Author: Cheryl Carr
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Hell and Heaven
It was yet another hot and cloudless day. Yet, despite the great weather, a lot of tourist spots and stores still aren’t open. People tell us that the weather we are experiencing is not typical for this time of year, and we are very fortunate to be on the receiving end. We hit the road early as we had planned to make several stops for pictures and stretching our legs while driving to Kristiansund today. Every corner we turned, the winding highways gifted us with breathtaking views, but there weren’t a lot of places to pull over, like we find in the…
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From Scenic Drives to Family Ties
I’ve gotten a bit behind on my writing here, as it’s been a daily whirlwind of activity. Today started with a visit to Ottar and Tutti for the final time in Lillehammer, where they own a house and invited us to join them for lunch and a tour of the town. The drive there was beautiful—full of endless green, grassy meadows and rolling hills dotted with farmhouses and other structures. Sheep were abundant, and it’s that time of year for the babies to hang out with their mothers. We arrived at Ottar’s at about noon and enjoyed a lovely lunch…
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Our Unexpectedly Busy Day in Oslo
We decided this morning to make today an easy and relaxing day. Well, that didn’t happen! We took the bus to an area that housed three different museums. The Fram Museum was the 1st one we visited. Here, we saw a huge ship named The Fram, a three-masted schooner. It was the first ship specially built in Norway for polar research. It went on three expeditions between 1893 and 1912 and is now housed and exhibited in the Fram Museum. We could go aboard the ship, walk the narrow halls below deck, and experience the close quarters once home to…
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Royal Connections
Our day started with our chauffeurs, Ottar and Tutti, picking us up at our hotel to drive to the Royal Palace to take in the festivities for the Constitution Day Parade. Tutti has been my cousin Ottar’s mate for the last 35 years. When we found my long-lost family in Oslo, we never expected to learn so much about my family history. One of the most surprising tidbits we learned was that Tutti is the hairdresser to Queen Sonja and has been for the last 54 years. This has allowed her to travel the world as the Queen takes her whenever…
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From Breakfast Bliss to Opera Oops
One of my pet peeves in life is people who show up late to live events, interrupting those who had planned well and showed up on time. Well, tonight, we became THOSE people! More on what happened in a moment. Our morning started with the most amazing buffet breakfast that either one of us had ever eaten. Counters filled with warm loaves of bread and pastries were followed by another area of nothing but cheeses, huge jars of pickled beets, veggies and things we weren’t sure of and salads. Next in the line were cold cuts of every kind. We…
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Lights, Tacos, and Family Visits!
Jason and I had a lovely send-off at the airport as we picked up the twins from school so they could come along and say goodbye to us. A nice start to our adventure! Travelling these days isn’t for the faint of heart. It was a long and gruelling three-flight trip to get to Oslo, but everything went smoothly, and all flights were on time. Still, I said to Jason, “I knew there would be lots of walking on this trip, but who knew so much of it would be in the airports?” I had a little “grandma moment” in…
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Decoding ‘Uff da!’: Unraveling the Nordic Expression
In a recent chat with my almost 8-year-old granddaughters, I casually dropped an “Uff da!” prompting them to question its meaning. Attempting to define this age-old Norwegian phrase proved challenging, as it’s a bit like saying “Oh dear” or “Oh my.” Intrigued, I delved into the depths of the internet to unearth the origins and variations of “Uff da.” Discovering multiple spellings like Uffda, Ufda, and even Oofta, I learned that in Danish and older Norwegian, it’s often spelled Uf, while in modern Norwegian, it’s Uff. Regardless of the spelling, its essence remains the same—an exclamation conveying irritation, surprise, discomfort,…
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Discovering Family in Norway
“I hear you are looking for your relatives in Norway. Well, here we are!” Those were the words that brought so much emotion to me when I received an e-mail from someone in Norway. How did I realize who he was? In my previous writing, I wrote about a lady, Jan, who gave me so many interesting facts about my family and told me that her dad was the keeper of all the family history and would love to talk to me. She asked if she could pass on my e-mail, and she gave me her dad’s. His e-mail address…
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Tech to the Rescue
Computers can be a source of frustration in our lives at times, but they can also be a wonderful tool. I realize how fortunate I am to live in a day and age where I can find out all kinds of information and connect with people that, in years gone by, I would never have had that opportunity. The Quest Begins Since Jason and I decided to travel to Norway next summer, I have been trying to find information about my family, the Lokkes and Klokstads, who came to Canada in 1929. I typed in the name of my grandpa…
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Surprises and Shocks
Well, here we sit in a coffee shop near the airport at 2AM. We took the 2nd last airport bus from Florence at 11 o’clock and thought we’d just stay at the airport until check-in time as we knew we wouldn’t sleep at home anyhow and we weren’t sure if we could get a taxi at 3AM. Big mistake. We were all settled in near our check-in spot and as you can see from the picture below, I was quite comfortable. Joey was laughing at me so hard I thought she was going to fall over. I would have put…