Bloomin' Marvellous

 

Norway’s capital Oslo is enchanting. A thousand years of history, built beside a majestic fjord, efficient public transport including trams, ferries, buses, and underground trains bustling crowds, Viking heritage and a wonderful medieval castle. If that’s not enough, then there are two other quirks that we discovered in Oslo.

 

The sea is the dominant theme of several museums which celebrate Norway’s long association with all things maritime. Apart from being fierce warriors, the Vikings ability to build, sail, navigate and travel to much the world by sea is a heady reminder of the economic, military and geo-political significance of sea power. The Kon-Tiki museum celebrates the vision of Norway’s Thor Heyerdahl, who in 1947 sailed a hand-made balsa raft (with a single sail and no steering) 8000kms from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. His journey demonstrated the possibility of contact between widely separated people groups in ancient times. In the midst of all this incredible maritime history our transit to the museums is on an elegant, wooden ferry built in 1947, neither fast nor quiet, but a nautical delight.

 

 

Another quirky picture of Oslo reveals a city set to grow. As we walk up the hill, we don’t need to check our route because the locals are heading in the same direction. Walking with purpose, the crowd is mostly young: men, women, couples, children and quite a few dogs on leads. The queues are long and there is a sense of anxiety in the air and an obvious ‘fear of missing out’. The scenes resemble the Australian Boxing Day sales. All of this is not inside a shopping centre, a building or even a formal outdoor market. It’s actually in the Botanical Gardens and the occasion is the annual plant sale. Tomatoes, shrubs, herbs, seedlings and flowering plants are in high demand. Some people are there just to enjoy the beautiful gardens, but the market highlights a city keen to grow their own food, revel in nature and spread the beauty of the botanical gardens throughout their city.

 

The late Peter Cundall (long time host of Gardening Australia) would sum up this scene, and maybe even this city, in two words:

‘Bloomin’ marvellous.’