FROM OSLO TO FLAM - JUNE 1981

AN AMAZING RAILWAY TRIP

After a regular trip from Oslo to the mountain station at Myrdal, an incredible train journey awaits you down to Flåm station, at the innermost corner of the Aurlandfjord: the Flåm Railway!
The 20 km-long train ride, in one of the worlds steepest railway lines on normal gauge (55/1000 on almost 80% of the line), provides you with a wild and magnificent scenery: snow-capped mountains, rivers, waterfalls, valleys...



"TRAIN OSLO-MYRDAL - During the stay in Oslo, the temperature was +17º centigrade. Next morning, when we took the train, it was -2º. The result could be seen from the window of the train!"


"MYRDAL STATION - It was windy and freezing, namely for a young Portuguese used to the June weather in Lisbon... The train is the 1981 version of the famous Flåm Railway!"



"FLAM VALLEY - When you start the descent from Myrdal to Flåm, you get a glimpse of the beautiful Flåm Valley"



"KJOSFOSSEN - At Kjosfossen, the train stops and you take your photos. There is no other place where a train stops and you see an impressive waterfall coming downhill to the platform. The water starts cascading up in the mountains and roars on its way down"


"FLAM - Then you get to Flåm, which is situated in the innermost part of the Aurlandsfjord, a tributary of the 204 kilometres long and up to 1308 metres deep Sognefjord"


"HARBOUR - Small cruise ships and ferries used to squeeze through narrow fjord arms to arrive at Flåm. In 1981 it looked the way you see in the picture. Now, Flåm Port is one of Norway's most popular ports of call for cruise ships. As from May 1999 Flåm have improved the berthing facilities to enable the largest cruise ship to berth alongside. The harbour basin has all the facilities for using tender boats on days when several cruise ships are in the harbour at the same time... UGH!"


"FLAM 1981 - Main rule: Enjoy..."

OSLO - JUNE 1981

LATE JUNE IS A FABULOUS TIME TO TRAVEL IN SCANDINAVIA!

STROLLING IN THE CAPITAL CITY OF NORWAY

According to the Norwegian sagas, Oslo was founded in 1048 by king Harald Hardråde, but recent archaeological research has uncovered burials from before 1000. Oslo occupies an arc of land at the Oslofjord. The fjord lies to the south; in all other directions Oslo is surrounded by green hills and mountains. There are 40 islands, the largest being Malmøya (0.56 km²), and 343 lakes, the largest being Maridalsvannet (3.91 km²), within the city limits. Kirkeberget, at 629 m, is the highest point. The city's population is only 533,050 (in July 2005), but it occupies a large land area, with many parks and open areas (22 km²), giving it a very green appearance.


"KARL JOHANN GATE - Main Street Norway"


"ROYAL PALACE - built between 1824 and 1848 as the Norwegian residence of Swedish-Norwegian king Charles III (Charles XIV of Sweden), is used as the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch - King Harald V"


"CITY HALL - The city's administrative body, and seat of the City Council, was inaugurated in 1950"


"CITY HALL, as seen from the Akershus Fortress"


"OSLOFJORD and AKERSHUS FORTRESS - The old castle was built 1n 1299 to protect Oslo. The fortress has never been successfully captured by a foreign enemy. However, it surrendered without combat to Nazi Germany in 1940 when the Norwegian government evacuated the capital"


"AKERSHUS FORTRESS, a military area, but open to the public"


"CITY HALL, as seen from the Oslofjord. The City Hall is where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held, unlike the others Nobel prizes, which are awarded in Stockholm. According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize should be awarded to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses"


"FRAM was a ship used between 1893 and 1912 in expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Nansen, Sverdrup, and Amundsen, and was probably the strongest wooden ship ever built. It is said to be the ship to have sailed furthest north and furthest south, and is currently preserved at the Fram Museum"


"STAVEKIRKE - The Gol Stavkirke - from around 1200 - was moved from the mountain village of Gol to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in 1880 by King Oscar II"


"KARL JOHANN GATE - Small Lake and Grand Hotel"


"SHOPPING STREET on the way to the Central Station"


"VIGELAND PARK is Norway's most visited attraction (over one million visitors every year), and was created between 1907 and 1942 by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). It contains 192 sculptures with more than 600 figures, all modelled in full size by Vigeland without the assistance of pupils or other artists, but transferred into stone by the professional artisans he hired. The Fountain is the earliest sculpture in the park"


"MONOLITTEN - One of the main attractions of the Park. The column - 14.12 meters high and carved out of a single block of stone - contains 121 figures, and was modelled in the years 1924-25"



"VIGELAND SCULPTURES - Surrounding the Monolitten, there are 36 groups in granite depicting the cycle of life. Every sculpture includes at least two figures depicting the human condition. The figures from the early period are broad and simple. Later, however, more space was allowed between them and greater differentiation among the figures was introduced"