More Ulvik

Friday for dinner we had Tobba's famous cole slaw for dinner, along with some really tasty potato salad and steak (I hadn't had steak in so long). That night we went to one of the hotels in town because it had live music. We were hoping there would be some other dancers there because there was a conference that weekend, but  we were basically the only ones dancing. I had a good time though. The music was "veldig bra" (very good) and dancing is always fun. I did get a couple of the guys to swing dance with me. It was a different kind of swing dancing than I was used to, much simpler. I assume that's the kind that most people know.

Saturday we had a very laid back day-got up slowly, had breakfast, went to town, and stopped at Tobba's father's place again. Tobba took me with her to feed her brother's bird. Her brother works on an oil platform-2 weeks on and 4 weeks off, so he was away at the time. In his front yard is the foundation from the barn that used to sit there in Tobba's childhood. I also got a closer look at Tobba's childhood home. It's such a neat-looking building. It's so sad that it's just sitting there rotting. I think Tobba said it's 110 years old. It has the original stove from the first bakery in town inside.  Tobba's father presented me with a copy of a book with some of his poems and drawings inside. Tobba has the same book at her house and Tonegrete tried to help me translate some of it. It is written in the older style of Norwegian so even some of the words I thought I knew weren't written the same way. On the way home we stopped at a small waterfall. Everything is just so beautiful.

That night we had trout stuffed with leeks and sour cream. I had never eaten a fish like that before-it was the whole fish just laying there on the platter, and once you ate the top meat you just pulled the skeleton out and eat the meat on the bottom.  Another thing I tried was a candy called Smash. It's basically just chocolate covered Bugles. So good. I don't know why we don't have them. We played some more "1000" that night and I got pretty far in a book I was reading.

Sunday's drive home was really nice. It was blue skies and sunny all day long. We took a different way home-over the mountain. First we had to take a ten minute ferry across the fjord. That was beautiful, just like everything else. We stopped for gas at another cute little town on the other side of the fjord and then it was up the mountain. We stopped part way up at a plateau. It was very high up. There was a little bridge going across a river below and it looked like a log put across the water, even though it was a  good-sized bridge. Supposedly there is a great waterfall there, but there was too much snow to go check it out. It probably took us another 20 min to half hour to get up to the top of the mountain. It's 1250 m above sea level at the highest point. We drove across the top part for a while. There were skiers  snomobilers, and dogsleds. It was certainly still winter up there. There were even houses that you could only see the roofs because they were buried in snow. The road isn't even open during most  of the winter, so this must be prime time. Supposedly there are a number of lakes up there that are blue and clear in the summer. I imagine it's awesome. At the very top we also saw a glacier (I don't believe I've ever seen one before). We stopped at a cafe near the top and stood outside for a while. It was so nice to have the sun on me. The way down the mountain was just as gorgeous. We passed a lot of cute cabins and houses, some lakes and rivers, etc, etc..  The only part that was not aesthetically pleasing was when we got close to Oslo.  There just seemed to be way too many houses and people, and nothing could compare to the beauty that I had experienced the rest of the weekend.

I think this was my favorite trip so far. I wish I had more time, especially when everything gets green, in Norway. It was so nice to see something besides Oslo, and I still cannot get over how beautiful Norway is! Now that I know Tobba though, it makes it a little easier to come back to Ulvik in the summer if I ever chose to.  I am so grateful to the three wonderful ladies who accepted me into their lives this weekend-Tobba for taking me into her home, and May and Tonegrete for carting me to and from Ulvik. Also, a big thank you to Steve who got me connected with Tobba in the first place. I am so very appreciative to everyone.

I've added some more pictures here. Some are from the way home, and at the end are pictures of Tobba's childhood home and her father's current home. The rest of my pictures are on facebook and will also be on snapfish in the near future. I added pictures to the first post about Ulvik on my blog, as well.

 Tobba's Father's House

The house where Tobba grew up