Ever hear someone describe a horrible accident as one in which they were “lucky”, because they were “only” hurt and not killed?   That has always seemed to me a bit strange; what is lucky about having an accident?  But now I understand.

When we finished our visit to the Frogner Park on August 19, we began the four-hour auto trip back to Kristiansand.  I was driving, as I had for all but five minutes of all of our rental car travel in Norway.  About 30 miles outside of Kristiansand, while driving in the left lane of a two-lane-each-way section of the highway, with a sturdy guardrail separating the two directions of traffic, I momentarily fell asleep and was awakened by the sound of the car scrapping along the rail at a speed of about 100 k/h (62 m/h).  Fortunately (or should I say “luckily”) upon awakening I pulled away from the rail and we were not injured.  In fact we didn’t even slow down, let alone stop, although Barb’s initial reaction was that we should stop and assess the damage and call the police.  I reasoned that a) the car was moving along fine and b) since no other vehicles were involved, there was nothing to report and c) there was no immediate space into which to pull over and d) whatever damage was done, it was a fixed fact and would not be affected by our stopping.

When we arrived at the condo of Lars Helge and Tove, I found that I could not open my car door, and so I had to exit out of the small vehicle by climbing over the manual shift lever on the floor and then out the passenger-side door.

Accompanied by Lars Helge as a translator, we took the auto back to the rental agency the next morning.  The boss man was not there, and so we dealt with a young man who had been washing the cars.  Lars Helge completed the agency’s form for reporting the sites of damage, and we departed, making certain that we had left Lars Helge’s phone number.  Later, we got a call saying that the car would be taken elsewhere so the extent and cost of the damage could be assessed.  We had been given to understand from the bossman when we took possession of the car that the rental fee included insurance for everything but liability, with the condition that a relatively small fixed fee would be assessed if the insurance was invoked.  Barb thought all but liability was covered by our credit card, so with no personal injury and only minor cost if the agency insurance was invoked, and presumably no cost if the credit card insurance was used, we had been “lucky”.

Then we learned that since we had not (!!!) taken out insurance, we would be responsible for up to 43,000 Norwegian Kroner ($7,800 US).  Later the damage was pegged at 37,000 NK ($6,092 US).  The bossman claimed that he had told us that if we wanted insurance it would be an extra charge, and that we had declined.  Then the credit card company said that they would pay everything, but only if we had not taken out insurance with the rental agency.  So we were “lucky”.  Maybe.  We got an email from the agency asking about a police report, saying that it was required in Norway.  We responded that a) there had been no other vehicles involved and b) as foreigners we were ignorant of the requirement and c) no one in the agency had told us about the requirement.  We have our fingers crossed that all works out well with the credit card company settling with the rental car company.  Wish us “good luck”!

Later on the 20th Kari and Rasmus picked us up and took us on a sightseeing trip around Kristiansand.  It was nice since we really hadn’t seen much of Kristiansand since our first trip there in 1997.  We visited the new Kilden Performing Arts Center, an impressive facility right on the waterfront.  We popped into the fiskebrygga (fish market), where there are also several, mostly maritime, restaurants around the central waterfront. During summer, locals arrive in their boats and anchor up here. We visited Odderøya, an island right next to Kristiansand that was the site of a fort that was attacked by the Germans.  Many of the German shells flew over the island and did extensive damage to Kristiansand.  We visited Ravnedalen (Ravens’ Valley), a lovely park just outside the city centre.  It is surrounded with steep cliffs and presents the visitor with lush flower gardens and manicured lawns perfect for picnics.  There is also a café here, and we each had massive American-style hamburgers with all of the trimmings.  Later we took a walk with Lars Helge and Tove in the huge forest area near their flat in Baneheia.  There are wide gravel paths that are furnished with “street” lights to facilitate cross-country skiing during darkness in the winter, and much smaller foot trails that wind up and down through the rocky and boggy forest.  We found blueberries, and more solemnly, the burial site of Russians executed by the Germans in WW2.

Next day Barb decided to do the walk on her own.  Unfortunately, she got lost and had a heck of a time finding her way back.  She even got a ride part way from someone when she eventually found a paved road.  Her main concern was being late for our trip out to Ogge for a farewell party which Lars Helge and Tove had arranged while we were in Rørvik.

We arrived at Ogge early, and had time to plant some grass around the Brunborg hytte, and time to go for a walk in the area, where we found wild blueberries.

Since it was in the middle of the week, many of our friends couldn’t make it.  But some that we hadn’t seen earlier were able to come, namely Mardon, Marie, and Harald.  We were glad to have the opportunity to visit with them again.  We also saw Lars Helge’s new container cabins that he has had installed near his cabin, in the hopes that they can be rented to temporary workers that will be working on various projects in the area.

On our last full day in Norway, we went down to the waterfront with Lars Helge and Tove for a belated celebration of her birthday, which had passed while we were in Rørvik.  We were also celebrating her soon-retirement, which by the time this is being posted, is a reality.  (Congratulations, Tove!)  Next day, poor Lars Helge had to get up extra early in order to get us to the airport for our flight to Ireland.  It had been a tremendous visit, filled with so many wonderful experiences that it had required twelve separate posts to our humble blog.  We hope the depths of our enjoyment and appreciation have been visible beneath our modest prose.