Bergen and Barbecue

 Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny. Our agenda was to visit friends on the way to Bergen, then to see Bryggen (the Hanseatic houses), and then to go to Hardanger for a party. Long day! 

For once, we had an on-time departure, and the kids slept in the van. We had a true Norwegian experience - a kolonnade - on the way. That's when there is construction or weather, only one lane is open, and a pace car takes a set number of cars one way, then returns with a group traveling the other way. There was construction on E16, and so we had to wait just a few minutes for our turn. 

About half an hour later we arrived in Osterøy at the new home of Reidun Horvei. Reidun and I first met in Voss, in 2016, when I was looking at setting up a tour for 2017. (Of course, that turned into the Denmark tour...) She later did a show in Seattle with pianist Inger-Kristine Riber, and the Lilla was part of that show. We have been fast friends ever since. We drove up a steep hillside, and near the top sat Reidun's beautiful new home. Our job? Fill it with music, of course! 

The table set for cake! 
(Reidun's photo)

When we arrived, we had a warm welcome, then Reidun took the kids on a house tour. I hung out with Inger-Kristine, who was also there and had a chat. Then it was time for a coffee pause, of course! 

There were two gluten-free cakes, one with almond flour and custard, and the other a sort of flourless chocolate torte. Most of us tried both - delicious! It was lovely to sit on the deck, with friends of all ages, and look at the view over the fjord. Reidun had always said that she wanted a place where she could see the water, and this has fantastic views! 

Then there was music. Reidun captured this video. 

Alas, it was time to say goodbye and head down to Bergen. We found our parking garage, but our phones would not let us download the garage's app. What a pain! We had to ask someone what to do, and learned that there was a machine in the garage where we could pay, our license plate had been photographed and time stamped when we drove in. Great! We turned the kids loose to explore Byrggen.

Bryggen
(Itsani's photo)

Bryggen is often photographed because it is so lovely.  These houses were built by members of the Hanseatic League. Their trading ships plied the waters between Bergen and other ports in Europe and Asia from the early 1400s to the mid 1600s. The Hanseatic League, which was made up of Germans, also controlled the fishing industry. The 62 remaining buildings are a UNESCO World Heritage site, and so are now protected. 

The kids spent about an hour and a half exploring, with regular check ins. Sue went to the Hanseatic Museum, and I sat in a cafe trying to catch up on blogging, checking plans for various things, and so on. It was fine - I had seen the houses on an earlier trip. 

Lilah had been asking about Indian food, which she loves. On the way to the cafe, I found an Indian restaurant that looked like it would be perfect for our final dinner. Yes! 

Back in the van, we followed a route that Reidun had suggested, a scenic way to Hardanger that would allow us to miss the construction and thus save some time. It turned out to be very picturesque, with views of glaciers at some points, and curvy roads through the mountains. Oh yes - and there was one famous waterfall, Steindalsfossen. Usually, folks walk up to the falls and then you can walk behind it, but we did not have time to do all of that as we were due at a party. We had a look, then drove on. 

Nils Tjoflot.

Now the road got really tricky. It was a very narrow one lane road on the edge of a fjord - yes, a straight down drop off the right side of our vehicle. Sue was driving, and we did have some issues with people wanting to pass us, and speeding oncoming cars. We made it to our turnoff in one piece, even if our hair was a little standing on end-ish. Whew! Our turnouff was on Tjoflotvegen (Tjoflot Road). Can you recall the earlier tale of the ill-fated Tjoflot? Wait - there is yet one more sad story - poor guy! But that comes a little later. 

We were invited to the farm belonging to Rannveig Djønno's family. I met Rannveig in Voss through Arne. She is the person who coordinates all the summer concerts, several hundred of them, all over Voss and Hardanger. She arranged all of our popup concerts! She had been away on vacation in Denmark with her precocious 8 year old son, Knut. They had just returned, and were hosting a community barbecue on the "beach" at the edge of the Hardanger fjord. 

Hardanger fjord and the farm.
(Itsani's photo)

When we arrived, this was the view. There were little farms along the fjord, mountains in the distance, and apple trees everywhere. We later learned that the farm has been in the Djønne family since the 1300s. That is amazing! Rannveig's father, who is in his 70s, still runs the farm. Initially, her brother inherited it, but he passed away young, and so her father is farming, and has brought in some laborers to help him. The main crop is apples, there are more than 20,000 (yes, that is not a typo) trees on the farm. 

Sue on the ATV.
(Martha's photo)

We had to walk down a steep hill (this IS Norway after all) to get to the pier and the "beach." Sue didn't think she could make it having bad knees, so she got a ride on an ATV. If you click on the picture, it will get larger, and you can see her laughing, but really, it didn't sound so happy - a little more toward the freaked out side. She later told me she wished she had had a helmet. By the way, she came back up the same way! 

Music on the dock
(Sue's photo)

The rest of us walked down to a series of small barns that sit above the high water line. There really isn't a beach, it's mostly just rocks. There was one little girl swimming, but we had said no swimming because it was cold, and the water would be cold, and the rocks in the water slippery. It was fine with the girls. Someone had donated a pig, and that had been roasted all day on a spit, over a fire. YUM! And then it was potluck. YUM! 

Here we are, in the photo at the left, on the dock. You can see the barn on the left. That is where, in the old days before the road came in 1981 (!!) all the apples were packed and sent on barges to be sold. There used to be dances after in the hayloft, Rannveig told us, but they stopped because of worries about the strength of the structural beams. 

You can also see all the people on the shore, and on the dock closer to the barn. We sat fairly close to the end. It was really lovely to be out on the pier playing music. There was enough breeze that the bugs were not horrific, and Rannveig joined right in. She also played us another Tjoflot tune. 

Tjoflot really had some sadness in his life.  He was hired to play for a wedding. When he got there, the girl that he loved, and he thought loved him, was marrying someone else. He went home and wrote her a tune, her name was Gina, and the waltz is Gina's Waltz. It's a very melancholy tune, with quick changes between minor and major keys. And then he died shortly thereafter when the boat capsized, per earlier blog.

Here's a clip of us playing on the pier, the tune is Swedish, Reinlneder från Mangskog.

It stays light very late here in Norway. When we checked the time it was already 9:30PM, and we knew we had about a 40 minute drive once we got up the hill, packed the van, and hit the road. It was, sadly, time to leave. I got this photo on the drive home, a little dusky, it's about 10:15PM. 

Goodbye Hardanger!