Category Archives: Norway

Norway — August 20-30, 2017

We flew from Amsterdam to Norway on August 20, and were met at the Kristiansand airport by Lars Helge and Tove in one car, and Rasmus and Kari in another, since we were four with luggage.   We all gathered for an official welcoming and dinner at the home of Rasmus and Kari, where we four Americans would stay during our time in Kristiansand.

Sailing

The next day Rasmus took us all out for a sailing cruise through some of the waters around Kristiansand.  We stopped for a time at Bragdøya, an island in the archipelago in the Kristiansandsfjorden, just south of Kristiansand.  The island has been owned by the municipality of Kristiansand since 1969 when they bought it with a government grant as a public open space. It was purchased with the requirement that the islands would be a recreational space for the city. During the summer, the island is used as grazing land for sheep.

We saw the sheep, but we were especially interested in the works of Bragdøya Kystlag, a voluntary association which aims to preserve local maritime culture along the coast.The warehouse complex of the Bragdøya Coastal Heritage Centre contained many interesting examples of restoration and authentic reproduction using traditional tools and methods.

Ogge Gjesteheim

In anticipation of our visit, Lars Helge had arranged for a gathering of all of the Norwegian friends we have met in our visits to Norway.  We gathered some 38 km north of Kristiansand at the Ogge Gjesteheim, where we would spend the night in a set of yurts.

The Norwegian guests included Lars Helge & Tove Brunborg, Rasmus & Kari Morvik, Per & Ingunn Skretting, Mardon & Marie Meihack, Rune Teisrud & Bodil Fjelde, Terje With & Mika Andersen, and Harald Knudsen.

It was fun to see them all again.  We had some fantastic meals, competed in an improvised game of “toss the milk can”,  took a walk along a path that had posted questions, spent some time picking blueberries and lingonberries and a few cloud berries, and spent a lot of time just visiting.  And of course, we slept in the yurts!

In & Around Kristiansand

We went on several walks in the neighborhood.  One was along the scenic waterfront, where we had lunch and visited the sea food market.  We paused for photos at the Christiansholm Fortress. The fortress was finished in 1672 and formed a part of King Christian IV’s plan for defense of Kristiansand when the city was founded in 1641.   It was built on an islet, about 100 yards from shore. Today the fortress is connected to the mainland.

The only time the fortress has been in battle was against a British fleet force in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars.  The fortress was decommissioned by royal decree during June 1872 as part of a major redevelopment of fortifications across the nation.

Today, Christiansholm is a tourist attraction by the Kristiansand Boardwalk and venue for a variety of cultural events and festivities. It is now owned by the municipality and is a site used principally for recreation and cultural events.

We also went to the nearby Kilden, the new (January 2012) performing arts centre for Southern Norway.  It  is used for concerts, theatre, opera, dance and entertainment.  The building itself is spectacular.

On another day we parked the cars and walked through woods to Ravnedalen, a nature park with scenic surroundings. In the park there is a grand outdoor stage for summer concerts.  We had lunch at the associated Café Generalen, known for its impressive hamburgers.  On the way back to the cars we took another route that took us to an overlook of Kristiansand.  Later that day we all visited Lars Helge’s and Tove’s son Erik Brunborg.

The Morviks were warm and gracious hosts that excelled at keeping us entertained and making us feel welcome, to say nothing about feeding us delicious meals.  On one occasion, Bill noticed a set of wooden blocks in their home.  An query revealed that they actually didn’t know what the blocks were for.  But Bill did.  And so we all competed in a contest to see who could remove a block without the structure collapsing — a task that became increasingly difficult as the structure became increasingly unstable.

Morvik Hytta

We spent the 26th & 27th at the Morvik’s hytta.  Our first walk was along a small river near their cabin, where we found blueberries.  On the second day, we parked the car and first visited a spectacular cliff and waterfall, and then took a much longer hike through the woods to the site of an old old cabin.  (A date carved into a door header reads “1660”.)  The cabin survives because the Government has paid the land owner to keep it sound.  Tools and bottles and old shoes can be seen inside.

We made a fire in a meadow near the old cabin and had a yummy lunch of pancakes and coffee.

Farewell Dinner

On our last day in Kristiansand we had dinner at the Brunborgs.  Tove served a dish that had us all swooning and asking for the recipe.  Now I just need to translate it into English.  And the dessert kept us coming back until it was all gone!

 

Oslo

 

Next day we took a bus to Oslo, where we rented a car and spent a frantic two days absorbing as much of the sights as we could.

We visited the Fram Museum, which tells  the story of Norwegian polar exploration. It is located on the peninsula of Bygdøy,  an area with several other museums, including the Kon-Tiki Museum and the Norsk Folkemuseet (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), as well as several others that we didn’t get to.

The Fram Museum is centered principally on the original exploration vessel Fram. The original interior of Fram is intact and visitors can go inside the ship to view it.  In May 2009 the museum also took over the exhibition of the Gjøa, the first ship to traverse the Northwest Passage. Roald Amundsen and a crew of six traversed the Northwest Passage aboard the Gjøa in a three-year journey which was finished in 1906.

The Kon-tiki Museum houses the Kon-Tiki, a raft of balsa wood of pre-Columbian model that Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl used to sail from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. Another boat in the museum is the Ra II, a vessel built of reeds according to Heyerdahl’s perception of an ancient Egyptian seagoing boat. Heyerdahl sailed the Ra II from North Africa to the Caribbean after a previous attempt with the reed boat Ra failed.

The Norsk Folkemuseet is dedicated to Folk art, Folk Dress, Sami culture and the viking culture. The outdoor museum contains 155 authentic old buildings from all parts of Norway, including a Stave Church.

On our way to Frogner Park, we stumbled upon the Oslo City Museum, which holds an interesting permanent exhibition about the people in Oslo and the history of the city.

We went to Frogner Park to see the well-known Vigeland installation, a permanent sculpture installation created by Gustav Vigeland between 1924 and 1943.  Although sometimes incorrectly referred to in English as the “Vigeland (Sculpture) Park,” the Vigeland installation is not a separate park, but the name of the sculptures within Frogner Park.  The sculpture park consists of 212 sculptures as well as larger structures such as bridges and fountains.

The Oslo Opera House is the home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway.  The main auditorium seats 1,364 and two other performance spaces can seat 200 and 400.  The angled exterior surfaces of the building are covered with marble from Carrara, Italy and white granite.   Construction started in 2003 and was completed in 2007, ahead of schedule and 300 million NOK ( about US$52 million) under its budget of 4.4 billion NOK ( about US$760 million).  The roof of the building angles to ground level, creating a large plaza that invites pedestrians to walk up and enjoy the panoramic views of Oslo.

It had been a tremendous three weeks in Europe, made all the more special because of our companionable traveling mates, Bill and Colleen.  We flew back to the USA on August 31, arriving in Portland, OR to discover that the western United States was ablaze in wildfires.  But that is the subject of another blog post.

 

Back to Kristiansand — August 19-23, 2013

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.

Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement in Frogner Park, Olso — August 19, 2013

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we have been using Barb’s iPad to assist us in navigation during our visit to Norway.  But the program is not without its weaknesses.  On several occasions, when we asked for a route from our position to some specific location, the program would choose a different location that contained similar words.  Until this had happened several times, we blindly followed the instructions until we had arrived at an obviously-incorrect destination.

Oslo streets are a nightmare.  Without the iPad we could never have navigated from our downtown hotel to the Frogner Park.  But when Barb entered “Frogner Park” into the “destination” blank of the nav program, it chose a street that included the name “Frogner”, a street that coincidentally was near a park.  When we arrived at the destination and had finally found a parking place, it was only as we entered the park that I realized that something was amiss.  We had gotten well into the park when we found a sign indicating that we were in the Palace Park.

Back at our automobile, we then tried “frognerparken” as a destination.  Bingo!

Frogner Park, the largest park in Oslo,  contains the world famous Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement designed by Gustav Vigeland.  Although sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Vigeland (Sculpture) Park, the Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement is not a separate park, but the name of the sculptures within Frogner Park.  The sculpture park consists of sculptures as well as larger structures such as bridges and fountains.

Vigeland’s sculpture arrangement was constructed beginning in the 1920s and is the largest sculpture park made by a single artist.  The park is the most popular tourist attraction of Norway, with between 1 and 2 million visitors each year.

Here are some photos Barb and I took in the park.

Rørvik to Oslo — August 16-18, 2013

On Friday, August 16, after meeting briefly with Muriel, et al, we left Rørvik and began our road trip back to Kristiansand.  We stopped for a snack in Namsos and spent a little time walking the waterfront before continuing.  When we arrived in Trondheim, we booked a room downtown and went for a walk along the river Nidelva that is near the Nidaros Cathedral, historically an important destination for pilgrims coming from all of Northern Europe, and the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world.  We were also obviously near the second largest of the Norwegian universities, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, as was initially obvious from the nature of the shops and the pedestrians and soon confirmed by the presence of a massive rock concert across the river from us, and another impressive experience.  We noticed a group of young folks, obviously University students, milling about on our side of the river.  When it looked as if they were removing their clothes, Barb walked over to get a closer look.  Turned out they were indeed shedding clothing, which they were stretching along the span of a riverside courtyard.  Their task was apparently to create an unbroken band of clothes that stretched the entire length of the yard.  When they ran out of material before accomplishing that task, they had no alternative but to remove their undershorts and add their naked bodies along the chain.  We arrived close to the group just as they were re-donning apparel.  We learned that they were all mathematics majors and that each major at the university has an associated “fraternity”.  We had stumbled upon the initiation hazing of the new students after their first week of classes.  The “supervising” upper classmen explained that when the task was completed, the freshmen were required to re-dress with clothes other than their own.  There were but a few girls present, and when Barb asked why, she was told it was because not many girls major in mathematics.  Left unexplained was why none of the girls present were participating in the ritual (much to Chuck’s disappointment).

Next morning, we continued our journey south, choosing a route (Norwegian National Road N63) that would take us through Trollstigen (Troll’s Path), a serpentine mountain road that is a popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of 9% and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountainside.  During the top tourist season, about 2,500 vehicles pass daily.  According to Wikepedia, during the 2012 season 161,421 vehicles drove past.

Continuing on N63, we crossed a river on a ferry and then drove through more beauty, arriving at Geirangerfjord, described by Wikipedial as some of the most spectacular scenery in the world and named the best travel destination in Scandanavia by Lonely Planet.  It is the third-biggest cruise ship port in Norway, receiving 140 to 180 ships during the four-month tourist season.  Only about 250 people live there permanently.  We stayed that night perched high above the village in a hotel named, appropriately, Utsikten (The View).  We took a short hike and enjoyed dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

Next day, we stopped in Hamar for pizza and to visit the Hedmark museum, an outdoor museum with the remains of a medieval church — recently enclosed in a protective glass housing! —  and a collection of old farm houses.  Construction of the cathedral began in 1152, and was completed about 1200.  The museum is a combined medieval, ethnological and archaeological museum and has received architectural prizes for its approach to conservation and exhibition.

And then on to Oslo, where I learned with some irritation that Barb had booked a room downtown.  Luckily we found easy parking and had a lovely time wandering around downtown enjoying the sights and sounds.  Notable was the Norwegian parliament building, Stortingsbygningen, which was undergoing a renovation on one of its wings.  That entire wing had been shielded by a covering on which was printed a facsimile of the original building.  One had to look closely to see that the facade was artificial.

By the way, much of our hotel bookings were done by Barb on her iPad while we were underway, using her international cell plan.  We also heavily depended on the iPad for help in navigating, almost entirely eschewing paper maps, since they do not say things like “in 500 meters, take the second exit at the roundabout.”

Next day, August 19, we visited Frognerparken in order to see the Vigeland Sculpture Garden before moving on to Kristiansand.  But this has gotten overlong, so the gentle reader will have to read our next posting in order to learn about our visit and of our further adventures (and mis-adventures).

Rørvik and Kvaløya; seeking roots — August 13-16, 2013

As thorough readers of our blog know, there is a section devoted to genealogy wherein Barb has recorded her findings.  (Look here.)  Barb’s father is half Norwegian and half Irish, and Barb has been researching on both sides.  Some of her distant relatives are also interested in genealogy, and found Barb’s postings in the course of their Google searches.  One such relative from Norway, John Kvalø, contacted Barb back in October 2011 and they have stayed in touch ever since.  John was born in the Rørvik area and spent much of his youth out on a nearby island called Kvaløya (which translates to “whale island”).  John explained that he had moved to Bodø, but that his brother Ivan lives in Rørvik and owns part of the family island.  Barb already knew that her great grandmother Anna Karoline Kvalø was born on the island in 1868.  She immigrated to the United States in the late 1880s and settled in Minnesota.  So when John and Ivan invited us to come visit them at Kvaløya this summer we immediately decided to piggy-back a visit to Rørvik onto our trip to southern Norway.  And then we learned that two of Barb’s American cousins — who have done an incredible amount of research on the family history (back to the 1480s) — were also going to be in the Rørvik area during the same week.  What an opportunity!

When we deboarded the Hurtigruten in Rørvik, we were met on the dock by Barb’s Minnesota cousins Muriel Arms and Rosalie Tarum.  They had arrived a couple of days before and since they visit the area often, were familiar with the location of Kleiva Camping where we had reservations.  After a short visit we followed them out to Kleiva where we settled into a huge cabin.  We had reserved a small cabin but the Kleiva staff had made a mistake in the booking, so we got a huge three-bedroom cabin for the price of a small one with one bedroom.

The next morning nth cousin John from Bodø and his 16 year old son Øystein met us at Kleiva and took us out to Lyngsnes where we met nth cousin Ivan and his six year old son Eiven. Ivan took us in his fishing boat out to Kvaløya where Barb was thrilled to see the house where her great-grandmother Anna Karoline was born and lived.  It is still there and is well maintained by one of her relatives.  In the house some of the lamps and beds are original, as is the sewing machine and a built in china cupboard.  Very nice to realize that those things were used by Barb’s great-grandmother.

John, Ivan and their sons took us on a tour of the island.  Ivan’s summer house is about a ten minute walk from the main house.  He has two houses on the property to maintain.  One is where his grandparents lived, and the other where his father lived after marrying.  The area around the island was thriving more than a century ago and most residents were involved in fishing.  There was a school on the island and a store on a small island very close by.  Ivan was a sea captain who decided to stay closer to home with his family; he now teaches seamanship at a local school during the school year and fishes around Kvaløya during the summer.  Salmon farming has become so prevalent in Norway that he is the only fisherman in the area who still fishes for wild salmon with nets.  He helps the government by taking samples of all the fish he catches so they can determine if the farmed salmon are escaping and breeding with the wild salmon.  At the end of the day we circumnavigated the island and checked Ivan’s nets for salmon before he took us back to the mainland.

The next day we went with John and Øystein to meet John’s parents Oddmund and Jenny who are now living in an assisted living center in Rørvik.  His father spoke some English but John (and Øystein) had to be our translators when speaking to his mother.  While there we met other relatives — one of whom Barb had listed in her genealogy records as no longer living!  (She thought it best not to share that fact with him.)

After lunch with John and Øystein, they began their 8-hour drive back to Bodø and we spent the afternoon looking for family graves and visiting Norveg, the fascinating Coastal Museum in Rørvik.  We were extremely impressed by the warm hospitality of John and Ivan and pleased by their offer to have us come and spend time on Kvaløya some summer soon.

The next morning we met up with Muriel and Rosalie for the first time since they had greeted us at the Hurtigruten, and agreed that it made more sense to spend our time visiting Norwegian relatives while in Norway and that we would try to get together when we are back in the USA.  Muriel lives near Rochester, MN and we will be visiting the Mayo Clinic for Chuck’s check-up in late September so we hope to get together then.

In our next post we will describe our automobile trip back to Kristiansand by way of the famous Trollstigen and Geiranger Fjord.  Stay tuned!

Trip to Rørvik: Oppdal & Hurtigruten — August 12-13, 2013

On August 12 Lars Helge drove us to a car rental establishment in Kristiansand, where we crammed into a tiny Fiat and headed off to meet some of Barb’s Norwegian relatives.  We drove first to Oslo, and then up toward Trondheim, stopping overnight in Oppdal, where we stayed in a nice hotel and discovered a pizza place (Peppe’s) that features some of the best pizza we have ever had.  Turns out Peppe’s is a chain that has now been absorbed by one of the giants of the fast food industry, but that began when an American couple decided to make American-style pizza available to Norway, where they are now widely sprinkled.

Next morning we partook of a Norwegian breakfast the like of which we have never seen.  Anything you have ever heard of in connection with Norwegian breakfast was available.  Massive.  When we had finished gluttonizing, we hurried on to Trondheim, where we boarded the ship “Finnmark”, built in 2002 as one of the two latest to join the Hurtigruten fleet that plies up and down the Norwegian coast.  We took the car aboard as well; Barb schlepping some of our luggage on foot, and me driving the car up onto a tiny elevator that descended with me and the car down to a lower level where the vehicles are kept.  We had free reign through much of the ship, but headquartered into seats at the bow on the seventh level, the highest possible.

But I have gotten ahead of myself again.  We had been told that finding the Hurtigruten pier would certainly be no problem:  all we had to do was follow the road signs when we got to Trondheim.  We saw no signs, so we drove around downtown Trondheim trying to stay close to the water front. Finally I found a parking place and Barb ducked into a beauty parlor, where the hairdressers had an extended debate as to where the pier was and how best to get to it.  Finally, the winner (or the most assertive) emerged with Barb and after much pointing and conversation we headed off in the indicated direction.  After several lucky guesses and a few last-minute course corrections, we finally saw an appropriate sign and were able to get to the pier, where there were no signs indicating where to queue up with the car.  But a very friendly gatekeeper — who like all young and middle-aged people in Norway, spoke very good English — told us where to park in order to wait for the boarding of ourselves and the auto.   (Lest the reader suspect that the base problem discussed in this paragraph stemmed not from lack of signs, but rather from the lack of an ability to understand Norwegian, I should add two comments:  many signs in Norway are in English and I am pretty good at reading Norwegian.)

The “Finnmark” is huge and fancy, with lots of room available for those that are spending nights aboard and with nice dining halls and passenger lounging rooms that feature spectacular viewing opportunities.  Much of our 8-hour leg of the route northward consisted of dodging among the skerries, prefaced by a very long trip out of the Trondheim Fjord, the third longest fjord in Norway, and punctuated by a few ventures out into the open sea.  Barb and I both decided that when we get rich we will take an extended Hurtigruten trip up the entire coast of Norway.  What a cruise that will be.

See our next post to learn about the fun we had with Barb’s relatives.

Skurvenuten — August 3-11, 2013

On August 3, the Brunborgs and Shipleys left the hytte of Bodil and Rune after another hearty (aren’t they all?) frøkost (breakfast), and continued northward to the hytte of the Brunborgs, which they call Skurvenuten, and about which I will say more later in this article.

The hytte was by far the most remote we visited in this series of hytte-trips.  We drove through an increasingly beautiful landscape as we wound down and (mostly) up along the walls of dramatic canyons of granite formed by glaciers in past ice ages.  Our goal was reach a dam in the southeastern corner of a lake high above the timber line:  Holmavatnet.  Just before reaching the dam we met Bjørgulf and Berit driving out from a visit to their hytte.  (More about them later in this blog.) At the dam we unpacked the small trailer we had pulled behind the Brunborg automobile and transferred our supplies to a small boat powered by a new 4-stroke 8-hp Yamaha engine.  It had begun raining in the last part of our auto trip, so we were all clad in waterproof jackets and trousers and rubber boots.  The car was left in a nearby clear space and we took the boat through the driving rain across the lake to the northeastern corner where Skurvenuten lies.

We moved our supplies into the hytte, and immediately started a toasty fire in the wood-burning stove and hung some our clothes and and some of our bedding (which had gotten wet in the trip across the lake) up above the stove.  Then Lars Helge and Tove took the boat back out onto the lake in order to set about a dozen garner (nets).  When they returned, we had a dinner of tomato soup and sausages and some of the delicious Norwegian bread.  Next day about noon, we all went out into the rain and drizzle and pulled in the nets; Lars Helge always at the motor and the rest of us taking turns retrieving; done by reaching out an arm’s length, grasping the net, pulling it up to the body and securing the net onto a plastic prong held in the other hand — and repeating this process until the entire net is retrieved.  If the net contained trout, the net was placed into one large plastic container; if not, and if the retrieve had been “neat”, then the net was placed into an equally-large but different container.  Tangled nets were placed in the “fishy” container, since they would have to be unsnarled just as the nets that had contained fish would.  When all of the nets had been retrieved, we landed the boat on a shore that had nearby large flat rocks, and took the fishy and tangled nets up to the rocks, where the fish were removed from the nets and the nets were unsnarled and readied for another placement in the lake.  While the three of us did the unsnarling, Lars Helge cleaned the fish down at the lake side.  Then we took the boat and the nets back out onto the lake and set the nets in likely but “new” bays or points along the shore.  We performed this routine each day but the last: eating breakfast, retrieving the nets, removing the fish from the nets, unsnarling the nets, resetting the nets in “new” places, and then returning to the hytte for some lunch, which often consisted of boiled trout and boiled potatoes and thinly sliced cucumbers.  But we also had meals of polser or pork loin or smoked trout.   In the long afternoons (in this part of the world at this time of the year the sun doesn’t set until well after 9 PM) we went for walks, or fished with casting rods or lounged inside or outside the hytte (depending on the weather) or performed everyday chores.

But I have gotten ahead of myself.  It rained on and off all day during our first full day on the lake, and then really rained hard that night, causing the lake level to begin rising.  When Lars Helge went out to the boat late the next morning, he found that the boat, whose bow had been pulled up on the shore, had taken on so much rain water that a corner of the stern was nearly submerged.  Attempting to reposition the boat so that he could bail out the water, he inadvertently moved it off a supporting rock and the stern immediately sank, submerging the new motor!  That was the scene when the rest of us arrived at the shore.  Together, we managed to position the boat so that we could bail out the water.   When an attempt to start the motor failed, we removed it and took it up to the cabin, where we extracted the spark plugs and put a bit of oil in the combustion chambers.  We then put the engine on a saw horse with the foot in a bucket of water, and after replacing the plugs were able to start the motor.  Yippee!

We caught an average of about 15 trout a day.  What did we do with that many fish, you ask?  Every day we ate some, either boiled or smoked.  The rest were reserved for rather unusual treatment, even in Norway.  Lars Helge made a batch of gravøret that we ate after three days of aging, and he began several batches of rakfisk; but that delicacy takes several months to mature to the point that it is ready to eat.  Neither preparation involves cooking; the fish are eaten raw and without heat.  We think that they are both delicious.

What are rakfisk and gravøret, you ask?  First, laks is the Norwegian word for salmon.  Øret is the word for trout.  The gravøret was prepared using essentially the same recipe as that for gravlaks; about which Wikipedia says the following: “Traditionally, gravlaks would be salted, buried in the ground and left to ferment (similar to how rakfisk is still prepared), hence the name. Contemporary gravlaks, however, is salt-and-sugar-cured salmon seasoned with dill and (optionally) other herbs and spices. Gravlaks is often sold under more sales-friendly names internationally.”  You can  read more about gravlaks here.  About rakfisk, Wikipedia says:  “Norwegian fish dish made from trout … salted and fermented for two to three months, or even up to a year, then eaten without cooking.”  You can read more about rakfisk here.

A note about the cabin:  years ago when we first visited Skurvenuten, the “WC” was an outdoor affair that consisted of a wooden “bench” with an appropriate hole mounted between two large boulders up some distance from the hytte.   But now the hytte has a snurredass — an indoor toilet that opens up not into the ground but into a cylindrical container with three chambers under the hytte.  When one chamber fills up after some months or years, the container is rotated so that the waste falls into a new chamber.  By the time the original chamber has come around again, its contents will have decomposed to the point that it is essentially empty, a process facilitated by the addition of a handful of a specially-treated tree bark after each occurrence of serious business.

The hytte has no running water, so we fetched water from the lake for drinking and cooking and washing ourselves and our dishes.  The new room containing the snurredass contains a sink and a shower stall, but, without running water, showers are obtained by using a hand-pressurized garden sprayer.

The hytte Skurvenuten is owned by Bjørgulf Haukelid, who has been a friend of Lars Helge since they were school boys.  The Brunborgs fixed up Skurvenuten and have used it for many years.  Bjørgulf and his wife Berit have on the same lake their own hytte, called Vivik, as well as yet another hytte.  The Haukelids also own the northern half of Holmavatnet, as well as a considerable amount of land and several lakes immediately to the north of Holmavatnet.  The King of Norway has hunted Caribou on the Haukelid land.

Bjørgulf is the oldest son of Knut Haukelid, one of the Norwegian saboteurs of the heavy water plant at Vemork during the World War II occupation of Norway.  The Allies placed great significance on destroying the plant and its heavy water production, since it was feared that the Nazis would use it to help create an atomic bomb.  The Norwegians had been trained in Britain, and after the successful raid on Vemork all but two returned there.  Knut was one of the two who remained behind to train and arm volunteers for the Norwegian Home Army, as the resistance movement was known. He teamed up with another Norwegian named Skinnarland and fled on skis to a mountain hut called “Bamsebu” on the Haukelid property where they remained in hiding until the spring thaw of 1943 when they moved to a farm on the lower slopes, where they were better placed to gather information to relay back to Allied headquarters in London. In July they received an inquiry about reports that production of heavy water at the Vemork plant had restarted. It was decided to attempt to destroy the plant by a United States Army Air Force bombing raid. This wrecked the factory but failed to destroy the heavy water plant, which was protected by seven concrete floors above it.

Norwegian technicians were able to convince the German authorities that the plant as a whole was no longer viable but, on January 29,1944, London advised Skinnarland that it was to be dismantled and shipped to Germany, together with the Vemork stocks of heavy water. Haukelid and he took great risks in entering local towns, where both were well known, to gather information about the planned shipment. Eventually, they discovered that it was to be conveyed in a Norwegian ferryboat which would have to traverse Lake Tinnsjo on its way to the open sea. Assisted by others recruited locally, Haukelid placed charges on the keel of the ferry, which blew up and sank in 1,000ft of water in Lake Tinnsjo in February 1944, unfortunately with the loss of several Norwegian lives.

So much for the background concerning the small hut called Bamsebu.  During one of our fishing expeditions, we took a break and walked up to the hut.  It was my third visit.  On an earlier visit some 15 years ago, Lars Helge and I had repaired the roof, replacing a rotten plank and repositioning stones on the edge of the roof and cutting new clumps of sod to fill bare spots in the grass on the roof.  Remarkably, after all of those 15 years, some of the places from which we got the sod are still bare, a testament to how harsh the conditions are at that latitude and altitude.

The Brunborgs love Skurvenuten, and the Shipleys do too.  We consider it a high privilege to be able to spend time in such a beautiful and such a historic place.

Hytte of Bodil Fjelde & Rune Teisrud — August 3-4, 2013

When the Brunborgs and Shipleys left Morvik’s hytte (see last post) on August 3, we continued up the Number 9 highway to the vicinity of Hovden, where we visited the hytte of Bodil Fjelde and Rune Teisrud.  Of the friends we have made through the Brunborgs, we have known Bodil and Rune the least well and the least longest.  But you would never have known that had you been a fly on the wall during our visit.  They are both enormously warm and friendly people, filled with enthusiasm and optimism and good cheer.  Stand near them in a photo op, and you are going to get hugged.  They are a relatively new couple, living in a relatively new hytte that was designed by Bodil herself.  It is the largest and the most luxurious of the hytte we visited.  A large entrance room.  A large and high-ceilinged living room that features an enormous fireplace.  A lovely kitchen/dining room with a dining table that is “pushed out” into a bay with many windows.  A bathroom with running hot/cold water with a shower and a handsome sink both feed by a demand pump not dissimilar to the kind of pump we have on Tusen Takk II for our fresh-water washdown.  Electric lights powered by a battery bank charged by solar panels and a back-up generator.  A charming master bedroom with its own fireplace and a built-in bed, another bedroom, both on the ground floor, and a gazillion bunks in nooks and crannies upstairs.

We spent the night at the hytte.  Enjoyed delicious meals.  Drank micro beer and wine and Linie aquavit.  Went for a walk up into the hills above the cabin.  Lounged briefly in the area in front of the cabin and to the side of the storage building, after which we had a darts tournament with the target against the storeroom.  Guess who won?  🙂

Our sincere thanks to Bodil and Rune for their hospitality.

Morvik Hytte — August 2, 2013

On August 2, the Brunborgs and Shipleys drove up to the Morvik hytte, which is near the municipality of Valle.  Shortly after our arrival we were treated to a snack of pancakes prepared on an outdoor grill that was supported by a tripod.  We had two interesting walks during our stay:  one along a small river near the hytte, and another to the edge of a precipitous chasm that hosts a dramatic waterfall.

The walk to the river went through boggy land that supports flowers and blue berries and cloud berries.  The river itself has water so fresh that it is the temporary source of water for the hytte until such time as the underway creation of a well is completed.  On our way to the river we passed widely-spaced marked sites for additional hytte; the Morviks are one of first to build in the beautiful area.

Our other walk took us across a highway, and then to the unmarked beginning of a trail that led to the upper lip of a deep valley.  We circled around a branch and found ourselves looking across at a beautiful waterfall.  On our side, the wall fell essentially straight down, so the view of the area was spectacular.  Some of the hikers were a little nervous, perhaps heightened by the existence of a deep crevasse running parallel to and some meters away from the edge.  One day, some day, that whole lip will fall hundreds of meters down the cliff.  At one point the crevasse opened up enough for Rasmus to climb down into it and attempt to gauge its extent.  In other parts of the world, there would be a paved path to the area, and an admission gate and fee for such an awesome attraction.  Here, there isn’t even a sign; just a small path that indicates that at least a few people know of its existence.  I love Norway!

Later that day we had a great meal that featured roasted pork and boiled potatoes and broccoli and cauliflower and carrots and a delicious gravy.  And then a very special treat: multer og krem (cloud berries and cream) for dessert. To read about multer, click here.

The hytte has plenty of places for sleeping; the Brunborgs and Shipleys spent the night as guests and then had another bountiful Norwegian breakfast before heading off to the next hytte.  It had been a great visit with a couple that at first, years ago, we had thought of as friends of our friends the Brunborgs, but that we have since learned to think of as, simply, our friends.

To learn about our experience at the next hytte, see our next post.

Skretting’s Hallandvik hytte — August 1, 2013

On August 1 we drove to Hallandvik, in the municipality of Søgne, the location of the nearest hytte of Ingunn and Per Skretting.  (They have two hytter!  We have twice enjoyed being at their Bortelid hytte on New Years Eve!)  After a welcoming toast, we had a pleasant walk over the property of the hytte.  It was another beautiful day in southern Norway, so when we returned to the hytte we lounged on the impressive newly improved and expanded deck, where Ingunn served Norwegian waffles.  I spread mine with raspberry topping, and could scarcely stop eating long enough to snap a few pictures.  Yummy.  Later, we went for a more extensive walk through part of a public area to the south of the hytte, along the rugged shore of the sea in an area called “Hummervika” (Lobster Cove).  On our way to the area, we passed by the house where Ingunn was born.  Turns out the area is dotted with her relatives.  When we returned to the hytte, Per challenged us to a game of bocci.  He was well on his way toward totally humiliating the rest of us when we were saved by a brief shower.

The rest of the afternoon is a blur of friendly conversation and delicious food and drink.  I remember many glasses of wine.  I remember a bowl of various fruits.  I remember a delicious dinner, and more wine.  I remember an enormous bowl of cream with blueberries and strawberries and raspberries.  I remember strong coffee.  But most of all, I remember the warmth we always feel when we spend time with the Skrettings.