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Greetings from Joan and Jan who are enjoying beautiful Scandinavia! Along with Jeff & David we recently headed to Oslo to begin one of the popular “Norway in a Nutshell” Fjord Tours. Traveling by rail from Oslo to Myrdal, we experienced our first look at the spectacular Norwegian scenery. The Bergen Railway, traveling through the Finse area, rises above the trees to an altitude of 1222 meters. We were plunged into darkness at numerous points as we traveled through mountain tunnels and snow tunnels. The slated snow tunnels were built on the sides of the mountain to keep the snow from blocking the rails. We disembarked at Myrdal to ride the famous Flam Railway. The 20 km-long ride between Myrdal (altitude 866 meters) and Flam (altitude 2 meters) takes roughly one hour - one of the steepest descents in the world. The train stopped at several points to allow for photos of the majestic mountains and numerous impressive waterfalls. It was quite cool and rainy with a few snowflakes, but we were well dressed and nothing could detract us from the awesome scenery. At the Flam train station, we boarded an express boat for a five and a half hour journey
through the Sognefjord and along the western coast of Norway. Along the way, we saw quaint villages on the hillsides, spectacular mountain scenery; all very lush and green. There is no way photos can do justice to what we experienced. As we neared the sea, the weather became cold and rainy and we escaped to the warmer seating inside.
We arrived in Bergen as the sun was setting and made our way through the rain to the InCity Hotel in the town center. We were pleasantly surprised by the spacious room with a complete kitchen and separate bedroom for Jeff and David. We were famished and couldn’t find any lefse, so we had to settle for pizza at Dolly Dimple’s.
We spent our first day in Bergen enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. There were flowers blooming everywhere and numerous historic statues worth noting. Joan and Janet rode the famous Floibanen tram to the top of one of Bergen’s seven hills where we enjoyed a delicious evening meal. We had lots of daylight since it didn’t get dark until well after 10 pm.
On our second day in Bergen, we rented a car and traveled
Flam Railway
Jeff and Davidto the Voss area to explore our paternal Knutson roots, which included the Vike and Horvei farms. We found the Vike farm with no trouble and even experienced a little manure spreading on our “ancestral roots.” The Horvei Farm was a little harder to find. Part of the fun was taking a few wrong turns, and after traveling narrow dirt roads with many switch-backs, we finally spotted the prominent blue house on the Horvei farm.
After spending our final night in Bergen we boarded the train back to Oslo, where we had just enough daylight left to visit the famous Vigeland sculpture park. Maria posted pictures and description of this park on an earlier blog entry.
David left to return home and Jeff, Jan and Joan embarked on the northern leg of our journey. In the Valdres valley, home of the maternal side of our father’s family, we visited the Reinli stave church where our great-grandfather Halstenson was baptized. We traveled a bit further and spent the night in Beitostolen, a popular ski area with wonderful walking trails. In the morning we continued on to Trondheim where we toured Nidarosdomen, the cathedral where the monarchs of Norway were
crowned. The construction began in the 1200s and has included numerous additions and restorations. The highlight of the tour was hearing the Lord’s Prayer said in Norwegian - all visitors were invited to pray it simultaneously in their native tongue. After viewing the many artifacts and crown jewels, we continued on to Steinkjar, located about an hour north of Trondheim. The Steinkjer area was the home of our maternal grandmother, Jonethe Marianne Sivertsen, who immigrated at the age of 17. There we connected with the parents of friends of Jeff and Maria’s. Although we had never met them, they graciously invited us to lodge at their cabin near Steinkjer. Jeff had a GPS, but they assured us we would not find the cabin that easily. Located on the rocky banks of a fjord, the views were spectacular and we were so far north there was hardly any darkness! What a coincidence that they had located a distant cousin, Jan, with whom we had been communicating prior to our trip. He had emailed us a couple days before we arrived to say he had a surprise for us!
So, the following day, our cousin took us on an incredible journey
through the countryside and churches where our grandmother had lived. We still have grandmother’s old trunk and many letters and pictures our mother had saved. The most notable is an oil painting of her home church sent to our grandmother, likely from her sister, Ingeborg, who remained in Norway. This painting was done by Louis Kvalstad and is dated 1927. We learned that he is noted for several paintings of that area. Ingeborg had written several letters to our mother - of course, all in Norwegian. Jan was able to read these letters as well as communicating with the locals. The first stop was at the Solberg Church where our grandmother was confirmed. We knew our grandmother’s parents had been buried at the Malm Church which was across the fjord from the Solberg Church. We assumed that Ingeborg would also have been buried there and weren’t even sure she had a gravestone. Ingeborg had never married and had no close family left in Norway. Jan’s surprise was that he had located Ingeborg’s gravestone!! Not an easy task, as the churchyard was full and her stone was in the back, covered with moss. Jan knew about this country church, but had
never been there before. We had to take the long way around the end of the fjord to drive to Malm - it would have been a short trip across the fjord by boat or skis. In Malm, we stopped at a local restaurant for some excellent lefse and coffee. While there, Jan had an extended conversation with a local woman who knew the farm near where our grandmother and her family lived. We then visited the Malm Church which was very basic on the outside, but incredibly ornate on the inside. We searched the gravestones for our great-grandparents, but were never able to find their stone. We were surprised to hear Jan explain that it is common to remove the stones and reuse the graves after a period of time - especially if there was no family to continue to pay for maintenance.
From the church, we headed to the farm where we met an older woman who remembered Ingeborg. She spoke only rapid Norwegian, so again, Jan was an invaluable interpreter. What was to follow was our second amazing discovery! This woman’s nephew was the farmer and he led us on a treacherous walk through overgrown saplings
and mossy rocks down to the point of the peninsula. There we saw the remains of foundations of an old farmhouse and storage shed. This shoreline was beautiful, with lapping waves and an incredible view of the Solberg Church across the fjord. When we had visited the church, we noted that it sat among some rolling farm land. However, the painting showed a rocky outcropping near the church? Where was the artist sitting when he painted the picture? We thought perhaps he had used an artist’s prerogative and had included some additional local landscape. But, as we walked along the rock covered shore of this peninsula, we spied a flat rock with a back rest large enough for both of us to sit upon. From this vantage point, it was obvious this was where the artist had sat!! There was a rocky outcropping on our side of the fjord with the church framed in the background. This truly was an “aha” moment!! We would have liked to spent a long time there contemplating the life of our grandmother, but time was short and we had more to see. Our last stop was at Jan’s grandfather’s boyhood. It was an old
weathered shell of a farm house, where Jan remembered gardening as a child. We also visited two local churches in this area, but our time was running out and Jan’s wife was waiting with a marvelous buffet at their home in Steinkjer. What a day!!
One more night at the cabin and we headed out early for a very long drive back to Goteborg, Sweden. Jeff had been away from his family for over a week and we could hardly take in any more unbelievable experiences!! Thank you Jeff for a fantastic journey! And, thank you, Maria, for being a single parent for a week and warmly welcoming us back to Sweden. We will have to write more another time about this beautiful area and our experiences here.
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Mary and Everett
non-member comment
So nice to see you, Jan and Joan!! Looks and sounds like you are having a wonderful time!!