The food is not so cheap in Norway - the cost of living is high here and our first trip round a supermarket leaves me feeling weak at the wallet and gasping for air. Bananas are about 2 quid a kilo. Is a loaf of bread nearly 4 pounds?? We know alcohol is taxed heavily so we don't even go down that aisle.
After Gayle has thrown some water on my face and slapped me to help me come round again, we work out what we can probably live off for the next few weeks. It involves a lot of pasta. Thankfully we soon discover that each supermarket chain sells some basics as a low-cost option. 'Rema 1000' even does a poll-winner's museli. It turns out that 8 out of 10 owners said their rabbits preferred it.
The supermarkets all seem to sell the same things and there's not a huge range - which surprises us a lot. This is, after all, the wealthiest country in Europe. We are told that although earnings are relatively high here, there isn't the same choices to spend your money. Mind you, on the roads, the cars are nearly all newish German models. Is choice so important when you can have only a BMW, a Merc or a VW? A general impression we get travelling through the north is that there is no great ostentation or flagrantly wealthy spending here. Everyone dresses the same - the standard northern European look - and the houses mostly look well kept but not grand. There is no obvious poverty either but we don't expect to see it here.
After Gayle has thrown some water on my face and slapped me to help me come round again, we work out what we can probably live off for the next few weeks. It involves a lot of pasta. Thankfully we soon discover that each supermarket chain sells some basics as a low-cost option. 'Rema 1000' even does a poll-winner's museli. It turns out that 8 out of 10 owners said their rabbits preferred it.
£8 for this lot.
The supermarkets all seem to sell the same things and there's not a huge range - which surprises us a lot. This is, after all, the wealthiest country in Europe. We are told that although earnings are relatively high here, there isn't the same choices to spend your money. Mind you, on the roads, the cars are nearly all newish German models. Is choice so important when you can have only a BMW, a Merc or a VW? A general impression we get travelling through the north is that there is no great ostentation or flagrantly wealthy spending here. Everyone dresses the same - the standard northern European look - and the houses mostly look well kept but not grand. There is no obvious poverty either but we don't expect to see it here.
Never too late to discover the wonders of road kill, cheap as chips, curry power is a bonus at times...
ReplyDeleteNo poverty? stay there a bit longer and you both can give the locals their first taste of seeing poverty...It's Iceland for me next year, via France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and Denmark and the Faroe Isles, but hey guess I won't be buying Bananas...
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