Oslo From Above and Movies From the Past

Once we arrived at Kari and Magne’s house, we unloaded our luggage, then loaded back up in the car to get a good view of Oslo. We kept driving up the side of this small mountain (on the west side of Oslo), past the famous ski-jumping site (which was being rebuilt for the World Championship next year), and finally at the top was a spectacular view of the city. We could see the harbour where we first arrived, and many of the important places of Oslo. After a few pictures we got back in the car to get back to the house for supper.

Kari Grande has been following our blog, and she knew of Beth’s prawn experience on Iona… but that was the menu for this evening much to the amusement of everyone. I remembered having a family meal in that very dining room back when I first came to Norway. The attached picture is very similar to a picture I have from that first visit years ago… it was a bit of a déjà vu experience for me.

Following the meal we gathered in the backyard for conversation and some fresh air (we were in Oslo during a bit of a heat wave). Lots of enjoyable conversation, exploring more of the family history, or the history of Norway in general. Occasionally from further down the mountainside we could hear the cheers of fans at a football game (that would be soccer for us North Americans). We learned so much about Norway’s history and culture, and current realities that it was hard to soak it all in, but what an interesting way to spend an evening. The visiting continued until quite late (because as I have mentioned before the sky never started to darken until very late in the evening).

The evening ended with some home movies shot by the father of Kari Grande. This was mostly black and white footage from more than a half century ago. Some of the footage was taken at the Nosterud farm, and it was interesting to see moving images from that era - it made the history of Nosterud come alive a bit more than simply still photographs - an interesting experience for me.