I did not expect to find many similarities between Norway and Slovakia, where I am today. I am wrong. They have similar populations, a bit more than 5 million. They both dissolved amicably a union with another country; Norway from Sweden in 1905 and Slovakia from the Czech Republic in 1993, the Velvet Divorce. They both have a unicameral multiparty democracy. They both had wartime governments that were subservient to Germany. Quisling entered the English language and Jozef Tiso did not but both were executed.
Here are a few of the differences that strike me. Norway is more than seven times larger, consumer prices are 55% lower and restaurant prices 72% lower in Slovakia. Finally, it doesn’t seem to rain much in Slovakia, at least at this time of year. Slovakia is part of the EU and the eurozone.
The immigration crisis is on Slovakia’s doorstep. Robert was on a train yesterday from Hungary to Austria which stopped at the border. There was an empty train on the opposite platform. Police came through his train removing passengers without papers and transferring them to the other train. There were about 40 passengers in total and about 30 of them were escorted off the train. The police seemed to recognise them, not asking Robert to show his passport. The immigrants were phlegmatic and would try again.
Robert had been in Gyor and brought back a curious story. As so often on this site, it has an Irish slant. In the 1650s Bishop Walter Lynch, Bishop of Clonfert in Galway, was forced to leave Ireland because of Cromwell’s persecution. He fled to the continent taking a cherished portrait of the Virgin Mary with him. He eventually came to Gyor where he died in 1663 and was buried in the Cathedral crypt. His painting was hung in a side chapel to commemorate his ministry.
On 17th March 1697 (significantly, St. Patrick’s Day), 34 years after his death the Madonna began to weep tears and blood. This was, it is said, witnessed by many people including a rabbi. The picture was taken down and cleaned with a cloth that is still preserved. The cathedral, now a basilica, has become a place of pilgrimage and a bond between Hungary and Ireland. The phenomenon has not recurred.