Norwegian Holiday

This past summer, my family and I spent two weeks in Norway visiting my father's home country. I had never been there before and was stunned at its beauty. Everywhere I looked, it seems, I saw something even more amazingly beautiful. Over and over, the views took my breath away. That, and the treacherous roads! There were ten of us: my parents, my two sisters, their children (a daughter and son each...two teenage girls, two pre-teen boys), a brother-in-law (the other was pet-sitting at home) and myself. This was the first time that many of us had been together for that length of time in such close quarters. Ever. It was challenging sometimes, but in retrospect, it was a fantastic experience.


We spent our first and last weekends in a friend's condo high above Oslo. The view from the 8th floor balcony was spectacular. I could have simply sat out there the whole time basking in the sun and beauty...but there was plenty else that was interesting and worth seeing in Oslo itself. The only trouble was getting down the mountain and finding our way to the desired sites. We struggled the first two days on our own, in spite of my father's fluid Norwegian. Trying to navigate a large van (stick shift) on narrow, winding, unfamiliar mountain roads was both treacherous and hilarious at the same time. Even now, I pity my poor father trying to drive amidst our screams and helpless laughter when that frustrating van stalled on a hill yet one more time...

Finally, Sunday, one of his cousins rescued us and gave us the grand tour of museums. I thoroughly enjoyed that day, although it was a little long for the kids. We went to the Folk Museum (a Norwegian version of Sturbridge Village), the Kon Tiki Museum, the Fram Museum, the Viking Ships Museum and the Vigeland Sculpture Park. All in one day! They are actually located fairly close together so it wasn't as crazy a day as it might have been if we had added driving to the equation...

During the week, we toured the southern tip of Norway between Oslo and Bergen. Much of that time we were with family. One evening, about 60 on my grandmother's side threw a dinner for us in their church hall. It was such fun! The food was good and the conversation was, well, limited on our part, but so vivacious and friendly on theirs. Even though we had never met most of them, it was as if we had always known each other. Amazing. This picture shows many, but not all, of the group. The short lady to my immediate right is also named Rondi
In fact, there were three of us present with that same name!

It was here that my father re-connected with his favorite cousin. They are very close, especially theologically (although not of the same religion). They love talking with each other. He and his wife took us all over the countryside showing us places linked to my grandparents' life before they emigrated to the US in their late teens. We saw birth places, churches, cemeteries, homes...all picturesque, all beautiful or charming or any number of other words that are really rather inadequate.

We enjoyed a long fjiord-cruise in Stavangar on a somewhat less than luxurious barge-like boat with a captain who loved to tell stories. The sights were veiled in mist and fog on the way in, but the sun burned it off for our return. We saw the famous Pulpit Rock from the bottom instead of the top and countless waterfalls. In fact, I was surprised that Norway had so many waterfalls. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but of course most of them are from melting snow running off the tops of the mountains and down the sides of the fjiords. This was the first of two fjiord cruises we took (the other was in Bergen).

Of all the cities we visited, I liked Bergen the best. It is a lovely harbor town that is easily navigable by foot, but big enough to be able to enjoy a bus tour. We took a tram ride to the top of the mountain that towers over the city and were seranaded on piano by a Grieg look-alike (Bergen is Grieg's home). The guy was good, and the music was lovely. One afternoon we took a bus to where we thought Grieg's home was. Turns out it let us off about a mile away and we had to walk every step of it. In the rain. I did not enjoy that part, but the house and his composing studio were magnificent. I just wish we had had more time there.

We spent a couple of days with my grandfather's niece and her family. They took us to sites relating to the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. They also took us on a leisurely cruise up the Telemark Canal. This canal has a number of hand-operated locks the operation of which was interesting to watch. Again, the countryside we traveled through was breath-taking. This family was every bit as personable as the other side. There were twin girls (grown women, actually) who were a lot of fun I thought. They were the Ibsen authorities. One of them has written to both Martha and me since our return, apologizing all the while for her English, which is very good...far better than my Norwegian!

Coming and going we had stops in Iceland. Its barren, flat, brown land stood in stark contrast to the mountainous beauty we had lived in for the days in between. The only color we saw there was small fields of purple lupine...but even they could not compete with the myriads of multi-colored lupine in Norway.

I would go back in a heart beat, although it was horrendously expensive (a regular 8-piece plain cheese pizza cost $30!). I don't expect my parents will ever travel like that again, more's the pity. I don't mind traveling alone. In fact I love it. But it was a great pleasure to experience part of my heritage in the company of the people I love most in the world. It was wonderful spending two weeks straight with my family, being able to talk face to face with any one of them whenever I felt like it. I get snatches of that now and again in my "real" life but not 24/7. This, perhaps, was a foretaste of what heaven could be like...beautiful scenery, travel, family....what could be better?