NEW BLOG address

This one has reached capacity. Darn video clips.

I have created a new blog. Just click on http://murphyoslo2010.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for your continued interest.

I got stuck in an elevator today. The rescue was quick and painless but my palms were sweaty.

Never a dull moment.

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Calm before the storm - Oslo 2010

Oslo 2010 brings together 2,000 of the best and brightest polar researchers under one roof June 8-12.

The early results presented here focus on the most remote and endangered areas of the Arctic and Antarctic.

I’m here for two reasons. One, because I produced and co-hosted an IPY-funded radio show on CKLB radio in Yellowknife that won two national radio awards. I'm interested in the people and the politics of Canadian research.

I’m also here because the sea ice, tundra, polar bears and seals that scientists study are the backbone of indigenous cultures around the world.

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SAS Flight #4411 to Oslo

I had the good fortune to sit beside Josephine Stenersen during the flight to Oslo.

Josephine has lived in Tromso since 1973. She's English (from Worcestershire) and downplays the fact she speaks Norwegian fluently, as well as Danish and a petit peu of french.

Her husband is Norwegian. Her two sons and their teenaged children also live in Tromso. The family has a summer home in Denmark, where they escape to every spring. European snowbirds.

Josephine is a teacher and a writer who has worked closely with the Sami of Norway.

Our conversation caught the attention of a member of the cabin crew.

Josephine, thank you for a lovely chat. I plan to post more of our interview when I'm back in Yellowknife. In the meantime, please get started on your autobiography! I look forward to reading it.

One more thing before leaving Tromso

Allison D asked about my hotel room at the Clarion Bryggs. This is it.
And this was the photo over the bed!!! Kooky.

Goodbye Tromso

Four reasons I avoided the hotel's roof-top hot tub. Friendly but a little too friendly.

What I love about Tromso are the moments within the moments. Or perhaps it is the way I'm looking at the world.

It has been a great five days.

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Arctic wildlife

This truly is...

Polaria is part of Tromos's Polar Environmental Centre. It is a museum with two live seals, touch pools, fish tanks, stuffed birds and a movie theatre featuring a 14 minute film about Svalbard: a group of islands bewteen Norway and the North Pole. The film reminds me of photos of Devon Island in Nunavut and Banks Island in the NWT. It illustrates the geographical and wildlife similarities among circumpolar countries.

I also visited the Polar Museum. This museum pays homage to polar explorer Roald Amundsen, amung other Norwegian explorers. Amundsen goes down in the history as the first person to successfully sail from east to west through the Northwest Passage in 1906. Not to be confused with Henry Larsen who captained the St. Roch through the passage from west to east in 1942. Dare I say, Amundsen is to Norway as Gretzky is to Canada:a national hero. I am open to being corrected.

Fantastic artifacts in this creaky old building, once a "bonded" warehouse meaning it was a holding place for imported goods. Artifacts of interest include a well used ivory toothbrush, an antiquated instrument for measuring ocean currents and medicine chests like this one.

Another exhibit of interest was the trapper's cabin, complete with trappers and barking dogs. These cabins were found on Svalbard island.

Within the Polar Museum, there are enough stuffed and skinned polar bears, seals and musk ox to refurbish all 33 airports in the NWT (for those of you unfamiliar with northern airports, they often have stuffed northern wildlife in the waiting areas).

Loved the hunter/trapper mannequins.

Although, I lacked the kroners to purchase seal skin products, several interesting items were for sale. G-string panties anyone?

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Thanks for your Comments

Nick Lawson, there is fish with every meal. Boiled, baked, fried, smoked and salted. Even breakfast includes pickled herring. No, I have not tried the pickled variety yet, but I will for you. Hardboiled eggs and caviar-in-a-tube are also popular. I LOVE the spelt bread which is really a cracker. The cheeses are also delicious. Here is a link to a map of Norway. It provides some perspective. http://www.mapsofworld.com/norway/norway-location-in-world-map.html Tromso is about the same latitude as Inuvik but a warmer climate because of the Gulf Stream. It rarely goes below zero in the winter and the harbour never freezes although Tromso receives lots of snow, again in the winter. Apparently Norway ranks just behind Sweden in terms of the best standard of living.

Jason, you are correct. Norway's northern coastline reminds me of Newfoundland. When can we go back?

Joanne, no worries. No tattoos.

Here's a question. What's the difference between the two buttons on the back of Norwegian toilets? I think I know, but I'm too embarrassed to ask the front desk.