Norway.... by plane and automobile

I think there was once a movie called, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles". Well, that was ringing through my brain on our trip to Norway. I will add "boats" too, as we took them all. So, I will divide the Norway experience into parts using these subtitles, since there is no way I can relate it all in one blog. And...will just tell about some highlights.

After discussing whether we would drive to Norway (Lyle's idea: "Can't we just rent a car and drive to Denmark, cross over to Sweden, then go to Norway?"). I argued that would take at least 3 our our 10 days, so I had to overrule it. Nope, we will rent a car when we get to Oslo, which is what we did after our plane ride from Paris. We arrived to a rainy, but green, Norway on a Friday afternoon. The landscape was dotted with farms with red barns and wood houses, so different from the limestone towns of France.



We picked up the car and after getting a little lost ( "I can't find the streets on this map!") we found the hotel in the city. On our walk to scout out the city in the evening, we were immediately introduced to Norway's famous high prices at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was a must since I collect the shot glasses. One beer and one gin and tonic cost the equivalent of $25.00! These prices were going to be a challenge! Norwegians pay a lot for their drinks and eating out. Not as many cafes lining the street as in Paris. Now I understand why. The price of a hamburger at McDonald's was around $8.00. You can guess what a meal at a nice restaurant would be.....



But Oslo has money....oil money has helped build condos and entertainment areas in the center of the city and on the harbor. It was impressive and clean. Because it didn't get dark until after 11 pm, the nightlife just started going around then. Many places are open til 3 AM, which is when the sun started coming up! We even saw a number of U.S. chain restaurants, rare in France.




On Saturday we headed north in our little Prius to discover my roots, one of the purposes of our trip. My mother's grandparents came from the border area of Norway and Sweden and we were determined to find the two little towns. The countryside reminded us a lot of northern Minnesota....


but when we came to the town of Grue, the landscape changed a bit to a forest of tall, skinny pine trees.


I now realized what I had learned about my ancestors.....this area is called "Finnskogen", which refers to the Finnish immigrants who settled this area because of their expertise with working the land filled with these trees. I guess I never realized my Norwegian ancestors were Finnish! That day we just happened to be there for their summer event celebrating their Finnish customs. While walking through the village that was set up and learning about the customs still practiced from the 17th and 18th century, we talked to a few people and discovered that they had the same names that were in my family tree! So, I guess I DID meet some relatives and was pretty excited to see the area that my mom's grandmother came from, before emigrating to the U.S. when she was 12 years old in 1867.








We headed north to search for Medskogen, Sweden, just across the border. This is where my great-grandfather came from. He came to the Wisconsin area when he was just 4 years old. I guess it wasn't odd that they met in the states and their families were no more than 20 miles apart back in Norway, but I still find it a good story. They had 13 children, the sixth one my great-grandmother Mathilda. Anyway, we did find the area, even though it isn't much of a town anymore.


The rain and time beckoned us to continue on our journey back into Norway to the little town of Gjovik, a little south of Lillehammer, on the largest lake in Norway. This town was dead, streets empty....


At least, until 11 pm. Then it woke up. We later found out that this area is what some call "redneck" (we laughed at our Norwegian friend that we met in Oslo who told us this), Well, they do know how to have fun. We found a little bar that had music and it soon became full of happy, TALL and husky Scandinavians. How different from the French! The music was fun, a mix of American, Irish, and Norwegian folk and pop songs. We had a great time!


Again, heading back to the little hotel at the wee hours of the morning, we couldn't believe how many people were out. It was a welcome change from Paris, which is just so much more sophisticated and formal. We made our plans to find Lyle's ancestor's town the next morning...the town of Tollefsrud.