For over 20 years, probably at least that, my family (Mom and Dad, brother and sisters and I, with our mates) had dreamed of going to Norway and Sweden together and walking in some of the footsteps of our great-grandparents on both sides. We weren't able to make it happen for Mom and Dad to still be with us to go, but we finally arranged and booked a trip before Covid hit, then those plans, as were travel plans everywhere, were dashed.
On July 12-30, a newly-revised trip happened, including a 14-Day Norwegian Fjord Cruise and retracing ancestor steps in Sweden and Norway!
2-WEEK CRUISE THROUGH NORWEGIAN FJORDS
What country has the longest coastline in Europe?
It is the relatively-small country of Norway, with its many (over 12,000) fjords, carved by glaciation. Many years ago, U-shaped, deep valleys were formed, with the water being thousands of feet deep. The coastline is over 18,000 miles long. Our cruise visited 7 of these beautiful, natural wonders of nature.
We arrived in Copenhagen 2 days before catching the cruise from there so we could explore the Danish city. We stayed at this Marriott property for 2 nights. The creative "welcome drink," ours was virgin, tasted like an elixir of the gods - delicious!
Hotel Moxy
The Gabrielsen sisters with spouses are in front of Church of Our Lady, which houses Thorvaldson's Christus and 12 Apostles -
Kay and Ken, Patty and Hal, Pam and Roger and Joan and Tom.
John and Cindy flew to Copenhagen that night, then stayed over a couple of days in Copenhagen after we all flew back home.
Our spouses talking it over
We walked to a nearby Danish pastry shop, La Glace. We had to wait for our turn to go inside and choose our pastries.
We walked through the quaint streets, searching for a good place to get some lunch, carrying our pastries with us for dessert.
A Danish diner is having a delicious fresh salmon lunch.
Royal Copenhagen porcelain was displayed along the street we passed by. When we were in Copenhagen 38 years ago, we purchased a couple of pieces; it was a hot item then.
Also, the last time in Copenhagen, we walked through the famous Tivoli Gardens. It is kind of like a predecessor to Disneyland.
We had yummy open-faced Danish sandwiches for lunch - delicious!
Next morning, we boarded our ship, Holland America's Nieuw Statendam, and here is our itinerary:
On board, the gang's all here at last! So absolutely wonderful to be together again!
View from our ship as we're entering our first fjord stop -
EIDFJORD
Eidfjord has a population of about 1000 people.
Eidfjord Old Church, built in 1309
Interesting story of origin . . .
We rode on a bus to visit the Voringfossen Waterfall. The views were spectacular because it was so long and deep.
Leaving our first fjord under the bridge and heading for our next. . .
FLAM
Flam is the archetype Norwegian village with spectacular scenery.
We had fun shopping here. Patty and I got warm, Norwegian-made puffy coats and I got a hat with a puffball on top (always wanted one). The question for this pic is, "Will the real troll stand up?"
more beautiful waterfalls
The food at the dinners was really quite delicious!
For a change, we didn't take pics of the food, but we were impressed.
Couple Pic Night
ALESUND
In 1904, most of Alesund was consumed in a fire, then it was rebuilt from scratch in the curvy, colorful, eye-pleasing style that was in vogue in turn-of-the-century Europe, Art Nouveau.
Sister shot
After we got off the Hop On Hop Off bus, we three decided to go through the Art Nouveau Center - so many pretty things in this style!
Across the street from the museum is this lovely waterway.
The Herring Wife statue to honor the hard work done by the women processing the fish
TRONDHEIM
Trondheim was the first capitol of Norway and is the 3rd largest city. We (Patty, Hal, Roger and I) hired cab driver, Mekit, to drive us around to the highlights of the city. He was from Ethiopia and had lived in Trondheim for 20 years and had a boy and a girl, temporarily being a cab driver while he studied to be a veterinarian, and he hadn't taken tours before. He was so pleasant and accommodating, we loved him!
Kristiansten Fort
Overlooking the city and the Niadros Cathedral
Niadros Cathedral was built over the burial site of King Olav II, who became the patron saint of the nation.
The interior of this cathedral was beautiful!
On the waterfront
Old Town Bridge
Cute tourists in the rain . . .
. . . and having a snack!
Final view of a pretty city
Back at the dock, shopping for gloves
We were entertained evenings on the ship by fine musicians. This is 2 pianist/singers, who, most evenings, entertained us with about every musical genre. We also enjoyed a female vocalist and a male quartet, who performed in the main theater. John and Cindy and Tom and Joan really loved listening to a couple of rock groups, who were great musicians, but definitely loud for our aging ears!
HONNINGSVAG
After we crossed the Arctic Circle, we stopped in this northernmost town we visited before we continued on to North Cape.
Cod drying on racks
Patty and I made friends with this cute Swedish girl who moved to this northern Norwegian town a few years ago and she collects wildflowers in the short summertime and dries them, then makes jewelry out of them and sterling silver. We bought sweet forget-me-not earrings.
I sent the earrings to my darling granddaughter, Abby, because her Grandpa Bart (Jodie's father) died the day after we left on the cruise and she had worked for him on his farm this past summer, just before entering the mission field. Bart was an ER doctor, but his "hobby" and first love was farming. He would take her to lunch every day and they'd chat; she adored him. I knew it was hard for her for him to die while she was on her mission and couldn't go to his funeral and I thought these forget-me-not earrings would be a sweet reminder of him. She loves them!
Roger took a quick pic of this cute little boy, whose family had just arrived at this northern point of Norway, after biking from Switzerland. Unbelievable!
Further north we go, heading for Nordkapp on the Berents Sea. I didn't think it was very cold and I had on a zip hoodie over my clothes. Patty, on the balcony next door, told me to go put on my new puffy coat and puff ball hat - twice, so I did!
We are at the northernmost point on this map.
Holland loves the color orange, which honors their royalty and they have a celebratory Orange Day on the ship.
We took a family photo on the ship
John and Cindy's pic is the only one we have on our camera - cute couple, huh!
The sun would go down in the AM on the cruise up north and when we were at the Nordkapp, then turned around, it didn't go down at all - 24 hours of daylight!
SKJOLDEN
This is maybe the most beautiful fjord we visited! It was a perfect day, the water was a magic blue and Roger hiked up above the little village and got some glorious pics!
"Patty, look friendly for the pic."
"Okay."
Just feast your eyes on the beauty of this place!
We walked to the little village and back.
I'm on the deck of the museum in town. Note our ship in the background.
Roger hiked up this trail and saw so may fabulous sights!
This is probably my favorite photo of the entire cruise!
STAVANGER
I found out after I returned home from our trip and re-read his journal, that Stanvanger was the first city Great-Grandpa Andreas Peterson went to when he was a newly-baptized young missionary of 20. What a lovely city it is and I wish I had realized it when we were there.
We browsed through a Farmer's Market.
We shopped in this jewelry store near our ship and Patty bought me some unique earrings for my birthday. I love them!
I now try to imagine Andreas walking up and down these steep streets proselyting and selling Church tracts for 1 penny. He walked many, many miles on hi mission, rowed boats and rode steamships and once in a while got a ride on a wagon throughout many fjords and locations in Norway, getting rejections almost daily and was many times persecuted.
We took a Hop On Hop Off around the city and decided to get off at the Stavanger Museum, established in 1877 in a 3-story, old original building. It housed biological and cultural history.
I loved the hands on section for children.
This is Norwegian head dress . . .
. . . and native costume through the years.
Snowy Owls are migratory birds found in Norway.
A famous site near Stavanger is this huge monument, Swords In Rock, which commemorates the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872, which unified Norway under one crown. It is 33 feet tall.
Also near by Stavanger is Pulpit Rock, which is a dramatic rock formation almost 2,000 feet tall and is almost flat on top. It takes a famous 2 hour, difficult hike to get there and many tourists do it to be able to say, "I did it!"
See Ken waving and note the crazy sitting on the edge. Yikes!
Ken and Tom hiked it and Ken witnessed a helicopter landing on it to rescue a medical emergency hiker. What a story to tell!
Roger walked back, after we returned from the Stavanger Museum, to go through the modern Petroleum Museum. Norway is a wealthy country, in great part due to its rich supply of oil.
Exterior of the museum at night
We held our own little "church" with a spiritual meeting, with each of us sharing some of our thoughts and feelings about being together on this trip to the lands of our heritage. So much love was expressed and appreciation and gratitude for our forefathers, who left these beautiful places to go to America and the unknown. Such great faith they had and we are the benefactors!
Each night we changed seats around the table, sitting in different combos. It was so fun to chat and discuss what we were experiencing together!
We played trivia contests almost every night, usually with a music theme and often got every question right, or missed 1 or 2. I have to say, Tom, Joan and John's memories for trivia are amazing!
SKAGEN, DENMARK
Skagen is the northernmost town in Denmark and it is known for its arts and crafts, with many shops selling creative wares. We have Patty and Hal's names for Christmas and we found a beautiful gift for them here.
Patty loved Danish hot dogs when she had traveled to Denmark before and when she saw the hot dog cart, she was excited, so we each had one for lunch. Roger and I are not big hot dog fans, but it was really yummy!
I loved the pickles!
Ken and Tom took bike rides around the area and this is a cute pic of Ken by a windmill.
We walked to Seaman's Church on the other end of town with John and Cindy. The navigation theme throughout was fun to see.
After we got back on board, Patty, Joan and I visited Kay (who had a bad cold and stayed in her room most of the day) and brought her some rhubarb and raspberry candy we bought in Skagen and had a sister visit.
After we had gotten back on board and were getting ready to sail, this local band performed for all of us on the ship. It was a cute gesture!
We sailed back to Copenhagen that night, got off the ship in the morning, loaded into vans and drove to the rental car location at the airport.
Then it was off to the next part of our grand adventure!
Beautiful job, Pam!
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