How Much?
Oslo – 25th May
Today’s blog starts with our ABBA tribute ‘Merry-Go-Round’ (1994)
Merry-go-round
Where am I bound
Merry-go-round
We have now arrived in Norway, our sixth country in 4 weeks – new languages, new road rules, new apartments (appliances and waste disposal) and new currencies. To make things more confusing the three Scandinavia countries call their currencies; Krone (Denmark), Krona (Sweden) and Krone (Norway). Although Denmark and Norway both use Krone, they have different values; you will get 1.5 NDK for 1 DKK. The exchange rate for a Swedish Krona to a Norway Krone is 1 for 1; however they definitely don’t have the same buying power. We fueled up with petrol before crossing into Norway, to take advantage of the NZ$2.84 per litre price in Sweden, knowing that Norway charges NZ $3.44 per litre. We are fairly sure Norway drills for the stuff! In NZ we choke if a tank full of petrol costs goes over the $150 mark, but here we pay SEK700 for a tank-full and then go to the supermarket and pay NDK700 for a bag full of groceries. To comprehend the amount you have to do some mental arithmetic to realise it is only NZ$100.
Our first stop after arriving in Norway was to head to the shopping centre in Halden to buy Norwegian SIM cards and morning tea. NZ$15 in Sweden buys you a coffee, a filled roll and a bun; however the same money in Norway buys only a coffee and a bun. The bun was a Pekanbolle: a sticky pecan and caramel bun, delicious, especially when slightly heated. The coffee was advertised as a ‘flat white’, false advertising, although the consumer was prepared to cut the young guy some slack. From observations there were three coffee brewing techniques, the espresso machine with barista in training, filtered or the premade coffee from the urn, this was the most popular. Norway is the second biggest coffee consumer per capita in the world – like Sweden, people go to the café to relax and enjoy their coffee, not to work there or get a take-out.
Driving in Norway (outside of big cities) is pleasant. The highways are surrounded by forests, agricultural paddocks, lakes and high fences so that you don’t have to worry about the occasional suicidal deer/moose. We spotted a lake with racing lanes on it and a rowing club nearby so thought that would be our lunch spot. Unfortunately the road was narrow, large vehicles have the right of way., And then the bikes! We managed to park on the grass, sandwiched between the cycle path and the passing bay, and watched all the near miss collisions between speeding tractors and cars heading for the layby.
As you get close to the large city of Oslo toll roads are the norm, buses are everywhere and the tunnels have on ramps so cars come at you from all directions. We finally made it to our accommodation in Northern Oslo, and started the whole process of learning the recycling system again. Our apartment in Gothenburg had 7 bins for waste, recycling and compost; this apartment has a complex diagram, thankfully with pictures. We found a supermarket not far from us that allows parking for free for two hours, therefore no time for Google translate – our next few meals will be a mystery.
