Boating on the Telemark Canal

One of the most enjoyable summer vacations we’ve ever had was in August of 2001 when we decided together with two friends to sail up the Telemark Canal with our own boat, from the beginning of the canal in Skien (in south Norway) all the way up to Dalen (a distance of about 65 miles/105 km) and then back to Skien. Our plans included an overnight stay at the famous Dalen Hotel once we arrived there. This was a trip we had been talking about doing for several years, ever since I had taken a short day trip on one of the passenger boats that tourists can book trips on and experienced how the boats enter and leave the lock-chambers in the multiple lock system that characterizes the canal. The canal, formerly an important transportation route within Telemark, was completed in 1892. It consists of eight manually-operated locks situated at Skien, Løveid, Ulefoss, Eidsfoss, Vrangfoss, Lunde, Kjeldal and Hogga, and each of these locks consists of several lock-chambers (a total of eighteen spread out over eight locks), with Vrangfoss having the largest number of chambers (five) (see http://www.telemarkskanalen.no/nor/content/view/full/288).  The following websites describe the canal and also the lock system in more detail (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemark_Canal; http://www.visittelemark.com/The-Telemark-canal).

It took us about three and a half days to make the trip from Skien to Dalen and three days to return to Skien, so we were on the canal for about a week including the one-night stay at Dalen Hotel. Hilde and I drove by car from Oslo to Porsgrunn to meet Trond and Tom, who met us there in the boat before midday, having already sailed from Oslo the day before we left. We then sailed from Porsgrunn to Skien and entered the canal at Skien. 

The entrance to the Telemark Canal in Skien

Thus began a fascinating and idyllic trip that I will never forget and one that I would like to do again at some point. The first day (Monday) we sailed as far as Ulefoss where we docked the boat at the visitor’s pier for an overnight stay. Except for the one evening we stayed overnight at the Dalen Hotel, we slept in the boat (room for six people to sleep) the entire trip. The following day we sailed as far as Lunde and stayed there overnight, and then on Wednesday we docked for the night at Kviteseid; this day was the only day of the trip when it rained heavily, otherwise the weather was very nice for rest of the week. 

The following day we arrived in Dalen at midday where we docked the boat and made our way to what must be one of Norway’s most spectacular old hotels. The hotel’s architecture has been influenced by stave churches, with dragon heads and spears at its topmost portions. 

Dalen Hotel

It has to be experienced—the grand salon with piano, velvet draperies, elegant furniture and carpets—fit for kings, and indeed, kings have stayed here. We enjoyed a very good dinner in the hotel’s restaurant and then retired to the salon afterwards for coffee and cognac and to listen to the pianist play. This was the one night of real luxury during the trip. On Friday we began our return trip down the canal, with an overnight stay at Lunde and then at Ulefoss again. We arrived back in Skien on Sunday evening where we spent the night, returning to Oslo on Monday.

We didn’t realize at the time we planned it, but we actually made the trip during the very last week that the locks were manned for the summer. Had we done the trip a week later, we would have had to have called ahead to each lock station to ensure that someone was there to manually operate the lock chambers.  As it was, we did not have to wait at all to enter the lock chambers, as would have been the case had we done the trip in July with all the other smaller boats plus the tourist boats that normally sail the canal. The rule is that the tourist passenger boats have priority, so sometimes the wait to enter the chambers can be long for pleasure boats.

Tourist boat

It was very interesting to be on our boat as it entered or left the lock-chambers. Once the big wooden doors had closed tightly behind us, the water would rush in and fill the chamber in order to bring us higher (the height of the canal increases considerably from Skien to Dalen—about 72 meters total). The reverse occurs on the return trip to Skien--the water in the chamber would begin to be slowly emptied in order to aid our descent. Several pleasure boats of about the same size were usually allowed into the chamber at the same time. Fenders had to be out of both sides of the boat, and ropes (attached to a post at the top of the chamber) were tossed down to us by the men who manned the locks. These were to help us keep the boat in position during the filling or emptying of the chamber, which could often create choppy water and currents that tossed the boat about somewhat. Holding onto the ropes was actually a harder job than it seemed at first, once the filling or emptying of the chambers started, but Trond and Tom managed this job well (Hilde and I helped as well) and it became easier with each chamber we entered.

Lock chamber filling with water

Our boat in a lock chamber

On the return trip, during the time it took for the boat to go through the five lock-chambers at Vrangfoss (about an hour), I had the chance to leave the boat before it entered the lock to go the restaurant there that sells rømmegrøt—a sour cream porridge that is very good. I never thought I would like it—but I do. It is particularly good in exactly that restaurant in Vrangfoss. During the remaining time Hilde and I stood and watched Trond and Tom maneuver the boat into the lock chambers and watched the other pleasure boats as well.

It was peaceful to be on the canal for a week. There was no rushing, no stress, no having to be anywhere at any given time. We enjoyed leisurely days--eating lunch on the boat and dinners at small cafes or restaurants in the vicinity of the different places we docked for the night. The water was calm, the weather mild, the sky blue and the sun warm. Parts of the canal were idyllic--the scenery beautiful with the greenery of summer, and small cottages dotted the landscape here and there. We saw many swans along the canal, especially at Lunde; such graceful beautiful birds. I took a lot of pictures, trying to capture that idyllic feeling in photos. It cannot really be captured—it has to be experienced. We had the canal mostly to ourselves for the week because there were so few tourists at the time we made the trip and that was ideal. Looking back on that vacation, I would have to say it is one of the best we have ever had. 

Norway through the eyes of others

Today is a beautiful sunny day in Oslo, just like yesterday. Real summer days that give you that lazy feeling of summer, those days that are necessary for the heart and mind and soul if one is to survive the long gray winters. This past week Haika was in town—my very good friend from my Memorial Sloan-Kettering days in Manhattan—and we had a wonderful week together. She arrived last Sunday evening and left on Friday morning. Haika came to Oslo from Berlin, and brought the good weather with her. I was afraid she would take it with her when she left, because it rained heavily all day Friday. But thankfully no, the weekend has been beautiful! We managed to see quite a bit of Oslo together this past week, and spent all day Tuesday doing the ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ trip. As Haika would say, it was a fabulous trip, and it was fabulous to see her too after so many years. The last time I saw her was in England during the mid 1990s when her husband was doing a sabbatical at a college right outside of London and I visited them there. Here we are, so many years later. The passage of time—how quickly it happens.

When I look back over my twenty years here, I feel blessed to have opened our house to many different visitors from the USA, family and friends alike: my sister Renata and her husband (several times); my good friends Gisele, Jean, Maria, Jola, and Haika; my cousin Cathy; my friends Lucy, Steve and their son Andrew; and my friend Janet’s niece Sonja. They come from different areas in the USA—upstate NY, metropolitan NY, Long Island, West Virginia, Michigan, Colorado, and California. I have learned a lot along the way. For one thing, I’ve relearned that Norway is expensive when I see it through others’ eyes! I stopped dividing the total kroner amount by 6 (roughly the amount of kroner to one USD) a long time ago. It made grocery shopping a lot easier and helped me hang on to my sanity. Early on, when I was still calculating the cost of things in dollars, it would floor me that I was paying nine dollars (about fifty-four kroner) for a grilled chicken, fifteen dollars (ninety kroner) for a small pizza, not to mention fifteen dollars for a cocktail or ten dollars for a beer. When I wanted a turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving, a frozen one could easily cost sixty to seventy dollars in the supermarket back in the early 1990s. Needless to say, it made a huge dent in our meager scientist budgets at that time. Even though we earn more now, it can still be daunting to take a trip to an upscale supermarket. But ok, I’ve lived here for twenty years now, so I’m used to it. I forget that when friends come here, they go into a mild shock initially before they adjust. My current advice in terms of figuring out a travel budget for Norway is to think about what you might normally spend on such a trip and double the amount, just to be on the safe side.

The ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ trip (http://www.norwaynutshell.com/en/explore-the-fjords/norway-in-a-nutshell/) is expensive but well-worth the money in terms of the scenic views and fjord experience. We boarded the 6:30 am train at the Oslo Central Station that took us to Myrdal, about a five-hour train ride. This is the second time I have done this trip. The first time was when Gisele visited in 1995. We have some pretty funny memories of that train ride. Just about every time she was about to take a picture through the train window of some scenic view, we entered a tunnel. After it happened a few times we were laughing hysterically. It was very funny to watch the same thing happen to Haika and to a group of senior citizens traveling together. The latter were also laughing hysterically for the same reason. God knows if they got any pictures at all. Haika got a few but it wasn’t easy. In the summer of 1995, when Gisele and I reached Myrdal, we stepped off the train into close-to-freezing temperatures, completely underdressed for the weather. It was not cold in Oslo, but it was cold in Myrdal! There were a few people on the train before we got off who commented on our lack of warm clothing—looking back I think they must have thought—typical tourists (or typical New Yorkers?). It reminded me of stories I had heard about my former boss in NY when he was visiting Italy and walked over part of the Alps wearing a thin leather jacket and leather shoes. People remember things like that. So with Haika, I remembered my earlier experience with Gisele and we were prepared, but this time it wasn’t cold at all. Once we got to Myrdal, we took a connecting train to Flåm, which is about an hour’s train ride from Myrdal. This is a beautiful train ride with lovely scenic views on both sides of the train. The only problem is all the tourists rushing from one side of the train to the other to get pictures. Not an easy task. My NY ‘get a seat on the subway’ instinct came to good use—I managed to get us both window seats. Once we reached Flåm, we boarded a boat for our trip along the fjord ending at Gudvangen, which took about two hours. It was not really possible to take a photo that truly captured the beauty of the fjord and of the landscape along it, and the same goes for the scenic views from the bus that took us to Voss where we got the train back to Oslo. Luckily I was not aware beforehand that the bus would be driving down a road (from Stålheim) that barely had space for the bus let alone an oncoming car. If we had backed up at any point I think we would have been in trouble. Add to that thirteen major hairpin curves and you end up thanking God that the bus driver knew what he was doing and had nerves of steel. Every time there was a scenic view people moved from one side of the bus to the other and I thought—no, no, please stay in the middle of the bus so we don’t tip over. But we made it to Voss in one piece and with some lovely photos as our reward.

On the train trip back to Oslo, we met a family from the USA traveling together—an elderly woman of 85 and her four sons with their respective families. The trip was their family visit to Norway to see where the woman’s family came from, as her maiden name was the Norwegian name Hellerud. They were a very interesting family; we spent time talking to her (a former professor of Spanish) and her son who was a craftsman. They were as interested in our lives as we were in hearing about theirs. It struck me that every time I travel by train, I meet some interesting people, and time passes quickly in conversation. That is also one of the things about traveling that I enjoy—the world is still an undiscovered place and the strangers in it can become known if one just listens and takes a chance. Haika commented on another thing that we noticed about a few people who sat on the train with all the wonderful scenery outside and instead played video games or watched a movie on their laptops—what they were missing in terms of new experiences and in terms of opening their eyes and really seeing the land they live in or are visiting as well as the people around them. I am glad that Haika and I had our eyes open for the days we were together. Memories are made of such.

Lilacs and the Gamle Aker Church

Lilacs are my favorite flowers, followed closely by lilies of the valley. Lilacs grow in abundance in Oslo right now; their purple flowers and wonderful fragrance are too colorful and too strong to be ignored. They are late bloomers this year because spring was late in arriving this year. If you walk up along the Akerselva river you will come upon many lilac bushes with flowers that are all different shades of purple. I would like to have cut some of the flowers to have taken home with me, but people don’t do that here even though the flowers grow wild. I respect that but I would have liked to take a sprig or two just the same. There are also many lilac bushes that grow in the vicinity of the oldest church in Oslo, the Old Aker Church (Gamle Aker kirke--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Aker_Church). The church dates from around the year 1100 A.D. and is one of the most beautiful churches in the city. It is also the oldest building in Oslo. It is surrounded by a church graveyard with many trees and a lovely view out over the city. The church grounds are very peaceful to walk around in on a warm spring or summer day.

The church itself is very peaceful to walk around in, and we have been there a few times to hear different choirs sing carols before Christmas. I have also been there to attend Good Friday services which are very solemn and moving. I have been there several times even though the services are Protestant and I am Catholic. The church was originally a Catholic (Christian) church, and still has the feel of a Catholic church. It feels ancient, but that feeling is a good feeling and one that inspires awe, much in the same way as Westminster Abbey does, and the baptistery of the cathedral in Frejus in France which dates from the fifth century A.D. Just to stand in those buildings and to try to imagine what it was like to be in those places at those earlier times is daunting. I remember standing in Westminster Abbey upon the graves of people (mostly monks) who had died of bubonic plague in the 1340s, and it was an indescribable feeling to stand there and know that they were there before you. It is that feeling of the linearity of time that comes over you, when you know that sometime in the future there will be people who will look back on us and our lives and wonder how we were and what we did.

Below the Gamle Aker church is a parselhage, which means garden colony. Oslo’s inhabitants can apply for a parcel of land that they can use as their own garden. The waiting lists for these parcels of land are long. We are on one such list, and there are one hundred individuals ahead of us. The likelihood of obtaining one of them in our lifetime is thus slim to none. So that may be one reason to buy a house with a small yard, so that we can grow flowers and tomatoes and some few vegetables. Time will tell. Houses are expensive in Oslo and also in the nearby suburbs. It is not unusual for prices for average-sized homes to approach a million US dollars (or more). The parselhage in the area of the Gamle Aker church is on a street called Telthusbakken, which is famous for its very old traditional wooden homes. They are lovely old homes that have undergone many renovations, surrounded by beautiful gardens. Their owners take good care of them, but unfortunately when they burn, they burn to the ground, as happened a few years ago with one of the houses. The married couple who owned the house perished in the fire. Also in the vicinity of the parselhage is a restaurant called Akersberget (http://www.akersberget.com/Bilder.html), which was renovated and restored a few years ago after standing as a decrepit old building for nearly as long as I have lived in Oslo.