Letter from Lorenchia
Are you consisdering a vacation to Singsaas to find your roots and experience Norway? If not, you should be! Lorenchia Scott wrote the following letter to Jim Winsness describing her experience when we all spent 3 weeks in Norway in September and October 2005. You certainly do not have to spend that long, but we had so much to do and after you spend the money to get to Norway, you might as well see all you can.
From Lorenchia Scott, Dec. 1, 2005
December 2005
Dear Jim, Bev and Gail,
It is the time of the year that we are thinking about decorating a Christmas tree, baking cookies, making lefse and flatbread, sodsuppe (sweet soup), krumkake, rosettes and all those other wonderfully, tasty Norwegian foods.
This year my thoughts have been going back to Singsaas, Norway and to our relatives who are living there. Jim, looking at the web site and the pictures of Christmas in Norway with Jakob, Annbjorg and family and friends, Per Moen and his wife and Jens Winsness really made me wish I could spend Christmas in Norway. So, I decided that this letter would be my Christmas gift to you and to all those who read it. I hope it makes you "homesick" for Norway, too.
Jim, Bev and Gail, remember how excited we were when we met at the airport in Amsterdam and you, Jim and Bev, just by a second, made the flight with us to Trondheim. Jens was faithful in meeting us at the airport and to drive us, Gail, Scotty and Lorenchia, to Storstuu, the home of Jakob and Annbjorg Winsnes. Sorry Jim and Bev that you were alone in the rental car and missed all the good information Jens gave us on the way to Singsaas. Jim, you had been there before so you probably informed Bev.
How exciting to meet Jakob, Annbjorg and Ann Marit their home, Storstuu, our bed and breakfast home. Remember how we were shown our rooms and what about those showers! They were awesome with overhead and hand-held showers, steam bath, massagers, radio, individual foot washers. The rooms were really neat with the comfortable bedding and privacy for each room. Yet, we were all together so we "girls" could have our giggling time. Jim was busy on the laptop computer and Scotty was reading while we played the card games. We did a lot of genealogy and that was fun, too, as we found that we had many living relatives in Singsaas.
How about the foods served us! We were in a dream world with the Norwegian foods that Annbjorg made for us. We were treated with moose, reindeer, venison, lamb, wild salmon, white fish, and delicious soups and on and on. It was so heart warming to have all of us eat around the table that many of our ancestors had sat around for a meal and conversation. Ingrid & Kjell Digre's dinner of white fish was very tasty & memorable. Tone's Sunday brunch was delicious and we got a pre-brunch concert by Annbjorg accompanying herself on the guitar and singing in Spanish! Tove, also, had a wonderful luncheon for us. It was so much fun to be invited to their homes. How about the time we went to visit Hans, Tonya Winsnes and sons. So much fun and so much good food, again.
Everything was so well thought out and planned for us and yet we had the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do or see. We were shown the home places of our great grandparents and had many drives in the mountains to view the Singsaas area from the mountaintops and down by the Gaula River. What beauty! Gail, Annbjorg found the Aune's relation for you and home area as well as the home place of the Kvernmo's. I, Lorenchia, appreciated so much that I had the opportunity to see the home places of my great grandparents. Jim, we know that it was fun and exciting for you to show Bev your family's home place. You had been telling her about it ever since you came back from your visit to Jakob and Annbjorg's in 2001. Bev, you were as interested about everything as if you were Norwegian. Scotty reacted the same way so it shows that the beauty of the mountains, waterfalls, interesting towns like Roros, the former copper mining town & Fjords can be exciting even for a non-Norwegian.
During the first week in Norway, we went to Trondheim to see the Nidarosdomen, the largest Cathedral in Norway. The oldest part of the Cathedral was built in 1320 and was built over the grave of Olav the Holy. It is said that King Olav brought Christianity to Norway. The Cathedral has three architectural styles, Norman, Romanesque and Gothic. It was well worth the hours spent there. We all really enjoyed going into the "old town" of Trondheim along the Nidelva River. The little shops were unique.
One day we drove up the mountain to see the summer homes of the Digres. It has snowed on the mountain, about 5 inches, and so it was the perfect snow for throwing snowballs at each other. We said, "we are throwing snowballs and making a snow troll in September!" We had a picnic lunch on the deck of the house, and looked over to the next high, snow covered mountains. Remember how the car's wheels were spinning in the snow and we wondered whether we would get stuck in the snow? With now 5 women, Annbjorg, Bev, Gail, Tone and Lorenchia pushing the car with Jim and Scotty, we were fine. By the way, who steered the car? Oh yes, it must have been the snow troll!
After a busy but relaxing and fun week in Singsaas, the 5 of us piled into the rental car to our first destination, Balestrand, on the Sogne Fjord. We drove through Dovrefjell National Park and further south through Jotunheimen National Park. The high peaks in the distant mountains (we were also up high) and the many magnificent waterfalls had us in and out of the car to take pictures. Jim, the brave one, took many pictures of the mountains while driving on the mountain roads. You did a good job, Jim. We had picnic lunch on a cold and windy mountain. We reached Balestrand in about 6 hours. We had the best accommodations in town at the Kvikne Hotel for two nights. Lorenchia's distant relative, Leif Grinde, was very helpful in taking us around Balestrand and Vik. We and our vehicles took the ferry to Vik and back to Balestrand. Lorenchia was able to meet her 4th-5th cousins in Balestrand and Vik and we thank you, Jim, Bev and Gail for going along to the Sogne Fjord.
Oslo, here we come! It's a wonder how many places we went in 1½ days. The first night we visited the Royal Palace and saw the changing of the guard. We went to Oslo's inner harbor, the Fortress of Akerhus, and watched the boats and the sunset. Wasn't the sunset brilliant and beautiful?
The next day is one that was unbelievably full but, oh, so much fun. We met with Jim's relative, Kristina Hyldmo, who had done the planning for our day's journey. Kristina is a student of law at the University of Oslo. Before leaving on our day's mission, Kristina called Elin Nisesstad, a veterinary science student at U. of Oslo, who is Lorenchia's relative, to meet us later when her classes were finished.
Kristina and the 5 of us took a bus to Vigelandsparken, Oslo's largest park named after the sculptor, Gustav Vigeland. There are 212 sculptures in full size depicting humanity in its many emotions. Amazing work! We also saw some quick action there when a woman was focusing her camera on a statue and stepped off the low wall and fell into the low water trench surrounding some of the statures. She may have gotten wet but she kept her camera high and dry.
From there went to the Viking Ship Museum. It was unbelievable to view the Oseberg Ship, which was from the 9th century, in such good condition. Ninety per cent of the72 ft. long ship has the original wood. The Gokstad Ship was 79 ft. long. The excavation of the ship took place in 1880.
Yes, this is still the same day as the other two parks above. We went to the Norsk Folkemuseum. It has more than 150 buildings from all over Norway which have been assembled in the Europe's largest open-air museum. Were we getting tired yet? Nope! We were to meet Elin Nisesstad for dinner. We met her at a train station and rode to Frognerseteren, which is about a 30-minute walk from Holmenkollen hill which has a ski jump. Dinner at the Frognerseteren for the 7 of us was relaxing after a long day. We were happy to have the two beautiful young ladies with us for dinner.
Breakfast the next morning and we were on our way to Jim's relatives, the Bjugstads, near Gjøvik. Gjøvik is area in which the skating Olympics were held. The ice skating rink is built in the mountain. Yes, there are homes on top of the mountain. The rink is huge and awesome. Look what the Norwegians have done-- Norwegians invented the small paper clip, which is a very useful small item and also built this gigantic ice rink in a mountain!
On the way back to Singsaas, we found the Nygaard homesteads near Nes; drove through Lillehamer and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. One cannot get bored touring Norway. We chose to `take the long road home' just to see more of Norway! However, we were now looking forward to get back to our "home" in Singsaas.
Our last week in Singsaas was exciting with the visiting of many relatives, the trip to Roros & the picnic in the mountains with Annbjorg's parents; Annbjorg's sister, Berit and husband, Ingebrigt and daughter. We went to listen to the Haltdalen Male Chorus practice their singing for the competition that was soon to take place. Hurrah! the Haltdalen Male Chorus won the contest!
It is impossible to thank everyone for their part in helping us have a wonderful, memorable vacation and to think it was in Norway! We are thankful for all of the relatives who came to visit us at Storstuu and all the wonderful people who came to the party that Jakob and Annbjorg hosted. It was a special blessing for us to be with you Jim, Bev and Gail on our Norway trip. Have a most wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love,
Lorenchia and Scotty