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DAY 6/230 1981 – COPENHAGEN TO OSLO, NORWAY

After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Norway tried as well, but the rebellion was defeated, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814, a total of 434 years.

During the Norwegian national romanticism of the 19th century, this period was referred to as the "400-Year Night", since all of Norway's royal, intellectual, and administrative power was based in Copenhagen in Denmark. In fact, it was a period of great prosperity and progress for Norway, especially in shipping and foreign trade, and it also secured the country's revival from the demographic catastrophe it suffered in the Black Death. Based on the respective natural resources, Denmark–Norway was a good match since Denmark supported Norway's needs for grain and food supplies, and Norway supplied Denmark with timber, metal, and fish.

In 1536 Norway lost its independence, and effectively became a colony of Denmark. The Church's incomes and possessions were redirected to the court in Copenhagen.

Eventually restored as a kingdom in 1661 (still in legislative union with Denmark), Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen, Jemtland, and Herjedalen to Sweden, as a result of a number of disastrous wars with powerful Sweden. In the north, its territory was increased by the acquisition of the northern provinces of Troms and Finnmark, at the expense of Sweden and Russia.

The drive from Copenhagen to Oslo is dominated by water, valleys and fjords, which are formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glaciers formed in valleys with a gently sloping valley floor, and left a deepened valley that ends abruptly at a valley or trough end. Such valleys are fjords when flooded by the ocean, as in western Norway. Glacial melting is accompanied by the rebounding of Earth's crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is removed. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea; Sognefjord, Norway, reaches 1,300 m below sea level.

The views are breathtaking.

Some Top Deck Scandi tours go all the way up the west coast of Norway into the Arctic at Hammerfest. On one such tour, the driver needed fuel and a break, so he stopped for fuel on the other side of the road near Hammerfest. The courier relieved the driver and continued driving ....... all the way back south, nearly back to Oslo. When the driver awoke after his sleep, he found that he was back where he had started yesterday. The crew simply turned the bus around again and drove back up the west coast of Norway to Hammerfest - and the punters were none the wiser.

Didn't I see that fjord/glacier before???

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