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.

 

Exploring Göteborg: highbrow touristing and low class eats.

June 5, 2012

What a full day!  It is amazing how much one can accomplish when you wake up at 4:23 am!  We got dressed in a very leisurely fashion.  My husband, J, tried the shower first and was incredibly impressed with its separate pressure and temperature knobs.  He’s already planning our ensuite reno with the design features from this Swedish bathroom… I hope he isn’t disappointed with the availability of these particular fixtures in Canada when the reno becomes a reality.

I watched Golden Girls episodes with Swedish subtitles, then got dressed.

We ate the continental breakfast just after 6.  It was impressive, with several different meats and cheeses, brie, fresh vegetables, cereal, hot chocolate, yogurt, eggs, bacon, buns, sweet breads, etc.  Much better than the typical continental breakfast in Canada, but I wished there were more fruits available than just apples and oranges.

After breakfast, I decided to join J on his walk to the university campus where the conference was being held.  It was supposed to be about a half-hour, but after a few detours, it took more like 45 minutes on the way there.  The walk back was much more efficient!  The streets are cobblestoned and the walk goes past a 19th century church in an old district called Haga.

There is also a very steep path through the woods up to the top of a hill.

By the time I got back to the hotel, not much was open yet, so I spent an hour relaxing and reading my book.  When I headed back out, I wanted to see if I could find the Central Station, since I want to take the train from there tomorrow.  I found it, and then wandered through the inner city exploring.  I found a mall, and stopped for a chai latte at a coffee shop.  I was nervous about only speaking English, but is apparently not a problem–everyone just switches to English once I start speaking.  The chai latte was absolutely delicious, and I spent another hour relaxing in the coffee shop reading in a comfy leather chair.

Finally, the shops opened and I spent some time browsing, then walked to a different area of town where the Goteborg Konstmuseum (art museum) is located.

I arrived just a little early, so I walked around a block or two taking pictures and then went in.  The museum was full of school groups, but once I got upstairs, things were quite quiet and I really enjoyed the whole museum in relative peace.  The special exhibit was a comparison of the works of Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol, with similar artists from the same time periods, but I really enjoyed some of the classical Scandinavian art more.  I bought some art postcards to send, then took my time returning to the inner city for a cheap lunch at McDonald’s.  The McChicken sauce was different, as was the Diet Coke, but still tasty.

J and I had agreed to meet at the hotel around 2 pm, but he caught up with me on the way there.  We spent an hour or so relaxing at the hotel, then decided to head back out for a boat tour of the canal.  This tour goes under several low bridges that criss-cross the canal, and we learned a lot about different architectural landmarks in the city.  Although it was a bit pricey (300 SEK or just over $40 CAD for the two of us), it was worth it to get a view of the buildings and see the landmarks in the harbour.  The water levels were high, so we actually had to take an alternate route, avoiding the lowest of the canal bridges.  Even on the alternate route, we had to duck down on the floor of the boat to avoid hitting our heads when we went under the “haircutter” bridge!  It was a lot of fun, and there were only seven of us on the tour. (That’s our tour guide there on the floor of the boat!)

After the tour, we went to look at a church built in the 1600s, but it was closed by that time.  We meandered back towards the hotel, but stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few snacks.  The grocery prices seemed a lot more reasonable than the restaurant prices.  We brought our pastries (an apple turnover and a pain au chocolat) and ate them back at the hotel.  We also bought a chocolate bar called Plopp, a delicious chocolate and toffee concoction which led to some enjoyable and immature jokes.  J had a nap and I relaxed till nearly seven, when we left for a wine reception for the conference.

The wine reception was held at a different location on the university campus, but it was still about a twenty minute walk.  It was outside, which was hilarious, because it was windy and maybe 15 degrees C outside, at the most.  At first, J was feeling shy, but we eventually met some interesting people from England, Japan and Germany.  J seemed to make fast friends with an important figure in the heritage academic community – a professor from England who is colleagues with J’s supervisor.  After several glasses of free wine and almost no food, we headed home and stopped for some Burger King dinner.  It was after ten by the time we were back at the hotel and eating, and J fell asleep shortly after he ate.  I stayed awake and read for a little while, but then went to sleep.