Tag Archives: Norway

Road Trip: getting there

August 19, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

While travel throughout Europe is generally quite easy, Norway isn’t exactly the easiest country to navigate from. Most trips require either a plane ride (so thankful for inexpensive local airlines!), or at the least a ferry to get you going.

Our recent road trip to Germany began with a ferry ride. We drove just south to Larvik, and took the ferry to Hirtschals in Denmark. It was an early morning for us, leaving the house just after 6:00. The ferry journey was almost 4 hours, but a sweet friend gave us free tickets that included reserved seats.

What’s even better is the seats were like business class seats on an airplane, comfy and with lots of space. Complete with personal screens for television and movies, free headphones, and complimentary self-serve snacks and drinks: it was a treat! Add to that some cool duty-free shops to explore, and those four hours went by rather quickly.

Made it to Germany!

The idea of getting to drive through a new country (first time in Denmark!) was exciting. The reality? Not so much. While the speed limit was a bit higher than Norway’s very conservative 100 or 110 kph, there was very little to see along the way.

Once into Germany, we still had quite a few hours ahead of us. Of course as I mentioned before (see post here), Zack enjoyed finally getting to drive on the autobahn. But still, a lot of driving will wear you out!

Our first stop was Dusseldorf, and we arrived at the hostel around 9:00 at night. We were exhausted and glad to have finally made it.

cross-cultural living, Norway

Norwegian Strawberries: what do you think?

June 17, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again. The stands are popping up all over the city. Just in front of the mall, in fact, you can find two set up right next to each other.

A price war in the making, perhaps?

Yes, it’s time for Norwegian strawberries again. And people here seem to be quite serious about them. Countless times, we’ve been told of the far-superior berries grown in Norway.

Don’t get me wrong: they are good. Maybe it’s just my inexperienced palette – but I can’t really taste a difference between them and the strawberries we can buy at the grocery stores.

So while many around us are snatching up local berries for 35 – 50 kroner per basket (prices are continuing to drop as supply has greatly increased the last few days), we were happy to buy the Belgian berries at our local Kiwi last week for 18 kroner for a basket.

So to our friends who live in Norway…

What do you think? Can you taste a big difference? Do you spend a little more to get the Norwegian fruit? Are we missing out?

Day-to-Day

Relaxing on the Sea

May 27, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

We were grateful to our friends for inviting us out on their boat last Sunday. It had been a long time (1 1/2 years?) since our last boat trip, and we had a great time!

celebrate, Norway

Gratulerer med dagen: how we celebrated 17.mai

May 20, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

Last year I shared a little about the seventeenth of May (syttende mai), Norway’s constitution day. (You can read about May 17 HERE and the rest of the weekend HERE).This year is the 200 year anniversary of Norway’s constitution*. This was our second year to celebrate syttende mai in Norway.

Syttende mai is a fun day, and especially when the weather is as great as it was this past Saturday! We enjoyed a nice walk to the boys schools to start the day. Their classes then proceeded into the city to join all the other area schools for a program and parade.

After some music and speeches, the ‘barnetog’ began. The barnetog is the children’s parade. Much of syttende mai is focused on children, remembering that they are the future. Zack and I enjoyed watching the parade with three families from our neighborhood. Lots of language practice!

After the parade, we had lunch in the city. A big theme of the day is food, especially pølser (hot dogs) and is (ice cream).

We took a short break at home, so everyone could rest a little. Next up, we were back to the city for the ‘borgertog’. Borgertoget is the citizens parade. It includes teams, clubs, corps (marching bands) singing groups, etc. William participated with his football team. Zack, Daniel and I met up with several friends to watch the borgertog.

After the second parade, and an obligatory ice cream, we drove to Larvik/Faris Bad for a cookout and evening with friends: really good food, lots more Norwegian practice, and plenty of time to relax, Plus, the boys got to drive a boat and relax (yeah, right!) in the hot tub!

It was a really fun day, and we all slept great afterwards! Thanks to so many wonderful friends for including us and making us feel at home on your country’s special day.

*A quick bit of history, if you’re interested in it: Norway boasts the second oldest constitution in the world that is still in use. The constitution was signed on May 17, 1814 in Eidsvoll, just north of Oslo. It was the first major step the nation took towards becoming a democracy. (Norway and Sweden ultimately dissolved their union on June 7, 1905, as the first Norwegian king took the throne on November 18th of that year.)

Day-to-Day

Little pink hearts – what is this?

May 9, 2014 Dove Familie 4 Comments

I’m quite ignorant when it comes to plants and flowers – so I need your help.Zack and I went for a walk this morning. While we were out, we saw this particular flower in several places around the city. It was really pretty. It almost looks like tiny pink hearts hanging from each limb.

Any idea what it’s called, in Norwegian or English?

Norway, Travel

Exploring a new part of Norway

May 7, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

Two weekends ago we attended a conference in Hovet, a village in central Norway. It is always fun to get to check out new areas of the country, and this is the farthest we’ve traveled (in Norway) as a family so far.The area is home to some ski resorts, but the snow is melting so most everything was closed for the season. But it was still a beautiful setting and we enjoyed getting to explore it in the afternoon between meetings.

This was our home for a weekend –
a really cool two bedroom cabin.

The view from our back porch

We took this one somewhere along the drive.

Out for an afternoon walk

A ski jump built in between two cabins!

Norway, What's it like

What’s it like: Syttende Mai (Norwegian Constitution Day)

May 5, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

In 12 days, Norway will celebrate the 200 year anniversary of the signing of its constitution.

Before we arrived in Norway, I thought Syttende Mai (the seventeenth of May) would be a celebration something like the Fourth of July in America. And in many ways, it is. Only bigger. WAY bigger.

Over the next couple of weeks we will share some posts about Norway’s constitution day.

For now, here are a couple of cool syttende mai window displays we saw in Oslo last week.

What's it like

Russ: How students celebrate their final days of high school

April 30, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

The tradition of russ is observed by most students during the last month of their final year of vidergående skole / high school. We recently interviewed two students about the tradition, and about how their observance of russ tradition differs from most.

What's it like

What’s it like: Easter break

April 22, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

Easter holidays play out differently here than what we experienced in the states. As far as I can tell, all schools have the same spring break, the week adjacent to Easter. And the break is called påskeferie – Easter vacation.Almost all businesses are closed the Thursday and Friday before Easter, and the Monday after Easter. Thursday is skjærtorsdag, Friday is langfredag, and Monday is 2.påskedag. All the shops in the city are closed. You might be able find one of the small Sunday grocery stores open, but that is about it. Most shops are open on Saturday (påskeaften – the day before Easter), but only for a few hours.

Here are some photos from our Easter break – it was a great week with beautiful, summer-like weather, lots of outdoor time, hanging out with friends, and getting to know our neighbors better.

What's it like

What’s it Like: Eating Out

April 14, 2014 Dove Familie Leave a comment

Eating out was a frequent part of everyday life when we lived in the states. It was typically inexpensive, and was the most common way to meet up with friends.But not so much in Norway. Going out to eat was a pretty big part of our culture in the states, but not really a norm here. While we do have restaurants, you don’t normally find yourself having to wait for a table due to large crowds. Most of the time if we want to meet up with friends, we do so in one of our homes, or maybe at a park or out for a walk.

We do go out occasionally. I kind of like that it isn’t so common: that makes it more of a treat! Here are some shots from various restaurants we’ve visited since moving here.