Steg for steg : Step by step

September, 28thIf you visit The Norwegian Booktown by car from south, you have to drive a tollroad at a cost of 175,-NOK each way. But no doubt it's worth it. I went to see a late sunday this september and was not disappointed. In this very particular village you can choose between 250 000 titles sold in different abandoned buildings by the fjord. The above map shows a small part of it. Here is the second-hand book-seller building Fjøsen (The Livestock Barn).

Inside from floor to ceiling there are book-shelfs filled with second-hand books. Some booksellers also have placed their book-shelfs along the road and offer self service like this one. The price for each book, 10 kr., has to be put in a box.

Most books in the about 10 second-hand bookseller trades are put into book-shelfs and organised either by author or by subject. Time is running if you like to run through a book before concluding what books to buy, but prices are low. On your walk between the book-sellers you can sit down to relax and have a cup of coffee, or if you have no ideas, just look at more books exposed just outside the door to call your attention like here:

When leaving the booktown I was happy to bring home half a dozen books, between them a norwegian school song book, a famous novel that is out of print and not available from ordinary book-sellers, a missing volume in a series, a small dictionary in 7 languages etc.
Please notice: June 20th 2009 at night , The Norwegian Booktown is open until next morning. You should meet there and have an exciting experience.


Town by town in Europe: http://townbytown.blogspot.com/ (in norwegian)

Today, on a really warm august sunday, we once again are headig for our highest mountain in Bergen, Gullfjellet. A rather steep shortcut is walked by 8 boots on 8 feets and 4 feets of one dog. Sheeps are grazing high up in the hillside so the dog has to be kept in a line.

Longhaired black wool was really not a clothing to wear for us on this warm sommer day. May be the sheeps were waiting for the owners shears, so they could get rid of their clothing.

The sheep leaders has a bell fixed to a necklace. Then their owners can find them more easily and bring them home in a few weeks from now. And every sheep has a label with the owners symbol in the ear tip.

Some people get very excited by climbing up the steep hillside. On a top, but not the final one, a norwegian flag is blowing in the wind to show the world that a norwegian team has won the race to the top this sunday.

After some hours we are on the mountain top (987 m), and can have a look back to the fjord. From here the landscape look rather flat, but by a warning sign we are reminded abot the steep cliff just a few steps in front.

Downwards we are guided to find the right way by the big stone cairns. Today there are no problems to get down, but in foggy wether it's very nessesary to find the right way by following the cairns. Here we pass cairn number 57 looking forward to the next one , nr. 58.

In the steepest part of the hillside a small hut is built for security reasons, containing rescuing materials like a hand barrow.

Down in the valley where more people are walking their sunday trip, the path is cultivated. There has been done a lot of work for years by our ancestors to raise the standard.

Further down we continue on a better footpath for family walking. A small river is crossed by a bridge.

Now we look forward to get home for dinner and relax our bodies during the evening. Some of us also mean that we deserve something extra, did I hear Chablis? There will surely be no opportunity to do a trip like this until next year.

The fjords in Norway are recognised to be among the most beautiful landscapes in the world. In summer the fjords are destinations for many cruise ships. The waterfall Feigefossen is one of the highest, 216 m vertical fall, and can easily be seen from a cruise ship sailing in the Lusterfjord.

The fjords are of great value in advertising an image of our country and its landscape and tourist industry. But locally the fjord landscape and its waterfalls only give a small part of peoples incomes. Some waterfalls are protected by law, others are still objects for the development of new hydro power plants to produse more electricity needed in households and home industry.
Now a planned 350 km long powerline might disturb a lot of the scenery. Step by step more powerlines have to cross valleys and fjords like this one crossing Sogndalsfjorden at Fardal.

Looking at the cables, shining in the afternoon sunshine, I wonder if more powerlines like these can beautify the landscape and be an adventure for visitors as well as for local people in a nearby village. Why not claim a complete removal of the high voltage, the transformators and these seven gigantic masts in painted metal structure as a condition to accept another powerline?

Please tell me your opinion by a comment!
PS! Look closer to the picture. Workmen have climbed to the top the second mast. Someone told me that one of the workmen also did a ride by bike on the line.

Before daylight in the morning I have the opportunity to walk on the marble square in front of the new Opera house lying by the fjord in Oslo. Behind the enlighted edgeline the square slope down to the sea without any railing to prevent people to slide down to the waterfront. How many people will happen to trip on the edge and have a bath, voluntarely or non voluntarely?

The Opera house itself is enlighted behind me. On the sloped roof upwards the audience is supposed to stay during a break in the opera performance or gather in a mild summer night. Even this morning I feel a temptation to mount it, but a small obstacle is still present. In a couple of months on the official opening ceremony, I expect a crowd of people to enter the slope.

This morning the water is like a mirror. A picture of the enlighted monumental building on the other side of the Bjørvika fjord harbour, called Oslo havnelager, is reflected from the sea, looking more like a castle than a business headquarter. Will this building get people's attention as much as the Opera house? And what is the name of its architect?

The answer is Bredo Berntsen, years 1916-1920, The building was a giant iron concrete construction at that time.

If you notice what is inside the shoe, you have to go to Florence on your next holiday.
In the city of Prague I also met the famous dancing couple Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, this time as dancing buildings. The original house was destroyed during bombing in 1945, the new one is created by Frank Gehry and finished 1996.

Behind the former "iron curtain" in the heart of Europe cultural heritage treasures has been rediscovered by western travelers. Zwinger Palace in Dresden, partly destroyed during the second world war, is one of them. Zwinger -means 'interspace' - was built in the first half of the 17 hundreds in Baroque architecture. Its courtyard was used for court festivities, tournaments and fireworks. In this solemn atmosphere, where sculptures surrounds you on all sides, you really don't walk on the grass. In the next city we are also reminded on the "iron curtain" where remnants of The Wall still can be seen. And this piece of art is painted on "Die Mauer":

"There are still other walls to be unbuilt/erased", as emphasized on the next painting on "Die Mauer" .

In Berlin we happen to meet the United Buddy Bears Exhibition - The Art of Tolerance. The slogan of the exhibiton is: "We have to know each other better......it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more and live together more peacefully."

On the polar bear this text by Albert Einstein was painted; "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding" . Myself, I add: - "step by step".

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Summer, 2007
Today our Earth climate is our common challenge. In a globalized world Environmental problems are international issues who needs to be solved by collaboration. The italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro has illustrated our situation in sculptures called "Spheres". I have locateted one of the spheres at "Piazza della liberta" in Pesaro, Italy, where this picture was taken. A similar sculpture is located in the Vatican museum, another outside the UN building in New York.

Even if we are all part of the global village, there are small villages where the local idetity still has survived. The villages in Cinque Terre, Italy are of this kind. But do they have a sustainable future? Where is the harbour for fishboats, and can vine produced from vinestocks in these steep rocks give them enough income? Is global tourism a nessesary basis for their existence? Here is Manarola:

Vernazza (next picture) is the favorite village for many tourists. From here it is easy to come and go by train. On a narrow path through the National Park of Cinque Terre there is only a few hours walk to the nearest villages, Corniglia (south) and Monterosso (north). I wish I were back here some time.

Here is Corniglia

and Monterosso

seen from the path up in the hillside by the shore.

Compared to the same date one year ago the weather is quite different. The mountain Ådnanipa, 456m, has got a white cap of snow. Today we have a nice view to Garnes and the fjord.

It's time to continue step by step. To day we heads for the south western part of the city mountains. From Bønes we follow the path upwards through a pine wood. Beetween the trees we look back down to the roofs of a part of Bønes, a residence area surrounded by wooden nature. At Gullstølen we have a short stop by the cabin, built by the local scout group. The construction is a traditional stave building, built in about the same method as the stave churches. On the back wall is written the information for a hiker competition for this season.

Some minutes later we reach the summit Gullsteinen and its great stone cairn. We are 352 m up. Further on is higher mountain "Løvstakken ", 477 m. To the right is Landås surburb and the snowcap of "Ulriken" mountain behind.

If you want to know why the mountain is called Gullsteinen (The Golden Stone), may be the next picture is an explanation. The stone has been left here by the glacier thousands of years ago.

On the globe today there are many densely urbanized metropolitan areas. Buildings, looking like mountain peaks, are rising higher and higher. In Europe howewer, we don't match other parts of the world in the competition of constructing tall buildings. But ours are between the more interesting ones.

From outside we mostly look at tall buildings from beneath. With splended arcitecture some of the buildings have qualities that make them look like individuals. Here are a few of my european favorites also seen on the "group picture" above.

La Grande Arche, the great arc de triomphe in La Defense district in Paris. Can be ascended by an outside glass lift. The wide open square in front and the other tall buildings surrounding the the axis leading the eyes toward Place Clarles de Gaulle Etoile make it an incredible city space. Step by step you can enjoy the site from the great staircaise below the arc or from the wiewpoint on top.

Another favourite is Swiss Re Tower at 30 St. Marys Axe in The City of London. Seen from the paths along the quees of South Banks the Swiss Re Tower always keep your awareness, raising 180 m high up behind the medieval Tower of London. Foster & Partners has been responsible for design and construction. Could the top flat be the home of Mr. James Bond?

The office tower, also called "Gherkin", bulges out slightly from its base. The aerodynamic design help to reduce wind load on the structure and turbulent wind on the surrounding plaza. Sorry, but the plaza was an empty rainy square, unfortunately I was there on monday, a Bank Holiday.

Torre Agbar, Avenguida Diagonal 211 near Glorias Catalanas in Barcelona, created by the famous architect Jean Nouvel, has about the same form, but surface and colour is different. The facade panels are made of 40 different colours. This skyscraper is 144 m high, not the highest in Barcelona. The building feature spectacular night illumination in yellow, blue, pink and red by 4,500 lights placed over the facade.

I walked into the building in july 2006, but was not allowed to enter the lift. In a newspaper I read that a man had succeded to climb the whole way up step by step outside the windows. The facade is covered by pieces of brie-solei, to the south photovoltaic plates generate electricity for the building. Nearby the surface look like this.

Just arrived at Hamar railway station I went to have a short glance at the city while I was waiting for an appointment. In one of the main streets I found a picture engraved in several concrete chips on the pavement. I recognized that the picture represented a ruin of a former cathedral situated by the Mjøsa lake.

So I went down to the lake Mjøsa and followed a path along a nice park prepeared for different activities like beach wolley, roller blading, bathing, children playing, pathways for people walking with dogs etc. Here I also found this work of art - a crown - a monument of the kings visit?

Bergen is a city with seven mountains. The most famous is "Ulriken". Arriving by boat, the first mountain at starboard side is called "Lyderhorn", 396 m heigh. Today we climb up the southern hillside. After a few minutes we had to mount this staircaise.


Further up we got a start by a viper basking in the sunshine, but suddenly the reptile disappeared between yellow dry grass and shrubs. We were not hurted, but taken by surprise. For the rest of the trip we can't deny that our attention got focus along the path, step by step. For a moment however, we have lifted our eyes. Here is the view down to Vestkanten shopping centre and the surburb of Loddefjord.

Hikers have come from different directions and in all ages to have a break on the summit. The folk tradition says that witches used to gather on this mountain during the midsummer night. Today it's an honour to be nominated for the title "witch of the year" in the summer feast.

In the north west direction we have a nice overview of the suspension bridge (850m) to Askøy, now duty-free for travellers. But tall cruise-ships of more than 62 m height have no chance to sail under the bridge into Bergen Harbour - further to the right.From the summit we can also have a close stydy of the traffic flow on highway west. Today there are less traffic than in a normal situation during the week when vehicls are queuing. All the same a lot of cars (23?) can be seen at this moment.