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May 2, 2003
Kongsberg|
Margit Karkela
We wrapped up our Kongsberg stay today. It was a free day and our first
real opportunity to head off on our own. John decided to stay in Kongsberg
and explore. He visited his host’s volvo dealership, took a look in many
other their local shops, and spent quite a bit of time hanging out downtown.
Lynn had an opportunity to visit with a local snowmobile dealer (artic
cat). The dealer is also the head of a local snowmobile association.
Snowmobiling is a very heated topic here in Norway. It is not all that
common of a sport for a variety of reasons. I am sure we will have a
more extended conversation on this topic after our snowmobile challenges
discussion coming up later this week.
 Mike,
well, I would like to report on Mike. Unfortunely, he was visiting with
some of our hosts when I was taking some notes, so I will have to let
him up date you later. Sorry Mike! (Photo Left: Mike enjoyed staying
on a farm outside Kongsberg. The house was originally built over 200 years
ago.)
 Alanna
and I decided on having a day of art. Alanna’s host, Hildegunn, arraigned
for us to meet a friend of her’s, Anne Pfeffer Gjendahl. Anne is a jewlery
artist. She designs, and makes her own line of jewlery out of metals,
beads, bone, etc. It is very unique and we had an opportunity to visit
her studio. Anne was also kind enough to show us several galleries in
the area. Our first stop was the Glass Hytta in Brukkseter. The building
is an old blanket factory and now houses many artists and galleries.
The Glass Hytta has all handblown glass, very unique. Alanna and I both
purchased something to remind us of Norway. Photo Right: Margit models
Hildegunn's beautiful "bunad" or national folk dress. )
Next stop, Gulden Kuenstverk. It is a art gallery and interestingly
enough one of the owners is from Hibbing, MN! That is only about 45 minutes
from my home town. The world gets smaller every day. We also made a
quick stop in Drammen to find that the gallery was closed. We finished
our adventure back at Anne’s home where we had a lovely lunch on the porch.
Alanna and I truly enjoyed our time with Anne!
 Our
hosts sent us off that evening with a fun farewell party. Traditional
Norwegian food was served. Sigurd told us the story of Ola and Kari,
he is a great story teller, with a wonderful sense of humor. There were
also many warm toasts and we finished the night out with singing many
songs, including the Kongsberg song. (Photo left: Margit together
with hosts Norma and Sigurd Friis.)
 As
in our first experience we met our hosts only a few short days ago and
our time has come and gone too quickly. We came to them as strangers,
but we will leave as friends. A big thanks to all we met in Kongsberg,
we will always remember our stay with laughter, warmth, and love. (Photo
right: Sigurd tells an amazing story about Kari and Ola up on the summer
farm. Photo below: GSE team at evening goodbye party in Kongsberg.)
 
(Photo above left: A burial mound from the Viking era. Above right:
The first wildflowers of spring in Norway, called "blåveis".)
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