We are back in Molde, the town of roses. We were here a
briefly, the last time. We were getting back from Greiranger. We were here for
30min. we just walked around. I took pictures of the man holes. Unfortunately,
it was 8pm; I wanted to take pictures of the city center. It is a beautiful
town. Then it started to rain again. Well, back to Bergen tomorrow. We have a half a day there.
Hopefully, the weather is clear to go up the funicular to see the view of Bergen.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK, I need to pack. We have to put our luggage out before 10am. We
dock at 2pm.
To Norwegians, Molde, whose rose-filled town centre was
bombed to smithereens by German aircraft during World War II, is still “The
City of Roses”.
These days it is also known as the home town of our current
Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, a good football team, and its owner,
super-capitalist Kjell Inge Røkke, who has given Molde Norway’s most impressive
football stadium. Internationally, however, the jazz festival is the town’s
best known visiting card. Six hundred volunteers annually work 30,000 unpaid
hours at the festival, which is
Norway’s
biggest annual cultural event (after the Bergen International Festival) with an
estimated turnover in 1998 of some USD 1.76 million. In 1988, the MIJF received
USD 0.3 million in central and regional government support, USD 0.28 million in
sponsorship revenues and about USD 0.82 million in ticket sales. In addition
the revenues from the sale of festival effects, including 15,000 T-shirts.
