June 23 – Mid Summer`s Eve, Sandefjord Hytte

We woke to another day of heavy rain in the Oslo area. Are and Lina headed off to drop Lina at a camp for children from the Oslo area which is located on an island in the Oslo Fjord. Are then continued on to join friends for the weekend. We four ”elders” enjoyed another cup of coffee over breakfast and then we each worked at preparations for our trip to the Naas Hytte.

As we drove from Slependen towards Sandefjord in the rain, it was interesting to see the countryside through which we were travelling. There was a lot of fertile farmland. On the way to the hytte, we stopped at the town of Tonsberg, where Ragnhild grew up. It is on the Oslo Fjorden and has a good harbour and attractive waterfront. It also has a distinctive hill which Ragnhild described as ”a little Signal Hill” (in some ways similar to Signal Hill in St. John‘s), complete with an old stone tower on the top and a row of canons, overlooking the city. There used to be a fortification here many years ago that was built in 1276, and destroyed in 1503. Only remnants of the old walls remain. The present tower was built in 1888. We enjoyed walking around the hill, especially as the rain stopped for us at that point. The afternoon treat was…you guessed it, an ice cream!

The Naas Hytte is located near Sandefjord on Tonsberg Fjorden, an arm of the larger Oslo Fjorden. What a location! The cabin is perched right on the granitic rocks overlooking the fjord. The main part of the hytte is a sitting/dining/cooking area; there are additional sitting/eating areas outdoors. The sleeping accommodations are part of the cabin, but are entered by going outside. This arrangement is nice in that each sleeping area is a little bit separate. Each sleeping area is cosy and comfy. We feel so privileged to be brought to this special family place.

After settling in and relaxing a bit, we feasted on a late dinner of shrimps. We are now much better at peeling them than we were when we first started, but could use a little more training before being called experts! These were served on fresh bread with lettuce, lemon and a sour cream mixture…delicious.

By the time supper was over, we began seeing smoke from some of the bonfires along the shore of the fjord. This is a tradition on mid-summer`s eve which was celebrated on June 23rd in Norway. We walked over to a near-by YMCA camp, which both Ragnhild and Anders had attended this camp as kids, to see the celebrations there. Later we sat outside, enjoyed a glass of wine with our good friends on a beautiful calm evening and watched the light from several fires along the shore.