Greta loves Maihaugen.
She also loves running after her Uncle Jeremy.

 My brother Jeremy and his samboer, Amber, came to visit us in late August for nearly two weeks. My delay in writing this post has everything to do with waiting for my brother to sort through his 2,000 pictures and nothing to do with my own busy schedule. . . 

I do a little Big Sister
ass kickin' on the stilts at Maihaugen.

While the plane tickets were bought long ago, the planning was. . . shall we say, a little last minute? J&A wanted first and foremost to see their adorable niece, but also to get a taste of Norway. I, of course, wanted to visit with them too, but also wanted them to really like Norway. In fact, I was more concerned about their having an awesome, kick-ass visit than I have been with any of our other visitors thus far (aunt/uncle and our parents), mostly I think because of the amount of money involved and their age. Let me try to explain:  our parents, our aunt/uncle. . . they're retired/nearly retired, have some extra money on their hands in this stage of their lives. . . somehow for my brother and his girlfriend to drop the thousands of dollars it takes to get here--these two hard working kids with a mortgage. . . I really felt some pressure for them to have a great time. (And to want to come back!).


So, in addition to visiting Lillehammer and the requisite trip to Oslo (either upon arrival or departure, or during any of the train trips that generally require a trip into Oslo), I strongly encouraged them to visit Bergen. Bergen is located on the west coast of Norway, and notoriously rainy (kind of like Seattle). But it is colorful, cosmopolitan, historical, and beautiful, and since I visited it 6 years ago on a rare sunny day--I loved it. A link to this blog perhaps sealed the deal on visiting Bergen.


I also recommended a Norway in a Nutshell trip, which fellow blogger Michele described as "ridiculously expensive but totally worth it". It enabled them to get a taste of Norway in just a day or two trip--fjord trip, train trip to the mountains and glaciers, and back down to the coastline.


I thought Lillehammer, Oslo, Bergen, Norway in a Nutshell would be a nice taste of Norway. A few weeks before their visit Jeremy said, "We're going to start reading the guidebooks now!" I reassured them that late August into early September isn't high tourist season anymore, and not to worry too much about making reservations in some of the more popular tourist destinations.

And the weather continues to cooperate.
We stopped at the octagonal church in 
Sør Fron on our drive to Rondane to enjoy
the spectacular view and sunshine.

Oops.


Bergen was Booked Solid on their chosen days. Only horrendously expensive hotels were available. Jeremy sent us link after link to hostels and small apartments, and every one was booked. After playing with the dates of their in-country trips a bit, and only after Erik called about 40 privately owned apartments, did we find them a place to stay in Bergen for 3 nights.


Let this be a warning to you!!!

We begin the 5km walk to Rondvassbu Fjell Hotel
in Rondane National Park. 

Weather was the wild card. Remember we just had the rainiest June, July and August in history (or modern history) in Lillehammer, and so a few days of rain could be the difference between a miserable trip or an awesome one.


They had an AWESOME TRIP!!  The weather (although a little chilly for late August) cooperated. . . even in Bergen. For the most part.

Nearly there!
(No, I did not carry Greta the whole way. We had a stroller).

Once they arrived in Lillehammer, and we made the pilgrimage to Maihaugen, I convinced them that we should do a day hike into Rondane National Park and stay overnight in Rondvassbu, one of many classic Norwegian mountain hotels. My brother and his girlfriend aren't really hikers (they live in DC), but I reassured them that it wasn't so much of a hike as it was a 5km walk on a dirt road. With backpacks. Norwegians walk in on a Sunday afternoon, have a cup of coffee, and walk back out again. Parents push baby buggies, kids ride their bikes. But it's all in the middle of really incredible high mountain terrain. The sleeping accommodations are rustic (think bunk beds and candles) but the food is not (think 3 course meals with a beer/wine menu).


They agreed it sounded like a fun addition to their itinerary, without too much convincing. Erik was busy with work and house stuff, so it was the two of them along with Greta and myself. We packed backpacks full of layers of rainproof clothing, long underwear and our bed linens (only to find out upon arrival at the hotel that we could have "rented" the linens and spared ourselves the extra pounds in the backpack) and drove the two hours to Rondane, stopping along the way for some pretty incredible sight-seeing. Greta enjoyed the hike from the comfort of her stroller, and J&A were adequately impressed by the stark beauty of the high mountain range. 


After an evening meal of fish, potatoes (and a very tasty pasta salad for vegetarian Amber) and chocolate mousse, accompanied by a good beer and refreshing glass of wine, we settled into the living room to read and chat by the candlelight. The mountain hotel was a bit overrun by about 50+ high school aged kids, heading out on a first-week-of-school multi-night expedition. But they definitely added to the rustic, Norwegian feel to the place--all these kids not batting an eye about heading out into the wilderness with a few days' supplies on their backs. 

Rustic but cozy, right Amber?

The multiple layers of wicking long underwear, fleece and rain gear were unnecessary on our walk in--the sun was out and we all stripped down to a single layer of clothes. The walk out ended on a chilly note with a few sprinkles and strong wind, but did not dampen the spirits of our DC Hikers who, to their credit, got off the beaten path of the "typical" tourist in Norway. 


Come see for yourself! 

Come back soon, Jeremy and Amber!
You still have a lot of Norway left to see!

catch-up

I feel like I am "behind" in my blogging, like there is a quota I'm supposed to fill or something. But as events pass me by, or as I experience and live through life more accurately, I feel like I should be noting them somehow. But, life is busy, and I've got some engaging knitting projects goin' on.

My brother and his samboer (long-term girlfriend) came to visit us for the last two weeks, escaping late-summer mugginess in Washington DC and arriving to cool early-fall (mostly) sunshine in Lillehammer. How they lucked out on the weather, I don't know. We had a fantastic time with them here, and Greta basked in the attention of her uncle and aunt. Despite not opening a guide book for Norway until about 3 weeks before their trip, we still managed to assemble a nice sampling of Norway: Lillehammer, hike to a mountain hotel, a small taste of Oslo, a Norway in a Nutshell trip, 3 days in Bergen, and back to Lillehammer. Fjords, high alpine mountains, glacier, reindeer meat, Aquavit, barnehage visit, a dozen bouquets of dandelions and daisies, and approximately 3,000 pictures of one adorable 3-year old. More on their visit later. . .

I restarted my Norwegian classes last week, this class being a "study group" for the Bergen's test (the test required for non-native speakers who want to study at the university level). I have no plans or desires to study at the university level here, but it is the next level of class available here. I could definitely use the practice and exposure to more instruction in Norwegian. 3 days into the class (we meet Tuesdays and Thursdays) I'm much more optimistic and encouraged than I was last spring, and it's a little strange to feel so positive about class. The students are motivated, the teacher is invested and energetic, the class is small. All good things. More on this titillating subject later. . .

A few weeks ago, I took a mommy-day and escaped to Oslo for the day. It's just a little too time consuming to do just a day trip for, I've decided. It's a 2.5 hour train/bus ride (depending on if the train tracks are flooded or not), so 5 hours of the day is simply transportation. Then add on the 20 minute bus ride at the end of the trip to get me to Øyer, and the 10 minute walk up the road. . . it's a long day. The particular day I chose was one of three days of an arts and crafts festival in downtown Oslo. Going to art fairs is part of what makes summer summer to me, so although it was a bit smaller than I had hoped, it was still really enjoyable. The weather was gorgeous, and I basically spent the day wandering around the downtown. Will touch on the highlights of this little getaway soon, too. . .

The house is coming along. The søknad (application to the city) has been submitted, after weeks of waiting for our architect to come back from his relaxing 3+ week vacation and finalize our plans! The 3-week countdown for the city to consider the plans is underway, and we hope to begin major work around September 15th. In the meantime, the plumber has been in and essentially finished plumbing for the basement laundry room, first floor bathroom, and kitchen. Our electrician broke his foot, and after minimal scrambling, we we found another. He has wired nearly everything in the current home, and after he finishes a bit more work this week, we should be able to put up some walls. In fact, our carpenter was working with Erik on Friday, and they had already begun to put up the paneling on Greta's walls and ceiling. More news, with pictures, coming soon. . . .

On a side note, I want to mention how truly saddened we are to watch and read the news reports of the flooding in Vermont. Hurricane Irene dumped 6-12 inches of rain across the state, and the flooding has devastated so much of that beautiful state. Vermont is so near and dear to our hearts, and we have many friends still there (although everyone we know seems to be safe and unharmed). It is just heartbreaking to see the destruction.

So that, dear readers, should keep you on the edge of your seat until I can find a little spare time between knitting projects, building projects, essay writing, verb memorizing, mothering and entertaining guests and finally write full updates on the above sneak previews. 

Quick update. . .

Life is getting busy here, and my computer is on the fritz. Seeing that the nearest Apple repair shop is in Oslo, it might be a while before I am fully back "on line".

Quick update, on things I really intended to write entire blog entries about, but can't seem to find the time. . .

1) uhhhh. . . so, this kind of delayed news, but. . . we bought a house! We took possession about a month ago, and immediately tore down walls, ceilings, floors, and 50 years of bad wallpaper choices. Will definitely write more on this later.

2) am beginning to pack for the upcoming move. We must be out of our rented house at the end of June, but our "new" house will in no-way-imagineable be inhabitable. So, we'll spend 3 weeks in a friends house while they are on vacation, and then hopefully move half-way into Our House.

3) it has been exactly one year to the day that the international movers pulled into our driveway and began to pack up our every belonging. It was a much anticipated, exciting, exhausting, nerve-wracking, incredibly stressful, sad, bittersweet day. It truly seems much longer than a year ago.

4) have heard that a letter from SAFH (regarding my nursing license) is on its way! Erik has been calling their office for literally months trying to reach the person handling my case, and was told today (the first time he has spoken to someone since before Easter--yes, two months ago) that a letter is in the mail, and they are requesting. . . verification of the hours that I worked as a nurse. We are crossing our fingers that this is all they need, and that I am now at the top of their "to-do" list.

5) summer seems to have arrived, along with torrential downpours and glorious evenings. Greta is excited about wearing shorts and has new sandals that arrived along with her Great Aunt Martha and Great Uncle Gary from Boston. We had a short, but very sweet visit with our favorite Jewish uncle and Greta's #2 producer of handknit gifts.

6) as of today, the sun sets at 10:51pm and will rise tomorrow at 3:45am. It essentially never gets dark. This makes it very difficult to convince oneself that it is actually time to sleep. Thankfully, Greta has only once asked why she was going to bed when "it's still daylight out". Tika, on the other hand, begins wandering around the house around 4am, wondering why the rest of us aren't stirring yet.

And that's the news from Lillehammer. Where all of the women are blonde, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are even blonder.

It's a Fun Happy Positive Blog Entry!

My father told me "it's time to post something nice on your blog. Your last two entries have been negative." (This was prior to my scathing Påske post). And then he corrected my grammar. TWICE. 


Sigh. . . okay, Dad. I'll write something nice. Like, how about. . . . your visit to Norway! 

The Three G's: Grandma,
Grandpa and Greta

My parents are pensjonister (retirees), and are spending my inheritance* by buying and then driving an RV around Europe for 3 months every summer**. This will be Year #4. They kicked off this year by first flying to Norway to visit us for a few days, and will wrap up the summer by eventually driving the RV to Lillehammer (by way of England) and storing it in Norway for the winter. Year #5 (2012) they will tour Scandinavia.


So, Grandma and Grandpa visited Greta, and provided great laps and cuddle time with lots and lots of story reading. And despite the jetlag, we visited a few must-sees: the ducks up the road in the canal, Greta's barnehage, the view from the top of the ski jumps just up the road from us, and the view from the bottom of the ski jumps just down the road from us, and of course the open air museum Maihaugen. It was a bit chilly, but sunny, with beautiful views of the valley below. But let's face it: they didn't come to Norway to see Norway. . . they came to see Greta.


*It's okay--I can make this joke--they did it first!
**You can read their own crazy adventures on their blog. Yes, my parents have a blog: www.ourtravelswithrover.com

Godt Nytt År!

We were invited to spend New Year's Eve with our Norwegian friends, Roger and Merete, and their two boys who are in Greta's barnehage. Erik's parents are visiting us for a week or so over New Years, so they joined us as well. Apparently their 5-year-old, while very excited that Greta was coming to visit, was not so excited that she was bringing her English speaking grandparents, and disappointedly asked his mother before we arrived, "Do we have to speak English tonight?" Not that he was doing much speaking, but having his mother speak it limits his own understanding of our conversation. I know how you feel, kid!

Since I didn't see a TV in their living room, and I have no idea if there is a Norwegian equivalent of Dick Clark or the Times Square ball, I asked, "How will we know it's officially the New Year?" They responded that there would be fireworks set off around the neighborhood.

This was an understatement. About 10-15 minutes before the New Year, individual homes began setting off their fireworks. Roger and Merete live on in a hillside that looks over much of southern Lillehammer and Lake Mjøsa: the view is quite spectacular. We all gathered out on their deck, in jackets and blankets, and a little champagne and watched probably no fewer than 50 homes set off thousands of kroner-worth of fireworks. It was amazing!

Photo by Stian Furuseth, from http://hagenigutua.blogspot.com/

Incidentally, their 5 year-old, who was so excited to watch the raketter (rockets) at midnight, fell asleep around 11:15pm. He was an absolute noodle at midnight, and impossible to rouse for the fireworks display. Greta, on the other hand, was too wound up from playing with her friends and sleeping in a strange new environment was out of the question. She rang in the New Year in her jammies, wrapped up in several blankets in our arms, out on the porch with the rest of us.

I hope you all had a festive New Years, and have caught up on sleep in the meantime. I am looking forward to the new adventures this new year will bring: first of all, my language classes starting on January 3rd!

September weekend in Oslo

Enjoying the harbor near
Rådhuset (city hall)

The weekend of September 24-25, Erik, Greta and I traveled down to Oslo to meet up with Erik's parents during their last weekend in Norway.


We found a reasonable hotel near Oslo Sentralstasjon (train) and the Rådhuset (city hall) on the main Oslo harbor. Erik and I managed to navigate downtown Oslo in a car for the first time, at 10pm at night.

Saturday was cool (but not rainy!) and the city was mobbed by people running the Oslo Half Marathon and Marathon the next day. Saturday had many pre-race events, including a 3K that wound its way around many of the sights near our hotel.


We spent Saturday enjoying the views from Akershus Fortress, the harbor near Rådhuset, and enjoyed a delicious lunch at Aker Brygge, the shopping area near the wharf.

That evening, after Greta's afternoon nap in the hotel, we wandered over to the new Opera House, and walked up the slanted roofs to the top overlooking the harbor. We peeked inside the lobby of the opera house, which looks really beautiful. 

At the Opera House, where
you can climb on the roof!

On Sunday morning we hopped on a tour boat of the Oslo harbor that took us from the Opera House to Bygdøy, where 3 of Oslo's main attractions are located: the Vikingship Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum, and the PolarShip Museum. Erik and I have seen all three, and we had a nap schedule we wanted to adhere to, so we limited ourselves to 30 minutes in the Vikingship Museum. It's a very interesting exhibit, and I highly recommend it. 

At the Viking Ship Museum

  

  

Vigeland's sculptures at Frognerpark

Sunday afternoon was a brilliantly sunny day, and while Greta napped and Erik caught up on work, I wandered past the runners loping down the main pedestrian shopping street, Karl Johans Gate, and up to the royal palace, Slottet. Feeling inspired by the fresh air and a few spare hours, I walked to Vigeandsparken, also known as Frogner Park or Vigeland's Sculpture Park. 

Monolith in Frognerpark

The park is filled with over 200 sculptures and statues of the life's work of Gustav Vigeland. It is an enchanting place, and probably the most unique and interesting side of Oslo. 

We were planning on meeting Erik's distant cousins, the three Tveter siblings and their families, for dinner that evening near Holmenkollen, the ski jumps that overlook the city. Erik agreed to pick me up near Frogner Park to allow me to savor the sunshine at the park, however we hadn't determined a time or place when I had left. That's what cell phones are for, right?

To pass some time, I sat down and tried to fix an annoying feature on my cell phone. After a few options, the phone asked me to "clear settings" or "reset settings" or something like that, which I agreed to do. BIG mistake. It basically locked me out of my phone, asking me for PIN and PUK codes, which I had no recollection of. I was stuck. After a few panicky minutes--it was getting very close to 4pm, when Erik was going to leave the hotel--I asked a nice looking Norwegian couple pushing a baby stroller (basically every other couple) if I could borrow their cell phone. Of course, I couldn't remember Erik's phone number the first few times, but eventually contacted him and set up a meeting time and place. Crisis averted. Yes, sounds so calm now. Not so calm then.


We had a lovely dinner at Frognersentern, a historic hotel overlooking the city, reacquainting ourselves with Erik's cousins--our only family in Norway! They were incredibly welcoming to Erik when he was a student here 15 years ago, and have hosted us on both of our visits to Norway.

Visiting Oslo with a 2 year old was a very different experience than our last visit 3 years ago, as you can only imagine. The boat ride was a big hit, as was running around the harbor. I think Frogner Park also would have been very enjoyable, so we'll put it on our list for next time. There are still many things in Oslo that we haven't done (or I haven't done), and many more visitors to come (we hope), so I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to find some more favorites.

Birkebeiner Løppet and our First Visitors!

Erik ran the Birkebeinerløppet this weekend--the half marathon trail race that is part of the 3 Birkebeiner races. We got a big kick out of what was included in his pre-race shwag kit: men's lotion, diet shake, Floradix magnesium supplement, sardines and. . . . classic brown sauce!

What every runner wants: sardines and
brown sauce, with a little diet shake
to wash it all down.

Erik's parents are visiting Norway for what they declare is the "first of many visits". It's a nice way to think about it, because we don't feel the pressure of doing everything in just one visit. They stayed with us Thursday night through early Monday morning. We were able to visit Greta's barnehage and our local grocery store, see Erik finish a very muddy race and still smile at the end, buy some winter boots and slippers for a growing girl, do the requisite visit to Maihaugen, and eat reindeer and lamb (sorry vegetarian readers: it is slaughter season, and it was good). 

His parents left this morning to visit Voss, where they will stay with one of Erik's former teachers from the Folk School. They will then continue on to Bergen, where we hope it won't rain on them. Next weekend we will meet them in Oslo for some exploring.

With Oma (Cyn) and a muddy Erik at the
finish of the Birkebeinerløppet