Murder is Everywhere: Bergen

Showing posts with label Bergen. Show all posts

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Norway

Stanley - Thursday

For the second time in three years I'm enjoying beautiful Norway. Last time Mette and I were here with two friends used to the cold. This time our companions were South Africans who blanch at the thought of temperatures below +5C. Their reactions were an unending source of amusement, especially when the wind came up.

Aron and Jenny Frankental putting on a brave face. Mette wasn't as uncomfortable.

Since Mette and I had visited Norway before, we knew of the astonishing cost of alcoholic beverages. A beer can cost $15, for example. So we stocked up beforehand, squirrelling bottles in our suitcases and backpacks.

(Photo: Aron Frankental)

We started near the Russian border at Kirkenes, where we were fortunate to see very nice Northern Lights. Even though they were monochromatic, they were amazing, moving and morphing, coming and going.

(Photo: Aron Frankental)

Kirkenes is only a few kilometres from the Russian border, so the Russian influence is very strong. One thing we learnt was that the town was one of the most bombed cities during World War II. The Germans had a large presence because of iron mines and for maritime strategic purposes. The Russians flattened the town many times.

From there, we set sail on Hurtigruten's Nord Cap boat, which is a working ferry with sleeping accommodation for about 400 passengers. The most notable aspect of the trip to Svolvaer on the Lofoten Islands, where we disembarked, was the amount of food we consumed - mainly fish. All four of us loved the variety of herring dishes, the salmon, and gravlax. The only disappointment was we couldn't enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.

The gastronomic highlight was king crab. These were introduced into northern Norway waters by the Russians, whether for nefarious purposes or not we never found out. The crabs are huge, reaching up to 2 metres across. Aron and I decided to splurge - they are very expensive - and enjoyed a meal on board. Yummy.

It is difficult to appreciate the size of this platter from the photo.

There was, of course, wonderful scenery the whole way, as well as a few surprises. One of these was at Hammerfest, a port that has adopted the beluga whale accused of being a Russian spy.

In a delightful pun around the Russian President Putin's first name, the whale has been named Hvaldimir (Hval, pronounced val, is Norwegian for whale). It is quite the celebrity, not only for its alleged spying activities, but also because it is so friendly. Recently, it retrieved a cell phone that a woman dropped into the sea while watching it. We watched a movie of it playing with a seagull, coming up underneath it and gently nudging it.

Before I tell you about some other remarkable sightings, here are a few pictures of the scenery.

(Photo: Aron Frankental)

When I think of witches being burnt at the stake, I think of Salem in Massachusetts. But it is nothing compared to Vardø in the Norwegian far north. In the 17th Century, nearly 100 witches were tortured, then burnt, usually for trivial or fabricated reasons. There is a fascinating monument to them, with a plaque for each person killed together with their 'crimes'. I found it very depressing.

Each light represents one person killed. The plaques are in a long dark passage inside the structure.

The Lofoten islands off Norway's west coast are a string of beautiful islands with spectacular scenery - beautiful coastline and magnificent mountains. One day we were driving around, when we arrived at the little (read tiny) town of Unstad on the west coast. To our amazement, it is a surfing centre and, what's more, people were surfing. We couldn't believe our eyes. The temperature was only +3 degrees Celsius.

The surfing shop

To our further astonishment, it also boasted the World's Best Cinnamon Rolls. Of course, we had to try one.

And delicious it was. It had to be. I think it cost $11.

Here are some more scenic pictures:

(Photo: Aron Frankental)

After another trip on a Hurtigruten boat, we arrived at Bergen, a lovely town to which I feel a strong attachment. My paternal grandmother was born here, and her family's house is still standing. So, of course, we had to visit it. Opposite it is a bust of my great uncle Claus Hanssen, who is very well known locally for starting the Boys Brigade, when he was 12, opening a bathing house where people who didn't have baths in their homes could come and clean themselves, and generally being extremely community-minded.

Dr. Claus Hansen

Claus's brother Arnauer Hansen was also a physician, after whom leprosy was named - Hansen's disease. His statue is also somewhere in Bergen.

Being in a genealogical frame of mind, I also looked for other relatives - not on the Hansen see, but rather on the Trollip side.

Great great great grandad, Ole Troll

Ole's brother Sigurd Troll

One of the pleasures of Norway, as Mentioned before, are the fish. it is a fishing nation, both catching and eating. We wandered through the indoor fish market, enjoyed the displays and walked out with many Norwegian krone's worth of salmon.

All sorts of fresh fish.

One of my favourite sushi dishes is uni - sea urchin. These were nearly $12 each. Ouch.

Today, we take the train from bergen to Oslo. It is reputed to be one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. Can't wait.

Skål!

____________________________________________

UPCOMING MICHAEL STANLEY EVENTS

Tuesday, October 29: 6:30 pm Murder by the Book, Houston, Texas. Michael joins Yrsa Sigurdardottir for a discussion and signing.

We’ll be at BOUCHERCON in Dallas at the end of the month. It looks like an exciting meeting and we’re looking forward to these panels!

Thursday, October 31:

11:00 – 12:00 Panel: The Novel Stands Alone

Kendra Elliot, JT Ellison, LS Hawker, Stanley Trollip, Sheri Lewis Wohl

Participating Moderator: Laura Benedict

Sunday, November 3:

8:30 – 9:30 Panel: Detectives Overseas

Ian Hamilton, Ragnar Jonasson, Michael Sears, Jeffrey Siger

Moderator: Nancy Tingley

After Bouchercon we’re on tour. Please join us somewhere if you can!

Tuesday, November 5: 7:00 pm Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Scottsdale, Arizona, with Solari Gentill and Tim Maleeny

Wednesday, November 6: 4:30 pm Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour, Stillwater, Minnesota. Contact Valley Booksellers at (651) 430-3385 for tickets

Saturday, November 9: 10:00 Private book club event

Saturday, November 9: 1:00 pm Barnes and Noble, HarMar, St Paul, Minnesota

Tuesday, November 12: 7:00 pm Mystery to Me, Madison, Wisconsin

Wednesday, November 13: 7:00 pm Centuries and Sleuths, Forest Park, Illinois

Saturday, November 16: 10:00 Nokomis Public Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Monday, November 18: 7:00 pm Barnes and Noble, Galleria, Minneapolis, Minnesota. More details to follow.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

A very special day . . .

Stanley - Thursday

As I wrote in my blog last week, I have just been in beautiful Norway, both along the coast and in Bergen. The timing of the trip was important because I wanted to be in Bergen for a party on October 15 to celebrate the 74^th birthday of a man known around the world. A famous man.

I definitely didn’t want to miss this grand affair.

I have never been to a birthday party quite like it – a party that included a tour of homes where the gentleman in question had lived, and places he had frequented.

Part of the crowd on the walk

Birthday boy's route to his office

In the evening, over a hundred people crowded into the bar of the Scandic Strand hotel in the old section of the town, including four who had travelled from London just for the occasion. We listened to tributes to the man (in Norwegian) and, when the talking was over, the local brewery popped the top of a new beer named for the birthday boy.

Some of the London visitors (Susan Cooper, Mike Linane, Liz Cooper and local) enjoying the sun. Bergen has rain on average over 19 rainy days per month.

Master of ceremonies and owner of the bar, Hans Bru, introducing the speakers

(I have to admit I had a few most enjoyable bottles – a medium beer, soft on the palate. Then I heard that at one of the previous birthdays an aquavit had been created in his name also. I had to taste that too. Delicious and quite mild.)

The brewer pours the first bottle of Varg Veum beer

So, who was the man we were honouring, and what made the whole affair so special?

Well, part of the appeal was that the man doesn’t exist. He’s a figment of the imagination. How could one resist the opportunity to join a hundred real people celebrating in all seriousness the birthday of someone who is just an idea?

To be fair, to all intents and purposes, he does exist in these and other people’s minds. Including mine. After all, there is a life-size statue of him outside the hotel and, just along the passage from the bar, is his office, clearly marked PRIVATETTERFORSKER (Private Investigator). I knocked on the door, but he must have been out, although he may have been there since some people say he is too shy to open the door and welcome visitors.

The person I am writing about is VARG VEUM, the protagonist of mystery writer, Gunnar Staalesen’s long-running series set in Bergen. How cool is that? That a character in a book is celebrated with beers and aquavit in his name; that people celebrate his birthday; that there is a statue of him for all to see. And that he has an office in the Scandic Strand hotel. What’s more, a corner of the bar has his name and contains tributes to him.

The Varg Veum corner of the bar

Gunnar Staalesen talks about his creation, Varg Veum (in background)

London hangers-on, Neil Davies and Mike Linane, trying to look like Varg

So who is this man, Varg's creator, Gunnar Staalesen?

He is truly one of the fathers of Norwegian (and Scandinavian) crime writing. His first Varg Veum mystery, Goat to Honey, was written in 1977, and his twenty-first, Big Sister, has just been released in Norwegian.

The books that have been translated into English are, in chronological order (year of publication in parentheses):

Yours Until Death, (1993)

At Night All Wolves Are Grey, (1986)

The Writing on the Wall, (2002)

The Consorts of Death, (2009)

Cold Hearts, (2013)

Where Roses Never Die, (2015), Orenda Books

In addition, there are 12 Varg Veum film adaptations and two Varg Veum short-story anthologies.

I'm not going to give you a biography of Varg because that would spoil the pleasure of finding out through his books.

Lest you think that Gunnar is only a writer of private-eye mysteries, he has also written The Bergen Trilogy, which is a three-volume saga set in twentieth-century Bergen, children and young-adult books, plays, and five graphic novels.

And he still has time to take people around his city and celebrate his protagonist’s birthday. And as we walked, it was apparent everyone knew who he was. "You know everyone in a small town," Gunnar commented. A small town of 250,000 people.

In fact he is so well known, that he is on Bergen's Walk of Fame, next to Sir Paul McCartney's plaque. When I asked him what the significance was that the plaques were directly in front of Bergen's last operating bordello, he just smiled.

In addition to the delight of being at this unique birthday party, there was a huge bonus for me on the visit. Gunnar introduced me to Jo Gerstad, a man who knows everything about Bergen, including my family history. Jo even showed me the house where my great great grandfather lived, and he gave me a history of the family, written in 1904, by one of my great great aunts. What a treasure.

The street, Skoken, on which my ancestors once lived

So, happy birthday, Varg, and happy birthday also to Gunnar Staalesen, who celebrated his birthday yesterday.

Thank you both for this wonderful occasion.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The country of my grandmother

Stanley - Thursday

Thanks to Michael for filling in for me at short notice last week. He intimated that I was having connectivity problems due to being in the third-world country of Denmark. Actually I was digging around for my roots on a boat in the Norwegian seas. The ship was having connectivity problems - on and off, on and off.

Now I am back in my ancestral home of Bergen, internet access is stable. (My grandmother, Alpha Hansen, was born here.)

Next week I will share a story from here in Bergen that I just love. This week, however, I will share some of the sights I've just enjoyed on a ferry from Bergen to the Lofoten Islands inside the Arctic Circle, a couple of days on the islands, and another ferry trip to Tromsø on about the 70th parallel.

Mette and I and two longtime friends boarded the Hurtigruten ferry boat, the Richard With, in Bergen and headed north. Contrary to all tourist-guide predictions, we had spectacular sunny, no-wind days for the entire trip to Svolvaer on the Lofoten islands. Bergen rains about 240 days a year, as does most of the surrounding countryside, so were were very lucky. I am writing this back in Bergen, and the weather is still perfect. Lucky us.

Everything about the trip has been special: lovely companions, a low-key but comfortable boat, great weather, unbelievable scenery, and calm seas (important for me as I am prone to sea sickness). The food has been very good - mainly fish of all sorts, prepared in many different ways - and the alcohol extremely expensive. I had to call my bank manager every time I ordered a bottle of wine. Based on his response, I never got to order any wine. $8-$15 for an ordinary beer, $11 for a small glass of house wine, $50+ for ho-hum table wine. Fortunately we anticipated this and sneaked in our own supply, which we consumed, huddled in one of our small cabins.

Probably the single best part of the trip was four nights of spectacular northern lights. For those of you who haven't seen Aurora Borealis, I highly recommend trying to do so. One night in particular was out of this world - huge bright arcs across the sky, changing from silver to green with tinges of orange. Then morphing to dancing columns and spinning circles. Then they would disappear, only to rush back with greater intensity.

So here is a small collection of what we saw. Unfortunately my little point-and-shoot camera didn't do a good job of the lights, so I have borrowed one.

First and foremost, Norway is a land of water and mountains, and tens of thousands of skerries. And tiny communities clinging between the sea and the mountains - hundreds of these villages, seemingly more houses than people.

Originally Norway was built on fishing and the export of dried fish. This still happens, but it now a country thriving on the proceeds of oil.