My own English translation from the cover of this book, published in Norwegian:
"We are two girls on four wheels with a story 2672 km from the reality in front of the bumper. From here there are no other stories in the whole world than those we have in front of us. It moves towards the borders of civilisation, towards the north and then again towards the north, through this strangely dimensioned country that 4.6 million Norwegians call their home."
Trude Lorentzen and Karin Beate Nøsterud made the book
"E 6, 2672 kilometer fra Svinesund til Kirkenes. En reise gjennom nordmenns liv", published by Kagge Forlag AS in 2005.
A friend from work thought I would like it. Thanks!
This is NOT the Norway album you might have encountered till now.
It is a pity it isn't translated into English.
Then the tourists may have understood a little more about the people living in this long and "strangely dimensioned country" and they would have smiled and smiled reading the funny texts, and started their own trip along the E 6.
Some glimpses:
* Norwegians on an average eat 115 hotdogs a year.
Otto von Bismarck: "He who knows how laws and hotdogs are made, will never again have a good night's sleep."
* In Oslo there is a Christian MC club where the members during the winter meet in a bunker to repair and care for their motorbikes and during the summer travel around with the Bible and their prayer meetings. You can contact them at any time on SMS for their prayer telephone service.
* From the book: The invention of the car would probably not have been approved today. "See , I have invented a vehicle that will kill 300 Norwegians every year."
* On the road to Oslo Airport the government built a special bridge for moose to cross the road. It cost 15 million Norwegian crowns (around two and a half million US dollars). Very few moose have been observed on this bridge. But hitting a moose crossing the road anywhere can be fatal, both for the moose and for the humans.
*The long distances in Norway is a problem when women in faroff places are about to give birth. Between 150 - 200 Norwegian children are born in ambulances and private cars every year.
* In the year 2000 an 155 ton Aeroflot plane took off from Vaernes airport, filled with salmon for the Japanese market. The plane hit a group of swans and had to land on a flat stretch of the E 6 near Malvik. Fortunately the salmon and the Russian crew got out of this without harm, and fortunately there were no cars on the 200 meters the plane needed to stop.
* In Norway there is a place called Hell, and Lonely Planet suggested you go there: "Forever after, whenever someone suggests you go there, you can honestly say you've already been there and it wasn't all that bad."
* The two first cars were registered by Norwegian authorities in 1899. In 1909 there were 215 cars. Today 2.4 million.
* The only part of E 6 over water is over Tysfjord, from Bognes til Skarberget. If this hadn't been there, you would have to do a detour of 700 km through Sweden.
* Finmark, the most northern fylke (region) in Norway is bigger than Denmark in area, but has only 70 000 inhabitants. The Danes have five million.
If you live up here, you have several financial bonuses.
According to the book, Finnmark is a eldorado for optimists.
If you can read Norwegian, you will enjoy this book.
If you cannot read Norwegian, buy the book, start the trip, and get locals to translate the texts when you get to the place they mention in the book.
Then those locals will probably give you their stories and you can write your own book afterwards.
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