On the homepage today, a piece you may be interested in: “A ‘Tribe’ of Freedom Fighters: On the Oslo Freedom Forum, at 15.” Some interesting issues, and people. Speaking of Oslo, I had a photo journal last Friday — a photo journal from Oslo. Three pieces of mail, for your consideration.
Jay,
Thanks for the photo tour of Oslo. I was in Oslo just once, in 1974 (I just checked an old passport). Upon arrival I went to the tourist office to find accommodations for the night. That resulted in my meeting a fascinating “elderly” woman who had turned her home into a B&B complete with candlelight suppers. I can’t remember everything about my stay but I clearly remember fabulous dinners and her stories about hiding a royal in her summer home during the war; she also talked about sewing costumes for ABBA. I also remember her saying that when she got old she could do one of two things: look out of her window to see the world or bring the world into her home. She chose the latter. Thanks for bringing back that memory.
Marvelous. Absolutely marvelous.
Here’s another:
Jay:
Your photos of Oslo brought back wonderful memories for this Minnesota Norwegian (50 percent). In 1969, I attended a six-week international summer school at the University of Oslo. A very diverse student body, from many parts of the USA, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition to interacting with my classmates, I had the advantage of being squired around the city and its environs by members of the Oslo family that my brother married into two years before.
A few memories . . .
Attending a reception in the beautiful Oslo City Hall and marveling at gifts made to the city over 800 years earlier. Eight hundred years!
“Daylight” at midnight.
Being heckled in a restaurant by Norwegians because of the Vietnam War.
Being asked by a cute California girl what we do for fun in Minneapolis in Michigan.
Waking up in the middle of the night to watch Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon (unfortunately, the Norwegian announcer drowned out Walter Cronkite’s commentary).
Reading about Chappaquiddick in the International Herald Tribune.
Newsy month, July 1969. (Aren’t they all, really?)
My Oslo journal included a photo of Stolpersteine, i.e., stumbling blocks, which are little, slightly raised plaques on the ground, naming Jews who were arrested and deported for murder. A reader writes,
Thank you for your Norwegian album. There are Stolpersteine in Amsterdam, too. I remember one on the sidewalk across from the Concertgebouw.
How fitting that a city should memorialize its murdered citizens in this way.
Our reader has sent a photo:
