Along the Southern Coast of Norway

Photos:
1. Cheryl, taking in the scenery! HAHAHA
2. BMW friend (on the right, his back towards me) at the Larvik MC Klubb Show
3. Off the coast in Grimstad, just across from the shipyard
4. Dinner tonight at the boat/restaurant in Christiansand
5. The former shipyard which now is used for sail-making

Pretty interesting day today...We traveled all day today in our little euopean rental cars (little 'engine-that-could' types--the engines are so small we just chug-chug along here) west along the southern coast to Grimstaad where our family is from, and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far...maybe my favorite.

Before we got to Grimstad, we decided to stop in a town called Larvik. Right in the center of town was this huge motorcycle show--there were sport bikes and Harleys and all kinds of gear on display, bikers young and old and of all different bike styles walking around, just hangin out! It was really cool, I even learned some stuff from the BMW guy who was talking to me about Pennsylvania and how he went to school in Pittsburgh. I saw a guy wearing a jacket that said LARVIK MC KLUBB and the BMW guy was telling me that a couple of the towns around here have these motorcycle clubs. After the show in Grimstaad they all took a 75 km trip to one of the other towns around here and had a big BBQ.

In the town of Grimstaad, we saw the place where my great great grandfather had his shipyard and where the current business is a ship sail manufacturer. We also went to the church my ancestors attended which had a graveyeard, in hopes of seeing some kind of records of our family. We found a couple headstones that could have been our family members but we don't know their exact names dating past the late 1800's, and the headstones were dating back to the mid-1800s. But there's a very high chance that it was them...one of the names, my grandfather's cousin, actually did match our records! We need to do more looking-into. Grimstad is this little town right on the water (a lot of the towns here are right on the water) and it's so peaceful here. The alleys and streets are adorable, I wish I lived here! (Except in the mornings and at night because it gets so chilly!!!!) The views are incredible but the photos don't do them justice. The landscapes and seascapes are so vast that it can hardly be captured in a photo. It's breathtaking! There are huge mountains and cliffs that just dive right into the water, and today we saw a bunch of little islands off the coast of Grimstad. There are yachts and sailboats everywhere, and occasionally we'll see a huge cruiseboat out there on the water, too, as we drive past a town. Right now we're in Christiansand, where we'll spend the night in a really nice little hotel. This town is OK, but it's a smaller town than Oslo and there is far less action going on. We're not staying long here; tomorrow morning we leave to drive up to Stavaanger and making a few stops along the way in some little towns...one of the towns is where Dave's family is from... He's excited for that, and I hope he finds at least as much about his ancestry as we found today of ours. It's really a neat feeling u get when u realize that people who are your flesh and blood lived and worked and died here, and that you came along over a hundred years later and that so much has happened since then...a whole huge piece of your family history has occured inbetween and yet here you are, right back where it all began. That's why it's cool to be in a place where people everywhere look similar to you, because you really feel like you belong here! Today was a very spiritual experience. And also lots of fun!!!