Small city, big contrasts

In Norway the government holds a monopoly on sales of wine and liquor. Many Norwegians seem to love monopolies - in 2009, a Norwegian won the World Monopoly Championship, playing the well known board game (true story). Here we see one of Norway's state wine monopoly (Vinmonopolet) shops, with its opening hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm (with an extra hour on Friday mornings) and 10am to 3pm Saturday. Add to the fact that Vinmonopolet stores are closed on public holidays and election days, and you need to be an adept planner to get your hands on a bottle of good red or a decent whisky. The thing that I find perplexing is that not 100 metres from this particular Vinmonopolet there is an open-air drug tolerance zone where you can buy heroin 24/7. Go figure!