April 13, '13
This is a bittersweet day. Erik and I leave London in the morning. We have really had a wonderful time here, had the chance to do and learn so many things. It's been great to have quality time together and with Bryn and Ryan (and with family in Norway too)! We miss our family and friends back in Portland so it will be good to back with them again.
I see that the last 6 weeks haven't been very well documented. Oops. Having too much fun, I guess. I'm pretty sure I won't get any more entries done, so I'll just summarize what we've done.
February 28th-March 3- Spent time in Sippersfeld, Germany with Benedikt, Bernard, Elke, Selina and Maren Blanz, what fun, what food and what beautiful country.
Mar 6th - Mar 13 Evan Powers, Bryn's friend, visited. The boys kept themselves mostly entertained, it was very fun to have Evan here. Paint balling with the LC guys and Maya was their highlight.
Mar 10th, Erik, Taylor, Noelle and I went to Canterbury and got to see our 4 choir boys, awesome! March 12th was our Gospel Choir's concert. Mar 15th we had church young adults over for pizza, what a fun evening.
Mar 14-18 Bryn went to Latvia to visit a former exchange student, Martin.
March 21st-Ryan turned 16, we celebrated at a French restaurant with the LC students, yum.
March 23-March 31 Scott, Laurie and Nicholas visited and we toured London, went to Wales and Canterbury. Such fun! During that week, Ryan headed home on March 26th and Bryn on March 30th.
April 6-8, we took the LC students to York and Edinburgh. Erik and I also went to Stirling! Great trip.
It really has been a fun adventure, we've done so many things. I have mentioned many of them before, but I thought I'd just go thru my pile of tickets and brochures and list off what we've done. Thanks LC for the chance to make this trip. The LC students were wonderful, their profs all thought so and we do too!!!
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A list, not in any order, of most of the things we did-London 2013
Windsor Castle
Versailles
Easter service and tour of St Paul's Cathedral
Lille food tour-Erik
London Pass x 3
Westminster Abbey tour, eucharist x 2 and evensong x 3
The Hobbit x 2
River tour from Westminster to Tower Bridge x 3
Tower Bridge
Tower of London
Monument
Faure' Requiem-Tiffin Boys' Choir
St Martin in the Fields Lunchtime Concert
Natural History Museum
Albert and Victoria Museum
Hyde Park
Regent's Park
British Museum
Science Museum
London Museum
Kensington Palace
Rodin Museum
Brandenburg Choral Festival - Mozart Requiem, Vivace Chorus
Les Miserable movie
Eiffel Tower
Spamalot
Billy Elliot
Ceremony of Carols - Vivamus
Laburnum Grove- Finborough Theatre
Kooza Cirque Du Soleil
Lecture-Royal College of Music
The Magnets-London A Cappella Festival
The Making of Harry Potter
The 39 Steps
Rajaton- A Cappella Festival (Ryan and I were also in a workshop there)
Football-Fulham FC vs West Ham
Matilda musical
Viking Festival and Merchant Hall-York
Christ Rests in Peace-Southwark Cathedral-art exhibit
Houses of Parliament tour
Mamma Mia
Rugby Harlequins v London Wasps
The showstoppers
Wicked
Canterbury Tales-Medieval Misadventures
Pride and Prejudice
Classical Spectacular
St Patrick's day music at Irish Culture
Hampton Court Palace Maze and Gardens
St Giles' cathedral in Edinburgh
Phantom of the Opera
Messiah
Football Brasil v Russia
Host
Caerphilly Castle
Stonehenge
British Music Experience
Scott monument-Edinburgh
Cardiff Castle
Canterbury Historic River Tours
Church and Evensongs in Canterbury Cathedral
Kew Gardens
Salisbury Cathedral
Stirling Castle
Hollyrood Park - Climbed Arthur's Seat
Climbed Wallace Monument
Singin in the Rain
Life of Pi
Walking tours of many places
And so much more....................
Farewell,
Carla
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Finishing up our Norway Dec trip posts
Kragerø Dec 27 thru Dec 31
We headed out mid morning for Kragerø. This is the town where Tore grew up as a child. It's right on the water of a fjord and absolutely beautiful. We were greeted by Per Fredrik and his wife Sigrunn. Per Fredrik is Pappa's first cousin and such a great guy. He speaks English quite well. They offered us a drink of tea, coffee or pop, and then told us we should get ready to go to the village. The day was so gorgeous and they wanted to take us to an overview looking over the city. We hiked a little ways to get to the overlook, it was pretty cold, probably in the 20's, but clear and sunny. Wow, we got some great photos.
Their daughter, Anette, is a professional photographer and she had gone out that morning to take photos. She got some awesome ones, and made collages of them. They are on my picasa site.
We got back to Per Fredrik's and settled in. They have 2 fluffy cats, which was hard on Emily's allergies, but thankfully they had all the kids stay in their garage. It is renovated with a bathroom with small shower, a spiral staircase leading up to a small kitchen and mini bedroom. The living room had 4 beds alongside the walls in the eaves. Super cute and fun for the kids to stay together there.
Then we had a wonderful meal of pork roast with crackling and potatoes and carrots and lots of other yummy things. They had recently remodeled their kitchen to make it larger, which was good. They have 2 of their kids who live very close by, with their children, so the roomier kitchen will work well for them in the future too.
We enjoyed visiting and meeting Anette's kids: Amallie, 12 years old, Herman, 10 years and Brage, 4 years.
Brage enjoyed hanging around with Bryn and Ryan even tho neither could speak each other's language. He played computer games with them and loved to punch them and rough house. Any time he asked Bryn a question in Norwegian, Bryn would say, "Smør brød, which mean sandwiches." It was hilarious. All of our "kids" were great with the Norwegian family's kids. I was very proud of them the whole trip actually. They were so polite, even tho they couldn't understand everything and very gracious and thankful. Willing to try new foods and experiences.
One of the days in Kragerø we went downtown and did a little shopping. Erik was so happy to find a bløtekake, a cream cake with marzipan frosting. He bought a whole cake from the bakery, that's his Norsk souvenir. We all enjoyed eating it with him, yum! Each day we had cakes and coffee with different family members. One night it was at Anette's home, another was at Inge Elena and Harold's (we sang lots of carols that night and saw cool birds that are in Harold's collection) and another was at Preben and Hege's home, where we enjoyed waffles. Anette and Preben are Per Fredrik and Sigrunn's children. Preben and Hege are parents of Kristian, a 2 year old sweetie and Hege has 3 children, Andreas and 2 daughters, whose names escape me. Nice family! Inge Elene is Per Fredrik's sister and Harold is her son.
Per Fredrik and his family have built a huge awesome swimming pool. One morning we helped shovel the 8-10" of snow off of it so it wouldn't break thru the cover. He also showed us all the electrical set up for heating it and the jet that is in it so you can swim "laps" and the heated concrete below, too cool. They have an outdoor living room, which had a fireplace. We spent several hours each day out there, enjoying the fire and playing lots of pinochle and other games. It was a good place for Emily since the cats don't go in there. We also had a big snowball fight one day.
Our favorite thing was the outdoor picnic in the snow. We hiked up in the forest behind their home for about 20 minutes, thru pretty deep snow, at least a foot deep. They own a little shed/overhang (see my photos) and fire pit. There was wood up there already and they had packed lots of food and reindeer hides to sit on. It was so amazingly cozy and gorgeous. Harold had elg heart which he cooked over the fire, our guys loved it! He also had a reindeer leg which was smoked and he carved off thin slices of that for us, quite tasty and a very special treat! Anette pulled out candles and oranges and chocolate, quite the nice picnic. We also had our favorite, pølse, which is Norwegian smoked hot dogs, yum.
I had asked Anette if she would take a family photo of us, several months before we traveled. She said "yes", so I had all 9 of us bring Norsk sweaters for the photo. She took them of us on the snow up in the forest. They turned out so awesome. I am so very happy with them. Thanks Anette!!! Here is the link if you haven't seen them yet. https://picasaweb.google.com/107525715707559384779/KragerNorwayFor4Days#
Bryn, Ryan, Erik and I headed out early on New Year's Eve day for Oslo and London. Andrew and Emily left in the middle of the night for their 6 a.m. flight, from the airport about an hour away. Thanks, Bestefar for driving them to the airport. Kari and Tore and Jared headed up to Porsgrunn on New Year's Day. I hear they had amazing shrimp for dinner and close awesome fireworks for NYE! Happy 2013.
Really, the trip to Norway was a dream come true for Erik and I. We both love Norway so very much and were so happy to share it with our children in such a special way. Thanks to all our Norwegian family for taking care of us so well and for sharing your lives with us. Tusen Takk!
We headed out mid morning for Kragerø. This is the town where Tore grew up as a child. It's right on the water of a fjord and absolutely beautiful. We were greeted by Per Fredrik and his wife Sigrunn. Per Fredrik is Pappa's first cousin and such a great guy. He speaks English quite well. They offered us a drink of tea, coffee or pop, and then told us we should get ready to go to the village. The day was so gorgeous and they wanted to take us to an overview looking over the city. We hiked a little ways to get to the overlook, it was pretty cold, probably in the 20's, but clear and sunny. Wow, we got some great photos.
Their daughter, Anette, is a professional photographer and she had gone out that morning to take photos. She got some awesome ones, and made collages of them. They are on my picasa site.
We got back to Per Fredrik's and settled in. They have 2 fluffy cats, which was hard on Emily's allergies, but thankfully they had all the kids stay in their garage. It is renovated with a bathroom with small shower, a spiral staircase leading up to a small kitchen and mini bedroom. The living room had 4 beds alongside the walls in the eaves. Super cute and fun for the kids to stay together there.
Then we had a wonderful meal of pork roast with crackling and potatoes and carrots and lots of other yummy things. They had recently remodeled their kitchen to make it larger, which was good. They have 2 of their kids who live very close by, with their children, so the roomier kitchen will work well for them in the future too.
We enjoyed visiting and meeting Anette's kids: Amallie, 12 years old, Herman, 10 years and Brage, 4 years.
Brage enjoyed hanging around with Bryn and Ryan even tho neither could speak each other's language. He played computer games with them and loved to punch them and rough house. Any time he asked Bryn a question in Norwegian, Bryn would say, "Smør brød, which mean sandwiches." It was hilarious. All of our "kids" were great with the Norwegian family's kids. I was very proud of them the whole trip actually. They were so polite, even tho they couldn't understand everything and very gracious and thankful. Willing to try new foods and experiences.
One of the days in Kragerø we went downtown and did a little shopping. Erik was so happy to find a bløtekake, a cream cake with marzipan frosting. He bought a whole cake from the bakery, that's his Norsk souvenir. We all enjoyed eating it with him, yum! Each day we had cakes and coffee with different family members. One night it was at Anette's home, another was at Inge Elena and Harold's (we sang lots of carols that night and saw cool birds that are in Harold's collection) and another was at Preben and Hege's home, where we enjoyed waffles. Anette and Preben are Per Fredrik and Sigrunn's children. Preben and Hege are parents of Kristian, a 2 year old sweetie and Hege has 3 children, Andreas and 2 daughters, whose names escape me. Nice family! Inge Elene is Per Fredrik's sister and Harold is her son.
Per Fredrik and his family have built a huge awesome swimming pool. One morning we helped shovel the 8-10" of snow off of it so it wouldn't break thru the cover. He also showed us all the electrical set up for heating it and the jet that is in it so you can swim "laps" and the heated concrete below, too cool. They have an outdoor living room, which had a fireplace. We spent several hours each day out there, enjoying the fire and playing lots of pinochle and other games. It was a good place for Emily since the cats don't go in there. We also had a big snowball fight one day.
Our favorite thing was the outdoor picnic in the snow. We hiked up in the forest behind their home for about 20 minutes, thru pretty deep snow, at least a foot deep. They own a little shed/overhang (see my photos) and fire pit. There was wood up there already and they had packed lots of food and reindeer hides to sit on. It was so amazingly cozy and gorgeous. Harold had elg heart which he cooked over the fire, our guys loved it! He also had a reindeer leg which was smoked and he carved off thin slices of that for us, quite tasty and a very special treat! Anette pulled out candles and oranges and chocolate, quite the nice picnic. We also had our favorite, pølse, which is Norwegian smoked hot dogs, yum.
I had asked Anette if she would take a family photo of us, several months before we traveled. She said "yes", so I had all 9 of us bring Norsk sweaters for the photo. She took them of us on the snow up in the forest. They turned out so awesome. I am so very happy with them. Thanks Anette!!! Here is the link if you haven't seen them yet. https://picasaweb.google.com/107525715707559384779/KragerNorwayFor4Days#
Bryn, Ryan, Erik and I headed out early on New Year's Eve day for Oslo and London. Andrew and Emily left in the middle of the night for their 6 a.m. flight, from the airport about an hour away. Thanks, Bestefar for driving them to the airport. Kari and Tore and Jared headed up to Porsgrunn on New Year's Day. I hear they had amazing shrimp for dinner and close awesome fireworks for NYE! Happy 2013.
Really, the trip to Norway was a dream come true for Erik and I. We both love Norway so very much and were so happy to share it with our children in such a special way. Thanks to all our Norwegian family for taking care of us so well and for sharing your lives with us. Tusen Takk!
Vikki's Visit
Friday, March 29, 2013
I am having trouble keeping up with this blog, having too much fun with our company. I don't know if I'll have time to write details about everything that we've done since Feb 19th, but I wanted to at least summarize Vikki's visit.
Erik and I went to pick her up at Heathrow airport. She arrived, out of customs a little before noon, and Erik took her suitcases back to the flat so she and I could begin our adventures. We each had purchased a 3 day London pass so wanted to see as many things as possible. We also wanted to keep her awake so she'd get used to the time change quicker. Here's what we did in the first 3 days:
Westminster Abbey, Thames River cruise, Fish and Chips in a pub, Tower bridge, Double decker bus ride to Trafalgar square, National Art gallery, Lunch and brass rubbings in St Martin in the Fields, Kensington Palace, High Tea in the Orangery at Hyde Park, (the boys went to the movie "Hitchcock" for free using our passes and we had Sarah James, a young adult church member from Wales, over for supper), Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, and All Hallow's church. Whew, we got our money's worth.
Saturday and Sunday the 5 of us went to York, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. York used to be Jørvik, settled by the Vikings and they were having a Viking Festival while we were there. It was awesome! Saw lots of medieval crafts and artisans and costumed Vikings and mock battles and real competitions too. York is a completely walled city and we got to walk on a bit of that wall too. We got to Edinburgh in time to find our hotel and eat at Nando's chicken-we all slept in the same room, a fun sleepover. Sure saved Vikki money and we had fun. Our hotel rate got us authentic Scottish breakfasts the next morning. I even tried the black pudding and haggis, not too bad mixed with eggs and toast. Erik loved it, of course!
Sunday we were surprised to wake up to snow covering the ground. It melted pretty quickly, but made the mountains pretty. I was so happy to see mountains and hills and grass. London is so flat and mostly all stone and concrete. We spent most of the day in the castle, which was so interesting and awesome!!! We ended up with a 9 hour train ride home instead of 4 and a half. There was a death on the tracks ahead of us and that stopped all the trains for about 2 hours. Then by the time, 1 a.m., we got to the tube, it was closed, so we stood in line for another hour or more waiting for tazis. We got home at 3 a.m., Vikki should get a refund on her ticket, but we haven't seen the money yet We still had fun, standing in the cold snowy night being silly.
Monday we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and to Trafalgar square and St Martin in the Fields church for a free concert. We also saw the National Portrait gallery. We went to Covent Gardens and Harrods' and Piccadilly Market.
Tueady, Vikki and I headed off to Paris for the day. We enjoyed ourselves and saw Versailles, Nortre Dame (got to see the brand new bells they will install for the 850 anniversary celebration going on this year) and the Rodin Sculpture museum, and the Eiffel Tower (Vikki went to the first level with me, even tho she was freaked out, good for you Vikki!) We were proud of ourselves for figuring out the subway systems and finding what we wanted to see. It was a very long day, with lots of walking, but now we can say we've been to Paris! I bought macaroons in a McDonals McCafe! So inexpensive and so yummy!
Wednesday we did some shopping and Ryan, Vikki and I went to Matilda, the musical. It was very entertaining!
Thursday we all headed to Heathrow, and Vikki flew home, and we flew to Frankfurt, Germany to start another adventure.
Thanks so much for coming to visit, Vikki, it was awesome to be with you. You are so funny and have such great stories to tell. You also said lots of funny things while here. I was explaining how they pray for the queen and the royal family at Evensong in Westminster Abbey and you wondered why they don't pray for them during the odd numbered hymns! Erik asked you if you would try some Cornish game hen and you said, "yes, I'll try gamish hens!" You also wondered why i kept looking for a rotisserie in Paris (patisserie!) We love you!
I am having trouble keeping up with this blog, having too much fun with our company. I don't know if I'll have time to write details about everything that we've done since Feb 19th, but I wanted to at least summarize Vikki's visit.
Erik and I went to pick her up at Heathrow airport. She arrived, out of customs a little before noon, and Erik took her suitcases back to the flat so she and I could begin our adventures. We each had purchased a 3 day London pass so wanted to see as many things as possible. We also wanted to keep her awake so she'd get used to the time change quicker. Here's what we did in the first 3 days:
Westminster Abbey, Thames River cruise, Fish and Chips in a pub, Tower bridge, Double decker bus ride to Trafalgar square, National Art gallery, Lunch and brass rubbings in St Martin in the Fields, Kensington Palace, High Tea in the Orangery at Hyde Park, (the boys went to the movie "Hitchcock" for free using our passes and we had Sarah James, a young adult church member from Wales, over for supper), Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, and All Hallow's church. Whew, we got our money's worth.
Saturday and Sunday the 5 of us went to York, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. York used to be Jørvik, settled by the Vikings and they were having a Viking Festival while we were there. It was awesome! Saw lots of medieval crafts and artisans and costumed Vikings and mock battles and real competitions too. York is a completely walled city and we got to walk on a bit of that wall too. We got to Edinburgh in time to find our hotel and eat at Nando's chicken-we all slept in the same room, a fun sleepover. Sure saved Vikki money and we had fun. Our hotel rate got us authentic Scottish breakfasts the next morning. I even tried the black pudding and haggis, not too bad mixed with eggs and toast. Erik loved it, of course!
Sunday we were surprised to wake up to snow covering the ground. It melted pretty quickly, but made the mountains pretty. I was so happy to see mountains and hills and grass. London is so flat and mostly all stone and concrete. We spent most of the day in the castle, which was so interesting and awesome!!! We ended up with a 9 hour train ride home instead of 4 and a half. There was a death on the tracks ahead of us and that stopped all the trains for about 2 hours. Then by the time, 1 a.m., we got to the tube, it was closed, so we stood in line for another hour or more waiting for tazis. We got home at 3 a.m., Vikki should get a refund on her ticket, but we haven't seen the money yet We still had fun, standing in the cold snowy night being silly.
Monday we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and to Trafalgar square and St Martin in the Fields church for a free concert. We also saw the National Portrait gallery. We went to Covent Gardens and Harrods' and Piccadilly Market.
Tueady, Vikki and I headed off to Paris for the day. We enjoyed ourselves and saw Versailles, Nortre Dame (got to see the brand new bells they will install for the 850 anniversary celebration going on this year) and the Rodin Sculpture museum, and the Eiffel Tower (Vikki went to the first level with me, even tho she was freaked out, good for you Vikki!) We were proud of ourselves for figuring out the subway systems and finding what we wanted to see. It was a very long day, with lots of walking, but now we can say we've been to Paris! I bought macaroons in a McDonals McCafe! So inexpensive and so yummy!
Wednesday we did some shopping and Ryan, Vikki and I went to Matilda, the musical. It was very entertaining!
Thursday we all headed to Heathrow, and Vikki flew home, and we flew to Frankfurt, Germany to start another adventure.
Thanks so much for coming to visit, Vikki, it was awesome to be with you. You are so funny and have such great stories to tell. You also said lots of funny things while here. I was explaining how they pray for the queen and the royal family at Evensong in Westminster Abbey and you wondered why they don't pray for them during the odd numbered hymns! Erik asked you if you would try some Cornish game hen and you said, "yes, I'll try gamish hens!" You also wondered why i kept looking for a rotisserie in Paris (patisserie!) We love you!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Saturday, March 16th
Erik and I are heading to the London Irish Center today to hear some traditional Irish music in honor of St Patrick's Day. It's in Camden. Ryan will stay in the flat as he didn't get much sleep last night and has a cold. It's a dreary rainy day here, a common day in London, but thankfully we haven't had many days like this. It's been pretty cold, and some snow, but not bad.
Bryn is in Latvia. He is with his friend, Martin, who was an exchange student at Wilson Bryn's sophomore year. He left on Thursday and will come home on Monday. So far he's got to play pool, attend a class at Martin's school (English!), attend a birthday party and today I think he's going to a hockey game. Bryn will only be here another week and a half as he heads home on March 30th to get in on most of his lacrosse season. (Just got an email from Bryn, he said he made a room full of Latvian teenagers laugh, at the party and it as awesome!)
Ryan has decided to go home to Portland a bit early. He's paying to change his ticket and fly home on March 26th. Erik and I will go home on April 14th. We'll miss him, but it'll be great for him to be with his family and friends. He's not been around anyone his age since Mid December so he's excited to go home early. He'll get there in time to go on the choir tour with the Wilson choir. They are going to Seattle and Bellingham.
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We're back from the Irish Center. We got to listen to several hours of wonderful music. There was a fiddle, guitar and flute at first and then 2 more fiddlers and a penny whistler joined in. We also stayed longer and watched some of the Ireland vs Italy rugby game on a huge screen. That was fun too.
We came home and watched the England vs Wales 6 nations rugby game. Wales won handily, 30-3 that means they are the champions. Erik and Ryan are out walking now. Erik's been getting 18,000 steps nearly every day, 10 miles.
Tomorrow morning we leave here before 7 to attend the church Mission Center conference in Birmingham. A friend, Keith McMillan, is giving us a ride most of the way. He was in Orion with Steve and Roger and is a great guy, very funny. Last night we had some of the community of Christ young adults over for pizza. He came too and kept calling Ryan, Roger.
We had people here from Germany, Russia, England, Norway and America, quite international. We then sang a song in Spanish! Plus a few other songs. It was very fun.
Erik and I are heading to the London Irish Center today to hear some traditional Irish music in honor of St Patrick's Day. It's in Camden. Ryan will stay in the flat as he didn't get much sleep last night and has a cold. It's a dreary rainy day here, a common day in London, but thankfully we haven't had many days like this. It's been pretty cold, and some snow, but not bad.
Bryn is in Latvia. He is with his friend, Martin, who was an exchange student at Wilson Bryn's sophomore year. He left on Thursday and will come home on Monday. So far he's got to play pool, attend a class at Martin's school (English!), attend a birthday party and today I think he's going to a hockey game. Bryn will only be here another week and a half as he heads home on March 30th to get in on most of his lacrosse season. (Just got an email from Bryn, he said he made a room full of Latvian teenagers laugh, at the party and it as awesome!)
Ryan has decided to go home to Portland a bit early. He's paying to change his ticket and fly home on March 26th. Erik and I will go home on April 14th. We'll miss him, but it'll be great for him to be with his family and friends. He's not been around anyone his age since Mid December so he's excited to go home early. He'll get there in time to go on the choir tour with the Wilson choir. They are going to Seattle and Bellingham.
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We're back from the Irish Center. We got to listen to several hours of wonderful music. There was a fiddle, guitar and flute at first and then 2 more fiddlers and a penny whistler joined in. We also stayed longer and watched some of the Ireland vs Italy rugby game on a huge screen. That was fun too.
We came home and watched the England vs Wales 6 nations rugby game. Wales won handily, 30-3 that means they are the champions. Erik and Ryan are out walking now. Erik's been getting 18,000 steps nearly every day, 10 miles.
Tomorrow morning we leave here before 7 to attend the church Mission Center conference in Birmingham. A friend, Keith McMillan, is giving us a ride most of the way. He was in Orion with Steve and Roger and is a great guy, very funny. Last night we had some of the community of Christ young adults over for pizza. He came too and kept calling Ryan, Roger.
We had people here from Germany, Russia, England, Norway and America, quite international. We then sang a song in Spanish! Plus a few other songs. It was very fun.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Norway-Porsgrunn/Skien
I'm catching up. I haven't written about our time, over Christmas, with Erik's cousin and family. We drove to Hilde and Ove Larson's home. They live out of town, overlooking the fjord, between Porsgrunn and Skien. Erik was born in Porsgrunn and I've visited his grandparents there 3 times before, so we were very happy to finally return. Hilde is Erik's first cousin and she and Ove have an amazing home. It was large enough for all 9 of us to sleep there. Kari, Bryn, Ryan and Jared were all in the family room on mattresses around this huge pool table, which we learned was a snooker table, which belonged to their son, Thomas.
Over the 3 days we were there we got to see Tante Gerd and Onkle Ragnar every day. Gerd is Pappa Tore's sister. She is such a wonderful loving and funny woman. Her English is still quite good, she attended Graceland back in the day! Ragnar is a tease and so supportive and hospitable and funny, too! The kids loved getting to know them both! One afternoon we went to their apartment in Porsgrunn for many yummy desserts. They call it "cake", but it was cake and cookies and ice cream, so yummy. Gerd also gave several of us hand me downs from both of them. Jared got a Norwegian sweater that fit him perfectly, Erik and Bryn got sweatshirts and I got several sweaters and scarves. One of the scarves she gave me has kept me nice and warm many cold days here in London! Thanks Tante!
We also got to see Hilde and Ove's 3 children. Benedikte, who is Kari's age, lives with her parents, so we got to see her in between her shifts. She is a nurse and had to work the Christmas holiday. Jeanette and her man, Thomas and son, Tobias, spent Christmas in Sweden, but we got to see them before we left. Tobias is a toddler and is so very cute!!! Jeanette is expecting a girl this spring, how wonderful. Their son, Thomas, also joined us for a meal one of the days. We didn't get to meet his new wife as she was ill. Again, so awesome for our kids to get to know their family.
We went in to Porsgrunn for a few hours on Christmas eve, but didn't get to do much shopping because the stores aren't open much at all during the holidays. I guess it saved me some money!! We did buy a case of our favorite Norwegian sweet mustard. It's only made in Porsgrunn so we bought 15 of them! I did get a few Christmas decorations and we purchased 3 sleds.
They'd received at least 8 inches of snow when we arrived and the hill by their house made a great place for sledding. We went out twice for great sledding! The snow was amazing and so gorgeous.
One day Pappa took us on a little tour, we saw the home that Erik lived in when he was living in Norway the year he was in 4th grade. And we went to Bestefar Thorlief and Bestemor Karen's grave site too. We gathered around and sang "May the Longtime Sun shine on you."
Mostly we ate amazing meals. Smør brød every morning, so yummy. It's open faced sandwiches with banana, nutella, meats, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumber, fish, and so much more. Whatever you like, you make your own.
They catered the meal for Christmas eve. The food came in boxes and there were so many! I can't even remember all the yummy food, there was so much. I loved the dessert, rice pudding with red berry sauce.
The Norwegians bake lots of cakes for Christmas, many of them using meringue and almonds. Yum!!
We visited and laughed and played lots of pinochle. Gerd and Ragnar told lots of jokes and we watched the new movie called "Kontiki". Such wonderful memories.
Emily created stockings for the 9 of us, out of gift wrap and yarn. We gave the kids little gifts and candy and we each wrote nice notes to each other. Great Christmas celebration. We also sang many Norsk carols and Pappa read the Bible story in Norsk. Awesome.
I'm catching up. I haven't written about our time, over Christmas, with Erik's cousin and family. We drove to Hilde and Ove Larson's home. They live out of town, overlooking the fjord, between Porsgrunn and Skien. Erik was born in Porsgrunn and I've visited his grandparents there 3 times before, so we were very happy to finally return. Hilde is Erik's first cousin and she and Ove have an amazing home. It was large enough for all 9 of us to sleep there. Kari, Bryn, Ryan and Jared were all in the family room on mattresses around this huge pool table, which we learned was a snooker table, which belonged to their son, Thomas.
Over the 3 days we were there we got to see Tante Gerd and Onkle Ragnar every day. Gerd is Pappa Tore's sister. She is such a wonderful loving and funny woman. Her English is still quite good, she attended Graceland back in the day! Ragnar is a tease and so supportive and hospitable and funny, too! The kids loved getting to know them both! One afternoon we went to their apartment in Porsgrunn for many yummy desserts. They call it "cake", but it was cake and cookies and ice cream, so yummy. Gerd also gave several of us hand me downs from both of them. Jared got a Norwegian sweater that fit him perfectly, Erik and Bryn got sweatshirts and I got several sweaters and scarves. One of the scarves she gave me has kept me nice and warm many cold days here in London! Thanks Tante!
We also got to see Hilde and Ove's 3 children. Benedikte, who is Kari's age, lives with her parents, so we got to see her in between her shifts. She is a nurse and had to work the Christmas holiday. Jeanette and her man, Thomas and son, Tobias, spent Christmas in Sweden, but we got to see them before we left. Tobias is a toddler and is so very cute!!! Jeanette is expecting a girl this spring, how wonderful. Their son, Thomas, also joined us for a meal one of the days. We didn't get to meet his new wife as she was ill. Again, so awesome for our kids to get to know their family.
We went in to Porsgrunn for a few hours on Christmas eve, but didn't get to do much shopping because the stores aren't open much at all during the holidays. I guess it saved me some money!! We did buy a case of our favorite Norwegian sweet mustard. It's only made in Porsgrunn so we bought 15 of them! I did get a few Christmas decorations and we purchased 3 sleds.
They'd received at least 8 inches of snow when we arrived and the hill by their house made a great place for sledding. We went out twice for great sledding! The snow was amazing and so gorgeous.
One day Pappa took us on a little tour, we saw the home that Erik lived in when he was living in Norway the year he was in 4th grade. And we went to Bestefar Thorlief and Bestemor Karen's grave site too. We gathered around and sang "May the Longtime Sun shine on you."
Mostly we ate amazing meals. Smør brød every morning, so yummy. It's open faced sandwiches with banana, nutella, meats, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumber, fish, and so much more. Whatever you like, you make your own.
They catered the meal for Christmas eve. The food came in boxes and there were so many! I can't even remember all the yummy food, there was so much. I loved the dessert, rice pudding with red berry sauce.
The Norwegians bake lots of cakes for Christmas, many of them using meringue and almonds. Yum!!
We visited and laughed and played lots of pinochle. Gerd and Ragnar told lots of jokes and we watched the new movie called "Kontiki". Such wonderful memories.
Emily created stockings for the 9 of us, out of gift wrap and yarn. We gave the kids little gifts and candy and we each wrote nice notes to each other. Great Christmas celebration. We also sang many Norsk carols and Pappa read the Bible story in Norsk. Awesome.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Reporting on Feb 17-19th
The LC students that live in Manson #12 invited us to dinner on Sunday, the 17th. They made homemade quiche and salad and crepes. It was super yummy and we enjoyed hanging out and playing the category game with them. Such great people.
Monday evening, Erik, Ryan and I went to a musical called Showstoppers. It was performed in a small auditorium at the Royal Albert Hall. It was an improvisational musical with one director, 5 actors and 3 musicians. The director asked for us to holler out ideas for an unlikely setting for a musical. Three things were chosen for us to vote on: a pickle jar, the Royal Albert Hall and a department store. We voted for "Pickle Jar" and we came up with title "Life of Brine". It was hilarious to see the story that they came up with: it included a revolution, 2 pickles leaving the jar for a time and interacting with some courgettes (zucchinis) in the store and all sorts of craziness. They sang quite a few songs in the style of musicals that the audience suggested. They were so good.
Tuesday, Ryan went out wandering on his own to downtown. He had a nice time, but was tired from all the walking. This evening we had the last group of LC students over for pizza, salad and raspberry trifle. It was fun, as usual. We played "Bananagrams", including Erik's crazy creative way.
Vikki arrives on Wed, Feb 20th, so I had asked FIE for a cot for her to sleep on. While we were gone, they came and put it in our living room. It was a playpen!!! I guess "cot" has a different meaning in "English English"! So we asked them for a bigger bed. Too funny.
The LC students that live in Manson #12 invited us to dinner on Sunday, the 17th. They made homemade quiche and salad and crepes. It was super yummy and we enjoyed hanging out and playing the category game with them. Such great people.
Monday evening, Erik, Ryan and I went to a musical called Showstoppers. It was performed in a small auditorium at the Royal Albert Hall. It was an improvisational musical with one director, 5 actors and 3 musicians. The director asked for us to holler out ideas for an unlikely setting for a musical. Three things were chosen for us to vote on: a pickle jar, the Royal Albert Hall and a department store. We voted for "Pickle Jar" and we came up with title "Life of Brine". It was hilarious to see the story that they came up with: it included a revolution, 2 pickles leaving the jar for a time and interacting with some courgettes (zucchinis) in the store and all sorts of craziness. They sang quite a few songs in the style of musicals that the audience suggested. They were so good.
Tuesday, Ryan went out wandering on his own to downtown. He had a nice time, but was tired from all the walking. This evening we had the last group of LC students over for pizza, salad and raspberry trifle. It was fun, as usual. We played "Bananagrams", including Erik's crazy creative way.
Vikki arrives on Wed, Feb 20th, so I had asked FIE for a cot for her to sleep on. While we were gone, they came and put it in our living room. It was a playpen!!! I guess "cot" has a different meaning in "English English"! So we asked them for a bigger bed. Too funny.
Thursday, March 7th,
Well, I see that I haven't written since last month. Time sure flies when you're having fun and having company. Right now, Bryn's friend, Evan, is visiting from Portland. Nice to have him here. The boys haven't really been around anyone their age since we left home.
Saturday, February 16th we took the Lewis and Clark group to Oxford. Thankfully, Lewis and Clark bought each student 8 Britrail passes, which are good for anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales. So they were able to use them for the train ride to Oxford, about an hour away. Once we arrived we met 2 tour guides that spent 2 hours with us, explaining about the history of Oxford and especially about the unique Oxford university and the colleges that make it up. So cool! And very different from what we're used to. Oxford is the oldest English speaking university in the world and is made up of 38 colleges. The colleges are where the students live, study, eat and worship. The program for undergrads is 3 years and during that time the only thing they are required to do is meet with their tutor once a week for about 2 hours and take the final exams at the end of the 3rd year. Most of them also attend classes/lectures in their fields but they aren't required to and they can do only independent study during their time there.
We got to tour Oriel college. Each of the colleges is set up the same with a quad area surrounded by the dorms. The grass in the quad is forbidden for the students to walk on, until their graduation day, when they get their group photo taken on it. The "fellows", the faculty can walk on the grass, and do! The students can eat their three meals in the dining hall for about $12/day. The supper is formal and they all wear their robes to that meal. They also wear their robes to chapel. Back in the day, chapel was required every day, but now it is optional. When we went into the chapel someone was practicing the organ, which sounded great. The dorms are set up more like apartments so they are more conducive to studying. There are separate staircases for each group of about 6 rooms. We saw graffiti on the walls of the quad, but that is acceptable because it was telling that their college had won "Head of the River" crew race. To win you have to bump the boat in front. So on my photos you can see "bumped ....college", that means they won that year! Each of the colleges have very wonderful libraries and we also saw the Bodleian library in town, which is amazing. Every book every published in the UK has a copy at this library. Many of the books are stored underground..
(The Bodleian Libraries form the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. The combined library collections number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to 45,000 e-journals and other materials in different formats.
The Bodleian Library, the University’s main research library, dates from 1602 and is globally acknowledged to be one of the greatest libraries in the world. Its priceless collections include the papers of six British Prime Ministers; a Gutenberg Bible; the earliest surviving book written wholly in English; a quarter of the world’s original copies of the Magna Carta; and almost 10,000 western medieval and renaissance manuscripts.)
After our tour, many of us ate at the Turf Tavern, which served amazing food. I got Shrimp Scampi and we had a yummy brie cheese appetizer. The pubs and taverns here are often great restaurants. It was a lovely day and we even sat outside!
Then we walked up and down the city trying to find a place where Erik could go punting on the Thames, but unfortunately the water was too high and the boats weren't operating yet. We asked a group of hippies where the boats were, and got invited to join them in saying "Ommmmm" along with hundreds of others across England. It was interesting, felt like a Portland moment.
We then headed to Blackwell's which is a huge bookstore. Not as big as Powell's, but very cool. One of our LC students knows a woman, a former LC alum, who is at Oxford right now as a graduate student. She is a Rhodes Scholar. Melissa got ahold of her and she gave about half of our group a personal guided tour of her college, Magdalen-pronounced Maudlen. It was neat to walk on the paths of her college, we saw some famous deer, they are genetically unique to the college and stay there year round. We also learned that CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien walked on that same path many times, sharing ideas. Too cool! The college did look similar to Oriel, but more beautiful.
We walked so many miles, I think 15, but we saw lots and had a great time. We went back to Blackwell's a second time for a bit. The four of us were so tired, and couldn't find a place to eat supper, but then we found an amazing Italian restaurant. We don't usually eat Italian, but we've had 2 great meals here in London, so we are starting to change our thinking. We headed home about 8 p.m. What a day. We LOVED Oxford.
Well, I see that I haven't written since last month. Time sure flies when you're having fun and having company. Right now, Bryn's friend, Evan, is visiting from Portland. Nice to have him here. The boys haven't really been around anyone their age since we left home.
Saturday, February 16th we took the Lewis and Clark group to Oxford. Thankfully, Lewis and Clark bought each student 8 Britrail passes, which are good for anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales. So they were able to use them for the train ride to Oxford, about an hour away. Once we arrived we met 2 tour guides that spent 2 hours with us, explaining about the history of Oxford and especially about the unique Oxford university and the colleges that make it up. So cool! And very different from what we're used to. Oxford is the oldest English speaking university in the world and is made up of 38 colleges. The colleges are where the students live, study, eat and worship. The program for undergrads is 3 years and during that time the only thing they are required to do is meet with their tutor once a week for about 2 hours and take the final exams at the end of the 3rd year. Most of them also attend classes/lectures in their fields but they aren't required to and they can do only independent study during their time there.
We got to tour Oriel college. Each of the colleges is set up the same with a quad area surrounded by the dorms. The grass in the quad is forbidden for the students to walk on, until their graduation day, when they get their group photo taken on it. The "fellows", the faculty can walk on the grass, and do! The students can eat their three meals in the dining hall for about $12/day. The supper is formal and they all wear their robes to that meal. They also wear their robes to chapel. Back in the day, chapel was required every day, but now it is optional. When we went into the chapel someone was practicing the organ, which sounded great. The dorms are set up more like apartments so they are more conducive to studying. There are separate staircases for each group of about 6 rooms. We saw graffiti on the walls of the quad, but that is acceptable because it was telling that their college had won "Head of the River" crew race. To win you have to bump the boat in front. So on my photos you can see "bumped ....college", that means they won that year! Each of the colleges have very wonderful libraries and we also saw the Bodleian library in town, which is amazing. Every book every published in the UK has a copy at this library. Many of the books are stored underground..
(The Bodleian Libraries form the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. The combined library collections number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to 45,000 e-journals and other materials in different formats.
The Bodleian Library, the University’s main research library, dates from 1602 and is globally acknowledged to be one of the greatest libraries in the world. Its priceless collections include the papers of six British Prime Ministers; a Gutenberg Bible; the earliest surviving book written wholly in English; a quarter of the world’s original copies of the Magna Carta; and almost 10,000 western medieval and renaissance manuscripts.)
After our tour, many of us ate at the Turf Tavern, which served amazing food. I got Shrimp Scampi and we had a yummy brie cheese appetizer. The pubs and taverns here are often great restaurants. It was a lovely day and we even sat outside!
Then we walked up and down the city trying to find a place where Erik could go punting on the Thames, but unfortunately the water was too high and the boats weren't operating yet. We asked a group of hippies where the boats were, and got invited to join them in saying "Ommmmm" along with hundreds of others across England. It was interesting, felt like a Portland moment.
We then headed to Blackwell's which is a huge bookstore. Not as big as Powell's, but very cool. One of our LC students knows a woman, a former LC alum, who is at Oxford right now as a graduate student. She is a Rhodes Scholar. Melissa got ahold of her and she gave about half of our group a personal guided tour of her college, Magdalen-pronounced Maudlen. It was neat to walk on the paths of her college, we saw some famous deer, they are genetically unique to the college and stay there year round. We also learned that CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien walked on that same path many times, sharing ideas. Too cool! The college did look similar to Oriel, but more beautiful.
We walked so many miles, I think 15, but we saw lots and had a great time. We went back to Blackwell's a second time for a bit. The four of us were so tired, and couldn't find a place to eat supper, but then we found an amazing Italian restaurant. We don't usually eat Italian, but we've had 2 great meals here in London, so we are starting to change our thinking. We headed home about 8 p.m. What a day. We LOVED Oxford.
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