BUILDING A BRIDGE ON SANDSØY

Another fun day with the kids when they had a day off school.

5/27-09

The kids just can't be on the farm without checking in with the bottle lambs first.

The milk jug is full of milk for the bottle lambs....and what else to transport it on than a tractor?

It is so much fun to be popular when you get the the bottle lambs with milk. They are all over you until the milk is in the barrel.

Then, back to the purpose of the day: Building a Bridge. There were 11 kids and they decided to split into two groups, one for each bridge we'll need to connect the islands in this region. In this photo: Rebecca sawing the foundation for their bridge.

Axel hammering together the two pieces that make the foundation. Jonas watching.

After working for a couple of hours, it was time for food. We put some wood in the BBQ to grill hot dogs and apples. Yummy lunch.

Back to work! Marcus painting his group's bridge. 

The asphalt is laid!

All done! The bridges came out great! What a fantastic job by the kids. They designed, built and decorated the bridges all by themselves. I only gave 'technical advice'. 

Bridge number two, a four-lane bridge..Lots of traffic out here.

Return trip Bodø - Harstad done 5/24, 2009

with Hurtigruten 'MS Trollfjord'.

We rented a cabin for the return trip. Two beds for the three of us worked just fine. Katrine and Karin came onboard saying goodbye to us.

'MS Trollfjord' is a large cruise boat, 9 stories with restaurant, bars and gorgeous indoor panorama decks. Quite the difference from 'MS Lofoten' that we traveled with the other way.

Still in Bodø Harbor, waiting for the 'whistle to blow'.

The Adams girls.

We are soon on our way on 'The World's Most Beautiful Voyage'.

Last photo before departure after a delicious ice cream. This ship has mirrors in the ceiling!

After a couple of hours of playing games, eating dinner and some persuasion, the girls purchased swimsuits in the gift shop and took a dip in the hot tup. Photo taken about 7pm with a view of the Lofoten islands in the back.

The girls enjoying the views, too....or is it just a setup?

Still enjoying the hot tub when we docked in Stamsund, the first stop in Lofoten islands.

The temperature doesn't feel like, Arctic.......it felt like it to me, though.

"I love you".

"Just kidding".

Norwegian Vikings pointing out the direction of their next adventure.....

Getting sleepy, time to take a shower and have another ice cream. Photo taken about 9pm.

Just gorgeous.

It is getting colder. A wool blankets feels good. 

We slept really well, and we docked in Harstad about 7am. We got off and had to wait a couple of hours for the catamaran boat to take us to Sandsøy. Our Hurtigrute adventure was over....for this time. Next time, dad will come with us!

Visiting with cousins in Bodø.

5/20-24

Cousin Katrine, 4 years old.

Cousin Eirik, 9 years old.

Goofing off at the dinner table.

Katrine and Veronica created a special bond.

Playing Wii in Norway; Mario Cart is just too much fun!

More fun is it to go to the beach. A great day to build things of soupy clay.

Veronica and Katrine filling up the buckets.

Not too cold in the water...just a little! Barbara checking the temp.

Look what we made!

My sister, Karin, trying to show a friend how she would attack me with furniture way back when, when we were teenagers. A really fun Saturday night in Rune's kitchen.

Here comes the chair!

Just kidding!

Time to 'check out' of Rune's house. We had a blast with everyone. See you in June on Sandsøy!

The girls on a cruise to Bodø with Hurtigruten

Veronica and Barbara by MS Lofoten in Svolvær in Lofoten islands.

"Hurtigruten" is the name of a coastal voyage, which goes from Bergen in the southwest to Kirkenes in the northeast of Norway. It has been operating since 1893. At that time this was the most important communication along coastal Norway, first stretching from Trondheim to Hammerfest. It carried mail, products and people. Before this connection was set up, it could take up to 5 months for mail to go this distance in the winter time, it now took only a few days. It was considered a communication revolution in coastal Norway. Since 1914 the route has included harbors from Bergen -Kirkenes. The 'World's Most Beautiful Coastal Voyage' is still a very important way of transportation, but the ships are now cruise ships with nice restaurants, bars and comfortables cabins serving thousands of tourists from all over the world. A total of 70 ships have serviced this route, and today there are 11 ships sailing this distance.

Some ships are older and have basic services, and the newer ones include master suites as well as hot tubs. We traveled with MS Lofoten on our way to Bodø to see my sister. It is like a floating museum, built in 1964, it is the oldest in the fleet.

Here is our 'pit' for the 18 hour trip from Harstad to Bodø. We didn't rent a cabin since majority of the voyage was in the daytime. We arrived Bodø at 2am.

The girls were just loving it!

The area in the photo is called 'Risøyrenna'. Located by Risøyhamn where the Hurtigruten museum is. This is where is all started in 1893. Captain Richard With, born in Tromsø, purchased the town of Risøyhamn and was on of the founders of 'Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab'. He was the captain on the very first 'Hurtigrute' trip with 'DS Vesteraalen' from Trondheim to Hammerfest. Later he realized that the waters outside of 'his' town was too shallow for the growing size of the ships traveling along the coast. During the time in the 'Storting' (Senate) is when he succeeded in raising state money to dredge the area. 'Risøyrenna' is 4.8 km long (almost 3 miles), 100 m (330 ft) wide, 7 m (23 ft) deep. The first dredging was finished in 1922, and before this time, people could ride a horse across on low tide! Richard With was also on the board of the Norwegian-American Line in the start up phase of this company. One of the current ships is name after him, 'MS Richard With'.

Risøyhamn ahead. About 200 people live here now, and the very first Hurtigrute 'DS Vesteraalen' is dry docked here.

We are on our way in to 'Trollfjorden'. This fjord was a 'tourist magnet' before the name 'tourist' was invented! It is about 3 km long and only 70m wide on the narrowest part, widens out in the end of the fjord. The Hurtigrute ships go in to the fjord, turns around, and comes back out. Every day, two times a day, this happens on the wonderful voyage. The mountains around the fjord stretch up to 2000 m (6000 ft).

We're on our way in!

Looking back out of the fjord.

Beautiful waterfalls coming down on the sides.

Every day, twice a day, northbound and southbound ships meet with lots of honking and waving. This is 'MS Polarlys', northbound, seen from 'MS Lofoten'.