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Mike Morris
John Hobday
Margit Karkela
Lynn Keillor
Alanna Simone Tyler
THE TRIP
April 22-23 - Days 1-2
April 24 - Day 3
April 25 - Day 4
April 26 - Day 5
April 27 - Day 6
April 28 - Day 7
April 29 - Day 8
April 30 - Day 9
May 1 - Day 10
May 2 - Day 11
May 3 - Day 12
May 4 - Day 13
May 5 - Day 14
May 6 - Day 15
May 7 - Day 16
May 8 - Day 17
May 9 - Day 18
May 10 - Day 19
May 11 - Day 20
May 12 - Day 21
May 13 - Day 22
May 14 - Day 23
May 15 - Day 24
May 16 - Day 25
May 17 - Day 26
May 18 - Day 27
May 19 - Day 28
May 20 - Day 29
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May 9
Gol and Hønefoss
Lynn Keillor
We left Gol with a stop at a shop called Skinnfellmaker'n. It's run by
Li Simon Dahl, who's the mother of Vita Simon, Alanna's hostess.
Li, a native Dane, is a one-woman historical preservation society for
Gol and all of the Halling valley. She moved to Gol shortly after World
War II, and said she was surprised at what she found. "It was almost
like the middle ages," she said, referring to the way people lived
and farmed. In terms of farming, she said, the rest of Europe was far
ahead of this part of Norway.
Within a few years of her arrival in Gol, life changed significantly toward
modernization.
As traditions were quickly cast aside, Li began her quest to save a bit
of Gol history, and began buying up old buildings as people were set to
tear them down. In fact, near Hemsedal, there's an area with several of
Li's preserved buildings.
"When immigrants come in, they see things that others are blind to,"
she said, referring to her interest in preserving Hallingdal culture.
But buildings were not the only thing Li set out to save: she was impressed
by the use and art of sheep skins, namely as bed blankets. Farmers, she
said, would sew pelts together and use it as their only bedcover. In the
40s, though, as farmers died their bed covers were burned. "They
were so dirty and stiff they could stand by themselves," she said.
"Plus, people were afraid of tuberculosis."
Li's shop, Skinnfellmaker'n, hand sews these bedcovers, and other fine
garments made of sheepskin. She's also reproduced traditional print patterns
using hand-cut wooden blocks. She's also keen to preserve various sheep
varieties, which create unique and colored pelts.
 Half
way to Hønefoss, we stopped at Vassfaret Bear Park in a town called Flå.
It wasn't open to the public for the season, but Bear Master Egil Myrland
let us come in and see the bears. (Photo right: Our journey to Ringerike
follows the path of the famous Bergen-Oslo Railway. Photo below: Vassfaret
Bear Park houses a lively group of European brown bears, now rarely seen
in Norway.)
The first thing we noticed at the park was the smell. Using our host Birgir's
advanced-looking cell phone/computer, we were able to capture the
rotten scent for our Web readers. I believe the Web master is figuring
out how to install it, for your olfactory pleasure.
 The
smell was indeed rotting flesh. The bears get a steady diet of road kill
moose (donated by the national train service), and Egil said that bears
prefer their meat well-dead. "That's why if you're attacked by a
bear, you should play dead," he said. "They attack because they
feel threatened, and they're not interested in fresh meat. They may brush
some grass and dirt over you and come back four or five days later for
you, but I'd suggest you go home in the meantime."
Though once fairly common in this area of Norway (Flå even uses a bear
on its coat of arms), no wild bears exist in the entire country. Between
1900 and 1968, bears were killed as nuisance animals. Every now and then,
Swedish bears (pop. 1,200) will wander over the border looking for females,
but head straight back when they can't find any in Norway, Egil said.
There has been talk of re-introducing bears into Norway, but there's been
a strong opposition, he said. It sounded much like the wolf debate in
Minnesota, with farmers worried for their livestock.
The original bears in the park were purchased from parks in Sweden. Egil
is proud to report that the male, "Rugg" (at a ½ ton and 260cm
standing) is the largest in Scandinavia, and likely in Europe. Despite
his size, Egil said Rugg is a softy at heart and will gladly play "finger
pull" with Egil through the fence or even lick his face. The others,
he said, would rather just take a swipe.
The bears are called brown bears, which are similar to grizzlies, only
smaller.
Of the nine bears in the park, two are albinos (born last year) and two
that were born on January 15. Egil coaxed the little cubs out of their
den, and let's just say that watching them play was worth the rotten stench.
The park is only allowed to keep a limited amount of bears, so the cubs
will likely be sold to other parks in a couple years.
Rugg, however, is going nowhere. He's the ultimate stud.
We arrived in Hønefoss, which is about 30 miles northwest of Oslo and
met our new hosts. The local paper showed up at our group lunch, so perhaps
we'll be famous on the pages of Ringerikes Blad. I believe the Website
is www.ringblad.no, so you can see for yourself.
I spent the evening with my hosts, Eli and Kjetil Kolstad. Eli is a part-time
nurse and Kjetil (a Rotarian) works in real estate. Their daughter, Anna,
16, is getting ready to be an Rotary exchange student near Vera Cruz,
Mexico, for next year. They also have two other children: Per, 11; and
Kristi, 7.
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