Voicy does Norway

Arrived in Oslo yesterday and love all the old buildings in the city!

Took a walk around the city to visit the historic buildings such as the Palace, National Theater and Opera House.
From there, went to the waterfront where I ate Whale, Moose, Deer and Elk for the first time, desert and Coffee at Starbucks and then to the Hotel to get some much needed rest!

Visiting Norway on a South African salary is not a good idea though! :crylaugh:
 
Glad you're enjoying it dude!

Visiting Oslo on a norwegian salary is not a good idea, so yeah, you're definitely feeling the sting. :crylaugh:

I was up on the Opera house roof in Dec when it snowed and it was slippery AF.

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Hey friends,

Been a bit busy here lately, what with winter season rolling in again and all.

This week I'm in Svalbard, which is the northern-most settlement in the world...as well as the most north you can fly with a commercial plane as we're on the 78N line.

My first stop was a quick job I had to do at the global seed vault. For those interested in more info on it, you can read some here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

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Due to the nearly 1000 polar bears roaming freely on Svalbard, you're not allowed to leave town without a gun, or a guide (with a gun).

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The whole place is a little odd, if I'm honest, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Also, even though it's governed by norway, the island itself isn't actually owned by anyone so it falls outside of the schengen zone. This means anyone can come to Svalbard, problem is the only flights coming in and out go to Norway so you need a visa to get TO the island, but not to enter it.

There's a university here too, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it's far north enough as not to be affected by the facilitiesmustfall movement.
 
so its a nuclear proof/doomsday safe?

besides seeds what else they store? anything important or valuable? like manuscripts?

good place to hide in when the world ends? I suppose the midnight sun is really strange there......
but the aurora must be spectacular to see....
 
Marsport said:
Hows the airconditioning?
Click to expand...

Chilled :p


eg2505 said:
so its a nuclear proof/doomsday safe?

besides seeds what else they store? anything important or valuable? like manuscripts?

good place to hide in when the world ends? I suppose the midnight sun is really strange there......
but the aurora must be spectacular to see....
Click to expand...

Having been inside, I can neither confirm nor deny that there is an active stargate down there...:whistle:

OH! Btw, I went to fetch something at the airport this afternoon and saw a bunch of people taking photos of a guy offloading containers and then saw them later all standing outside the seed vault (it's right above the airport). I wasn't sure what that was about, but I read online now that it might be Singapore's deposit to the vault.
 
[video=youtube;2_OEsf-1qgY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OEsf-1qgY[/video]

Some footage from inside. Quite interesting
 
So job's done on Svalbard. Time to head back.

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Here's the new system up and running to provide synchronized backup power.

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A bit of an oddity. This university has a gun rack, since most of the students have to do some field work and have to carry rifles because polar bears.

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And also the cantina works off a trust/honesty system. There's nobody manning the counter in off times. You serve yourself and perform payment yourself by placing cash in the cash bowl. Quite a bit of a difference to the current status of SA varsities I guess.

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Just for interest sake ... what caliber are those rifle's?

I looks like something close to .308
 
spiderz said:
Just for interest sake ... what caliber are those rifle's?

I looks like something close to .308
Click to expand...

I didn't actually stop and check, but the local sports shop sells 30.06's. Either way, they need enough stopping power for bears between 250-800kg.

Last year during the solar eclipse one guy was mauled by a bear before it was driven off or shot I think. And a little while ago 2 women were cornered on a mountain near town by a bear. The one jumped and broke her legs and ribs and back or some such, but survived. The other one got eaten. It's serious business up here. You even have to fill out search and rescue forms as well as inform the local government of any out of town trips.
 
Elax said:
[video=youtube;2_OEsf-1qgY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OEsf-1qgY[/video]

Some footage from inside. Quite interesting
Click to expand...

Yeah that gives a good representation of it...and you even see the gen room where I worked on the right at the 0:46 mark. (I've placed company logos on the outside of the door now though)

A little side note, Veratisium makes AMAZINGLY interesting videos. I'd definitely recommend subscribing to him.
 
YingYang said:
Svalbard on Channel 184 at the moment
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Oh cool! Any idea what it's called?

There was a BBC program on here too called "Svalbard: Life on the edge" and covered it quite well.

If they mention anything about SvalSAT the satellite base, then it's where I'll most probably be going next month for a job. They also house NASA satellites there so it'll be cool to check out.
 
Voicy said:
Oh cool! Any idea what it's called?

There was a BBC program on here too called "Svalbard: Life on the edge" and covered it quite well.

If they mention anything about SvalSAT the satellite base, then it's where I'll most probably be going next month for a job. They also house NASA satellites there so it'll be cool to check out.
Click to expand...
That's precisely what's playing :)
 
It looks like you're having such an adventure up there Voicy. I'm beyond jealous, apart from the cold of course!
 
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