Family Day in Bergen

Monday, July 21

Everyone was up for morning breakfast. 

 The kids decide they want to take the funicular up to Bergen’s tallest mountain (2,110 feet) for a view on this again, clear and sunny day.  Barb and I choose a historic tour.   Our tour lasts until almost noon, taking us through what is now the oldest part of Bergen, wooden trading houses that stand at the harbor’s edge.  Many of the oldest historic buildings are gone; victims of fire but archeological digs show their location.  Present buildings, circa early 1700’s, offer a view of the role of Bergen as a key trading center of Europe.  Bergen is a city built by the "grace of cod".  Dried cod, then the key to Bergen’s thriving economy, is on display in several areas.

Old Bergen circa 1000

Today

dried cod

The back allies of today Bergen

We had lunch at the fish market, a series of stalls displaying the bounty of farm products (ie strawberries) and the harvest from the sea (several species of fish, mollusks and crab). 

Divide by 6 to get US $

 At 1 we meet  Haakon and Inger Helene.  Haakon is Vic’s (Barb’s dad) cousin.  They escort us to their home situated on a hill overlooking urban Bergen.  The area in which they live is called Laegdene.  If you catch a bus to their home, the reader board on the top of the bus reads “Laegdene”.  Haakon and Inger Helene’s last name is Laegdene.  Their home, a house built just a few years ago, sits next to the family home that goes back 6 generations.  Hakon’s family owned a big farm.  The area now is residential urban, with many homes, schools, and churches.  We are also welcomed by their daughter Eiruun and husband Bjorn, and their children Maria and Andreas.  They live in the older home next door.   Soon after arrival, we hear our kids coming up the street.  They had taken the bus which dropped them off across the street from the house.  After welcomes and greetings, we sit in the yard to eat and talk.  Amazing, two Thompson families, who have never met each other, comfortably sit and share food, talk, and stories in the glorious Norway sun. 

Hakon and Inger Helene in their kitchen

The table by older home.  Hakon and Inger Helene's home in background.

Haakon and daughter Eiruun

Inger Helene leading the meal

The meal

  It comes time to leave and we extend our thanks and goodbyes.  Barb and I know that we will return in a week for more talk and opportunities to learn of family history.

We walk down the street to catch a bus to downtown to retrieve our luggage from our hotel.  As Barb and I board the bus, we offer our money and request “honor,” the senior rate (67) which is a much reduced rate.  As Ben boards, he asks the driver, “Can I get the senior rate too?”  The driver responds, “Why not.”  All six get on board as seniors, laughing at the reduced rate while the driver responds, “Who is ever to know?”  Fun.  Norwegian humor.

Bus ride from Laegdene home to downtown Bergen

We exit near our hotel, get our luggage, and are soon aboard another bus to the airport.    We arrive in plenty of time and are surprised at the quick process of checking in our luggage and our passage through security.  As we approach security we ask if we need to take our shoes off.  The security agent responds with a smile on his face, “Oh, if you want to…”    “Do we need to display our passports?”  I ask.  “Oh, not today,” was the response.  All with that Cheshire cat grin.   

The hour flight brought us to Trondheim.  As we entered the terminal to pick up our luggage, Heidi, Torgeir, and their son Michael were waiting for us.   Heidi rode with the group that took the bus to the hotel.  Torgeir in his car, and Michael, in the car he borrowed, each drove some of us to the hotel as well.  All were checked into their rooms and Torgeir, Heidi, Barb and I drove to their home, our base for the next 7 days.  What a family.  We feel so welcome and at ease with Torgeir and Heidi.  That time we had together after Kari’s wedding set the tone for this experience and we all feel, I think, that this pilgrimage has deep and profound meaning for us all.  What a blessing our Norway cousins are.