Gold in the air of summer

The experience of going to and being in Bergen, the second biggest Norwegian city and gateway to the western fjords, made me yearn for the past–my childhood and the kind I’ve only known in movies and books. The six-hour train ride from Oslo to Bergen was more amazing than enthusiastic endorsements from anyone I talked [...]

Continental pleasures

The reason I went to Norway last week was to write a feature about the Norwegian Opera House. This fjord-inspired building has attracted much fanfare for its remarkable architecture that allows visitors to walk up and all over the roof of white Italian marble. I received a press ticket to see the [...]

Tiger city anthropology

I was told by a Norwegian that alcohol was so expensive in her country because of the heavy taxation stemming from strong religious beliefs held by a minority of the population. This contradicted the what I had read about the majority of Scandinavians identifying as Lutherans, but few actually practicing religion at [...]