Although St. Hallvard is the patron saint of Oslo, he is claimed by Drammen, too, and every year there is a re-enactment here of this story from the 11th century.Of more recent vintage is the award-winning Ypsilon pedestrian bridge across the Drammenselva river, so named because it is Y-shaped like the capital Greek letter ypsilon (or upsilon):
Oslo is 40 kilometers northeast of Drammen, at the northern end of the Oslofjord. Drammen is at the northern end of the Drammensfjord. Both fjords flow south and join before reaching the sea. The Drammenselva river flows into the Drammensfjord. The city of Drammen lies on both sides of the river where it flows into the fjord.In southeastern Norway the land does not rise above the fjords as spectacularly as in western Norway. In the photo above, the hill on the other side of the river is Spiralen (or Spiraltoppen), which we climbed. Below is the view looking upriver (northwest) from near the top:
And this is the view looking southwest toward the fjord:
In Drammen there is a pleasant walking and biking path next to the river, but these sun-bathers found the chairs a little cold!
Else and Tore have a beautiful cottage on the Oslofjord. On our way to the cottage we stopped for a view of the Oscarsborg Fortress in Oslofjord:
World War II in Europe began in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. The war escalated significantly in April 1940 when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. The Germans sent a naval task force, led by the heavy cruiser Blücher, to Oslo to capture the Norwegian king, parliament and gold. The Germans considered the defences at Oscarsborg too weak to stop them, but they didn't know about the underwater torpedo battery which sank the Blücher on 9 April 1940 in the Battle of Drøbak Sound. This delayed the fall of Oslo long enough to allow the king and parliament to escape, taking the gold with them.Return to intro post.
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