First things first, my alcohol quota has been severly hampered by the exchange rate and the Norwegian sensibility. Had I known this beforehand, maybe I would have reconsidered the whole sabbatical. The shakes have finally subsided. Here is an excerpt from wikipedia:
"Norway is often described as a "dry" country, because alcohol is highly priced and glass of wine/beer in a restaurant is in the range of 60 NOK. Beer can be bought at the supermarkets, however wine and stronger alcoholic beverages have to be purchased in state owned liquor stores (Vinmonopolet [30])." The high prices are most likely part of the reason why the tradition to hold vorspiel and nachspiel before and after going out is very popular in Norway." It kind of reminds me of when we used to shot- gun beers in college before going out.
I had my first glass of wine nearly one week ago with my lovely British friend Chris on a sunny day at a lovely bar downtown. The red wine came from a box and cost $13, but we savored every drop.
Today I finally made it to the "Vin-Monopolet." It truly is a wine monopoly and I literally felt like I was playing monopoly trying to find both the time (it seems the hours are limited) and the place (a drive from my house). Plus, for those of you in Westerly, there was no James to help with tastings or suggestions on new bottles. I got three different bottles of malbec because the Argentinian wine seemed to offer the best value and I do like a nice full-bodied red.
So how did I find this little bit of heaven in Trondheim? First a brief digression...As many of you may know, my droid phone has a navigation app that I became very fond of back in the states. In fact, my children often thought I liked "Dorothy" my navigator better than them. Truth be told, there were days when I wholly appreciated her helpful, responsive personality and her ability to really listen and solve my problems ;-). I got a little droid phone here in Norway and turns out I also have a navigator app, but now I get a British voice. I kind of miss Dorothy, but this new voice is a bit more soothing and reminds me of the hot broadcaster on Sixty Minutes...."Yes, Bob Ballard, how deep can your submersible go??" But I digress, the new Dorothy also appears to have a split personality. She tells me to turn onto a street and then another more American voice comes on and tells me exactly which exit I need to take in the roundabout. I should add that Norwegians do love roundabouts and I even have one in the tunnel I take out to work... A roundabout in a tunnel...truly a national wonder. I wonder what I should call my new droid friend???
Since arriving, I've been working on an entry on Ocean Color Remote Sensing for the Encyclopedia of Sustainability. I'm not quite sure why I agreed to write this particular chapter, except that it's outreach and is the kind of thing that might be found by my kids and grandkids someday. My papers won't really last noticing some differences in the university. When I was at theThe university seems
I found a great pub in town that serves the largest selection of beer in Norway. I enjoyed an IPA made in Southern Norway.
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