August 15 is special to every
Indian as the country celebrates its Independence Day. It is special to me in
another manner too, with respect to this journey. It was the Independence Day
celebrations in 1997 that had sparked my interest in travelling to London by
road. I had detailed that in the first part of this series of posts. Thus, after
17 years of dreaming, planning and executing I am close to the fructification
of the epic project. Along the way I have received many a helping hand from the
most unexpected quarters, made friends in countries that I had never expected
to travel to, debated issues of national and international issues across
borders, enjoyed the food and culture of lands unfamiliar to me in the past,
been motivated and egged on by well-wishers and friends, criticised by the Press
and Media and courted controversy and abuse. But, most importantly, I have
enjoyed every bit of the 2 month journey, through 22 countries in 2 Continents and
21000 kms. Every day of the journey I have realised that I am doing what few only
dream of doing. My hands are folded in gratitude and my knees bent in
supplication.
Murugan had agreed to be in the
hotel by 10 am with his son to complete the rest of the sightseeing. However,
he turned up close to noon, which gave me time to complete the blog posts and
upload them on the site. I became current with the blogs, documentation and the
expense account statement. An interesting piece of data that emerged is that nearly
2625 litres of fuel has been consumed to cover 21000 kms – an average of 8
kmpl; this is quite an improvement from the 6 kmpl I used to get in Cochin!
I got Shaiju, Murugan and his
son, Manu, together and requested them to come with us to the garage, where the
car was parked. After Murugan and Manu converted the red dot against Norway on
one side Shaiju did it on the other. I keep telling people who affix the sticker
that in case any portion of the red is visible after the green sticker is stuck
they have to pay for the fuel upto the next country! So far none of them has
obliged me. Both of them also signed the campaign poster and helped attest the log
sheets. Then Shaiju let us in on a well kept secret. The Scandic Solli hotel
has underground rooms and tunnels belonging to WWII era. Shaiju told us that
German officers in civvies checked into the hotel one night and came down in
their uniforms the next day and took command of the hotel. Thereafter they built
radio room, torture chambers, confinement rooms and tunnels that extended
underground to the Aker Byrgge. It was eerie walking around the confinedhaiju
told us that many locals do not know about the existence of the spaces and
tunnels and it is only the King who has access to the area. Thanks, Shaiju, for
the privileged visit.
Shaiju had done online booking of
the ferry from Larvik to Hirtshals for the 16th. He was able to get
us the best rate possible by giving exact measurement of the car and getting the
rate reduced from NOK 1249 to NOK 1049. On my enquiry he suggested that I go the
Post Office to exchange currency. On the way to the Vigeland Park Murugan took
me to the ‘Postaan’. The kindly lady told me to go to the DNB bank in case I wanted
a reduced commission charge! The bank was close by. I waited my turn and
another elderly lady exchanged USD for NOK at the day’s rate of 5.9445 with a commission
of NOK 50 for the transaction. Next we went to a cornet shop and bought two day
passes for travel in the city. Each pass cost NOK 90, which was steep even by
Europe standards. Using a combination of bus, tram and the Metro we got to the
Veigland Park. At the edge of the entrance is a huge area with many tennis
courts. Coaching and competitive matches were going on. I was told that the
infrastructure is built by the state machinery but the corporate partners chip
in to maintain them through sponsorship.
The Vigeland Park is the largest
sculpture Park in the world made by a single artist spread out over 80 acres. The
Park contains 212 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron by Gustav
Vigeland. He was also in charge of the design and layout of the Park. Most of
the works of Vigeland are placed in five units along a 850 meter axis, which
are the Main Gate, The Bridge, The Fountain, The Monolith Plateau and the Wheel
of Life. The Bridge contains over 50 sculptures displaying relationships
between man and woman and between adults and children. The Angry Boy is the
most famous among the sculptures on the Bridge. The fountain and the monolith
have human forms in various states of action and emotional stages.
After a luxurious walk in the
Park it was time to get back closer to the Hotel. We took the Metro and tram
and returned to the Nobel Institute where we sauntered around in the area areas
that had free access, including the souvenir shop. After that we walked across
to the place where the Mela festival was on to grab some lunch. Food from Morocco,
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Greece, Thailand, etc was available. We sampled
some Pakistani and Iranian food. It was passable. Later we had some delightful
kulfis and returned to the Hotel for some rest.
Late in the evening, once Shaiju
got free from work, we went with him, his colleague at work, Victor, Murugan
and Seby, from Chalkudy, to the Holmenkollen, which boasts of the steepest ski
jump in the world and has spectator capacity for 30000. The magnificent venue
has hosted the winter Olympics in 1952 and many ski championships over the years.
The view of Oslo from the hill is fantastic. Later I went with Shaiju and
Victor to a bar near the Hotel, where I started with an Akvavit shot. Akvavit
is a flavoured spirit of herbs and spices. Over a couple of beers I had one of
the finest conversations I have had during the journey learning more and more
about Norwegian and Swedish life and culture. I have to thank Shaiju and Victor
for the interesting conversation and the informative discussions. I was told
why the Norwegian Parliament is called Storting – Viking for ‘big gathering’;
why it was Yule for the Vikings and not Christmas, and many such. Victor told
me that there were Swedish politicians campaigning in Oslo for the impending
elections in Sweden – Swedes in Oslo number over 60,000! With that the stay in
another country came to a close. But the sojourn was replete with friends like Shaiju,
Murugan, Seby and Victor.
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