We were up at 0600 … another rainy day in Oslo. After a light breakfast, we said our farewells to Ragnhild and Are, then Anders drove us to the train station in Sandvika and saw us onto the ‘airport express‘, the Flytoget. In between the few stops that this train makes, we traveled at speeds up to 180 km/h … wow!
Check-in at the airport was a little slow due to the holiday crowds, but we eventually got settled in to the departure lounge. Our flight to Heathrow was delayed by about an hour, but that was okay because we had a 4 hour gap between flights home, i.e., either wait in Oslo or at Heathrow.
Terminal 3 a Heathrow has not changed. The crowds were large, and the line-ups long. We spent about an hour in a line-up to go through security, then spent the rest of the time ‘people-watching’ until our departure gate was posted. The flight from Heathrow to Calgary was delayed by about half an hour due to stormy weather, but then we were on our way.
The highlight of the trip was being able to see Greenland from coast to coast, plus much of Baffin Island. What a spectacular country to fly over … lots of mountains, fjords, ice and snow!
To help the trip pass by, we watched 3 good films: Music and Lyrics, The Farmer Astronaut and The Freedom Writers. The first film was just fun. The second one focused on making dreams come true. And the last one, it was about a special teacher who inspired minority kids to change their lives from gangs, violence and no hope to one of hope and possibilities. This was a moving film.
And then, we were home, and our Norway trip was over … but not in our minds as our memories will keep us connected to that beautiful country. What a great time we have had! We’ve seen amazing scenery, and experienced incredible hospitality from our Norwegian friends. It’s going to take awhile to settle back into life in Calgary.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
July 3 - Oslo
We awoke again to the sound of rain. It turns out that this is the longest stretch of rain in Oslo, breaking a 100 year record. We had planned to go to the Holmankolen Ski Jump, but decided not to, given the weather. Instead, we got ourselves organized for the trip home, and put together a slide show of about 500 images.
That evening, Anders and Ragnhild had a wonderful dinner, and then their neighbour friends, Torve and Steiner, with their daughter, came over for dessert and coffee. We then gave everyone a photo tour of Norway travels. The frequent comment was that we had seen more of Norway than most Norwegians. Indeed, we did see a lot, and feel very fortunate to have been able to do so with such good weather.
After the company had left, we had one more evening chat with Anders and Ragnhild with a glass of red wine, then bed.
That evening, Anders and Ragnhild had a wonderful dinner, and then their neighbour friends, Torve and Steiner, with their daughter, came over for dessert and coffee. We then gave everyone a photo tour of Norway travels. The frequent comment was that we had seen more of Norway than most Norwegians. Indeed, we did see a lot, and feel very fortunate to have been able to do so with such good weather.
After the company had left, we had one more evening chat with Anders and Ragnhild with a glass of red wine, then bed.
July 2 – Telemark to Oslo
It was good to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof of the hytte and feel so cozy and dry inside. Anders had the fire lit and the coffee on and we enjoyed breakfast as usual. How good that we did our hiking yesterday!
After breakfast, everyone pitched in to prepare for our departure … it didn’t take too long with all hands involved. The final steps were loading the van and then the relocking process using the end of a coat hanger and the broken key … the reverse of how we got in!! Amazingly enough, it all went quickly and smoothly, coat hanger, broken key and all. J
Our first stop on the way back to Oslo was at a very old and unique farm Svalastoga. The house and an additional building have fascinating carved support posts and old millstones decorating the front area. In addition, an uncle of the present owner, was very artistic and years ago, painted the walls inside the house with pictures that were often of biblical themes. It was definitely a one of a kind farm house to see.
Lunch was a delicious omelette at an old travelers’ inn in an area between Hjartdal and Flatdal. This was a place that Anders and Ragnhild remember from earlier times. We were fortunate to be toured through the inn by one of the owners who is a well recognized artist in Norway. There are painting courses offered here now on a regular basis.
On to the Heddal Stave Kirke … the largest stave kirke in Norway. It was very interesting to see … more turrets on the roof line and much more painted inside. The painting dates from the time io the reformation, 1534. It was fun to explore this historical structure with friends.
We drove in and out of rain the rest of the way back to Oslo, but arrived back in Slependen around early evening. Another delicious dinner and then we watched a short DVD about the Orman Lange gas project here in Norway. Both Statoil and Hydro are involved in that with other investors. It is an amazing project. It will supply 20% of the UK’s gas for the next 30-40 years (10-15 TCF).
In the evening, we were treated to some guitar music by Are. We were to bed not too late … not long now until Wednesday morning and our flight back to Canada.
After breakfast, everyone pitched in to prepare for our departure … it didn’t take too long with all hands involved. The final steps were loading the van and then the relocking process using the end of a coat hanger and the broken key … the reverse of how we got in!! Amazingly enough, it all went quickly and smoothly, coat hanger, broken key and all. J
Our first stop on the way back to Oslo was at a very old and unique farm Svalastoga. The house and an additional building have fascinating carved support posts and old millstones decorating the front area. In addition, an uncle of the present owner, was very artistic and years ago, painted the walls inside the house with pictures that were often of biblical themes. It was definitely a one of a kind farm house to see.
Lunch was a delicious omelette at an old travelers’ inn in an area between Hjartdal and Flatdal. This was a place that Anders and Ragnhild remember from earlier times. We were fortunate to be toured through the inn by one of the owners who is a well recognized artist in Norway. There are painting courses offered here now on a regular basis.
On to the Heddal Stave Kirke … the largest stave kirke in Norway. It was very interesting to see … more turrets on the roof line and much more painted inside. The painting dates from the time io the reformation, 1534. It was fun to explore this historical structure with friends.
We drove in and out of rain the rest of the way back to Oslo, but arrived back in Slependen around early evening. Another delicious dinner and then we watched a short DVD about the Orman Lange gas project here in Norway. Both Statoil and Hydro are involved in that with other investors. It is an amazing project. It will supply 20% of the UK’s gas for the next 30-40 years (10-15 TCF).
In the evening, we were treated to some guitar music by Are. We were to bed not too late … not long now until Wednesday morning and our flight back to Canada.
July 1 - Canada Day and Hytte Time
Our ‘Canada Day’ began with two special greetings, one from Kara by phone from the West Coast of Canada and the other from Mari in the Oslo area … both nice surprises.
After a relaxed breakfast and multiple cups of coffee, we prepared for a day hike up the nearby mountain valley and on to the Roulandsfjell plateau. As we left, the weather seemed to be threatening rain, but we escaped it all day. It was a super day, our pace was relaxed and the temperature just right for hiking and the scenery was wonderful all around us. We passed a number of hyttes, some more remote than others, and wandered the trails with the sheep along the way. J We stopped for our lunch by one of the mountain streams and finally reached our goal, a lake up on the plateau. From there, we headed back down again, with one stop for a ‘sheep-nap’ in the sun on a grassy area … a super hike!
Once back at the cabin, it was attending to some of the necessary tasks, including splitting wood for kindling and preparing supper and so on … Fiskebole for dinner tonight and it was wonderful … it hit the spot perfectly. Another evening of some of our Norway photos over coffee and cake … special times with special friends.
After a relaxed breakfast and multiple cups of coffee, we prepared for a day hike up the nearby mountain valley and on to the Roulandsfjell plateau. As we left, the weather seemed to be threatening rain, but we escaped it all day. It was a super day, our pace was relaxed and the temperature just right for hiking and the scenery was wonderful all around us. We passed a number of hyttes, some more remote than others, and wandered the trails with the sheep along the way. J We stopped for our lunch by one of the mountain streams and finally reached our goal, a lake up on the plateau. From there, we headed back down again, with one stop for a ‘sheep-nap’ in the sun on a grassy area … a super hike!
Once back at the cabin, it was attending to some of the necessary tasks, including splitting wood for kindling and preparing supper and so on … Fiskebole for dinner tonight and it was wonderful … it hit the spot perfectly. Another evening of some of our Norway photos over coffee and cake … special times with special friends.
June 30 – Slependen to Telemark
It had been a busy morning already when we got up today. Tonje, the daughter of Ragnhild and Anders, had left early in the morning for Italy with her soccer team for a week long tournament. As well, Ragnhild’s and Anders’ niece, Kristina, and her boyfriend, Martin, were up and getting ready for a mountain biking race in a neighbouring community. It was also raining very hard … muddy trails for sure!
Anders is now officially on holiday, so after everyone headed off in their various directions, we all got ready for our planned visit to the ‘Kullerud Hytte’ in Telemark. We headed out of the city in mixed weather, but as we drove further west, the weather settled a little bit. Anders drove us via Drammen, Hokkstad and then Konsberg, ‘King’s Hill’. The latter community is pretty with its raging rapids. It also had an intersesting history of silver mining. We stopped for lunch along the way by a pretty lake. It was memorable because in that particular location, wet from the rain and no wind, we ate as the gnats ate us! J
Our next stop was at Rjukan, where in 1911, an amazing power generating station was built in a very narrow valley with a large waterfall and deep gorge. The long term plan by Norsk Hydro included bringing much industry to this valley, starting first with the production of fertilizer. There were many people employed and living along this valley for many years.
Rjukan has another fascinating and inspiring part of its history in the time of the Second WW. At that time, the Germans occupied all of Norway and took over this power facility and began to make heavy water to ship back to Germany for their nuclear research. The allies trained many Norwegians who were working in the resistance and they eventually went back to the Rjukan area secretly. These men worked in extreme conditions to sabotage, first the power plant and ultimately the transportation system for the heavy water to prevent it being taken to Germany. Unfortunately, there ended up being a sacrifice of some of the local life in the sinking of a ferry so this history is very much honoured today. On the lighter side, we got to watch some bungee jumpers dropping off the edge of the suspension bridge that crosses the gorge to the old power plant.
From Rjukan, we headed past some popular downhill ski areas over to the Totak Lake area and the community of Vaa. All along, we were amazed to see each hillside farm with the same type of old wooden buildings as we had seen in the Folk Museum in Oslo at the beginning of our trip. They have a special beauty with their colour, carvings and designs.
Vaa is where the ‘Kullerud Hytte’ is located. To get to it, one goes up a steep zigzagging road through a mountainside farm overlooking the beautiful, steep sided Totak Lake. We had a fun-filled time right from the beginning as our door key broke off as we tried to open up!! To make a long story short, the lock-picking team of Anders/John were amazing. We were soon settled inside with a fire in the stove, feeling cozy and warm and very pleased with ourselves.
This hytte experience was equally as special as the Sandefjord one. The main part of this hytte is over 200 years old so it is made of wonderful log beams and walls. The doors into the sleeping rooms are typically small so we were warned to duck our heads when entering (some were more successful than others!). And the view from the front porch and the windows…it was awesome!
Ragnhild set to creating a delicious meal complete with wine and pears with vanilla sauce and shaved chocolate for dessert … pretty impressive for a hytte! Our evening walk after supper was to a wonderful lookout overlooking the lake near a neighbouring hytte where Anders once stayed as a young boy. It was fun to hear about some of his memories.
We actually looked at some of our Norway pictures before heading to bed and a good night’s sleep. What a privilege to be here with these good friends.
Anders is now officially on holiday, so after everyone headed off in their various directions, we all got ready for our planned visit to the ‘Kullerud Hytte’ in Telemark. We headed out of the city in mixed weather, but as we drove further west, the weather settled a little bit. Anders drove us via Drammen, Hokkstad and then Konsberg, ‘King’s Hill’. The latter community is pretty with its raging rapids. It also had an intersesting history of silver mining. We stopped for lunch along the way by a pretty lake. It was memorable because in that particular location, wet from the rain and no wind, we ate as the gnats ate us! J
Our next stop was at Rjukan, where in 1911, an amazing power generating station was built in a very narrow valley with a large waterfall and deep gorge. The long term plan by Norsk Hydro included bringing much industry to this valley, starting first with the production of fertilizer. There were many people employed and living along this valley for many years.
Rjukan has another fascinating and inspiring part of its history in the time of the Second WW. At that time, the Germans occupied all of Norway and took over this power facility and began to make heavy water to ship back to Germany for their nuclear research. The allies trained many Norwegians who were working in the resistance and they eventually went back to the Rjukan area secretly. These men worked in extreme conditions to sabotage, first the power plant and ultimately the transportation system for the heavy water to prevent it being taken to Germany. Unfortunately, there ended up being a sacrifice of some of the local life in the sinking of a ferry so this history is very much honoured today. On the lighter side, we got to watch some bungee jumpers dropping off the edge of the suspension bridge that crosses the gorge to the old power plant.
From Rjukan, we headed past some popular downhill ski areas over to the Totak Lake area and the community of Vaa. All along, we were amazed to see each hillside farm with the same type of old wooden buildings as we had seen in the Folk Museum in Oslo at the beginning of our trip. They have a special beauty with their colour, carvings and designs.
Vaa is where the ‘Kullerud Hytte’ is located. To get to it, one goes up a steep zigzagging road through a mountainside farm overlooking the beautiful, steep sided Totak Lake. We had a fun-filled time right from the beginning as our door key broke off as we tried to open up!! To make a long story short, the lock-picking team of Anders/John were amazing. We were soon settled inside with a fire in the stove, feeling cozy and warm and very pleased with ourselves.
This hytte experience was equally as special as the Sandefjord one. The main part of this hytte is over 200 years old so it is made of wonderful log beams and walls. The doors into the sleeping rooms are typically small so we were warned to duck our heads when entering (some were more successful than others!). And the view from the front porch and the windows…it was awesome!
Ragnhild set to creating a delicious meal complete with wine and pears with vanilla sauce and shaved chocolate for dessert … pretty impressive for a hytte! Our evening walk after supper was to a wonderful lookout overlooking the lake near a neighbouring hytte where Anders once stayed as a young boy. It was fun to hear about some of his memories.
We actually looked at some of our Norway pictures before heading to bed and a good night’s sleep. What a privilege to be here with these good friends.
June 29 – Slependen
A quiet morning once again at Ragnhild’s and Anders’ cozy home. Our main outing today will be to spend the evening with a friend and former colleague of John’s from St. John‘s, Mari Skaug, at her home just outside of Oslo in Kolbotn.
Ragnhild took us to Sandvika in the early afternoon for a short walk along the riverside, past the performing arts centre and to the shopping areas. After an ‘all-important’ is, or ice cream, she left us to enjoy the area for a while before hopping a train to Kolbotn. Once to Kolbotn, Mari picked us up.
It was interesting to see Mari’s lovely home. It was once two living areas, but she with her woodworking and decorating talents, has fixed it up beautifully. It is in a pretty part of the town, near to the train and shops with lots of trees and gardens to enjoy. Mari had a lovely dinner for us complete with a feast of local strawberries! We were honoured to meet Hannibal, her 70 year old European turtle, as well. We didn’t realize that turtles could live so long. Mari expects that he could well live to be 120 years old! He is really quite amazing, moves more quickly than you might expect and is very stong. Mari has had him for 45 years.
After dinner we made our way back to the local train station with Mari only to find that the train we had planned on taking was not running in the summer months … just when we thought we were understanding the Oslo area train system! We took a taxi instead to central Oslo station and then caught the regular train to Slependen where John and I walked home in the gentle rain to Ragnhild’s and Anders’.
Ragnhild took us to Sandvika in the early afternoon for a short walk along the riverside, past the performing arts centre and to the shopping areas. After an ‘all-important’ is, or ice cream, she left us to enjoy the area for a while before hopping a train to Kolbotn. Once to Kolbotn, Mari picked us up.
It was interesting to see Mari’s lovely home. It was once two living areas, but she with her woodworking and decorating talents, has fixed it up beautifully. It is in a pretty part of the town, near to the train and shops with lots of trees and gardens to enjoy. Mari had a lovely dinner for us complete with a feast of local strawberries! We were honoured to meet Hannibal, her 70 year old European turtle, as well. We didn’t realize that turtles could live so long. Mari expects that he could well live to be 120 years old! He is really quite amazing, moves more quickly than you might expect and is very stong. Mari has had him for 45 years.
After dinner we made our way back to the local train station with Mari only to find that the train we had planned on taking was not running in the summer months … just when we thought we were understanding the Oslo area train system! We took a taxi instead to central Oslo station and then caught the regular train to Slependen where John and I walked home in the gentle rain to Ragnhild’s and Anders’.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
June 28 - Oslo and Solvang Kolonihage
This is a catching up day here in Slependen. John is working hard to organize the photos so that we can show some to folks here before we head back. As always seems to be the case…it hasn’t been simple! He is still at it.
Meanwhile, Ragnhild took Sherrill to meet a friend and colleague from her school, Ragnhild Jorstad. This Ragnhild lives in the summer in a fascinating part of Oslo called Solvang Kolonihage, roughly translated Solvang Garden Colony. It is an area of plots of land with tiny houses or hyttes on them. In the 1930s, Oslo decided that there were a lot of people who were living in tiny dark flats in the centre of the city and who were unable to afford anything more. The city fathers decided to build these tiny cottages on lots that were big enough for a garden and made them available at an affordable price. For many people at this time, living in these hyttes was a highlight as it was the only time that they had a yard to play in and a house of their own with space to grow vegetables. These small cottages remain today, largely unchanged, by law. They are still very inexpensive as they have not been allowed to inflate in price. The cottages in this area can only be lived in from about April to October or November. They are very popular though and sometimes one has to be on a list for ten years or more to buy one. Apparently, this sort of development happened in other Scandinavian countries around this time as well.
Ragnhild’s friend welcomed Sherrill warmly, and we three had a wonderful chat about all sorts of things over coffee and cakes. Once again, I have been very touched by the warm welcome John and I have received from Ragnhild’s and Anders’ friends. This part of our holiday has been particularly enriching and we only hope that we have been able to give back to them a little bit.
Tonight, it was our turn to return some hospitality to Anders and Ragnhild. We had an enjoyable dinner out at the Fjord Hotel near the head of Oslofjorden, and home and to bed early.
Meanwhile, Ragnhild took Sherrill to meet a friend and colleague from her school, Ragnhild Jorstad. This Ragnhild lives in the summer in a fascinating part of Oslo called Solvang Kolonihage, roughly translated Solvang Garden Colony. It is an area of plots of land with tiny houses or hyttes on them. In the 1930s, Oslo decided that there were a lot of people who were living in tiny dark flats in the centre of the city and who were unable to afford anything more. The city fathers decided to build these tiny cottages on lots that were big enough for a garden and made them available at an affordable price. For many people at this time, living in these hyttes was a highlight as it was the only time that they had a yard to play in and a house of their own with space to grow vegetables. These small cottages remain today, largely unchanged, by law. They are still very inexpensive as they have not been allowed to inflate in price. The cottages in this area can only be lived in from about April to October or November. They are very popular though and sometimes one has to be on a list for ten years or more to buy one. Apparently, this sort of development happened in other Scandinavian countries around this time as well.
Ragnhild’s friend welcomed Sherrill warmly, and we three had a wonderful chat about all sorts of things over coffee and cakes. Once again, I have been very touched by the warm welcome John and I have received from Ragnhild’s and Anders’ friends. This part of our holiday has been particularly enriching and we only hope that we have been able to give back to them a little bit.
Tonight, it was our turn to return some hospitality to Anders and Ragnhild. We had an enjoyable dinner out at the Fjord Hotel near the head of Oslofjorden, and home and to bed early.
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