Back to the Roots

Well, the original plan had been to fly home near the time we were in Cologne.  But my Dad really wanted us to visit Norway so he put his money where his mouth was.. and bought us a ticket north.  Spoiled.. I know.  We flew from Hamburg.. hence the trip to northern Germany to Norway, with a 'quick' touchdown in Denmark.  The first flight was fairly quick.  But in Copenhagen we had a plane problem which meant a three hour delay while they tried to find us a new plane.  We were stuck in the airport.. where a coke costs 10 dollars.  We did find some free chocolates which got us through the ordeal.  Eventually we made it to Norway and were met by Arvid, my Dad's cousin and his partner Helene.  They were using an 11 year old picture.. of my brother.. to find us.. but it worked out.  Arvid spoke English which was great.  We went back to their cozy house, found our room, ate some dinner and went to bed.

We had promised Arvid we would wake up for 9 am, but somehow we slept in. Bad form.  Him and Helene had waited for us to eat.. We ate sandwiches.. which is pretty much what they ate every meal.  It was good.  They live slightly outside Sandefjord so we drove into the town and did a tour of an old whaling boat and ate some ice cream.  My father's father was a whaler and it must have been a pretty rough life out at sea.  That night we ate elk in a delicious gravy and made a quick tour to an old yellow house that my family used to live in.  I think I have taken a picture in front of this house every time I have been to Norway.

The next morning we woke up in time for breakfast.  Sandwiches!  We drove into Tonsberg which is were my Dad used to live.  We visited his other cousin Irene and her husband Leif.  They have a really fancy old house and we ate sandwiches.. with knives and forks.  In this kind of house it couldn't be any other way.  They had lots of old pictures of my family.. including my dad.. so it was great to look around.

We had eaten 2 cakes at Irenes & Leifs.. but that did not stop us from going to visit Arvid's daughter Lisa for cake number 3 of the day.  We also met her husband and her youngest daughter.  They live right near the beach to so went for a quick walk to try and burn off at least a bid of the desserts.  That night we relaxed and watched some of the Beijing Olympics which have started.

Day number 3.  Krystal's birthday.  I had already bought her the shoes in Germany.. so she just got small gifts to open.  Solo orange pop and Daim chocolate.  We are in Scandinavia after all.  I told Krystal and no one knew it was her bday.. but it was a lie.. everyone was coming over for dinner in the evening.  During the day we went south of Sandefjord to Larvik and Stavern.  The weather was really nice so we walked around the fjord in Stavern and .. ate cake.. again.  We also went to the old fort there where a little boy taught Krystal how to fly a kite.  He spoke perfect English which is normal for almost everyone here.  They start learning when they are 5 or 6. We drove back to Arvid's house, relaxed and kicked the soccer ball around before the party showed up.  Lisa brought her husband, youngest daughter and eldest son.  Nina, Arvid's other daughter, came with her husband Art and their son Martin.  Tone (my Dad's cousin's daughter.. this is getting confusing) also drove up from Arendal which was great.  Krystal was spoiled with a huge prawn meal and .. 2 cakes.  They even bought her presents!  Spoiled.

We had originally planned on going to Tonsberg the next day and Oslo on Saturday but plans changed when Tone invited us to her place in Arendal which is two hours south.  Arendal is right on the fjord and is really nice.  Krystal and I toured around the old town before meeting Tone's family to go out in their boat.  We had a barbecue and went swimming.  It was great.  Tone's husband, Oscar, is a pilot for the company that flew us in.  Her two kids Johannes and Eliza could speak a little English.. but were too shy to try it out.

That night we bored Tone with about a million pictures.. and she showed us pictures of when she toured Canada and stayed at my parent's house.  I was six at the time.

The next morning we had a great breakfast.. Krystal jumped on the trampoline and we caught the bus back to Sandefjord.  Students get half price.  From there we took the local bus into Tonsberg to see the castle at the top of the hill.  It is the local landmark and we have a few paintings of it at my parent's house.  The local bus costs 8 dollars for 1 ride.  Outrageous.  We took the bus back and had to walk back from the bus stop which took about 1 hour.. but the weather was really nice so it was fine.  Arvid and Helene had gone into Oslo to watch an opera.. and they got back fairly late.. so we ate super at 11pm.  I was starving but the food was so good it was worth the wait. The next morning we packed up.. and went to the ferry.  Our last stop Gothenburg is next.  We said goodbyes and boarded the huge casino.. I mean ship.