Bibliotrekking!
a travel series for the physically unadventurous yet imaginatively wild
checking out Norway as i check out (oh lord, i didn’t) books (from the library! gettit? books!
shuttup)
what is it?
Some people travel to see nature (gross), others to eat food (meh), and still others like the idea of smartly pointing at big monuments and such. Well! Here in Norway there is boundless nature to go off and expire in, my opinion on the food is not worth writing, and yeah, there are monuments worth pointing at and saying: “Yes. That is the one I was thinking of”. BUT, and I will fight you if you challenge me on it, an indisputable fucking treasure in this country is its wide network of public libraries. I KNOW! Hear me out.
Norwegian libraries, I reckon, are a great launching point from which to discover a new spot on the penis-shaped map. The libraries serve so many functions that they are muscling in on the various offerings of social, professional, entertainment, even workshop spaces other institutions may have offered. ALL FOR FREE. And so, this democratising connecting space is a nice way to get to know what sort of place you’re dealing with, while simultaneously offering the perfect hideout from the nature you may be keen to avoid.
These libraries are dynamic. You want to borrow hammer drill? Sure thing. Play violent video games? Library’s got you. You just moved here and don’t know how to ask for the proper spices that weren’t simply coloured sawdust? There’s a language club every week. Right after the sewing workshop. Or the urban gardening thingie. Or enjoy a cinema session, poetry reading, book signing, dj class, or any of the million other things both introverted and extroverted sorts might enjoy.
I tell you, they have everything you could need.
(get this essential reading at Nydalen library. iykyk
Goofy love for libraries aside, I will of course be sussing out the actual place I am visiting, so those not interested in the splendour of the public libraries will have something to chew on too. The only caveat: my tips are from the perspective of a person with great travel aspirations but much anxiety and limited budget. Expect recommendations for local drinking establishments, concerts, and possibly weird tours. I will pepper in any gossip I uncover, AND, of course, yours-free-of-charge-no-strings-attached, book recommendation to accompany your visit.
Now, I leave you with a quote about traveling in Norway, but the best of all travelers, in my favourite of all his books:
“If you took the whole of Norway, scrunched it up a bit, shook out all the moose and reindeer, hurled it ten thousand miles around the world, and filled it with birds, then you’d be wasting your time, because it looks very much as if someone has already done it.”
Douglas Adams, [Last Chance to See] [By: Adams, Douglas] [November, 2009]
