Word: akershus
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...quiz was d). But let me explain. Oslo, like the non-raisiny bits of the bun, is usually considered nice - nice but dull, all muted colors, leafy parks and elegant 19th century mansions. But look past the main tourist draws: the Viking Ship Museum; the 14th century Akershus Fortress, which has guarded Oslofjord through nine sieges; the sculpture garden with Gustav Vigeland's 14-m-tall Monolith, a phallic column of 121 writhing human figures. The city has plenty of other artistic, architectural and even culinary gems - the raisins in the bun. You just have to know where to walk...
Unmoved, Begin flew to the Norwegian capital late last week to receive his commemorative gold medal from Mrs. Aage Lionaes, head of the peace prize committee, in the high-walled medieval Akershus. In his acceptance speech, Begin quoted the prophets Isaiah and Micah ("And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. . ."). He then rhetorically posed an issue that bedevils everyone concerned with the 30-year-old Middle East struggle: "not whether, but when this vision [of peace] will become a reality." Begin did not give a definite answer. Instead, he acknowledged an intellectual debt...
Begin's speech was delivered under the most extraordinary security precautions Norway had seen in recent memory. An estimated 2,000 policemen were deployed around Oslo; Begin was ferried to the Akershus by helicopter and bulletproof limousine. Even the location of the ceremony was a concession to police precautions. Heretofore, the Nobel award has always been bestowed at Oslo University's marble-clad Festival Hall. Security experts feared the hall offered too many opportunities to terrorists. In changing the venue, Begin's guardians unconsciously added an element of historical irony to this year's ceremony...
...party lasted until 2 a.m., and the walls of Oslo's 13th Century Akershus Fortress reverberated with laughter and deep-throated Scandinavian singing. The guests -97 ministers, generals, diplomats and politicians of Sweden, Denmark and Norway-toasted each other and their countries. Gay as any was the host, Norway's Foreign Minister Halvard Lange. Yet in his pocket crackled a crisp piece of paper, a note from Soviet Russia. The Soviet ambassador had delivered it just as Lange was leaving for the state dinner...
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Quisling was awakened at 2 a.m. and hurried from his cell to a square in Oslo's somber Akershus Fortress. Awaiting him were a clergyman, a state prosecutor and a firing squad, an officer and ten men. No photographers, no reporters recorded his last abasement or his last heroics...