A Different Week

6 May 1986

Dear ones,

Since I got out of the pattern of writing on Saturday morning, I don’t remember when I’ve written to whom. This has been a different week – different than we expected anyway.

The last few days have been bright and warm – more like Oslo’s summer weather. It has been about 70 or so. Just heard the radio announcer say it should get to 73.

Wednesday night the Koppang’s were here for supper – I made lasagna, tossed salad and apple pie. We had 2 phone calls while they were here – one from Vince’s ‘cousin’ at Krakstad. He had found more information on Vince’s great grandmother, and many more farms to visit, he said. Lyle also called verifying his flight time, etc.

Thursday was a holiday here – May 1 Labor Day – so no stores, banks, post offices, or schools were open. We drove over to Bente’s apartment to get a sweater her sister Berit had knitted for Jene. On the way home we stopped at a car wash and ran the car thru. Then we vacuumed and cleaned out the inside. Mid-afternoon Lyle called again. He had changed his mind about coming – think the radiation scared him more than anything else. Vince was really disappointed – he had worked out a couple of itineraries for sight seeing trips. So on Friday we went to Bygdoy – to see the RA II and the Kontiki (Thor Heyerdahl’s raft and balsa boat – the RA oproved that Egyptian culture could reach South America), the Fram which Roald Amundsen used to reach the South Pole I 1911-12. That was more interesting than when we saw it before, since we had watched a series on TV about that expedition. We also went to the Maritime Museum, and to the building housing the 3 Viking ships that have been found and preserved. And before heading home we stopped at the Outdoor Museum and wandered through a part of it. The buildings weren’t open for the season yet. It was a full afternoon – it had been so foggy until nearly noon that we didn’t start early.

Saturday wasn’t foggy but we still didn’t get an early start. Jene slept late, and Vince did some writing or something. But we did go to Vigiland Park in the afternoon. A lot of people were there – more Norwegians soaking up the sun than tourists. We spent about 3 hours looking at the statues and also going through the museum. That was interesting – showed how he made the molds for the bronze statues and the models he made for the granite ones, some of the drawings, etc.

Sunday morning it dawned bright and beautiful. We drove down to Krakstad to go to church, Vince wanted to get pictures of the inside. But it wasn’t open – apparently it has services every other Sunday. So we drove over to As, figuring we would make it in time for church there. However, a note on the fence said that on the first Sunday of the month, services were at 10 a.m. at the “working church” in town. So we drove over to Drobak. Had lunch at an outdoor café, and then drove to the top of a hill to find a dismantled fort from which we were supposed to be able to see the 2 cannons which sunk the German ship on its way to occupy Oslo May 7, 1940. Slowing down the German advance made it possible for the King and the gold to get out of Oslo and eventually out of the country. We didn’t see much of a fort though there were some old cannons. Guess there were more cannons on the other side pointing toward Sweden. We talked to a fellow and he showed us where on the island those 2 cannons were. They were hard to see, and the island is a military base so no one (tourists) is allowed on it. We aren’t sure they will show up on the slide. Guess if you are in a boat you can see the ship 2 km. farther up.

Well, from there we put the car on a ferry and crossed the Oslo fjord to the west side. Wedrove on a winding road along the coast back to Oslo – a pretty drive.

We decided to wait till tomorrow to go to the fjords. Hope the weather holds. Think we will be in Laerdal visiting Ingebrigt Raa on Friday evening. We may make it as far as Bergen before coming back here on Monday. Our car goes in early Tuesday morning and then we will be 3 days without it.

Since we were here, Jene went to her class yesterday, and we went to the final lecture on Norwegian Life and Society. Did I tell you about the American whose parents were missionaries in Japan (she attended the lectures, too)? Her aunt was (or is) a school teacher in Osage – Dawn knows her (the aunt). Her dad’s name is Philip Luttio and I think he was at LBI when I was. The rest of the class has an exam next week – since we weren’t registered we aren’t taking that. Jene has her final class in Norwegian today. Last Saturday one of her classmates was here for supper, she is working for a year at least as live-in help in a Norwegian home. Her duties are mostly housework, though there are 2 children in the home. She has graduated from a college in Washington state – next she hopes to work in France. She likes languages, so learns the language in these countries.

Better get this ready to mail and then have some coffee. We will be here until the 20th for sure.

Love, Verla and Vince