Visiting My Heritage, Norway!

For those of you who don't know anything about my heritage, I am 50% Norwegian, 25% Swedish and 25% German. (There is a reason I have bright blonde hair!) I have spent the last 5 days in Norway spending time with some distant family and getting to know part of my heritage.

My great grandfather was born in Andoya, Norway. I didn't go to Andoya, instead I went to Oslo. But for those of you who are curious, check out http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=andoya+norway+map&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Andøya&ei=Gnu4Ta6EBIuhOoWiyY0P&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

you will be able to see andoya on that map!

I spent my time staying and visiting Gunnar and his wife Mette. Gunnar is my grandmothers cousin! They live in a gorgeous house with an incredible view! it was stunning!

I arrived on a Saturday, but we mainly stayed around the house and had a great meal with Mette's family and a couple of friends. it was a great meal and a wonderful time! then on Sunday, I went to church. Now for those of you who do not know me very well, I know absolutely no Norwegian. It is nonexistent, but I went to church and it was great. I didn't understand a word of the service of the hymns (I got Alleluia and Amen) but I read my Bible and it was just really fun!

After Church I started the sightseeing tour. We went to the Ski Jumping place (I know I would spell it wrong, so I am referring to it as ski jumping place!) It looked a lot different than I imagined ski jumping would be. I didn't know it was a giant pit that they jumped in to! Seeing the enormity of the facility made me realize two things:

1. It was very very steep and

2. I should probably never try ski jumping, because I am quite sure I would end up flat on my face and very injured

at the base

view from the top

side angle

looking straight down

side view!

After that we went to the sculpture park were we saw the statue "The angry boy"!

There were plenty of other great statues and amazing sights. It was such a pretty day outside, so many people were sitting in the park and enjoy themselves! That night we had a BBQ and had a lovely time with the whole family!

Monday was the museum day. We spent time at the folk museum which was awesome! it had a bunch of houses and farms and such from different centuries and time periods. It also had a really old church that was beautiful on the outside!

After that museum we got to head over to the viking museum. This is where I get to brag about some of my ancestors. Although I cannot trace them back to the vikings, we are quite sure that we have viking blood in our family genes. Now the vikings traveled the world on these boats (see below). I think it is incredible that they traveled so far on these boats. It is amazing! 

(we also have reindeer herders and royalty in my genes, ya, i am a little odd!)

So on tuesday we traveled to some of the coastal towns in norway. I had great fun with this because i loved seeing the smaller towns, especially the ones on the water. My great grandfather was a fisherman (ironic because i don't eat fish) and although he worked in the United States it was still good seeing the lives of people who live on the coasts! The towns were very cute and cozy! 

Today, we went and explored Oslo. We started on the top of the Opera building and made our way on the street towards the palace and then moved to the harbor. It was great fun! The city is really pretty and a great place to walk around it! I loved being able to stroll through the area!

And tonight i got to watch a really pretty sunset! I have been blessed with some awesome weather here in norway because it has been sunny and in the 60s the ENTIRE time! (which is rare in april, apparently it is summer weather!)

But here are some facts i didn't know about Norway until I came here:
1. Did you know it was once called Christiania? I didn't!
2. Trolls are a big deal. There are lots of trolls, I find that kinda cool
3. Norway is really (well i did know that, but I felt like I needed another fact)

I leave Norway tomorrow morning to head back to London and then on Saturday I head back to the US. I am not going to lie, I am SO excited about the next couple of day! It will be so much fun being in London for the royal wedding and then heading back to the states to see some family and some friends! I am thrilled, but I am going to be sad leaving Norway. I want to come back and visit again, and travel to Bergen where more family lives hopefully make it up to Andoya one day and see more of my family history!

Next stope, the Royal Wedding so stay tuned!!