The Norway Trip 2017

Kim's Norway Trip Blog: On May 9-19, 2017, my husband Rick and I traveled to Norway, the country of my mother's heritage.  Her great grandfather Casper Vig was born in Frosta, Norway, his family later emigrating and eventually settling in America to farm.  I wanted to learn more about Frosta, the culture, the people, the language, the lifestyle, and the challenging terrain.  The following links are photo albums depticting our experiences, with descriptive captions.   After the three links is a daily journal of our experiences there. Album 1 Album 2 Album 3

Wednesday May 10, 2017 What an exhilarating experience about to happen!  All packed, the sun out, and taking a Robert Q Air Bus to the Toronto Pearson International Airport to begin our journey in the air to Norway.   This trip is significant because it has always been on my bucket list to visit the land where my mother’s great grandfather Casper Vig and extended family were born.  We took an approximately seven hour flight from Toronto to Copenhagen, in a large Boeing 787-9 that had 9 seats across and two aisles.  It was a fairly comfortable flight… they offered free alcoholic drinks, meals, much more numerous tv and movie choices than airlines I’ve travelled with in the past like Westjet, and groovy GPS flight graphics so we could monitor our flight across the Atlantic.  We flew over Greenland, passed by Iceland, and went over the Shetland Islands.  Cloud cover prevented us from seeing any of these terrains; however, approaching Denmark, a blood red sun started to sneak up from the morning horizon, the colour created by the dark window tinting from the plane. The sun looked like a huge bright red ball in a dark blue sky, very surreal.

Arriving at the airport in Copenhagen, signs were translated into English which was very convenient. In the airport was a very busy 7-Eleven, and it was interesting to compare their European products to Canadian items sold in 7-Elevens back home. They had long sausages on a large hot plate and interesting stacked sandwiches with flat bread.

At our gate, I observed that the people waiting in their seats for the Trondheim flight looked like they could all be my cousins. Their faces, their stature, expressions and demeanor seemed very familiar and comfortable to me. The plane we boarded was a small bombardier style of plane, and reminded me very much of the small flights I used to take from Edmonton to Grande Prairie in the past.

As we approached Trondheim from the air, all I could see from the window was a vast expanse of rocky terrain sprinkled with snow, but in the lower valleys there was spring-like greenery. When we landed at the Vaernes Airport, it was a cool, crisp early spring-like day, with no snow.

The rental car was a white Yaris, hybrid, automatic, which was a learning curve for Rick. However we went on a blind drive so that he could get used to the road signs and the car controls. The electric lights at intersections are shorter and off to the side on the sidewalks rather than suspended from above. There are many round-abouts everywhere rather than four-way stops. Some of the narrow streets were cobble-stone or brick. Rick noticed the twisty turny roads were two lane only, and outside the city there were many tunnels through the mountainous rocks, some quite lengthy. We found in driving around the city that space is much more limited than what we're used to in Canada. You can sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic while driving and going through the tunnels.

We had no clue where we were going at first, but we finally managed to figure out information from the GPS to eventually find Trondheim and locate our hotel. Driving in downtown Trondheim is very similar to driving in Toronto. Space is limited, the streets are a bit narrow, however one main difference is that there is no congestion.

We finally fell asleep at 7 p.m., exhausted from the six hour time difference and a lack of sleep on the plane. We fell asleep in a very comfortable bed with amazingly comfortable white duvets, which I am going to search for when we return back to Canada. We woke up briefly and noticed at 10:15 p.m. the sky was still daylight, just starting to become dusk. We went back to sleep, woke up again at 3 a.m., and the sky was starting to lighten up already. Only about 3-4 hours of dusk-like nighttime.

Eating out was expensive ($35 for one pizza? No thanks), so we took advantage of the shopping square, Trondheim Torg, attached to the hotel, for grocery needs. Located along the square from the outside was the Rema 1000, a popular grocery chain in Norway and Denmark. Shopping there, I was amazed by the large selection of cheeses (ost) and other products, and happy that they had a produce section. They also sold low alcoholic beverages, mostly beer and ale.

Our hotel room was very tiny and minimalist, much like a college dorm: just a bed, a small desk with no drawers, two chairs, and some shelf space. Typically Scandinavian. The bathroom was tiny, basically a shower with not much of a partition from the rest of the bathroom, just a glass door separating the shower area from the toilet and sink, all sharing the same small tile floor.

Rick had brought an adapter so that we could plug in our Canadian items, such as his laptop. Everything required our key card to operate. To gain access to room lighting and bathroom lighting we had to insert our key card into a slot on the wall. I can see this helping the hotel save electricity. We also had to scan our key card in the elevator before pressing the floor button choice.

At 3:00 in the morning I looked out of my hotel window to the streets below and it seemed strange to see daylight, yet not a single person on the street yet. Nothing opens until around 9 a.m. Not one single person was walking around.

Thursday May 11, 2017

Again, the night was only about 4 hours long. It was very strange to look out the window at 7 a.m. and not see a single person on the streets, with the sky almost broad daylight as if were noon. We had a lovely hot breakfast with fruit and cereal in the hotel in the a.m. They also had various meats, fish, bacon, scrambled eggs. I had some trout and it was amazingly delicious! The Norwegians know how to cook fish right!

We decided to forgo the use of the car for the day and took a walk around the downtown area. Some areas were cobblestone. Reading some history on the city, we learned that Trondheim used to be the capital city of the Vikings back in the day. We walked across the old town bridge (Gamle Brybo), enjoyed the scenery across the bridge in Bakklandet, a bohemian-esque community with colourful buildings, restaurants, patios and boats in the gentle water. We learned that Bakklandet once housed poor workers back in the day, and today it has been transformed into a touristy restaurant and shopping area. At the end of the bridge I was surprised to find a familiar 7-Eleven, much smaller and less busy than the one in the Copenhagen airport. It had no groceries, just drinks and snacks, with long sausages on the grill. This store also had a frozen yogurt dispensing machine and free wi-fi! I introduced myself to the girl at the counter and we chatted a bit about the differences between Canadian and Norwegian 7 Elevens. Along the shore there were several cafes and boutiques, and it reminded us very much of Wortley village back home in London, Ontario. Rick and I then left the waterway and walked further inland along a hilly, winding residential area where there were small cottage-like homes (they were very well maintained, quaint, and pretty) and then walked up a steep cobblestone road. We watched a bicyclist use a special service to give himself a boost up the hill... he put his foot on a little platform on a rail and it pulled himself and his bike up to the top of the very steep slope.

Rick and I had no plans to go hiking, but in order to visit parts of Bakklandet we had to do a bit of a hike. We began to learn that if you want to see anything of great interest, it will probably require a bit of a walk or a hike. We ambled up some beaten pathways to an historical landmark called Kristiansten Fortress, and enjoyed the amazing view of the city of Trondheim below from the top where the cannons were positioned. We noticed that the steep hill and pathways leading up the hill had absolutely no fencing nor safety rails, which would be unheard of in Canada or the U.S. Perhaps the Norwegians are so used to hiking on hilly terrain it has become a part of their genetic makeup, and they are confident around uneven slopes.

There were familiar seagulls and mallard ducks by the river but there were also strange birds that I've never seen before with strange songs. I saw a magpie, similar to the ones in northern Alberta, black and white. I also saw a couple of strange birds, one looked like a crow but grey and dark grey (I looked it up later, and it was a hooded crow, common in Europe)... and another that acted like a robin but it was various shades of grey as well, possibly some kind of thrush. Of course, like most cities, there were pigeons too. The trees look similar to what you would see in Canada, and so did the grass on peoples' lawns and in parks. I saw strange wild plants growing by the sides of the roads during our hike, but was surprised to see familiar dandelion plants as well.

All of the buildings and homes in the city seem to have what I thought were metal roofs, but on closer examination they look more like curved ceramic tiles, probably much more practical for the cold and rainy weather.

We then walked back over the river across the old bridge and visited the huge Gothic style church, Nidaros Cathedral. How gorgeous! We also walked through the archbishop's palace courtyard, beside the cathedral, now a series of buildings including a museum and restaurant. We then walked across to the nearby kunstmuseum. Inside, we took a look at their collection of mostly 50s and 60s artwork on display, mostly paintings and some iron, bronze and terracotta sculptures. There was a cute daycare class of 4 or 5 year old children in brightly marked jackets sitting with their teachers talking in Norwegian about the paintings, all sitting on little circular orange place mats. It was very cute.

We were so tired out from our hike, we returned to the hotel, had a free coffee and cappuccino from a machine in the lobby, then went back to our room to take a brief nap before tackling late afternoon plans.

Hungry for dinner, we chose to visit the Rema 1000 in the Torg to shop for our food, much cheaper than eating at the expensive restaurants and local fast food places. We bought bread and sandwich meats, salad, cheese, and cinnamon lefse. For beverages we picked up some coke classic and some items from the alcoholic beverage aisle. The choices were mostly beer, pilsner, ale... but there were also forms of vodka and I was delighted to find some bailey's ice coffee. I love Rema 1000! Such a franchise would do well in highly populated places like downtown Toronto. At 9:30 p.m. the sun was only starting to hint at setting, the sky still bright blue and only slightly overcast, and we decided to settle in for the night, watching some episodes of Vikings that Rick downloaded back home and brought along on a USB.

Friday May 12, 2017

We picked today to be the day to visit the Frosta peninsula and the island of Tautra, just off the coast of the northern part of Frosta. The drive from Trondheim to Frosta was about 1 hour 20 minutes long. The first thought we had as we arrived was how twisty and turning the road was between the mountains, often a bit precarious, wondering how on earth the locals manage winter driving! There is no straight line in Frosta, just many curves, ups and downs. Some parts of the road had almost no shoulder, and often no guard rails. The locals must have amazing balance and confidence while navigating this part of the country.

The entire workable land there was used for farming, small farms obviously, due to the rocky state of the terrain. I can see why my mother's farming ancestors were so eager to take up farming in America and Canada. Canada's farmlands are huge, vast and for the most part flat! And in Alberta they are measured in quarter sections in the shape of squares! Here in Frosta, the soil is a light grey colour, very different from farms in Ontario. The fields are small and many are on awkward slopes which would be a challenge for a tractor.

By the water we also saw several marinas. The water was clean and blue, enjoyed by countless ducks, birds and waterfowl. We had plans to visit and drive through a few familiar villages and farms that I had written down on a list, but the terrain was so hilly, rocky, and sometimes unpredictable that we had to concentrate on safety more than monitoring exactly where we were. On Googlemaps the Frosta peninsula looks misleadingly flat, and in reality, it is not at all! It's hilly, with rocks, ups and downs, twists and turns, and with unpredictable curves. The terrain reminded me of the foot of the Rockies around Banff, and the Canadian Shield.

We visited the Logtun Kirke, which is affiliated with the Vigs' ancestral family. It was off season for tourism so the museum and information centre was closed, so we just helped ourselves to the gate to the yard around the church and went into the yard. I walked around the beautiful old stone church, took pictures, and went up to the side of it and felt the stones. The experience was quite magical. We met a nice tourist there from Holland and had a lovely chat. He was there with a friend hiking around the area. When we mentioned we were from Canada, he thanked us Canadians for helping to free Holland from the Germans in WW2. He was such a lovely, sweet man.

After leaving Logtun, we set the GPS for Evenhus, which is where the stone-aged petroglyphs are located on the Frosta Peninsula. When we arrived, we followed the signage. Awkwardly, part of the path to the rock drawings is through a private daycare yard. We found that often the locals' private property overlap the locations of tourist attractions available to the public. We asked the daycare provider in the yard where the rock drawings were, and she greeted us nicely and pointed us to the direction. The drawings were on a large slab of rock exposed from the ground, and were amazingly old, many thousands of years, and experts speculate these drawings of boats, elk and orcas were a way for the local people to summon successful hunting.

After taking photos and studying the drawings, we bid the daycare provider ‘tusen takk’, and goodbye. It was a short drive to the Tautra bridge, a narrow one-way bridge, which led us to the small islet of Tautra. We learned that Tautra has a bird and wildlife sanctuary as an attempt to preserve local species. On the island is a nun's monastery, Tautra Mariakloster, however we were more interested in seeing the thousand year old Tautra monastery ruins that once upon a time sheltered a community of medieval monks. It had a magical ancient aura, made of very large rocks, and we walked all about it, touching the rocks, and entering the remains of rooms off one of the sides of the main building. We stopped by a local gift butikk and chatted with the sales lady. She was interested that we were from Canada, and said that into the summer most of the visitors she gets come from Germany, Italy, and France. I bought local handmade soaps for our daughters.

We left the Tautra island, and drove to Småland, a marine community on the north shore of the Frosta peninsula. When we arrived we stopped by the sea to look at the boats, watch the waves, and listen to the busy noises and songs of the local sea birds. After that visit, we decided to head back to Trondheim. It had been a very busy, full day. One of Casper Vig’s great grandmothers, Ingebor Thomaesdatter Smaaland had probably lived in Småland.

I could not believe the luck we were having with good weather. Frequent rains are the norm along the west coast of Norway, yet in the few days we were here, there was only a slight drizzle for five minutes yesterday afternoon... otherwise the weather had been sunny and with few clouds.

Saturday May 13, 2017

The early sun woke me up at around 2 a.m. Again, the sky doesn't really get completely dark at night, only dark blue for a couple of hours. I Googlemapped and did a streetview of Mjonesaunet as well as Kyrksaeterora where the Mjones branch of our family originated from. It looked very similar to the areas of Frosta and Småland that we had visited previously (combination of agricultural and seafaring culture), so I considered not visiting those places since the area is an hour and a half drive away, and it would just be a repeated experience.

We decided to visit the Ringve Music Museum, which 'looked' to be within walking distance however as we started our 'hike' across the city to the museum we came to realize that perhaps we should have driven. Anyway, walking is good exercise, right? So after an hour or so of walking we made it to the museum. We had an amazing time enjoying a personal tour in English through the ground level exhibit with a young lady who was probably a music student. She explained the history of many of the instruments and the growth and transitioning of the local Trondheim music culture during the past two centuries. After the tour, we checked out the upper floor which housed an incredibly diverse selection of musical instruments from all over the world.

We were tempted to take an expensive taxi home, but decided that since it was such an amazingly nice, warm day, we would walk the distance back to the hotel, which we did.

One thing I noticed in Trondheim is that the streets for the most part are very clean, very little trash on the ground anywhere. Also, we had been in the city so far for five days, and not once have I seen a person smoking a cigarette. We also noticed that people talk to each other on the street, there is very little walking and texting. In the morning at the breakfast buffet, everyone is chatting with their friends and family, and nobody is sitting at the table staring at their cell. Keeping a healthy lifestyle is a serious undertaking for much of the culture as well. Everywhere we looked, there were people walking, biking, jogging, skateboarding, even older people could be seen using hiking sticks as they walked.

This day was a beautiful Saturday, warm, sunny, and there was a market set up in the square next to our hotel/mall complex. There were musicians on the street, including a lovely old man with an accordian playing traditional sounding folk music. Ladies and girls could be seen everywhere in the town, dressed in their bunads (traditional Norwegian dress). The tour guide at the music museum had previously explained that on Saturdays there were many confirmation celebrations for children and also weddings, and the bunad is a traditional way to dress when involved with these events. Each bunad was differently styled and of different colours and patterns, to reflect the Norwegian community where the person lived or originated from.

There are virtually no 24 hour services or stores open in Trondheim. It's very apparent that the country recognizes the value of family time. Most retail stores and businesses are closed on Sunday, it is indeed a time of rest, and reminds me of the way business hours used to be structured 40 or 50 years ago in Canada when I was a child.

Sunday May 14, 2017

We slept in and after breakfast took a walk along the river Nidelva. We saw some ladies in their traditional bunads, probably walking home on their way from church. There was a flea market in a little area on the north side. Rick remarked, "It's nice to visit and see another country’s junk." We found lovely places to sit close to the water to watch the sea birds (one local species I couldn't recognize) and I spent some time sketching the rocks jutting from the water along with the ducks and seagulls. They had the usual white seagulls that we see back in Ontario, but there was also another species of gull by the river that had a black head that I've never seen before (black headed gull). There were also small sea birds flying around the river's edge like swallows, with chickadee-like markings (wagtails). We then took a walk through Bakklandet. There, I sat and did some more sketching of some buildings, and took more photos because I had forgotten my coloured pencils at home and needed to remember the colours of the buildings. At first I thought the buildings had horizontal and verticle siding, but on closer inspection they were panels of wood painted in bright colours. Again, all the buildings had the ceramic curved tile roofs.

There were many patios open and people sitting in the sun enjoying the great weather. Few people were on their cells. Everyone was taking advantage of the day to socialize with friends and relax. I remarked to Rick that we had been here for six days, and I noticed one lady having a cigarette, and this was the first smoker I had seen since we got here. There were many people walking their dogs by the river, and some also had their dogs with them in the patio areas of the restaurants. The Bakklandet area by the old town bridge reminded me of Wortley Village back home in London Ontario. It also reminded me a bit of a Soho kind of community with shops and cafes….’butikker og restauranter’.

On Sunday most shops are closed, but there are still restaurants open. So tonight we walked to Peppe's Pizza by the river for dinner, since grocery stores were closed. We had a lovely pizza and salad dinner and toasted our 25th year anniversary (about a month early, but that's ok! We were in the moment!). Afterwards, We walked around and took our pictures by a huge ship anchor on display by the shore.

The entire six days we've been here, every day had been sunny and bright. One couldn’t ask for nicer weather for a vacation in Norway!

Monday May 15, 2017

There are 7-Elevens all over the place in Norway!  Every airport has one too, it seems.  They are like the Tim Hortons of convenience stores in Norway, at least in the city areas we've been.

We checked out of the Trondheim hotel, and then drove in our rental car to the town of Hell, just next to the Vaernes Airport.  The reason we drove to Hell was because I wanted to see the Stone Age rock carvings in Hell, located on Petrinebakken Road. Again, it looked to be a very narrow street in a very hilly residential area, which seems to be our experience where public points of interest overlap private residences.  We found the sign that pointed the way into the woodland to the rock carvings, so we parked alongside the road where the path began.  Also, again, we had never planned to do any hiking during our trip, but Norway being Norway, if you want to see some points of interest, it will probably involve some hiking.  The walk along the path was through a lovely Tolkien-style wooded area, very green, with small six-petaled white flowers called hvitveis growing everywhere amongst the foliage and the moss on the ground.  After five minutes of hiking we came across the carvings, which were of two life-sized deer, and some other abstract figures.  The drawings looked to be etched deeply into the rock with a V-shaped chisel, unlike the Evenhus carvings which were more like rough shallow scratches into the rock.  Upon our return to the car, we met an elderly man with a walker taking a walk up the road along with a black cat that was also taking a leisurely stroll.  We greeted the man with a ’God morgen’, (good morning), and I envied him for the assumption that he has probably lived in this beautiful area his whole life.

We returned to our car and drove to the airport, gave the car back to the rental place, then after me being frisked most thoroughly and intimately by a very good looking, tall young handsome Norwegian security officer, we boarded a smaller SAS plane for a 3/4 hr flight to Bergen.  Lesson learned:  Do not wear a blouse with small metal studs on the collar through airport security.  As we landed, we were impressed by the larger, steeper stature of the local hills and the fjords.  We then took an airport transit bus to the downtown core and checked into our hotel.  It was another very tiny dorm-like room with a comfortable bed and the same cozy thick white duvets.  After settling in, we took a three minute walk up the road to a Rema 1000 and bought some groceries for dinner to eat later in our room.  As our room this time has a mini-fridge, we were able to be more flexible with what we could buy and keep for another day, such as fruit and lettuce, and prepared salads.

So far, our impression of Bergen was that it was much more cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse than Trondheim.  Bergen reminded me of downtown Toronto, only with much steeper hills and cliffs.  There was much more graffiti and ‘street culture’ in the neighbourhood of our hotel than what we saw in Trondheim. 

At 3:30 a.m. the first night in Bergen, I couldn't sleep.  When I peeked through the curtains, the sky was still pitch black.  Their nights are longer by about an hour compared to Trondheim, and the sky went pitch black for about an hour.  It never did become entirely black at night in Trondheim.

Tuesday May 16, 2017

My difficulties sleeping were to be expected, me being a night-shift worker, plus having jet lag from a six hour difference in time change, plus the May nights here in Norway only having 2-4 hours of darkness, depending on the location.

We had a lovely buffet breakfast at our Scandic Byparken hotel.  A tall, sharply dressed chef who looked to be Somalian or Sudanese had a huge smorgasbord of endless entrees, fruits and desserts laid out as well as many kinds of fish dishes.  I had had fish every single day so far while being in Norway, and it has all tasted amazing.

This morning we walked to the information place by the water where the fish market is located, and we asked about tours.  It was a rainy day, but that would not stop us.  There weather in Bergen is much like Seattle, an information guide had warned us back at the airport, so we were in a prepared frame of mind.  The fish market was set up under large tents in two long rows down by the docks, and it reminded me very much of the way the outdoor farmer's market is set up in downtown London, Ontario.

We boarded a tour boat that had an indoor seated area with tall windows, and an optional open air upper deck with seating as well.  The tour was a three hour fjord cruise to Mostraumen, and took us past smaller fjord areas with small communities dotted amongst them, and eventually into some very tall cliffs that had amazing waterfalls.  The boat guide described one area of the fjords we looked at and mentioned the area had its own unique local species of salmon which aren't found anywhere else in the world.  In the distance, the scenery was beautiful, with the fjords further away faded by the mists in the air.  At one point the boat approached a huge waterfall and five selected volunteers were given raincoats and helped the tour guide gather water in a large bucket.  Then the tour guide brought the water back into the boat and we all lined up to be served cups of the water to drink.  It tasted fresh and clear.  Rick and I took our cups and clinked them and wished each other a happy (early) 25th anniversary.  I can now say in my life that I've drunk directly from the waters of a Norwegian Fjord waterfall.

When we returned to shore, we walked along the fish market, which was in two rows of tents.  Some of the tents were seated areas to have lunch, and were warmed by tall spot heaters with large flames in the center.  We decided we may have lunch or dinner there tomorrow, during the Norwegian Constitution Day.

The information guide back at the airport had previously told us that Bergen puts on the best Constitution Day celebration in all of Norway, and he also said he wasn't bragging, he was just telling us a truthful fact.  So we're really looking forward to tomorrow.  Our hotel was located only a block or two away from the city's central square and man-made lake where the festivities are going to be centralized.

After the fjord tour, we walked along the cobblestone streets in the downtown area.  I walked into a 7-Eleven to buy a coffee (three times the cost of a 7-Eleven coffee in Canada!) and had a nice empathetic chat with a staff member.  I explained that I worked in a 7-Eleven in Canada, and he asked about the similarities and differences.  We discussed a similar challenge of handling drunken crowds inside the store because of the close proximity of pubs and bars.  I was intrigued by the fact that our store's challenges are international, not just a local problem.  We rolled our eyes when mentioning drunks and theft and I said, "We can only do what we can do, right?"  And he nodded and smiled.  I asked if they were open tomorrow during the holiday, he said yes, and I said to him, "See you tomorrow then!"

Since it continued to rain, we picked an indoor activity.  Our hotel was located only a block away from the Kode art galleries, a very convenient short walk.  I was excited to see some original Edvard Munch paintings, and we were rewarded with two large rooms of his work, along with several displays of other 18th and 19th century figurative paintings, still-lifes, and landscapes depicting local areas of Norway as well as other areas of Europe.  The Munch paintings on display showed emotionally darker imagery during his struggles with anxiety, and then after being treated at a clinic his paintings expressed happier colours, lines and emotions.  There were no versions of 'The Scream' available for display in this location, however I noticed many of his works contained similar components, such as wandering diagonal pathways, ghostly faces, and swirly raw emotional painterly treatments in the background.

Rick picked up our bag of laundry from the front desk that we had dropped off earlier in the day for laundry service.  It cost us a couple hundred dollars!  We should have asked about pricing first.  Lesson learned.  If you're traveling in Norway and need some clothes laundered, you probably won't be able to find a laundromat anywhere.  It's cheaper to either buy a couple of new articles of clothing, underwear, and socks to get you through the last few days of your trip, or hand-wash your t-shirts, socks and underwear for free in your hotel bathroom yourself. 

I also notice that in Norway you are expected to be responsible for your own sure-footing while walking along the streets, or in buildings, or along hilly pathways.  Sometimes the bricks and cobblestone will be uneven, and small cement ramps for people with disabilities on scooters will be rough and not completely flush with the top of the curb.  Also, often in buildings there will be a slightly raised thresh-hold in doorways that are easy to trip on if you're not consciously watching out for them.  And often during hikes in the hills, again, there are no fencing or safety rails along pathways.  We noticed similar detail too while driving.  Most roads do not have adequate shoulder space for pulling over in case of problems.

Whereas Trondheim and Frosta seemed to be a terrain with a combination of sea culture (boating, fishing, marinas) AND farming, the immediate Bergen region that we could see had no flat surfaces for adequate farming, and from what we saw so far Bergen and area seem to be mostly a fishing and sea-coastal culture, similar to that of Newfoundland.  It had been intriguing, back when driving around Småland on the Frosta peninsula, to see a large tractor working the soil of a field, right beside the sea where boats were docked and seagulls were flying about.  We did not see the farming element here in the Bergen area.

Tomorrow will be Constitution Day, and the festivities will go from morning on into the night with parades, music and fireworks.  The forcast is supposed to be cloudy, but with no rain.  Rick and I plan to have breakfast early, and then walk out into the city centre to enjoy the public displays of Norwegian pride!  There will be a couple of touring opportunities open, and the fish market will be open too, but for the most part retail outlets and businesses will be closed for the day.

We have two more days in Norway before returning home to Canada.  All we really wish to do to fill those days will be to enjoy the Constitution Day parade and fireworks at the city center only a block or two from our hotel, visit a gift shop for souvenirs, and experience a trolley car that takes you up a steep hill and gives you a beautiful view of the town below.  We are certainly excited about tomorrow!

Wednesday May 17, 2017:   HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY!

Do the Norwegians ever know how to party!  From 6:30 a.m. in the morning people dressed in their bunads in the streets were rushing here and rushing there, getting ready for a big parade planned for the latter part of the morning.  Rick and I got up extra early for breakfast before the crowds came into the hotel for their breakfast reservations.  After, we went out into the crowds in the street and got a good view of the parade.  It was quite long with many bands, children, organizations and military taking part.  After the parade, we made it to the Centre Square where officials spoke, including King Harald V and the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, who is a native of Bergen!  It was so amazing to be so close in her presence and hear her speak.  She said some words in English towards the end of her speech, commenting that the values of kindness and trust are so important for the Norwegian people to exercise, especially in this day and age of terrorism and uncertainty.  She wore a bright red dress and spoke loudly and strongly, like a bold champion.  It is amazing how when we planned this trip it was a fluke that the trip just happened to include a Norwegian national holiday, and a complete happy surprise that we were able to see August Rathke, who was a war hero and member of the Norwegian resistance during WW2, and the P.M. live, in person, up close, deliver speeches to the nation.  Incredible serendipitous good luck.

After the P.M.'s speech, Rick and I took a cable car up a mountain (Mt. Floyen) that had an amazing view of the city of Bergen far below.  We sat in the sun for a while, got a bit of a tan, were enjoying the panorama, and soon observed some goats just below us on the side of the hill basking on rocks in the sun.  A sign nearby mentioned that the goats were kept on the mountain to eat the overgrowth of plants and shrubs so that the view below would not be obscured for the tourists.  A nice elderly man, with his 10 year old granddaughter who was dressed in a pretty bunad, approached us on a bench and began to speak to us in Norwegian.  "Jeg snakker ikke Norske", I told him, then asked him if he spoke English.  I guess he did not, because he didn't continue the conversation.  Often throughout our vacation, people would look at me and think that I was one of the natives, which is kind of cool, I guess, but frustrating too, because the older generations don't speak English as well as the youngsters, so there was that communication difficulty with the older people.  Apparently the Norwegian children today are taught English from the moment they enter kindergarten.

Yesterday had been very rainy and wet, and overcast, yet today, the day was bright, sunny, no rain, 20 degrees C.,  one couldn't ask for better weather for an awesome holiday!  With a little bit of difficulty we made our way through the thick crowds of people who for the most part were dressed in their regional costumes.  It almost seemed like the entire town was out in the streets and congregating into the downtown area. Eventually we were able to make it back to our hotel.  We saw many many people in restaurant patios and lined up at pubs, and we had the feeling that the partying was not even close to being done yet. 

Rick and I walked to a local 7-Eleven to grab subs for dinner.  They didn't have subs as we are used to them in Canada... the sandwiches looked much more European, with interesting creative fillings, and on breads such as flat bread and panini.  Their coffee came out of a mechanized button machine.  Their coffee price for a small was approximately $3.00.  When I talked to the store cashier about Canada's 7-Eleven prices, I told her our small coffee in a 7 eleven is $1 (about 6 kroner), and she agreed, "Yeah it's expensive here."

After eating in the hotel room, we fell asleep.  I woke up at around 11 p.m. to loud rock music coming from the outside downtown area, Adele songs... and when I looked out our window I could not believe the crowds STILL in the streets, in the dark of night, walking towards the city center.  Almost time for fireworks!  I said to Rick, "Do you want to experience the Norwegian night life???"  So we left for the city center, only a three minute walk.  It was drizzling a little bit but a little rain does not stop the Bergen people from having fun.  There were spectacular fireworks, despite the little bit of rain.  After the fireworks were finished, I saw a young couple kissing in the rain, so romantic.... and many drunk young adults being silly and carrying on in the streets nattering away in a drunken form of Norwegian.  The locals sure know how to party.  We had such fun that day (and night).

Thursday May 18, 2017 We kept this day a short day because we had to prepare to pack and check out for 3:00 a.m. the next morning, which meant a very early bed-time.  We visited the Bergen Maritime Museum and saw some wonderful displays of Viking ship artifacts all the way up to Norwegian seafaring in the 20th century.

Friday May 19, 2017

Our flight home was just as long but just as enjoyable as the flight there.  We left Bergen by flybussen at 3:00 in the morning, and after about 22 hours of travel arrived in London by Robert Q at 6:15 p.m. in the evening.  It was nice to see our daughters, and the cat missed us too.  

I loved our experiences in Norway and want to go back.  I felt like I was ‘with my people’.  The journey was an enlightening experience that spoke to me as to why our ancestors were so driven to leave their home for much better opportunity in a new land.

A statue of The Little Mermaid in the Copenhagen Airport