This Old House....

I hope Cathrine doesn't mind me doing this post but I had to share this highlight with my family and friends.  This "old house" was a real gem and I know some of you will really enjoy these pictures.

One of the things I loved most about coming to Sweden and Norway was seeing the different styles of houses and cottages throughout the two countries.  As much as I loved the other two cottages we had visited, the Aagesen cottage was another hit!  This old house was over 100 years old and I loved every bit of it!  Cathrine and Magnus are in the midst of putting their personal touches on the cottage and what they have done so far is lovely!

The first thing that I fell in love with was the old red door.  It is a split door which I always wished I had for the kids bedrooms for the first months when they were in their big kid beds-lol. 

As you entered the house the first room you came to on your left was the kitchen.  Cathrine has painted the walls and the cupboards and added some really cute window toppers.  The windows throughout the house swing open from the center and none of them have screens.  There was also a trap door in the floor that led to a small cellar.

The window topper you see here was sewn from bed linens, they were a perfect accent for the kitchen windows.
When you left the kitchen you went into the family room/dining room that had both a wood stove(for heating purposes) and a fireplace.  There was several pieces of antique furniture throughout the house, I especially liked the shelving above the dining room table.

The candles were lit each night for dinner and we were treated to 3 great breakfasts and 3 even better suppers at this very table.

There was also a very nice master bedroom on the main floor, it too was tastefully decorated!  There was 2 bedrooms upstairs with a total of 6 beds in all on the second floor.  The first room was where Tucker and Papa spent their nights.

Magnus did a great job of building this bed into the wall to allow for more beds.

The next room was the room with "the view".  Chad, Tailor and I spent our nights in this room.

 As you can see, it also had a small wood stove for heating purposes.

Tailor's bed was actually Aleks's bed from when he was a little boy.  It was a fairly short bed but Tailor was quite happy and comfortable in it for her stay.

In the hallway, Cathrine had hung some old things on the wall-the cutest had to be the skis that she wore as a little girl.  There was also a beautiful old bench placed in front.

The curtained area that you see to the right at the end of the hallway by the window was yet another bed.  It had also been tucked perfectly into the wall.

We loved staying in this old house, the hosts were fabulous and we were treated so well.  Thank you Cathrine, Magnus and Aleks for sharing this old house with us-it too was beyond our wildest dreams.

Shelley

A hiking we did go!

On Tuesday Cathrine, Magnus and Aleks took us hiking in the mountains.  It was a great adventure and the sights from up top were again fabulous!

The farmer's from the area bring their livestock up into the mountains for the summer and let them graze.  They are all tagged so that in the spring when they bring them down, each farmer can identify his livestock.  These two horses were happy to have visitors and enjoyed our company while it lasted.

This was the view from where we started.  We were assured that the higher we got, the better the view.

I loved all of the waterfalls that we saw.  There were many!

The hikers were planning their route.

Our first stop was at this small cabin.  Years ago this would have been the cabin of a milk maid.  The milk maids were sent up into the mountains with the cattle and they would milk them each day.  Every few weeks someone would bring them the necessities that they would need for the weeks ahead.  The milk maids would then take the pails of milk and keep them cold in the creeks until someone came to collect them.  This cabin would now be someone's mountain cottage.  At this point we left Papa, Magnus and Tessa so that we could go higher.

The kids were a little faster than us, so they sat patiently and waited for our arrival.

It was at this view that we chose to stop and have a small snack before heading back down the mountain.  It was so beautiful and peaceful up there.  We made our way down, which resulted in some wet feet, but we all did have a great time.
Once we arrived back at the cottage, we all put our efforts forth and made a fabulous dinner.  We were again treated to chicken from Peter's(Cathrine's son) farm.  This chicken was delicious!  Chad and I made a potato dish and Tailor made us chocolate mousse for dessert!  YUMMY!

We ended the night with a campfire.  Tucker and Magnus worked hard to cut wood for the fire and it was the perfect fire for roasting marshmallows and weiners.(Yes Marcy, I do have my work cut out for me when I get home!)

This photo was taken at 10:30 at night.  It stayed light out very late into the evening and the sun would set again at 3:00 a.m.  The photo below was taken before Chad came in at 11:30.

Another great day in Norway!



Shelley

Oslo, an interesting but sad day also....

Monday started out early as we were heading into Oslo for the day.  We were going to see several things throughout the city and Cathrine had planned the day very well.  Our first stop was at the Viking Ship Museum.  The Viking Ship that I talked about earlier in yesterdays blog that had been salvaged in Tonsberg had been transported to this museum.

The detail on these ships was truly something to see.

The things that had been salvaged off of the ships was also neat to see.  This a pair of old shoes and a chair that were found.

Once finished at the museum we headed up to Holmenkollen.  Holmenkollen is a ski park where they have a ski jump and a cross country ski track.  It was amazing to see.  I can't imagine how intense the feeling must be as they glide down the jump and take off considering they reach speeds of over 100 km/hr.  The ski park also had a museum in it that the kids enjoyed and they also took an elevator to the top of the jump.

 

This is the Ski Troll at Holmenkollen.  Trolls are very popular in Norway.

The amazing view of the city of Oslo from the top of the ski jump.

We headed down into the heart of the city once we finished at the ski hill.  Now, keep in mind that that the terrorist attack had just occurred on Friday and we were not sure what restrictions we would be met by.  Once we arrived at our parking spots we came to realize that life had pretty much resumed to normal other than in the direct vicinity of the parliament buildings.  Our first stop was at the castle of the Norwegian King and Queen, it is located right at the top of the main drag in Oslo.  It was not at all how I had pictured it.  I had pictured it to be surrounded by beautiful gardens but this was not so, the front yard of the castle is covered with the famous red sand of Norway.

This is the view from the front of the castle.  At 6:00 Monday evening this street filled up with over 200,000 people who paraded in memory of the victims of Friday's attack.

This is the parliament building, untouched yet from Friday's attack.  It was a so sad to see the damage done by one very disgusting individual.

After we saw the damage we walked to a church in the heart of the city where many people had come to pay their respects.  We too laid flowers to honour those who had been killed.

We enjoyed our time in the capitol city and were heading onto the Aagesen's cottage in the mountains next.  I never dreamt that I would be so close to the sight of both of Friday's attacks.  As were heading to the cottage we saw the very island and where the kids tried so desperately to swim across to the mainland to get away from their attacker.  It was heartwrenching to see the actual distance that these kids had to conquer to escape from the madman.  We knew of one boy who swam the entire distance with his wounded friend under his arm so that he could get the boy to safety.  On Monday when we passed the water was still being searched for victims.

We had another 2 hour drive past this point.  It was a very scenic drive, the mountain region is very picturesque.  And the view from the cottage was absolutely stunning, I can understand why people choose to live there.

This was the view that we enjoyed each morning as we woke up and each night before bed as we were given the room with the view!

Shelley

Sunday in Tonsberg, Norway

For the sake of those who are curious about what we have done the last few days, I will go back and blog about each of the past days.
On Sunday we walked through Tonsberg with Cathrine, Magnus, Aleks and Tessa(of course).  Tonsberg is a harbour town and it is a very nice town. 

One of the very neat things about the harbour is that many years ago a viking ship was salvaged.  The people of Tonsberg have decided to build a replica of the ship.  They are actually using the original tools and methods from when the actual ship was built.  This is the progress they have made after only 1 year(Cathrine, please correct me if I am wrong)-the detail is very explicit.

The rain decided to come shortly after this photo was taken, so we waited it out at the restaurant that Aleks works at.  It was a nice little place along the harbour.  After this we walked up to the remains of a small castle that is at the top of Tonsberg.

From high above the city, I couldn't help but notice some people down below lowering a flag to half staff in honour of the many victims who had lost their lives to the terrorist on Friday.

Once we finished exploring the castle grounds we headed back down into the city center.  We were able to visit a firehall that was situated along the harbour.  The firehall had some antique trucks in it and then it's trucks from today. 

We of course asked the very hot, I mean nice fireman if he had a badge from his department that we could take home to Grandpa Jim-he was so kind that he ripped his sleeve off of his uniform shirt to give us the badge.  Because he had been so kind I had to have a photo taken with him!

This was also for Identifying purposes for when I take a road trip with my besties to New York City for the International Firefighter Games!

Papa also made a friend at the firehall.

Chad and Magnus also had fun at the firehall which gave me more time to look over the firehall.

We finished our walk with an ice cream treat thanks to Magnus and Cathrine!  Tessa even got a taste.



Sadly, it rained after this but we still managed to go out on a great boat ride in the Fjords.  We loved our boat ride and are again thankful to the Aagesen's for treating us to it.  We saw some beautiful summer homes along the shores. It was a great way to end our day prior to having dinner at the restaurant Aleks works at.  It was a great day!

Shelley