Yesterday I went caught the ferry to Nesodden, a penninsula about 30 minutes from Oslo by boat, but 50 minutes by car. It was overcast, but the water was smooth as a lake. My old friend Michael Hands is back briefly from his assignment with the UN mine action program in Khartoum, Sudan and I went to check out the garage he has converted into an apartment located just footsteps away from the fjord.

The snowfall reaches down to the water’s edge, which is rocky with tiny bath houses. The one he shares also has a small sauna? The location is quite amazing: right on the water complete with sunset!

Later we drove down to Drøbak, a small town at the edge of the narrowest part of Oslo Fjord. The town was made famous in World War Two when a local commander in a fort across the fjiord sank a German Navy ship passing on its way to invade the Oslo.

As a brass band played on the deck of the boat, the Norwegian commander lobbed a single round that hit the ship’s magazine of ordnance blowing the boat sky high. The event allowed enough time for the Norwegian parliament to evacuate the country and reconvene in London for the rest of the war.