I found it had been delayed for an hour (from 10:20am – 11:30am) due to the fog as the plane couldn’t take off. So I had a wander through the airport and tried to spend my remaining pounds. Had a small lunch (two bagels, one turkey and one tuna, and a fruit smoothie – £4.50).

Arrived in Oslo at about 3:30pm local time after a 1hr 50 min flight and caught the train from the airport to the Sentral Stasjon. It’s only a 20min ride but cost AU$20!! Of course, my SIM card from London wasn’t working, but luckily a really nice Norwegian girl let me use her phone to SMS Zlatko to let him know I was about to arrive.

I met Zlatko at the Burger King in the station (as I would soon discover, there a many Burker King restaurants in Oslo!) and we caught a taxi back to his apartment which, although small (essentially one room + a kitchen and bathroom), is nicely furnished and well-kept. An apartment that size would still be expensive: at the time I was there Oslo was the most expensive city in the world – and it showed by the size of the dent created in my funds after a week there!

Rank (last year)

1 (3) Oslo, Norway
2 (1) Tokyo, Japan
3 (8) Osaka/Kobe, Japan
4 (2) Reykjavik, Iceland
4 (4) Paris, France
6 (5) Copenhagen, Denmark
7 (7) London, UK
8 (6) Zurich, Switzerland
9 (8) Geneva, Switzerland
10 (10) Helsinki, Finland

Zlatko's apartment.

Zlatko is a Croatian professor of microbiology at Oslo university who went to school with my mother. He moved to Oslo a few years ago and lives by himself now. I think he is separated/divorced from his wife and his daughter now lives in Basel. We got on quite well and found that we had quite a few things in common. Looking through his DVD collection, I spied the Lord of the Rings boxes-sets and when he found out that they were my favourite movies too, he exclaimed “Excellent! Then you won’t mind if we watch them all! I’ve been waiting to have someone to watch them with!” And of course I didn’t! So we put on ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ right then and there! But I was so tired from all the travelling I fell asleep on my fold-out sofa about halfway through.

Zlatko Dembic.

The View From The Afternoon

Thurs 8th Dec
Got up early at 9:30am so I could get to the Tower of London and fit in all of the things I still wanted to get done on my last day in London. Entry and a guided tour through the TOL was £11 for students and worth every penny. Only Yeoman Wardens or their descendants are allowed to give tours, so they really know their stuff – and our guide also had a sense of humour so it was fun as well as informative. Also got to see the famous ravens and heard their legend.

As you all probably know, the TOL was used as a fortress and later as a prison for the elite, high society and would be the site where many a royal head would roll. Most notably it was the place where Henry VIII imprisoned Saint Thomas Moore “A man for all seasons” and later executed him. Mad history!

The Tower of London by day and by night.

These days the TOL is where the Crown Jewels are kept. No photos allowed so I must somehow attempt to convey to you this site but it’s just simply incredible – such exquisite and lavish pieces of jewellery the likes of which I couldn’t even have imagined existed in this world. Crowns, sceptres, dishes, cutlery, ornamental and ceremonial weaponry……….diamonds the size of oranges (mostly from India)!! I reckon that that one room alone would contain more wealth in it than the GNP of many of the world’s countries!! There was also a weapons and armory exhibition on display including the actual suit of armour worn by King Henry VIII (it was very small!).

Next, caught the tube to the Monument – another tall column (311 steps to the top!!) erected in 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London. One of London’s first attractions – and with good reason – a great view of the city (better than the London Eye and at £2, you can’t go wrong!).

The Monument.

Had a toasted ham and cheese foccacia round the corner from the Monument before heading to Oxford St – another busy shopping street lined with all many of department stores – similar to Rundle Mall. It wasn’t as impressive as I thought it might be, except it’s so long that by the time you walk to the end some of the shops start repeating again!! First thing I went to check out was Harrod’s – a super, giant, massive, mega-store which has the reputation as being one of the world’s most expensive! Determined to have bought something from Harrod’s but knowing that I couldn’t possibly afford anything of worth, I went downstairs to the enormous food court and bought a lemon gelati (£3!!) which I wasn’t even allowed to eat in there because I bought the ‘take away’ variety (add another £2 if you buy the exact same size but want to eat it there!).

So I ate it and came back in and had a good wander around. Just your usual over-priced crap. BUT one thing that did impress me immensely were the ‘Luxury Toilets’ – reminiscent of Mr. Burn’s private bathroom! Marble covered floors, polished fittings, sweepingly spacious……I felt like I was spending money just walking standing in there. I would’ve liked to have taken some pictures to show you guys, but I think walking into a public toilet with a camera is a good way to get a beating to go along with your photos! As I walked in, a well-dressed attendant greeted me cheerfully and whistled a nice tune while I tried out the gold-plated urinals (yes, rather unnerving and somewhat creepy for those unaccustomed to such opulence, such as me.….) And when you wash your hands, for your convenience there are a range of the finest after-shave fragrances to choose from. As I was leaving, the gentleman said, “It is customary to leave a tip,” and though I was “Pffft, for what?!? You didn’t do anything! Maybe if you held it for me, or did something at least, you know….” But I simply declined saying I didn’t have any money to spare which was the absolute truth.

Next I went out in search of a 15th birthday present for my sister, and with so much on offer it was hard to choose, though I did eventually decide on a lovely Guess watch (£75). By this time it was already 5:00 so I quickly rushed back to the studio to get ready and pick up Stipos mail, CDs and his gift, then headed to meet him at Aldgate tube station.

For my final night in London, Stipo took me on a night walk around London to some of the last nooks and/or crannies that are known only to inquisitive locals who bother to seek them out and explore all the corners of the city.

One is the Stone of London, which (although we didn’t find, because Stipo couldn’t quite remember it’s exact location) has a rather amusing history. Apparently, as the legend goes, in times of old, young men would come and……yeah, do their stuff on this stone and women would come and sit on it to get pregnant…..hmmm…………..

Also, there was a wall made of bricks engraved with stories of people dying in all sorts of unusual and downright strange (but nevertheless heroic) ways. Whether they are true or not………..

Also went through Fleet Street where all the newspapers used to have their offices, and saw the old bank building. My favourite thing was the tour of all the really old English pubs. Places like ‘Ye Old Cheshire Cheese’ that you walk into and a really musty, old, wooden earthy smell just hits you and you instantly feel like ‘home’. Places that are small, quiet and dimly lit, but clean and cosy with all wooden interiors – and most importantly, good beer!! Like nothing in Australia and as far as you can get from the loud, flashy, crowded nightclubs. The title of ‘Oldest Pub in London’ is a fiercely contested one (as you can imagine – mad appeal) and though many make that claim, it is one that will probably never be verified.

The obligatory photo of the London underground - Mind the gap!

Anyhow, all this night walking sure worked up an appetite, so Stipo and I found a nice pub that served good meals – unfortunately they weren’t serving the rib-eye or rump steaks so I settled for a hearty beef stew with Yorkshire pudding. Though it didn’t look it, it was delicious, especially on a cold London night – hit the spot perfectly!! Mmmm! I also sampled some of the local ales, though they are quite different to what we call ‘ales’ here. They are much clearer and thinner, sometimes fruityt too, though I didn’t enjoy them as much.

As I had an early flight the following day, it was to be the last time I saw Stipo, so I took the opportunity to thank him for his warm hospitality and generous use of his time to show me around. He was quite speechless when I gave him his gift of a video iPod and said he felt humbled. Surprisingly for a musician he didn’t yet own one, so it was perfect and he absolutely loved it!

After we said our final goodbyes, I returned to the studio at about 9:30pm to finish packing and to catch some sleep before my flight.

Temporary Post

That's right, jacks - the least expected (and awaited) blog update is here!
I'm back!! Or am I???

Now, I'm going to continue right where I left off - though as I'm writing more than 6 months after the events, I shall have to rely on my........my......what's that thing called again?? Oh, yes - my 'memory'! (and my feeble notes that I took while I was there)

So just pretend like I'm still over there when you're commenting, OK?
You'll also notice that the old blog is new and improved - with photos!!

Hopefully it will be start of more regular updating as I aim to finish this writing about this adventure before the next one commences.

But just reading back on what I've written so far, I'm really glad I did make a record of it because it's good to look back and reflect on the little details that I surely would have forgotten otherwise. Obviously, there are some things I remember which seem like they happened yesterday..........but it's still good.
Actually, I haven't really had time to really properly think about the trip and mull it over because I've been so busy, but just by refreshing my thoughts now, I realise that I'm only really beginning to appreciate I did and what a great time I had....... Mad times....... It was probably just a bit to much to take in at the time and it all happened so fast. I'm sure in another 1o years it will be even more significant.

Wherever I may roam...

Funnies! In Oslo airport now waiting to go to Zurich then Basel to Feds it up, heh heh...
Had no net in Norge hence no uåpdates but never feara - they shall comeand come they will!!
Nor was OK nothing too much to do though....
NexT!