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The Thirteenth Warrior
Nordland, Sveden and Suomi ( or should I say Norway , Sweden and Finland )
Oslo , man oh man...what can you say about an advanced culture, beautiful city and perfect weather? Its an incredibly beautiful city vitalized by spring weather after a long deep freeze. A train to Bergen on the west coast is unforgettable, over, under and straight through mountains, fjords, iced over tundra...its like a disney ride in heaven. The best city in the Northlands bar none. There isnt a sense of intense kindness here, its more of a quiet reserved survival outpost. Crusty tough pioneers who are agreeable but not pouring out with hospitality.
Talk about a country to blow you away. Its ridiculously expensive but where else can you see (and eat) polar bear, reindeer, 24 hour daylight, mideaval castles and fortresses, Viking ships, the real Kon-Tiki expedition raft... well you get the idea. The ways you wind up saving money are pretty crazy, give up on sleep with little or no darkness and ride trains at night...no rent. eat at grocery stores and pack food. stand next to tour groups and listen to their guide (being a tour whore).... The Chilean ambassador was giving a speech about international economic cooperation at the Thor Hyerdahl museum in Oslo , sort of connected my trip there in 2003...
Curious fact: "Hell" means prosperity in Nord (I went to a town named Hell by train, not much to do but not so bad...), and "fart" means speed (signs post a fart limit named "fartsmollen"). really, no kidding. "Six" in nord is "Sex" so you hear it more often than in a Govguam office. The list goes on...Of course "No" of course sounds like "Nine" so you get to hear amazing conversations in bus stations whe you are deleriously tired... hahaha.
Move a City??? I just heard the city I stayed in, Kiruna in northern Sweden, is really going to be moved next year, though it was an urban legend...apparently there is enough iron ore to be mined it pays off to move the whole town...
Stocholm is clearly the city of modern beauty and culture. To quote a friend of mine in Sweden here (Helt) Scandinavians are the worlds most evolved cultures. I'd have to agree for now. Where else did socialism work so well? Its like a fine swiss clock but it made of moving people! Helsinki was pretty good, its always nice to visit Linus Torvald's hometown, meet lots of interesting hackers. Man they LOVE farenheit 911...have it available as an operating system shell...I stayed in a college dorm there...yeah, no kidding...huh? It seemed like the righ thing to do at the time...
Next: The Baltics, Medieval and loving it...
Joe
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