The Norway and More Tour

Back home, I was getting my teeth cleaned, and between the scraping and polishing, discussing our adventure to northern Europe. When the hygienist learned that Roger went on a 3 week trip with 5 women she commented that "At least he didn't have to do any thinking". Joining lucky Roger and I were my sisters Jamie and Linda, my aunt Lois, and for the last two weeks my niece Brit.

Amsterdam

Our primary destination was Norway, but since we were in the neighborhood, we had to stop by Amsterdam to visit the great Van Gogh Museum. We also went to the Rijksmuseum and enjoyed Rembrandt and the old masters more than I expected. But most fascinating at the Rijksmuseum were "doll houses". During the Colonial era, wealthy Dutch had intricate replicas of the interiors of their homes made. Conspicuous consumption isn't only a modern phenomenon.

A canal tour gave us a good perspective of Amsterdam's charms. And water travel seemed safer for a tourist in Amsterdam. There seemed an ever present danger of being mowed down by a speeding bicyclist or tram. It was great to see 2 wheel rush hour traffic. (Roger noticed that the bicycles were predominantly vintage and needed air put in the tires. Amsterdamers are either frugal and/or like a good workout while commuting.)

We met up with Roger's niece Lindsay in Amsterdam. Lindsay is always on the move so we had to travel half way around the world to catch up with her! She had just finished up a round the world tour and loves Amsterdam enough that it is on her short list of places she may settle down.

Copenhagen

At first I wasn't enamored with Copenhagen but as we explored the city I liked it more and more. The pace of the city felt more relaxed and the people more polite than in Amsterdam. There were grand, old buildings and around any corner a tall steeple might pop into view.
We enjoyed strolling Stroget, a long pedestrian only street, soaking up the atmosphere and stopping to inspect some bovine art and watch an entertaining street performer. He was a comic, fire juggling unicyclist and when he got out his torches, he joked that he was American so he had to bring his weapons of mass destruction.

Ystad, Sweden

A day trip from Copenhagen took us to pretty Ystad, located on the southern coast of Sweden. While Linda and Lois did a walking tour of locations described in Kurt Wallander books and visited the Ales Stenar stone formation, Roger, Jamie and I went for a bicycle ride on a trail along the Baltic Sea. The air was cool and the water colder, but that didn't stop swimmers and nude sunbathers from enjoying a summer day at the beach.

During our ride, it was interesting to see the many mini-cabins lining the beach. Some weren't even big enough to put a bed in.

Helsingor, Denmark

Another pretty town, Helsingor, is home to Kronborg Slot, the inspiration for Elsinore Castle in Hamlet. In real life Kronberg Slot was a royal residence and strategic location for collecting dues from ships that passed through the narrow channel between Denmark and Sweden. Cannons lining the bluff fired warning shots if ships did not stop to pay their dues. The scale and grandeur of Kronberg Slot suggests the royals had a good thing going and were living large back in the day. The royal quarters were light and spacious. In stark contrast were the dungeons, as dark and spooky as any haunted house on Halloween. Like a movie castle, Kronberg slot had a large inner courtyard and was surrounded by a moat.

On the way to Norway

Before our day trip to Helsingor, we had stored our backpacks and luggage in lockers at Copenhagen's central station. This simple task inspired a new Norwegian joke. How many Norwegians does it take to open a locker? Answer: five, four to figure out how to open the door and one to not follow their instructions. Retrieving our luggage went smoother, and after a bit of an adventure finding the right train track, we were on our way to Hjorring. We arrived at Hjorring Station after 10 p.m., where we had to wait for a connecting train to Hirtshals. Our party, and a couple others, were waiting in the lonely station when the lights went out and the doors locked. Roger stood by the door to let stragglers in and, as it turned out, a couple young drunks who came in to use the restroom. Jamie was just finishing up in the women's restroom when one of the drunks entered and proceeded to do his business as Jamie washed her hands. The young drunk was polite though, rewarding Roger with a "tusen takk" (thousand thanks) when Roger had opened the door.

NORWAY

Kristiansand & Sogne Commune

Then it was on to Hirtshals and the Color Line ferry which would take us to Kristiansand, Norway. I had booked an "outside berth" so Roger delighted in teasing me about our beds being out in the wind and rain. We enjoyed our berth inside the ship with the window looking outside and slept soundly for the remainder of the night. We awoke at 6 the next morning to the sound of the ship's horn, looked out our window, and saw Norway for the first time.

Our first breakfast in Norway was typically Norwegian - waffles and coffee or juice. Then walking about, Jamie and I discovered a beautiful church, first of many we would see in Norway. We also walked through old Kristiansand, which was adorned with wood houses clad in white siding.

Roger's paternal grandfather Tennis Carlson emigrated from the Kristiansand area, and his great grandfather Karl Stokkeland built keystone bridges in the vicinity. One was known as the "Stokkeland Bridge". Roger wanted to see the bridge named after his great grandfather so we blindly went looking for it. We came upon the small Sogne Bygdemuseum at Lunde which happened to be having one of their rare open houses the next afternoon. We returned and were greeted by the host. She inquired if we wanted waffles and before we could reply she had the batter on the grill. The hosts at the museum had not heard of the Stokkeland bridge but referred us to a couple keystone bridges in the neighborhood and also recommended that we talk to Laurits Repstad, a longtime resident who lived nearby. We woke Mr. Repstad from his nap but he kindly invited us in. He hadn't heard of the Stokkeland bridge but he had known Roger's great uncle Gustav Stokkeland. He said Gustav was "a good man" that people looked up to and praised Gustav for giving a speech in the State church even though he was an Adventist.

Oslo

We drove north to Oslo where Brit joined us for the rest of the trip. Highlights in Oslo were Vigeland Park and the National Gallery. The statues of Vigeland Park are numerous and impressive and fun. The star of the National Gallery is Edvard Munch. A beautiful version of The Scream is there but I thought a couple of his other paintings on display could compete for best of show. I also liked the work of some of the less well known Norwegian painters and the fact that most of the artwork was less formal than in the Rijksmuseum.

Peer Gynt at Lake Gala

We attended the outdoor performance of Ibsen's Peer Gynt at Lake Gala, located near Vinstra. The performance was in Norwegian but still magical. (There was one musical number performed in English which must have been just for us!) The evening was warm and beautiful. The play started with the orchestra playing Grieg and the performers rowing across the lake to the "stage". During one orchestra number, when there was a break in the action, two birds danced above the water as if trained to do so. After intermission, the actors had another dramatic entrance with Harley Davidsons leading a 1959 Cadillac convertible onto the stage. Two vintage airplanes roared overhead. The oddest thing for an American about the experience was that at the end of the performance the audience clapped rhythmically.

Rondane National Park

Roger, Jamie, Brit and I did an impromptu day hike in Rondane National Park and were very happy we did so. The mountain areas we saw in Norway were incredibly beautiful and the Rondane was no exception. We chatted with a Norwegian family who seemed a bit surprised to find tourists on the trail.

On our hike in the Rondane Roger announced that he wanted to see 3 things in Norway: reindeer, lemmings and trolls. We got our first glimpse of reindeer on a distant slope.

Jotunheimen National Park

Gjendesheim

Jotunheimen has Norway's biggest mountains and some of it's most stunning scenery. At Gjendesheim we took the ferry to Memurubu and scrambled up a ridge. The view was too beautiful for words.
Gjendesheim and Memurubu are mini settlements with tourist huts. Rising from Lake Gjende is Besseggen Ridge - on the left in the photo - where Peer Gynt claimed to have had a wild ride on a reindeer and which is now one of the most popular hikes in Norway.

Lom

Lom is just north of the Jotunheimen and is where my mothers grandparents (Kroke and Ophaug) emigrated from. Lom has a wonderful old Stave Church that we visited.
On the roof of the church are the cross and dragon symbols. Before the advent of Christianity in Norway, dragons were considered a symbol of protection. After Christianity came, the priests declared that it was acceptable to have the dragon symbols on the outside of the church but not on the inside. Workers, however, painted dragons on the ceiling, which was so high and dark that the priests couldn't see them. The workers apparently believed that what the priests couldn't see wouldn't hurt them.

I had a sketchy map showing the historical farm names near Lom, which included the Kroke farm. I inquired at the information center and was pleasantly surprised to get directions. This led us to a mailbox with the name Krokje! (The j was dropped in America.) Solborg Krokje was on her porch so I introduced myself and explained we were looking for where our ancestors came from. Neither Solborg or her husband Kjell spoke English so they called their niece Torill and she came over. Kjell also went to find Kare Asen, a neighbor who had lived in the United States for 20 years. Solborg brought out coffee, juice and dessert to the picnic table and Torill and Kare were were very helpful. Even though we were surprise guests, everyone was so gracious. Kare had lived near where my Aunt Lois Kroke grew up in North Dakota and they discovered that they knew many of the same people! Torill indicated we may be distant relatives but were more closely related to a couple others who managed mountain huts in the region.

Looking at the terrain it was easy to see why the Krokes and Ophaugs were forced to emigrate when the population grew in the 1800's. Land suitable for farming is very limited. The valley was narrow with steep mountain ridges above. I commented to Solbjorg about how beautiful the area was. She replied that she missed the sun in the winter. If winters feel long and hard now, they must have really been tough for previous generations.

RV 55

We then drove south on Rv 55, called Sognefjellsvegen, but which Roger called Heaven's Gate. (Gate is pronounced "gah tah" and means street.) East of Rv 55 is Jotunheimen National Park and west is Jostedalsbreen National Park., so it is one of the most fabulous mountain roads anywhere. Green meadows, waterfalls, lakes, more waterfalls, views of mountains and glaciers - we weren't able to go more than 3 to 4 kilometers without getting out of the vehicle to get a better look and take pictures.

In rural Norway we occasionally had to share the road with cows and sheep which pasture in mountain meadows in the summer. On Rv 55 we encountered a little roadblock of vehicles, cows, and a shirtless, elderly bicyclist.

We went on a sidetrip into the Jotunheimen to Galdhopiggen, the highest peak in Norway. The landscape became more barren as we ascended in elevation. Near the end of the road we saw some reindeer in the distance, hanging out on a snowfield. I have ancestors who were named Galde so it is pretty cool to think that the highest mountain in Norway might have been named after them or their farm.

Lustrafjorden

We descended from the mountains to Lustrafjorden, a finger fjord of Sognefjorden. We had been seeing lots of signs with a chicken symbol and were told that it represented farm tourism. At Solvern, we finally stayed at a "chicken". Our lodging was at Eplet, a small apple and raspberry farm where they make yummy jams and cider.

Styggevatnat

The next day we headed up toward Jostedalsbreen National Park for Icetroll's guided kayak trip and glacier walk. We kayaked on Styggevatnat, which means ugly lake. Our guide, and owner of Icetroll, was originally from New Zealand and was fond of telling tall tales. Some of his tales almost rivaled those of Peer Gynt! The "ugly lake" was actually quite pretty, although austere. Roger had the second part of his Rondane wish granted and saw lemmings. They weren't quite how he had imagined though with hordes jumping off cliffs into the fjords. Instead, we saw the remains of lemmings on the glacier, orange-brown blobs decorating the ice.
It was a change of pace and lots of fun to kayak and go on the glacier walk. And none of us fell in the water or into a crevasse so it was a really good day!

Naeroyfjorden

A trip to Norway wouldn't be complete without some quality fjord time, so we took the ferry from Kaupanger to Gudvangen. A group of enthusiastic Spanish teenage girls serenaded the passengers with "Yellow Submarine" and jumped for joy shouting "Bravo! Bravo!" when they saw a large family of porpoises. Entering Naeroyfjorden the fjord walls narrowed, the cliffs became steeper and higher, and the waterfalls were more numerous.

The steep and narrow continued into Naeroydalen, the valley the road exits from Gudvangen.

Voss

My Dad's great grandfather Ingebrikt Helgeland emigrated from the Voss area in 1857. Ingebrikt's sister Brita was the mother of the famous Voss Hardanger fiddler and composer Sjur Helgeland. We went to the Voss Folk Museum to see a display on Sjur Helgeland. An added bonus was the quality of the museum. Included on the grounds were old farm buildings, the oldest from about 1500, standing where they alway have. A guided tour of the buildings brought to life how hard it was for our ancestors to survive in that era and place.
Some interesting tidbits: The inside of the oldest house was dark and still stunk of smoke from the open hearth. Fearing evil spirits and vengeful enemies, people slept while sitting in 4 foot long beds. Before the potato arrived, porridge was the daily staple. It was made once a week and was "hairy" by the time it was all eaten up. People had their own spoons, which they licked clean and hung up on the wall until the next meal. The best grain was saved for beer making and some of the most decorated items were beer bowls. (My Dad could have related to that!) The barn was built where the slope steepened and a trapdoor was cut in the floor to push the manure to the ground below. This was practical but, from a modern perspective, blocked a nice view of Voss.

We drove a bit north of Voss to Vossestrand, where there is a memorial for Sjur Helgeland, Helgelandsvegen (Helgeland road) and Helgeland farm. A couple of the local residents we asked were not aware of any Helgelands currently living in the area.

Hardangarvidda National Park

We survived the Hardangarvidda. The nice weather departed as we hiked deeper into the Hardangarvidda mountain plateau. I had planned a 3 day hut to hut hike. Roger, Jamie, Brit and I started at Hjolmo and planned to hike to Hadlaskard cabin the first day, a 6 to 8 hour hike. The hike started pleasantly, with pretty scenery and decent weather. After a while it started to drizzle and then rain. As it got wetter and wetter, Roger got farther and farther ahead. When the going got tough he left us for troll bait!
Several hours into the trip, we saw a couple buildings in the distance and got our hopes up that it was Hadlaskard Cabin. We were wet, cold and tired. Disappointment grew as we got up close and the cabins were too old and primitive to be Hadlaskard. We continued on our way and Roger emerged from one of the cabins and called to us. He had taken shelter there, thinking we must have reached Hadlaskard. It had a dirt floor with no windows, more suitable for a troll, although it did have a long wooden table, hearth, and inexplicably a boat hanging on the wall. (We were miles from navigable water.)
We moved on. A half mile later we were very happy to come to Hadlaskard cabin. Never had a cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney looked so good. Several other people were there, dry and relaxing. We warmed by the wood stove and found beds with thick comforters.
The next morning we awoke to drizzle and and a fierce wind. We had planned to climb Harteigen, a prominent hat shaped mountain not far from Hadlaskard. Since we couldn't even see Hargteigen we decided to hike back to the trailhead. As we climbed out of the valley onto a ridge, the wind became even worse. We would walk a few steps and then brace ourselves as wind gusts made staying upright difficult. One gust caught me wrong, or perhaps I should say just right, and I was tossed like a rag doll about four feet laterally, landing, thankfully, in some bushes. At this point, I wondered if Roger's third wish was coming true. It certainly felt like we were in Troll country. And on the ridges we could see sentinels guarding the valley. Were they boulders or were they trolls? We had been told that trolls could turn to rock when humans approached.
We were treated to a lovely rainbow, even as Jamie's hat was blown off her head. We talked to a Norwegian on the trail who said we were lucky that visibility was fairly good and we could find our way. Eventually we descended enough so that the rain and wind lessened and we could walk normally and better enjoy our surroundings. Jamie and Brit were new to backpacking so I was concerned that they would never want to set foot on a trail again. They were, however, good sports about the wind, rain and mud.
We couldn't feel too bad about our soggy adventure in the Hardangarvidda though. All the greenery and abundant waterfalls that make Norway beautiful must be nourished sometime.

Finse

With our extra day, we traveled by train from Haugastol to Finse, gateway to the Hardangerjokulen ice cap. After 2 long days of hiking in wind and rain it felt good to sit and relax on the train and enjoy the view. You would think we would be content to be armchair observers but we did one more short hike, heading toward a glacier coming off the ice cap.
Roger commented that Finse feels like a high altitude, high latitude environment, which it is. Brit learned that a white and bleak scene from the Star Wars movie "The Empire Strikes Back" was filmed near Finse.

Arjang, Sweden

On the last full day of our trip we went to visit my relative, Stina Olsson, and her family in Arjang Sweden. Stina's grandfather Nils Mattson was the brother of my great grandmother Anna Charlotta. We had a nice visit and delicious lunch at Stinas and then drove out to the farm where Anna Charlotta was born. The farm, surrounded by forest and bordering a pretty lake, is no longer a working farm. It was fun to see, as Stina phrased it, "where we came from". When we returned to Stina's house, she treated us with homemade desserts and coffee.

Driving back to Stina's we had stopped at a large rock which had gifts left at its base. Per told us the story behind the gifts. A long, long time ago it is said that, on Christmas Eve, a woman and her two children went to all the farms in the area asking for help. She was turned away at every farm. No one would help her on a cold, wintry night. She and her children were found the next morning. They had taken shelter under the rock and died there. Gifts are left as a remembrance and a reminder to be a compassionate and generous people.
We were certainly the recipients of generosity at Stina's and elsewhere. My impression is that compassion and generosity are national characteristics of Norway and Sweden. I like the land of my ancestors.

All good trips must come to an end. Things I didn't like about Norway were high prices and narrow, winding mountain roads. Among the things I did like about Norway are the narrow, winding mountain roads because they took us to beautiful places; good bread, cheese, potato chips, and chocolate found in grocery stores; abundant and affordable cabins to stay at in the countryside; nice and helpful people; and the emphasis on retaining Norwegian heritage in architecture and land use in the rural areas. And of course the spectacular scenery. Roger especially misses being greeted with "Hei, Hei" (Hi, Hi) and being mistaken for a Norwegian and hearing "Ja, Ja" to express agreement.

God tur! (Good trip!)