1936 On the Continent

for nearly four thousand feet to the dark fjord waters. Yet where the valleys run down to the fjord side the grass is vividly green, and farms and hamlets lie amid fertile orchards.
The Sogne Fjord
    The Sogne Fjord is in grim contrast. Here the scene is almost unbrokenly harsh. The fjord creeps like a sullen snake for 112 miles, curling through the immense rock buttresses of the mountains deep into the country. Its drama is almost terrible in its unalloyed hardness. But it is magnificent.
    The ships that run to Bergen from England tie up at the quay-side terminus of the Bergen-Oslo Railway, which is one of the world’s wonder works of engineering. The railway traverses the country from west to east, climbing the great central mountain chain. The three hundred miles of track lie through amazing scenery—following a rock ledge above the Sör Fjord; running over the barren mountain wastes far above the tree line, where the snow lies thick even at midsummer and the lakes are stiff in ice; winding through calm valleys where the peasants are at work in the fields; cutting into the shadowy depths of vast forests. The journey takes about thirteen hours, and to travel over the route is one of the finest ways of getting an insight into the Norwegian scene.
    At Voss, sixty-seven miles from Bergen, one reaches a centre that is the natural junction point of the Hardanger and Sogne country. The heads of both these great fjords are not far distant, and Voss is a local capital of much interest.
    Beyond Voss the first serious ascents of the railway begin, the line running along the high ridge of the Langefjell. As the track leads deeper into the mountains the dark forests fall away and the snow peaks rise up level with the train. To the south gleams the Hardangerjökul glacier, a citadel beyond the naked waste of rock and stunted dwarf birches. Soon even this meagre vegetation ceases, and the landscape becomes utterly bare.
    The highest point of the railway is reached near the station of Finse, which stands at 4,000 feet. Finse is apopular winter sports centre, and all the upland stations of the line—such as Haugastöl, Geilo, Ustaoset—are situated in splendid ski-ing country.
    Beyond Finse the descent of the eastern slopes of the mountains begins. There is a long and lovely stretch where the track leads down the broad Hallingdal valley. Later, the lowlands of eastern Norway are met, and the train threads the forest and pastoral region that surrounds Oslo.
Oslo
    The Norwegian capital is a delightful city. Ringed by forest-covered hills, it stands at the head of its own beautiful fjord.
    The best way for a stranger to begin orientating himself in any new city is to make a dead line for the principal café and there take stock of things. The travel bureaux will provide him with maps and booklets and a personal guide if necessary. But the assimilation of a place’s idiom and atmosphere is entirely a matter of individual observation. And for this there is no finer vantage-point than a leading café.
    All Oslo meets itself at the Grand Café, which will be found mid-way along the wide and lively main street of the city—the Karl Johansgate. At one end of the Karl Johansgate (Norwegians call it just Karl Johan—and the “gate” has nothing to do with a portal, but means “street” and is tacked on as
strasse
is in German) stands the Royal Palace; and at the other end is the Östbanestation—the East Station. Between these points Oslo life pulses most strongly—notably in the Grand.
    From the tables of the Grand you can watch the Oslo pageant pass by the huge plate-glass windows, which are removed in summer to form wide openings to the street. And Norwegian beer is among the best in Europe. So it can be a very pleasant pastime, this dawdling in the Grand during one’s first hours in Oslo in order to get the hang of things.
    There is a long buffet at one side of the café. Upon it are arranged innumerable delicious single-deck sandwiches. They are a feature of Norwegian food and known as
smörrebröd
. Or you can get a printed list of them from thewaiter, and enlist his help in choosing. There is one excellent concoction which appears as
Skrapet kjöd m. egg og lök
. Finely scraped raw beef, with the yolk of an egg and a little chopped onion, the whole mounted on a slab of rye bread. With that and half a litre of
pils
(light beer) the orientating process proceeds with delightful smoothness.
Graduettes and Soldiers
    Those