Hei! fra Norge

This morning we went to a shipyard, apparently one of the finest in Norway. We were told that among the top ten boats in Norway, 9 of them come from this builder. And in 2003 their G. E. Sars won “Boat of the Year” in Norway.

The owner took us on a tour of the ship they are finishing, the John Cook, a research vessel for the British Natural Environment Research Center. There were literally miles of cable (the G.E. Sars had about 180 km), hanging about freely since the boat’s not done yet. After going through the labyrinth of the interior, we went up to the bridge, which is ultimately controlled by a single joystick.

The scale of the project is staggering, but is even more impressive when one realizes that much of it is designed as it is built, by the seat of the engineers’ pants, so to speak.

After lunch, we took a guided tour of downtown Flekkefjord, led by the curator of the local museum, a young sailor-looking fellow. Flekkefjord is tiny, but has a rich architectural history. Everything is centered around a single church that was built in the 17th century, when Flekkefjord was a timber station.

Most of the buildings are white wooden structures, but the original colors were earth-tones. Only the facades of buildings were white, because it was such an expensive paint. Johann (the grandfatherly bus driver) owns a large building in town that he’s been restoring. Now it is a mustard-yellow with ochre trim.

After tour of the museum, we headed for the shop of the goldsmith who crafted our cheese slicers. He had an interesting studio, with both modern and old-looking items. I became even more appreciative of the talent and thoughtfulness that’s represented in my gift.

Saying a long goodbye to our various hosts, we boarded a mini-bus for Flekkefjord, our next destination.  Our driver, Johann, must be close to 80, but he took the winding roads like a BMW ad.  I’d forgotten to take my quasi-dramamine, and got well nauseated very quickly.  Åsa, the president of Flekkefjord Rotary and my host, got Johann to stop the bus so I could get in front.  I also popped a pill *dry* and thankfully fell asleep.

Flekkefjord is a tiny city (village), of about 9,000 residents.  Åsa’s house lies on the banks of a tiny lake on Flekkefjord’s outskirts, about a 10-minute walk from town.  For some reason (which I lost because I was still so groggy from the motion-sickness meds), it’s in a Swiss chalet style, as are several other buildings in town.  Inside, she has heated floors and a gallery-full of wonderful art.

We had a typical Norwegian lunch at her house: open-faced sandwiches with an array of condiments to choose from.  Then I crashed for a couple of hours before our next Rotary meeting.

The meeting itself consisted mostly of our presentations, plus a little ceremony honoring one of its members, Christian Anderson (no Hans).  Then a traditional but not typical meal of some pork-rind-y loin, potatoes, some sort of sweetish root-mash, and a fabulous bean soup/stew that there couldn’t be enough of.

At the end of the meal, they presented us with pewter-handled cheese slicers.  The spade-like cheese slicers that most of us are familiar with were invented in Norway.  These examples had handles that were stamped with relief from a pre-viking gold coin that was found in the area — very special gifts.