Cheese! Exploring Stavanger

June 11, 2012

Today is our first day in Stavanger, and we awoke shortly after 8 am.  When we went up for breakfast, the table was already laid with fish, cheese, bread, muesli, milk, yogurt and fruit as well as coffee and tea.  We are starting to realize that the variety of breakfast foods available in Scandinavian hotels echo the foods eaten every morning by normal Swedes, Danes and Norwegians!  J had his first taste of a famous brown Norwegian cheese (that I have had before), his first experience using a Norwegian cheese slicer, and provided entertainment for our hosts who had never seen a cheese slicer used in his new fashion or the brown cheese eaten on a sandwich before.  We also tried an orange fruit/vegetable from Spain that seemed to be a combination of an apricot, a plum and a tomato.

After breakfast and a little visiting, John and Karen walked with us into town.

They told us a few stories about their neighbourhood and showed us a few important family locations.  We saw a few family gravesites, the home where my grandmother grew up, and the school she attended.  We walked along the harbour in Stavanger, where it is common for cruise ships to dock (today there were two).

As we reached the centre of town, John took us into the family tobacco shop, which is where he worked until he retired.  The shop has been in operation in Stavanger since 1899 and has always been in the family.  Today John’s son Tore, who is a few years older than Josh and I, runs the shop.  When we entered the shop, not only Tore, but also his cousin, Thomas Dybdahl, was there.  Thomas is a well-known Norwegian musician and he met up with my brother on a recent tour of Canada, so I was introduced as “Gordon’s sister.”  We planned to meet with Tore and Thomas later in the week for a beer.

We had lunch with John and Karen in a Chinese food restaurant where our waitress seemed to understand neither English nor Norwegian, but we did eventually get the right food and it was quite good.  After lunch, J and I were left to explore the town on our own.

J’s first priority was to see the Archaeology Museum, which John had warned us had very limited hours, so we walked there first.  The museum was pretty small, so I think we only spent perhaps forty-five minutes looking at the artifacts and clay pots.  I can’t really tell you if it was a good collection, but J seemed to think it was worthwhile.

We walked back down to town in search of Norwegian cash.  The first two machines we tried were unhelpful, but the third one worked.   We browsed through several stores, many of which had lovely housewares at exorbitant prices, so we only bought a small kitchen implement (a cheese slicer). There is a large central market set up near the harbour, which John and Karen said is “just for tourists.”  Regardless, we bought some likely overpriced, but delicious fudge from one of the shops.

After photographing Domkirke, a church built in 1100, we walked along the harbour, were mooned by a graffiti Mona Lisa, and then walked back through several narrow cobblestone streets.

I think I was still feeling the effects of being on the ferry yesterday– I had some vertigo, weakness and a headache, so around 3pm, we headed back to John and Karen’s house.  On the way home, we stopped in garden of the “Kings House,” which has beautiful tall trees.

When we got back to the house I took a nap and Josh relaxed for an hour or so.

I felt much better after an hour’s sleep.  The sun was out and it was the warmest it has been outside for the whole trip, so we spent the evening on the back porch, where we had a dinner of pork, bread and salad, plus hamburgers.  It was an interesting combination, but delicious!  After our very large meal, we took a short drive to two very important archaeological sites nearby.  First, we visited a cave believed to be the oldest human habitation in Norway.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten our camera, so J was forced to take “mental pictures.”  The second site was in someone’s backyard!  It was a large rock with several pictographs (aka cave paintings) of boats, handprints, people and the sun.  All of the drawings were done in an orange/red colour.

When we returned from our excursion, we showed John and Karen some pictures of Bernard, and they showed us some pictures of their recent holiday in Thailand with my parents.  We watched the Sweden vs. Ukraine UEFA match and then went to bed.

 

Nationaldagen at Tjolöholm

June 6, 2012

Another early morning.  I managed to sleep till 5:15, and then lazed in bed for another 30 or 40 minutes before getting up.  We were both dressed and ready for breakfast by the time our 7:20 alarm went off!  Today is “Nationaldagen” in Sweden, which is their national holiday, so the schools are closed.  We noticed this difference immediately when we entered the breakfast room this morning.  Yesterday, the room was severely silent and my husband and I felt uncomfortable even carrying on a whispered conversation.  This morning, kids wearing green bunny ears (Apparently these are the Liseberg theme park (in Goteborg) equivalent of Mickey Mouse ears?) were running wild and there were no chairs left!  We brought our trays to our room and ate in here.

J was headed to the conference again, so he left shortly after eight.  I planned to visit Tjolöholms Slott, a huge manor house about 30 km south of Goteborg.  I double-checked my route online before heading out.  When I arrived at the Central station, I explained my route to the ticket agent and she gave me a blue transit card that you swipe when entering a train or bus.  Only a few minutes after boarding my train to Kungsbacka, it took off, and about 20 minutes later I had arrived.  Directly across from the train’s exit was the bus I planned to take!  It couldn’t have been easier.  I asked the driver to make sure I got off at the right stop, and we were soon heading to my stop: “Torpa Smedja”.  This ride took another 20 minutes or so.

When I disembarked from the bus, I was in a thoroughly rural area.

I was surrounded by fields, farmhouses and cows and that is about it. The road to Tjolöholm was easily found, and I just started walking.  Google told me it was about a 3.5 km walk, and I was early, so I took my time.  Thankfully, today was sunnier and warmer than yesterday, and I dressed in layers.  I took lots of pictures on my walk on the narrow country road.  One car stopped and (I think) offered me a ride, but I told them I was happy to walk.

As I neared Tjolöholm, vehicles pulling horse trailers and old-fashioned carriages began to stream past.  They were headed to Tjolöholm for a special event.  Finally, I rounded the corner, and there it was!  It is a breathtaking manor perched on a hill, with the sea directly behind it.

I arrived about an hour before the first tour, so after purchasing my ticket, I took my time exploring and photographing the grounds.

I had some time to read my book on a bench in the woods– it was so relaxing and peaceful!

The tours are only in Swedish at this time of year, with an English pamphlet which gave me some of the information, but I would have loved to understand all that the tour guide was sharing.  We saw most of the “public” areas of the house, including a spectacular grand hall, billiards room, music room, library and the children’s nursery.  We also saw three bathrooms with sunken tubs (that looked more like modern day hot tubs in public pools than bathtubs) and comical, frightening looking shower contraptions that sprayed from the sides and below (!).  Among the impressive guest rooms was a “royal” room intended for the King of Sweden, but he never visited because the man who commissioned the house died before it was completed.  However, Prince Philip stayed there in 1983, which is good enough for me.  The staircases permitted beautiful overlooking views of the 2.5 storey high main hall and the windows provided beautiful views of the forest and the sea.  Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the house, but I did get one or two before I learned about that rule.

After the tour, I bought some postcards, strolled through the little village nearby and had lunch at the cafe.  I chose a bunwich and a raspberry crumb cake (the menu was in Swedish, so I had to pick something that was already made…).  They were both fantastic.  I ate outside and read my book in the sun.  Then I walked the long trek back to the bus stop and made my way back to Goteborg without any difficulty.

When I arrived at the hotel, J was already here, having spent the last part of the afternoon working on his presentation for tomorrow.  He fell asleep shortly after I arrived (I am a very stimulating travel partner, apparently).

After J’s nap, we went out in search of an affordable dinner and landed at a vegetarian cafe for bunwiches and carrot cake.  Both were delicious, but this was my third meal in a row consisting of a bunwich.. If it weren’t for the copious amounts of cheese on each sandwich, I might get bored… but no, cheese is delicious.  mmm.  So far so good.  After dinner I mailed some postcards and then we stopped at a convenience store for a few snacks.  Since we were both pretty tired, we went back to the hotel and had an early night.