About Norwegians?

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On first look it seems the Norwegians do it tough. Alcohol is heavily taxed – a pint of beer from the tap costs around 109NOK (17AUD). A small coffee from the deli costs about 30 NOK (4.5AUD). Food is expensive with a burger on board the MS Spitsbergen coming in at 250NOK (29AUD). A fish meal in a Bergen restaurant was about 445NOK (69AUD) for one person. Our taxi fare, for a 20 km trip was 530NOK (82AUD). All in all, if you lived the way Walter and I do in Australia then it would be fairly tough on the wallet. Not sure how the Norwegians manage but they seem to.

As I look around the Norwegian population, everyone appears to be fit and healthy! Maybe they do not indulge in too much alcohol and eating out (given the high costs – which I believe is taxation). Our taxi driver in Alesund told us he did not drink alcohol in Norway. Although he lived in Norway, he was originally from Poland. When he returns to Poland, he drinks but will not pay the high prices in Norway so he does not drink.

It is incredibly cold in most places. I thought there would not be much difference between -1 and -5 degrees. I was wrong! I have now set up my outerwear for one set to be suitable to cold and one set to be suitable to freezing f@#$king cold. It seems to work. It has snowed for the last couple of days as we journey north. The snow flakes can be quite gentle, but when the wind gets up they become “ice pellets” and are very annoying when they catch a bit of skin that may be exposed – like your nose or cheeks!

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