Arrival

So what does any good open-minded, worldly, American couple do three days after arriving in a foreign country? Go to an American car show, of course! Through my work at RockAuto I had found out that the largest show to happen in Oslo would be going on right after we arrived. Jordan and I decided to go for some fun and maybe make connections with the car world there. It sure was an experience. There were a lot of American cars there, and the fact that they were American was what made them show-worthy. There was everything from an 80s Woody Dodge Caravan to a large club for Continentals of all years, and even some true street rods and muscle cars. Behind me you can see two of the offerings at the Mopar club, these two being special because they are new and therefore very expensive to import into the country. The Challenger cost nearly $200k just to import due to the taxes on new cars. Cars over 30 years old are much cheaper to import, just one of Norway's funny automotive laws. We did end up meeting some very nice people from the NSRA; no, not the National Street Rod Association, but the Norwegian Street Rod Association. They gave us some T-shirts and the name of someone who they thought might need help at his rod shop.




These two pictures just demonstrate a little bit of Norwegian life. Behind Jordan is Even and Siri's house, where we stayed the first two weeks. It is rather large for Norwegian standards, but would be considered on par with the larger houses in subdivisions back home. It is really nice, and is typical in that almost all Norwegian houses are built out of wood and have metal roofs. It was built in the 1930s I think. The other picture says a little bit about transportation here. The big blue thing in the background is a "trikke" or trolley. They are all electric and are an integral part of the public transit here. You can get anywhere with public transit, even in the countryside. Oslo has about 600,000 people and there are 6 Subway lines, 6 Trolley lines, and 60+ bus lines. Not to mention there are also 5 boat lines to the islands and peninsulae in the fjord, 3 trains going from the city center to surrounding cities, and tons more bus lines going from the city to the surrounding areas. In terms of cars it is probably the most like the US in that people drive a lot and their cars are not very small, but in general people drive smaller cars. A big car is a CUV and they go all the way down to things like this blue Reva above and the green Buddy next to it. They are pint-sized electric cars that are good for driving around town and are fairly common here.

Now I will leave you with two pictures of beautiful Oslo. The picture on the left is the City Hall, and is one of the tallest buildings here. It sits in the old harbor right next to the bustling wharf of Aker Brygge, one of the most popular hangouts in town, in the othe picture. It is a beautiful area where you can eat a meal outside on the pier or on a boat, go shopping in the mall in the old warehouse buildings, and finish it off with ice cream on the boardwalk.