Day 8 - Barbados becomes a republic and Arwen catches up with me (and its St Andrews Day)
Went a bit mad last night and had two glasses of wine - I’m not admitting to how much that cost. It was snowing, the hotel bar was snug, they served nice food (Norwegian salt fish balls with chilli mayo since you asked - they were very good and apart from the slight difference in temperature I could have been in Barbados). And I deserved it - I'm just not entirely sure why!
And having made the somewhat tenuous link to Barbados (I didn’t think I was going to go off on one today but what the hell), I would like to start today with congratulations to all my Bajan friends, and in fact all Barbadians.
I actually believe it is an auspicious day for those of us who see hereditary privilege and rule as an anachronism which should be ended.
Today Barbados threw off the final shackles of colonialism, told the queen to pack her bags and go, and became a grown up republic. I’d like to add my tiny and largely irrelevant congratulations to the new president Sandra Mason and to all those who call themselves Barbadians.
Hooray! It’s about time other former colonies (by which I mean occupied lands, usually taken by force and often exploiting slave labour), did the same. Australia, Canada, and many others, what the f*** are you doing with the queen as your head of state? You are grown up democratic countries, which to be honest mostly manage your affairs a damn site better than the so called mother country, so why do you need to have a medieval hereditary anachronism, which impedes social mobility and entrenches privilege and inequality, as your head of state? Come that that (yeah, you knew this was where I was going why the hell do we?
To be fair to Charles, who was there representing the royal larcenists, he said in a speech to the ceremony, “The creation of this new republic offers a new beginning. From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history, people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude.” I believe he has received some good press for acknowledging the role of slavery (to which I say "good ... but about bloody time"). Now if you could just follow that up with a denunciation of the whole hereditary head of state nonsense in the UK, once your mother dies Charles (or before), you will have my eternal respect and thanks. The House of Lords can go too!
And finally (and less seriously), as an Irish Scot (born in England, travelling on an Irish passport but also claiming to be Scottish) I am delighted to see that Barbados Republic Day will forever be the same day as St Andrew’s Day (not that I believe in saints, obviously!). Actually of course it's on the same day as their Independence Day, 30 November 1966, but I'm not going to let that stop me.
Anyway, enough of all that, back to the journey… (sort of)
Storm Arwen appears to have crossed the North Sea and put in an appearance last night in Bergen. The snow fell in copious amounts and when I say fell, I mean blew horizontally, almost blizzard like, across the town and harbour. Or perhaps I have been reading too much of Christiane! This morning all was white but nothing stops a Norwegian train and before the morning was out I was safely on my way to Oslo. And the snow had stopped! This morning was another beautiful, cold day.
I was glad Arwen hadn’t turned up a day earlier while I was still out at sea. In fact, the last night on the boat we rounded the famous Stad Peninsula (apparently it means STOP in Norwegian), and was the place responsible for my delay when I last sailed with Hurtigruten. Not sure if anyone recalls (why would you, that would imply you actually pay attention to this hogwash), but it is where the cruise ship (not mine, I'm not on a cruise!) lost power in at force 9 in 2019 and I think they ended up having to winch passengers off by helicopter. Argh! My Hurtigruten ferry just got delayed leaving Bergen by about 10 hours or something. The memory is a bit hazy. It’s one of the few places where the Hurtigruten route takes it into the open sea as there is no fjord available. Apparently a tunnel through the spit of land is planned because it is notorious for disrupting shipping. Gulp! Glad I wasn’t getting the boat north out of Bergen last night. Even in benign conditions of two nights ago I could feel the swell, but from my cosy bunk it just lulled me to sleep. Not sure it would have been the same in a storm. But that is all in the past now. What's that you said? Get on with it! Righto...
A gentle stroll through the pretty streets of old Bergen from my hotel on the Bryggen, the old Hanseatic Port, to the train station, where my “express” (7+ hours) to Oslo left at 11.57 (scheduled leaving time 11.57 - they don’t mess about). (It also arrived in Oslo on time at 19.05, exactly on schedule). Within minutes I had gorgeous views from my train window; the beginning of the route follows a fjord before climbing for a couple of hours or so to its highest point at Finse, 1222m above sea level. At least I assume this is what m.o.h. means (unless it means Men of Harlech). I've run out of space here to stick in a few pictures of Bergen so they will be at the end. Bit messy today. It might have something to do with the fact that I am writing this from an Irish Pub in Oslo - more of that later.
There is more to write about the train journey, but at the time I simply wanted to enjoy it: gaze out of the window, drink the free coffee, and contemplate my navel. It's probably not quite as serene as drifting along fjords in a boat but its a close second. So, I’m very sorry, but the train is going to get its own chapter, which I will aim to knock out quickly tomorrow when I have more time.
Having arrived into Oslo at just after 7pm, found the hotel and headed out for something to eat at about 8, I now find myself at The Dubliner Bar, where not only is it an Irish bar, but only employs Irish staff, conducts all its business in English (or presumably Gaelic if you speak it) and of courses serves damn fine Guinness. I think celebrating Barbados Republic/Independence Day and St Andrew's day in an Irish pub in Oslo is just about as good as it gets for this wandering Irish Scot (who rather likes going to Barbados too)!
Tomorrow I get to visit the new Munch Museum, allegedly the largest single artist museum in the world. I had no idea he was so prolific. Anyone care to name his second most famous painting? Nope, me neither. I guess I will find out tomorrow.
Some views of Bergen to close. Time I went home before I succumb to another pint of the black stuff!
Up the wooden alleys of the old Hanseatic port
The lovely old merchants buildings on the portside.
An idiot in the Port of Bergen
On my walk around Bergen this morning, at first sight, they appear to have converted a phone box to a toilet (although on closer inspection it is actually a library, phew!)
And finally, are there no bounds to commercialism. One of Bergens finest old buildings occupied by ... (shame!)
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