Oslo, the 22nd of July 2011...
...a day which will forever remain in the minds of the people here and which marks a dark point in the history of Norway.
It is just incredible what had happened this day. One is without words. And still, the Norwegians look ahead, don't get dejected. To the contrary, they seem to be prouder than before of who they are, of what characterises their culture and values. They don't let themselves intimidated by some mentally ill, crazy idiot that believes to protect Norway from multiculturalism by exploding a massive bomb and shooting like mad politically interested young people.
The day itself:
The government area of Oslo is actually only 400m away from our office, so the day that devastating bomb exploded we could really feel the explosion and the shock wave.
We were still sitting in the office when at one point in the late afternoon we suddenly heard this huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge and super loud "bang" which made the building shake and the open windows slam with incredible strength. A window in a building opposite our office burst and so we initially thought there had been an explosion in our neighbour’s building. Only after the huge amount of sirens and flashing lights rushing through the city centre and a look at the internet, we figured out what had really happened.
(click picture to enlarge)
Well, everyone, I guess, has seen the horrible pictures that went through the media, even internationally.
It’s just awful and incredible!!!
However, me and all others in the office were fine!
By the time we had overcome the first shock, it was already after 4 p.m. and so we decided to send the trainees already home, advising them to stay there and not to go out anymore. My colleagues and I, though, we still stayed, at least for the time to finish the last urgent things before the weekend, like checking if all our tourists in town were alright and calming our clients who started ringing. However, as far as we knew, everything was fine. None of our tourists were in the nearby hotels.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Jana, her trainee Lisanne and I finally left the office as well, out of the office and luckily also out of town, out of the "danger zone" for a weekend into the mountains to Jotunheimen National Park.
Having been busy with finishing work, meeting Audrey and the car at Avis and leaving Oslo, we hadn't heard anything about the shooting at Utøya until the moment that we actually passed – or wanted to pass – exactly that road alongside the Tyrifjord lake with the island Utøya.
The quickest and direct way from Oslo to Beitostølen, where we wanted to go, is towards Hønefoss along the road E16, passing next to Utøya. It was Audrey driving the first part towards the mountains when we suddenly had to stop behind a queue of cars. What initially looked like a normal traffic jam out of Oslo on a late Friday afternoon turned out to be the closed road after the awful shooting on the island right in front of us.
On the way out of Oslo we saw already a lot of ambulances and helicopters and we thought they might be on the way to Oslo to help after the bomb attack. Another explanation for that tailback would have been an accident, a bigger one, maybe with a tourist bus?
Ambulances and police cars were driving through the stuck cars, telling the drivers to all turn around and drive back to Oslo or to take other roads. So we actually asked one of the guys what had happened and if the road would eventually re-open if we waited for an hour. "No no no, just turn around, turn turn turn... take any other road. This is some bigger issue here!" was his answer.
Right while turning our car in the middle of the road, Audrey received a phone call that updated us with what had really happened: that a crazy guy has been shooting around an annual youth camp of politically interested kids killing whoever came in his way.
On the way out of Oslo we saw already a lot of ambulances and helicopters and we thought they might be on the way to Oslo to help after the bomb attack. Another explanation for that tailback would have been an accident, a bigger one, maybe with a tourist bus?
Ambulances and police cars were driving through the stuck cars, telling the drivers to all turn around and drive back to Oslo or to take other roads. So we actually asked one of the guys what had happened and if the road would eventually re-open if we waited for an hour. "No no no, just turn around, turn turn turn... take any other road. This is some bigger issue here!" was his answer.
Right while turning our car in the middle of the road, Audrey received a phone call that updated us with what had really happened: that a crazy guy has been shooting around an annual youth camp of politically interested kids killing whoever came in his way.
Still not able to realise or actually understand what had all happened that afternoon, we took the detour around the Tyrifjord lake... which made us lose over two hours of time on our way to the mountains.
Oslo after 22/07:
Right after our hiking weekend, on the Monday after the tragic events, there was a mourning march planned. It was supposed to start at Rådhusplassen and go all the way over to Youngstorget square.
However, in the early evening, over 200,000 people had gathered at the harbour that it was impossible to move this huge crowd of people. So it remained a commemorating gathering, filled with flowers in memory of all victims.
Since the march was cancelled, people placed their flowers everywhere where they could find place. And already shortly after, the whole area of and around Rådhusplassen was filled with flowers.
Living close by behind the harbour, the following days when cycling to work, I saw flowers wherever I looked. Actually everywhere in town one could see flowers.
Straight ahead behind this fence at the corner of Grensen and Grubbegata, at not even 200m, lies the government area where the bomb exploded.
At Stortinget, the Parliament building.
In front of the Cathedral, a sea of flowers.
And even today you still find spots decorated with bunches of fresh flowers, candles or posters with words of grief.
Now, after my holidays, I actually passed by the area after work to have a look at the damage and trying to understand what had actually happened there. Trying to get this into my head.
Though it was all over the news and the pictures below give a rough idea of it, it is still out of my range of imagination what it must have been looked like in the afternoon of July 22nd.
At the moment boards of pressboard replace the glass in the windows that burst under the shock wave. The pictures show the damage in nearby buildings.
The building on the photograph below was right next to where the bomb exploded... and consequently lost nearly all of its windows.
Møllergata leading to the top of Youngstorget.
The building of the Arbeiderpartiet (the current Prime Minister Stoltenberg's political party) at Youngstorget, a popular place to go out for a drink.
View from Grubbegata towards the government area.
I don't find further words for all of that and there is nothing more to say but to think of all the victims.
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