Under Construction

I took a walk to the town of Nesttun on a bright and chilly March 31st. This is our nearest town and is only a little over 3km from our place. The "City Train" extention is being built from Nesttun to the big shopping center at Lagunen - about 5 - 6 km away. Since we moved in on August 10th we have heard the construction and blasting noises during the day.

The workers build massive reinforced concrete walls leading to/ from the tunnels.

They cover up the blasted and jack-hammered rock walls with spray-on concrete. The train tunnel emerges from the rock just under the orange plastic.

Besides tunneling and using concrete the builders stack massive rock retaining walls.

It appears that they are about ready to put a roof over this tunnel exit.

The new tracks run right down the middle of the old street in Nesttun. It is now a Gågate or walking street with double train tracks where the cars used to drive.

The almost finished part of the main street.

Now, to the stacked boulders. These are all squared off, big pieces of local rock. The are not cemented or linked together - just stacked. They are so straight and precise!

The rock-stacker guys work all the time because it takes so long to make these walls, so this guy was working today. He has a nifty rock picker so he can put the rock into place wherever it needs to be.

His machine can pick up really heavy stuff and guide it into place.

Then he sets it gently and precisely where it needs to be.

He makes any fine adjustment with a sledge hammer and then he picks up the next rock.

Norway has a rubust economy in spite of the woes of the rest of Europe. There is construction going on everywhere. A housing shortage is helping to fuel the economy here. Everything, including these multi-story apartments is fastened to the ever-present gray rock of Norway.

Shanna and I are partial to the traditional designs of an older era of Norwegian housing. Isn't that a pretty little home?

This old farmhouse and out-buildings sits across a small lake from the edge of town. Notice that last night's light snowfall hasn't all melted from the rays of this morning's sunshine.

 The old workshop, apartment and garage is connected to the main house by a steep stairway. You have to make use of all of you land here; be it vertical or not.

Here is a more modern way of hooking into the bedrock on a mountainside and still maintaining some sort of front yard.

"there's a bunny..." and he is over six feet tall. It is a piece of public art over by the side of the lake.

No matter how you look at them as you drive by; neither one is level. I guess they missed the bedrock. Both of them appear to be occupied.

I hear that gas in the US is over $4.00 per gallon. Our price is down today from 15.50 kroner per liter to only 14.70. At the current exchange rate that makes gasoline only $9.91 per gallon which is down from last week's price of $10.47!

But not to worry, you can grab a quick snack on the way home. A hamburger is only $8.75 and a medium one toping pizza is $19.46.

I have become a fan of the roundabout. When traffic is light to moderate, which is most of the time, the roundabouts work great. These two connected roundabouts allow you to come in / leave from any of six different directions. I love the fact that there are no stop signs anywhere in Bergen - just a few traffic lights.

For those of you who have been in Norway back in the day here is one thing that hasn't changed. You can leave valuables out in public - unattended - and nobody steals them! The guy who belongs to these tools was working on the old Saab but needed lunch so he left everything. At the shopping center we see baby carriages with sleeping babies in them parked outside the store while the mom is shopping inside the store. It isn't unusual to see a couple of bags of just-purchased groceries leaning against a shop while the shopper is inside getting something else. This is one of the most refreshing things about Norwegian culture - honesty.