1. Whale meat is on the menu. But they call it “whale ham” or “roast beef of whale.” ?
2. I’ve never been anywhere where the American Dollar is quite so impotent. Postcard = $3. Hotel room = $250. Taxi from the airport = $180. Fish dinner entree = $50.
3. We had our meeting in the King’s former stables. These days redone in wood-and-wrought iron Scandinavian Design style. Way to recycle, Ministry of Environment.
4. It’s barely above freezing, but the skystays light until 9:30 pm. Winter or summer, you be the judge.
5. You know that credit card commercial where the American guys go to Norway to rediscover their roots, then figure out they are actually from Sweden? It’s filmed in the Oslo harbor. I think.
6. Oslo Fjord, while technically still a fjord, has no steep sloping walls or waterfalls. The lady at the cruise office assures me that tours of such fjord are “boring” while Oslo Fjord is “full of life.” I’ll find out Saturday.
7. The people of Norway are heroes, absolute heroes, for their work on climate change. Their government has provided over $3 billion in the last few years to stop tropical deforestation.
