There is something eerily beautiful about airports under snow. This is how Oslo Airport looked earlier this evening when I passed through on the way from Paris to Stavanger. Oslo Airport appears strikingly modern, a cathedral of glass and steel, surrounded by a splendid white expanse of snow.
The light you can see in the dark distance of this photograph are a squadron of massive snow clearing vehicles which were parading around the runway just as I took the photograph at around 11 pm. I counted about fifteen of these vehicles, all chasing one after the other, travelling quite fast with big plumes of snow rising around them. I presume these vehicles are the source of a great pile of snow some 6 or 7 metres high and hundreds of metres long that I spotted from the aircraft as we taxied to our dock on arrival.
On taking off again, the aircraft was sprayed with hot water to remove ice from the wings, engulfing us in a thick plume of steam.
The oil wealth of Norway is well represented by Oslo Airport. It is certainly one of the most ostentatious buildings I have seen since living here in Norway. By comparison, Copenhagen airport (which I passed through on the way to Paris) appears sombre and dreary, its fixtures and fittings outdated, its refreshment stalls like tired railway buffets.
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