Resistance Museum and Boats

Today started with the Resistance Museum which is situated at Akershus Fortress which also houses Akershus Castle. Before I travel i like to read books set in the place I am going. Finding books set in Norway in English (and in the library) wasn’t easy. I found a long running series by Torill Thorup about a young woman married to a frame in the early 1900s. Unfortunately only the first two have been translated in English.
The others I found were set during WWII and focussed on the resistance effort. I don’t think I knew anything about what happened in Norway in WWII. I can recommend The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham and The Jossing Affair by JL Oakley (still listening to this one). At the recent Scandinavian film festival Cathrine and I saw Number 24, a movie based on the actions of Gunnar Sonsteby who was very active in the resistance movement. That was a fascinating insight into the resistance work.
I also watched Atlantis Crossing on SBS demand which is the story of the Norwegian royal family in exile during the war.

So with all that background I was keen to see the resistance museum and learn more. In contrast to the museums I visited yesterday this museum doesn’t look like it has changed much since it opened in 1970. There are a lot of historical documents and it would be a huge undertaking to translate them into English so I had to make do with just the signs accompanying the displays. I didn’t find any mention of the Shetland Bus which was a series of boats running between the Shetland Islands and Norway carrying weapons, refugees and saboteurs.
It was quite a sobering experience to see the horrors inflicted on Norwegians by Nazis and their collaborators. Just outside the building is the site of executions of Norwegians.
I only took a photo of a photo of Gunnar Sonsteby as it didn’t feel appropriate to take more photos.

I had then intended to explore the castle in the grounds but I couldn’t find th entrance, despite walking around the outside. I was in quite a pensive mood so decided to spend the afternoon on the Oslo Fjord ferries. I struggled to read the timetables so in the end got on the first ferry I saw. That took me out to Nesoggtangen where I had some lunch then sat in the sun before heading back again. I got off that ferry onto another one that went to Vollen and Slemmestad. I had though the route would call in at more places but I think that was the summer timetable. Summer finished on 31st August. I’ve come across a few things that finished then. It was a nice trip and I saw a lot of summer cottages on islands. No photos as there was a lot of spray on the windows.

I didn’t feel like going out for tea so picked up some smoked salmon, goats cheese and yoghurt for tea and had it in my room.

Interestingly today I had a few struggles with information not being provided in English. Nearly all signs and announcements are in both Norwegian and English although as I said a lot of information in the resistance museum had not been translated. I had a pre packed salad for lunch (very pitiful excuse for a Caesar salad) and the packaging was only in Norwegian. I was looking at another salad and couldn’t workout the ingredients and had to ask. The server’s English was fluent which and she struggled a bit to translate it. On the bat back from Nesoggtangen I was approached by a man holding out his phone. I thought he wanted to scan my pass but he wasn’t speaking English (not sure if he was speaking Norwegian) and I held my phone out to him. He was tapping his phone and I thought he wanted my card. After he spoke again instead of saying “I don’t speak Norwegian” or “I only speak English” I said “I don’t speak English” in English. He then asked for a charging cord in broken English p, which I didn’t have one.
It will be interesting to see if the high rate of English will be found in up the other areas I visit.
Tomorrow I leave for Flam. I’m having my luggage transported to Bergen as I’m only staying overnight in Flam and as transport is via trains, boat and a bus it’s recommended to just take an overnight bag so you aren’t lugging a suitcase around.Weiterlesen