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.
stupid crafts 