My last post

Before the concert.

It was really cool!

70,000 people!

The Oxford Hotel (the oldest in Denver).

Interior of hotel.

Another interior.

Beautiful picture of Pikes Peak on the drive from Denver to Colorado Springs.

I know this is belated, but I made it home.  I've included pictures of my last adventure-the U2 concert!  The concert was great, the hotel was beautiful (although service could have been a little better), and it was wonderful to spend some time alone with Brock.  Thanks to all our friends in Denmark and our cousins in Norway.  You were so generous and kind.  I hope that you will think about coming to America, we would love to have you.  Also, thanks to my brother, Eric, for taking care of me and putting up with me.  I really loved our time together.  Bye everyone.

My Last Day in Norway

Stave Church

Ingrid, Lars, and me.

This bathroom, located in the hallway of our hotel, was unisex.  An interesting experience.

Today was fantastic!  We slept in a little, then went shopping at the Sandvika Storsenter.  I had a very yummy waffle, which is more like a dessert, that they have over here.  We scoured the mall, which is huge, looking for gifts for our families. We didn't find much in the way of souvenirs, but it was not for the lack of trying.   Ingrid and Lars picked us up at the train station and we went to the Viking Ship Museum-really cool!  There were remnants of 3 ships, all dated to about 900 A.D.  It's amazing how much has been preserved, and I can't help thinking how exciting it would have been to find these ships.  After that, we went to the Norsk Folkemuseum.  It is a collection of very old historic buildings brought from different parts of Norway, one of which is the Stave Church dating back to 1100 A.D.  It was made of pine.  You might ask how a building made of pine can last over 900 years.  I will tell you: the pine trees had all their limbs removed but the tree was left standing for 15-20 yrs.  The sap would then impregnate the trunk, preserving it from the inside out - cool, huh? And then of course they sealed the outside with a tar/sap substance.  The architecture was amazing.  Then Lars and Ingrid took us to see the church they were married in, which dated back to 1100 A.D. as well.  It was beautiful.  Thanks to all our Norwegian cousins for all their kindness and showing us such a good time.

17 May-Independence Day

Heidi, Per-Tore and Liv's daughter being a very good cheerleader/chaperone.

Children's parade in Oslo.

King and Queen of Norway's Palace.

Lots and lots of kids.

Streets of Oslo.

Liv, Odd (Heidi's husband) and Anton.

Very cute picture of Per-Tore and Anton.

Left to right:  Ingrid, Steinar, Grethe, Bjørn, and little of Eric.

I think my brother Allen looks similar to Steinar (2nd cousin once removed) around the eyes.

Eric was given the job of grilling.

Yummy dessert!

Ingrid made this one, very delicious!

Today was 17 May, independence day for Norway!  The Norwegians celebrate big.  All the school children take part in a parade, first at their school, then in Oslo.  They wave flags, shout "hurrah!", and some have traditional costumes.  Many of the adults also wear a traditional costume called a bunad.  In fact 70% of the women own one.  They are handcrafted and very expensive, often passed down to other family members.  The bunads represent different regions of Norway, so you can tell where someone's ancestors came from by which bunad they are wearing.  There is a great deal of national pride in Norway.  After the parades we went to Per-Tore and Liv's house for a party, lots of food and laughing and talking.  And I am exhausted.  Sorry I forgot to post this yesterday.

Hamar and Lillehamar

Yesterday we went for a drive up in the mountains with Per-Tore (2nd cousin once removed) and Liv.  It was so beautiful, very picturesque.  There were old farms and cabins set against a background of green- green of every shade.  And the buildings are colorful; deep red, green, golden yellow, white, and even black.  The water in the fiords was like glass. I'm not exactly sure of the route but I know that we stopped at Lillehamar and saw the Olympic ski jump.  We also stopped at Hamar on the way back, which is the area where my ancestors come from.  It's beautiful rolling hills and farms everywhere.  We went to the church where my great-great-grandfather, Ander Christansen, is buried, although we don't know exactly where.  Later that evening we had a delicious dinner at Per-Tore and Liv's home, which was lovely.

The oldest natural stone bridge in Northern Europe.

Me, Per-Tore, and Liv eating fishcakes

Farms outside the Hamar area.

More farmland.

Church where my ancestors are buried.

We made it to Norway!

2nd cousins(once removed): Grethe and Ingrid are sisters and their spouses Bjørn and Lars.  Very, very warm and kind.

Beate (Ingrid and Lars' daughter) and her two children Alba and Oliver.  I have many beautiful pictures from Alba.

Anders (Ingrid and Lars' son). Also very welcoming.

See what I mean, isn't this room great!  It is Lars' office/library.

Another view.

I love the warm colors.  I may be changing back to yellow.

This is Lars' parents home.  They originally had a larger lot but Ingrid and Lars built their home next to it.  It is still in the family.

A word of advice:  don't take the bus from Copenhagen to Oslo.  It's not the worst, but pretty boring.  The Swedish countryside is pretty, though.  Norway is beautiful!!!!  It has the topography of Colorado, but the greenness of Oregon, the perfect combination.  Our cousins met us at the bus terminal and we had dinner, very yummy.  Today we went to an art museum with a cousin named Inger-Johanne (very nice) called Henie-Onstad Art Center which was started by Sonja Henie, a figure-skating gold medalist in the 1920s-1930s, and her husband Niels Onstad.  They had a Matisse, Klee, and lots of others that were great but not known to me.  Later, we went to Ingrid and Lasse's home for a family get-together.  I loved, loved, loved how their house was decorated.  It was very warm and comfortable feeling.  We met quite a few relatives, they were all really kind.  I wish there was no language barrier, most of them speak English well but all I can say in Norwegian is "I don't speak Norwegian."  I think we have a big day tomorrow, so goodnight.  There were more relatives there, but I didn't get good pictures of everyone. (Christian and Charlotte-you should come visit Colorado also, its just a little out of the way).

I posted some more photos under "Fynen".  Click "Read more".

The Christus

Peter with scanning dots.

I forgot something really cool.  We went to Vor Frue Kirken in Copenhagen.  It's the church where the original Christus by Bertel Thorvaldsen is.  It was really beautiful!  There are statues of the 12 Apostles lining the walls, 6 on each side.  Some workers had scaffolding up and we thought they were cleaning the statues.  Instead they were putting little white dots all over them and scanning the statues.  We asked some questions and found out the workers were American and LDS!  The church has volunteered to create computer 3D images of the statues so that if something should happen there is sort of a "back-up".  Denmark has no way to restore or replicate exactly any of them.  Take a look at what is in Peter's hand.

The Round Tower and Sweden

Inside The Round Tower

The Round Tower is in Copenhagen and it's what it sounds like, a round tower.  It has a spiral ramp up to the top and you can see all of Copenhagen from it, beautiful view!  Later we took a ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden.  We took Ganne with us and just kind of walked around.  We saw Kärnan Tower, otherwise known as The Keep.  Even though we were just 20 minutes away by ferry, we had a hard time finding anyone who spoke Danish or English; everyone in Denmark can speak English.  The people wore more colorful clothing, well, more than the Danish anyway.  Because Ganne was with us, our pace was a little slower, so we had a very relaxing day.
    Yesterday we went to the Copenhagen Temple.  It's somewhat small but very beautiful.  They had translation for us on headsets for most of the session.  It had been closed for a couple of weeks and just opened yesterday so there were lots people.  Copenhagen is the temple for parts of southern Sweden so we had some Swedish there as well.   

View of Copenhagen from The Round Tower

Eric and Ganne on the ferry.

Kronborg Castle, Helsingor, Denmark from the ferry.

 We're on our way to Norway, the last leg of the trip.  Denmark was great!  We made some wonderful friends.  Tonight I meet 2nd cousins once removed and third cousins, I'm a little nervous.

                                         

Copenhagen Temple

Fynen, Denmark

Outside Hans Christian Andersen's house.