We woke up in the Hotel Alexandra and tried to enjoy the luxury of it all as long as we could before hitting the road to come home. I probably would have slept all day if Kaleb hadn’t woken me up. Kory and I were up until one o’clock dancing and the boys fell asleep just before midnight. They were up late on Friday night too as they couldn’t settle down. They were both trying to gross each other out with certain sounds and smells they were pleased they could make with their own bodies. (I guess this is how boys entertain themselves when they must sleep in the same bed.) Last night was just too funny at dinner time though as they were each motivated to eat only what they thought would create the most gaseous outcome. Tobias was disappointed that Kaleb fell asleep before his body churned out the mother of all “fanny burps.” They were a good match. (I’m glad we are now home and everyone is in their own beds!)
After the boys had a swim this morning and we all stuffed ourselves at breakfast just one more time, we drove to the end of the lake at Loen, which is quite famous for its two huge natural disasters. In 1905 and yet again in 1936, massive chunks of the surrounding mountains gave way and tumbled into the lake below, creating such a large tsunami that it wiped out two small “towns” along the lakeshore, both times. In all, 135 people died – entire families died in an instant. There is a marker near the church with the names of the dead. Totally tragic, but not terribly uncommon in these parts. We drove along the shore trying to see if we could identify the spot that broke free, as often the rock is much lighter in color, but we weren’t sure. We just enjoyed the scenery and stopped to watch some people skate on the frozen lake.
Before we headed home we decided to drive in the direction of a particular glacier we hadn’t seen in a long time. On the way there we saw more people skating on yet another frozen lake, so we stopped to smell the roses, as it were, except we stopped to skate on ice, which was very cold, and had no smell. Initially we were going to go skiing today but there wasn’t much new snow and we brought skates along too so that seemed just as good. Neither Kory nor Kaleb had used the skates we bought last fall so today was their initiation day. (Coincidentally, Kaleb’s class is going skating tomorrow so he was pretty excited to get some practice time in before then.) The day couldn’t have been more beautiful – nor the scenery (see photo above of Kaleb skating.) I took over 300 photos this weekend alone as everywhere was just storybook perfect. And except for Tobias getting too cold out on the lake, we all had a good time. We found a “spark” (a type of sled) on the side of the road by the lake that was all broken up and left for dead, but we managed to get some use out of it. We actually brought it home with us as Kory thinks he can fix it and make it usable again (it clearly was left as garbage). It’s a good option for me to use when we go skating as I don’t like the skates with shoes and a “spark” is something with huge blades and a handle that you stand on and kick (“spark” is the Norwegian word for “kick,”) so I’m thrilled we now have one. We never did make it to the glacier as we had too much fun on the ice.
On the way home I suggested we take a turn off and go a different way to see a famous hotel I’ve only read about. What I apparently didn’t read however, is that it’s closed in the wintertime. So we drove quite a ways out of our way, only to see the outside - and it’s the lobby inside that’s spectacular. Oh well. Then we went to the end of the road to take the ferry, only to realize it might too be closed for the winter, so we had to turn around and back track through “the valley of the shadow of death” to get home. There was this one valley that really spooked me on the way there as the mountains were so steep on both sides and there was no signs of life anywhere – no cars on the road at all and obviously it is not habitable because the evidence of falling rocks and avalanches were everywhere. In fact the road has already been covered this winter with several avalanches that have since been cleared away, but it was freaky to drive through those sections with snow piled up on both sides of the road. I kept thinking some natural disaster was going to strike at any minute and I wasn’t the least bit happy about having to go through that valley one more time as we back tracked to the main road. Uff da. But we made it home safe and sound, just after dark, and just as an overdue snow storm entered the scene. It was all quite beautiful. It was Mother’s Day today in Norway and I can’t imagine doing anything better than what we did, but I’m double-dipping because in my book, the second Sunday in May is still MY day.
After the boys had a swim this morning and we all stuffed ourselves at breakfast just one more time, we drove to the end of the lake at Loen, which is quite famous for its two huge natural disasters. In 1905 and yet again in 1936, massive chunks of the surrounding mountains gave way and tumbled into the lake below, creating such a large tsunami that it wiped out two small “towns” along the lakeshore, both times. In all, 135 people died – entire families died in an instant. There is a marker near the church with the names of the dead. Totally tragic, but not terribly uncommon in these parts. We drove along the shore trying to see if we could identify the spot that broke free, as often the rock is much lighter in color, but we weren’t sure. We just enjoyed the scenery and stopped to watch some people skate on the frozen lake.
Before we headed home we decided to drive in the direction of a particular glacier we hadn’t seen in a long time. On the way there we saw more people skating on yet another frozen lake, so we stopped to smell the roses, as it were, except we stopped to skate on ice, which was very cold, and had no smell. Initially we were going to go skiing today but there wasn’t much new snow and we brought skates along too so that seemed just as good. Neither Kory nor Kaleb had used the skates we bought last fall so today was their initiation day. (Coincidentally, Kaleb’s class is going skating tomorrow so he was pretty excited to get some practice time in before then.) The day couldn’t have been more beautiful – nor the scenery (see photo above of Kaleb skating.) I took over 300 photos this weekend alone as everywhere was just storybook perfect. And except for Tobias getting too cold out on the lake, we all had a good time. We found a “spark” (a type of sled) on the side of the road by the lake that was all broken up and left for dead, but we managed to get some use out of it. We actually brought it home with us as Kory thinks he can fix it and make it usable again (it clearly was left as garbage). It’s a good option for me to use when we go skating as I don’t like the skates with shoes and a “spark” is something with huge blades and a handle that you stand on and kick (“spark” is the Norwegian word for “kick,”) so I’m thrilled we now have one. We never did make it to the glacier as we had too much fun on the ice.
On the way home I suggested we take a turn off and go a different way to see a famous hotel I’ve only read about. What I apparently didn’t read however, is that it’s closed in the wintertime. So we drove quite a ways out of our way, only to see the outside - and it’s the lobby inside that’s spectacular. Oh well. Then we went to the end of the road to take the ferry, only to realize it might too be closed for the winter, so we had to turn around and back track through “the valley of the shadow of death” to get home. There was this one valley that really spooked me on the way there as the mountains were so steep on both sides and there was no signs of life anywhere – no cars on the road at all and obviously it is not habitable because the evidence of falling rocks and avalanches were everywhere. In fact the road has already been covered this winter with several avalanches that have since been cleared away, but it was freaky to drive through those sections with snow piled up on both sides of the road. I kept thinking some natural disaster was going to strike at any minute and I wasn’t the least bit happy about having to go through that valley one more time as we back tracked to the main road. Uff da. But we made it home safe and sound, just after dark, and just as an overdue snow storm entered the scene. It was all quite beautiful. It was Mother’s Day today in Norway and I can’t imagine doing anything better than what we did, but I’m double-dipping because in my book, the second Sunday in May is still MY day.
