Play a little, work a little, sleep very little
More tourist outings, to artist communes and local galleries, and a tour of historic Risør (it’s pretty much all historic) by a guide dressed in period costume (from what period, I never discovered).
And less tourist activities. Another boat ride, this time to the island of Lyngør, which one a prize for being the best-preserved town in Europe. It’s easy to see why. Everything is spanking fresh and lovely, somehow avoiding that Disney-ish sheen. We stopped for a walk and then lunch at Fred Hansen, who has a summer house there; it’s been in his family for generations and looks it. They’ve preserved much of the interior design from the turn of the century: old wall hangings and art, plus the furniture. Fred lived in Singapore and Hong Kong for years and had the insight to guess that I was Chinese — he seemed quite tickled by this ability.
But of course all play and no work… I visited two libraries yesterday in Risør: the public library and the local high school library.
Eva, the head of the public library gave me a tour of her domain — very Scandinavian in interior design, but very similar to HPL in many respects. She and Mai-Inger, a library assistant, put me to work at the front desk, titillating some of the non-English-speaking patrons. They also issued me a local library card and let me charge out on it. There are also nationwide cards that plug patrons into the national system, but one needs a state id for one.
Then Eva took me to the local high school library, which has recently been renovated. It’s the jewel of the high school, which local officials are struggling to keep. There’s periodic talk of closing it down and having students commute to Arendal (the nearest large town). But so far, they’ve managed to justify their own. I can’t imagine students getting to school miles away in 5ft of snow, but I suppose they would approach it philosophically as they do the weather — nothing to be done about it.
Stopped in the local bakery for a pastry and a cup of coffee — 35NOK, or about USD6.50 (no dollar signs on this keyboard). Last night we went to the local pub, and my soda water cost 29NOK (USD5+). I get the feeling that Reece and I will be eating a lot of bread, cheese, and water when he arrives.
Tags: Travel
June 5th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Oh by the way Sophie, did I tell you I gained 40lbs my year in Norway? And I still have my cheese slicer. Some things never go out of style…..Nothing like a little lefsa, gjeitost, and freshly boiled shrimp to make a girl feel at home! Oh and after many tries I did learn to make chocolate chip cookies in Norway. And they LOVED the carrot cake i introduced to them.