A Norwegian Summer Holiday Part 1: Travel and Oslo Ferries

[@jonnor6883]

"Battle Janissary Orchestra" translation is hilarious. Kampen is a place on the east side of Oslo, not very far from the downtown. A beautiful place most turists never visit, but the area are full of wooden buildings. We have several areas like this in Oslo: Kampen, Rodeløkka, Damsredet (with Telthusbakken), Sagene and several others. These areas grew up outside the city in the 18th and 19th century and then later became a part of the city. "Kampen Janitsjar" are one of the best orchestras in Oslo and Norway

[@anthonydyer3939]

I had a look at their website, their slogan “Entertainment and joy of playing” certainly resonated when we enjoyed their music. I didn’t know what Janissary meant, and I looked that up too: “a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops.”

[@jonnor6883]

@@anthonydyer3939 yes that's where the word comes from. The background for these orchestras in Norway comes from military orchestras. these military orchestras influenced a special kind of orchestras. And the whole idea goes back to the janissary troops of the Ottoman Empire. Even more funny when you know the background for the word and your translation. I used to live close to the Kampen area and before the National Day of Norway did they always march in front of my apartment

[@Luredreier]

The "en" at the end of "kampen" means "the" by the way.

[@Luredreier]

​@@jonnor6883 Is it possible that a battle took place there and the place got its name from that or something?

[@samwilson2300]

Nice to see the start of your holiday. Off to Aviemore in two weeks for our summer hols before harvest starts on the farm.

[@andrewknots]

Edinburgh airport parking tip. Stop at Halbeath Park & Ride just off Junction 3 on the M90 (free) and get the airport bus (also free once you get a bus pass). Can stop at the P&R for over a week. Do not go on to Ferrytoll P&R as the time limit there is a week. Hope you made it to the Fran (Amundsen) and Kon-Tiki (Thor Hyerdal) museums

[@anthonydyer3939]

The P&R tip is a good one! Bus return is £20 per person, but ferry toll has no time limit now: www.fife.gov.uk/kb/docs/articles/roads,-travel-and-parking/park-and-ride-sites/ferrytoll They only ask you to park in the multistorey if staying longer than 2 weeks.

[@TheTechOnline]

We were only just there 2 weeks ago. We bought the 24 hours passes twice and got off on the islands for a walk around. We hired an ID3 for a week and the charging was pretty good. The UNO X stations were only 2.6NOK/kWh and Tesla were about 5 NOK. The disappointing thing is the street 7kW chargers have a limit of 3 hours, so you can’t charge up whilst you’re exploring the city.

[@anthonydyer3939]

That's a good price for a public charger. How user friendly were the UNO stations? Agree the 3 hour limit for 7kw is far too short.

[@TheTechOnline]

@@anthonydyer3939 very user friendly but the price was with Electroverse as I took my card with me. They are new ABB 350kW units so pretty reliable.

[@XzERp1]

Even as a Norwegian, I have to say that the prices you are paying are outrageous. Next time you book a hotel and flight, I recommend using a VPN to set your location to Norway.

[@anthonydyer3939]

The VPN connection is a good tip. Yes the hotels were expensive. I checked for this coming week (while on assignment near Bergen): Much Cheaper. Of course It's the Norwegian holiday, so no business travellers, but still - it's not November! That said in Tonsberg, I do find the corporate rates to be much cheaper for the Quality and Thon hotels. It's not downtown Oslo, but it's much more reasonable. The flights however were genuinely expensive - there was a Tartan Army on the march from Edinburgh to Munich via every other airport. Any other day would have been cheaper.