Hovden Wear - BLOG

We finished up our trip by visiting the lovely town of Trondheim.  Our good family friends, Kari and Daniel, moved to Trondheim the week before from Spokane, and so our goal was to not only see the sights, but also to welcome them to Norway.

The next day we felt a little better, so we went to Ulsrud farm. Ulsrud is kind of like a mini version of Maihaugen.  The man who lived there willed the whole farm to the Gausdal History Society and when he died, it became a museum.  There was an art exhibition by local artists, hand-knit mittens, locally made cheese for sale, and games for the kids.  We also got to go inside the old farm buildings and hear about Gausdal through the ages.

The next day we went to Maihaugen in Lillehammer. Maihaugen is a collection of old farm buildings from around Gudbrandsdalen. Some of the buildings are on their own, others are part of a grouping that came from a single farm.  There is also a section that has houses from different areas, including the current Queen´s childhood home.

One of my goals for this trip was to take the kids on a boat on Oslo fjord.  Fortunately, the public transportation system includes ferries to various islands and to the Nesodden peninsula. So, we hopped on the ferry and took the 30 minute trip to Nesodden where a friend of mine lives. We took a walked, stopped at a playground, and dreamed about ways to make strawberry pie.

Time to get out the hiking shoes!  We started the day by taking the t-bane (metro) to the end of line 1, Frognerseteren. Frognerseteren has beautif...

We met up by the tiger, which is a classic meeting spot in Oslo.  Then, from Oslo S, we starting walking up Carl Johans Gate towards the Palace. My daughter was very excited to see the palace!  Along the way we stopped at Stortinget to admire the lions. It started to rain pretty hard, so we stopped at a bookstore called Ark to pick up a few Norwegian language books.  They were having summer sales, so we were able to get some good books at low prices.

Friluftsliv is all about spending time outdoors. It is a way of life that has deep roots in Scandinavia. In fact, friluftsliv is so ingrained in the culture that it followed my family across the water to America.