About traffic light pepper and roundabouts

paprika trafikkllys

Even though I don´t live in Norway any longer I still like to share some of my experiences as I enjoyed my time up there a lot and - I admit it - miss the landscape and people I met there.

This entry was intended to be one of the first entrys to be published as it is about stuff that in a way surprised me in the beginning and as well about things that I like about Norway as they are in some way advanced. However, I never managed to finsih it till now.  As you might have guessed already the main topic is the traffic but I want to share a little bit about the people´s lifestyle as well. I might use the term "In Norway" or "Norwegians" a couple of times even though I did not visit or live in all of Norway. So, I am sorry for that :D

When I went to a shop during my first week in Tromsø I came across "trafikklys paprika". Actually it is just the normal vegetable pepper but as it comes in red, orange/yellow and green and is sold in packs of three they call it trafikklys which means traffic light (fun fact :P)

streets to be used by busses and taxis only

Coming to the real traffic now.
In Norway you find many mountains. Sometimes the streets go across the mountains but often streets go through the mountains which means there are many tunnels. In the city of Tromsø they have tunnels as well but here they even built roundabouts inside the tunnel. This is something I surely did not expect to see as I have always known a tunnel as long tube with only two directions. As if that is not fancy enough already they even built a car park inside one of the tunnels.

In the city there are streets which are to be used by busses and taxis only to assure that busses go on time and to reduce traffic in the inner city but also in residential areas. The citizens usually follow those rules. Still, sometimes you see a car driving through those streets. In the moment you see the little Hertz, AVIS or Europcar logo on the car you know it is a rental car and a confused tourist steering it :D

Now a little more about the local public transport. The public transport consists of busses. At least inside the city and to Tromsdalen (mainland in the east of Tomsø island) and Kvaløya (island in the west of Tromsø island). If you want to travel through Tromsø county for example to Finnsnes or Harstad you can catch a ferry or an express boat. Trains do not exist in Tromsø besides one pub called "train station" in the city centre. The next real train station is located in Narvik (250 km south of Tromsø). However, the busses are environmental friendly as hybrid electric busses are used for public transport. They have a combined system of ordinary combustion engines and electric engines.

Further, Norway is a leading country when it comes to electric cars. It is the country with the most elecric cars in relation to the number of inhabitants. Electric cars are for sure very popular in Norway. All of them were supposed to have the same letters on the number plate. They decided to use EL as a short form of electric. But then too many electric cars were sold and no more numberplates with the letters EL were available. So, all new electric cars now carry the letters EK on their numberplate. EK for "elektrisk kjøretøy " which means "electric vehicle". But why are electric cars so popular in Norway? Basically you save a lot of money when driving an electric car in Norway. When you purchase one you pay zero taxes, charging your car at public chargers is free, parking on municipal parking lots is free and you also get rid of paying tolls. Further, nowadays electric cars do not like futuristic space ships anymore but the electric Golf by Volkswagen is the bestseller in Norway.

electric golf

Now, when you think about electric vehicles you will at some point reach the issue that the electric energy has to be produced in some way.  Producing energy from non-renewable energy sources often pollutes the environment e.g. by burning fossile fuels. Then the question is: What is the better solution? Pollution by exhaust fumes generated by cars or pollution by burning e.g. fossil fuels to produce energy? As Norway already produces 95 % of its electric energy need by using water power plants it is not an issue for the Norwegians because water power is a renewable energy source. Still, when electric energy for electric cars is produced by burning fossil fuels it is a definetly an issue.

In Norway all cars have spikes on their winter tires. In case there is no snow that gives you some strange sound on the roads. In Germany this would probably not be possible as the spikes could harm the streets which are bust anyhow :D When there is a lot of snow the busses still have to run and are equipped with snow chains. It can be a little tricky for the drivers to get the busses uphill without them. One morning my bus on the way to work got stuck. Everyone had to leave the bus, walk to next bus station and wait for the next bus of another route as the other bus basically blocked the road :D

As I promised in the beginning, here is something about the lifestyle: 
Most Norwegians are very active people and connected to the nature. They like to go for a hike in the mountains or on bicycle trips. Fishing is popular,too. Many go to work by bike as long as it is still possible. When the snow comes the bike will be exchanged by skis. For the weekends or holiday Norwegians tend to have small cottages somewhere in the nature.
 Further, only very very few people seem to be fat or even obese due to the active lifestyle. I did not meet a single smoker during my entire time in Norwegian. I guess there are some but instead of smoking cigarettes many people use "snus". Snus is a smokeless, moist, powder tobacco product placed under the upper lip for extended periods. It is healthier than smoking cigarettes but still not entirely healthy. At least the people around you are not harmed by smoke and you find less cigarette ends on the streets as the used snus can be put back in the cover of your snus box. Additionally, using snus is more discreet than smoking as you don´t see right away whether the person in front of you uses snus at the moment or not.

snus "damages your health and is addictive"

Last but not least always beware of any reindeer that might cross the street in front of you ;D

sources:
http://www.hegnar.no/var/hegnar/storage/images/4/0/3/6/1236304-1-nor-NO/vw-e-golf-620-5_full_article.jpg
http://ekstrabladet.dk/biler/bil_nyheder/norge-loeber-toer-for-nummerplader-til-elbiler/6015692
http://www.benjerry.no/whats-new/norway-electric-car
http://science.howstuffworks.com/snus.htm