Gathering of Friends

29 July, 2017
What a lovely evening! Solfrid organized a potluck garden party - bringing together family, new friends from Heimdal and friends from "once upon a time" in Santa Barbara. It was a magical night - a mixture of English and Norwegian languages, people meeting for the first time and people re-connecting.

Britt Akslen

Britt and I met when we were both students at UCSB taking courses in applied linguistics. At the time, I was a single mom. Britt suggested that I needed a "nice Norwegian au pair."  She knew Solfrid and her family from playing semi-professional handball.

Turid (Solfrid's mom), Solfrid and Ann

We met Turid when she and her husband Norvald came to the USA in the summer of 1985, with their youngest two children to pick up daughter Solfrid and take a cross-country road trip before returning to Norway. She has hardly changed at all!

Gillian Thun

After Solfrid's year with us, she sent her neighbor Gillian our way. Gillian, while in California, fell in love and left her post early. It was so good to see her again!

Olavsfesdagene

29 July, 2017 ~ Trondheim
Solfrid and I took a brisk early morning walk with the dogs through the forest behind their home (more about that in a later blog post).

After a lovely breakfast of knekkebrød (seed cracker) and brown cheese (yum!), the four of us headed for Trondheim, a 15 minute drive from Heimdal.

We are here for the 10-day Olavsfestigene (Festival of St. Olaf). It is much like a Renaissance Fair with actors dressed in Medieval garb, wares for sale, etc.

Olaf II Haraldsson (995-29 July 1030) was King of Norway from 1015-1028. During his lifetime, he was known as "Olav the Fat" because of his sizable girth. Some believe that he is responsible for bringing Christianity to Norway, however, this has been disputed. Olaf, like many Scandinavian kings, used his Christianity to gain more power for the monarchy, so religion and politics... For the same reasons, Olav was beatified in 1031 and is considered to be the patron saint of Norway. His remains were enshrined in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, however the relics are no longer there. Nonetheless, there is a newly popular 640 km pilgrimage route to Nidaros Cathedral known as Saint Olav's Way. 

The Happy Gate Bridge (Lykkens Portal or Portal of Happiness) is the iconic Old Town Bridge at the southern end of Kjøpmannsgata that crosses the Nidelva River that snakes its way through Trondheim. It is a popular bridge for wedding photos.  

Bakklandet, situated on the banks of the Nidelva River, is one of the oldest parts of Trondheim with lots of cozy cafés, lovely restaurants, lively pubs and boutique shops.  There one can also find Brygge, wooden tenement warehouses built on the wharf with pylons into the water so that, in olden days, ships could easily unload. These are iconic of both Trondheim and Bergen (where we will be next week). 
 

We had lunch at Bakklandet Skydsstation, an old home from the 17th century, now a restaurant in the old town of Trondheim. 

Train from Oslo to Trondheim

28 July, 2017 ~ Train to Trondheim!
Train left Oslo SentralStasjon at exactly 8:02AM, headed northward to Trondheim where we arrived at exactly 2:30PM. The country is magnificent!

We sped through magnificent forests, past fairytale villages and hillside farms, as well as alongside raging rivers, pristine lakes and fjords. We climbed to above the timberline at Dovre Plateau (1100 meters), where man hearty Norwegian backpackers disembarked - some of whom looked to be at least our age. We passed by Lillehammer, site of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway, situated in the District of Trøndelag. With a population of 190,000 its moniker is “a small city with big experiences.” Solfrid is the head administrator of operations for all of Trøndelag. Her staff coordinates all police, emergency, etc. (i.e., all 911 calls).

Arriving Trondheim!

28 July - Trondheim and Heimdal!
Solfrid met us at Trondheim Stasjon. Although we have not seen each other since the summer of 1985, when she was 19 years old, we have kept in touch, following the inevitable twists and turns of a life well lived: her career as a police officer, her first marriage to Tron Falk, the birth and development of her daughters Pia and Tora, her marriage to Geir in Rarotonga, now her two grandchildren Henrik (age 3 years) and Tyra (age 4 months)...

She has a lovely home in the suburb of Heimdal with Geir Baakhaug and their two Brittany Spaniels (Kasper and Buskus).

Chef Geir

Geir is also with the police force and is truly a Renaissance man. He hunts and skis (jumps, downhill and cross-country). He rock climbs and rides mountain bikes. He even gardens and cooks! For dinner we enjoyed game (grouse and two other birds we could not negotiate a translation for) that he had hunted. I was in heaven!

MorMor Solfrid and Tyra

Bayer and his mom Tora

Tora, Ann, Ned, Christer (Pia's husband), Geir, Pia and Baby Tyra

Oslo - Grand Café on Karl Johans Gate

27 July 2017
We met up with Keith and Heather, our friends from Sydney, who arrived from Stockholm after a tour of Sweden. The four of us had dinner at the Grand Café on Karl Johans Gate (pedestrian walkway from SentralStasjon to Royal Palace). The Grand Café was first opened in 1874, when Oslo was called Kristiania. It was an artist hangout. Henrik Ibsen ate his lunch here daily, Evard Munch once offered to swap the painting "Sick Girl" in return for 100 steak dinners, and Gustav Vigelands also was a regular (see blog post regarding Vigelandsparken). Ned and I shared a most excellent waffle with golden caviar, sour cream and pickled onions - topped with house-made crisps (see food porn photo below).

As it was a balmy evening, we sat at a table outside so we could people watch. While dining, we had a spectacular rain storm. (We are learning that one can experience all four seasons on a single day here in Norway.)

Oslo - Opera House

27 July, 2017

From Ekebergparken we took the #18 tram back to City Center and walked from our hotel to the Oslo Opera House.

Iconic like the Frank Geary-designed Disney Hall in Los Angeles or the Sydney's Opera House, this winged building appears to be rising up from the water (Oslo is situated at top of 6-mile long fjord). The main theater seats 1400. The orchestra pit can be raised to become the orchestra platform and accommodates a 99-piece orchestra. Built in 2008, at a cost of $500,000,000 (1/2 billion dollars), it was funded entirely by the citizens of Oslo.

Oslo - Bygdoy Island and Ekebergparken

27 July 2017

From Vigelandparken we caught the bus #30 to Vikingskipene on Bygdoy Island. Saw three massive Viking ships from 1100 years ago that were used for long sea voyages (as far away as Newfoundland and Mediterranean) that, once retired, were used as burial ships.

We next visited Ekebergparken, a 63 acre forested park that opened in 2013 - gifted to the city of Oslo by real estate tycoon and heir to beer fortune, Christian Ringnes. The park is rather like a personal gallery for his collection of sculptpures - mostly female (although there is one noticeable male sculpture in bright yellow). 

Walking Woman

Marilyn

The one "male" statue...

Oslo - Vigelandsparken

July 27, 2017 - Oslo 

After a fabulous breakfast, we purchased 24-hour public transit passes for NOK45 ($6) – half-price because we are considered seniors.

From Jernabanetorget tram and bus stop in front of hotel, we caught the #12 tram to Vigelandsparken. This is one of Norway’s most popular attractions, receiving more than 1 million visitors/year.  It consists of magnificently manicured parklands adorned with more than 200 nude statues, cast in bronze or carved in granite that Gustav Vigeland (1868-1943) created just for this park.