Hamar August 12

This is another Sinrud clan family blog entry. As an aside, you do learn a little Norwegian on the internet, like Logg PÅ means log in. Luckily cousin Ingrid taught me how to switch from Norwegian to English for blog directions or I would really be lost. Another aside, saw my first pickup truck in Norway today, after 3 weeks of travel! Gas at $8 per gallon may be the reason.

Today we visited the Sinnerudstranden farm where Ruby's great grandfather Peder Pedersen and great grandmother Pernille Pedersen and Grandfather Anton lived just before they left for America in 1866. Grandpa Anton was 8 years old when he left Norway with the family. Mickey and I had found the farm in 2002, but there was no one home. Today (Sunday) we found the owner of the farm home. (I've got the directions to this place figured out, so it should be easy for another family member to find it - the address is Kjonerudvegen 240, Ottestad 2312). His name is Laef Hansen and his family has owned the farm since 1920 or so. It is located on a beautiful river (Akersvika - I think means black river) that flows into Lake Mjosa from the south. He grows hay to sell plus raspberries and currents for his own use. Currents are served regularly in Norway. After lots of pictures, he directed us to the adjacent home of his uncle. So we knocked on the neighbor's door and met 2 wonderful people, Erna and Oddvar Hansen. Oddvar was born on the farm (Sinnerudstranden)about 78 years ago and didn't speak English but Erna spoke English quite well. She is 74 and learned English when she was 14. She said this was the first time she had a chance to use it! They invited us for coffee and promised to do some research on the farm to determine the history of when the houses were built and who has lived on the farm. So we are finding total strangers amazingly friendly and helpful.

We then took Mom on a tour of the churches that we had found last time in 2002, including the Stange church dating from 1600 where Peder Pederson was baptized in 1816, the Ringsaker church dating from 1200 where Pernille was baptized in 1813, the Furnes Kirke (kirke is church) dating from 1706 where they were married and the Romedal church where Grandpa Anton was baptized. The Romedal church had a sign indicating that it was built in 1887 but Anton was baptized in 1858. We think the original church probably burned down. I need to do a little more research on this. So all in all, it was a great day of genealogy discovery. It was fun to walk in the footsteps of the ancestors and see the places they lived or worshiped. All the churches have extensive graveyards around them. They are also out in the beautiful countryside. Ringsaker and Stange are on the top of hillsides overlooking Lake Mjosa. Lake Mjosa is about 50 miles long, stretching from Lillehammer to Eidsvoll. I read that they have a 150 mile dedicated bike path around the entire lake!

Tomorrow we meet cousins Ola and Thorborg in Eidsvoll to explore the Aasgaard and Orbeck side of the family. Grandma Karen Laura Aasgaard was Grandpa Anton Pedersen Sinrud's wife. While they were both born in Norway, they met and were married in Wisconsin.

Ole Sorlie August 7

This is an update for you Sinruds out there. We had a family discovery day today south of Trondheim. Frithjof and Åse drove Ruby and I to the Sorlie farm where Ruby, Ruth, Almon, Gordon and Doug's Grandfather Ole Sorlie came from. Well sort of. There is a Sorlie farm and it is likely that Ole's father Ole Kaspersen Sorlie worked on that farm, But according to Frithjof, when Ole Kaspersen married Gunhild Johnsdaughter Sjølisanden, he took her last name of Sorlie (the first part of Sjølisanden) such that Sjoli became Sørlie which became Sorlie in America because we don't have the ø. Or maybe he took the last name of the farm he worked on, but in any event he became Ole Kaspersen Sørlie. After getting married, Ole Kaspersen Sørlie and Gunhild Sørlie moved to Sjølikleva (the kleva part means steep). The actual home is long gone (Ole's brother Christian (born in 1863) tried to find it after WWII - we talked to a lady today who remembers meeting Christian several times when she was a little girl!) But we did see where it was located and it is indeed steep. Ole and Gunhild's children were Esten, Christian, Ed, Ole and Erik. Esten, Ole (Ruby's grandfather), and Ed went to America. How they raised a family at on that steep farm is amazing, but I can see why 3 of 5 boys went to America, with Christian and Erik staying in Trondheim. It would have been difficult to make a living on that farm. Erik is Lisbeth, Turid and Åse's grandfather which is how we are related to our Norway cousins.

So as we were talking to this man and his wife (who knew Christian), he pointed out a house down on the lake below and indicated that the house was built on the site where Gunhild was born and lived until her marriage. Pretty cool. Her name Gunhild Sjølisanden is basically Sørlie by the sand. So we have Sørlie by the sand, the Sørlie farm in between and Sørliekleva up above on the steep mountain. I'll try to post some pictures when I get back to Oslo. Ole Sørlie came to Wisconsin in 1880, died in 1922, and is buried in St. Maries.

The entire Sørlie farm was owned around 1900 by a man named Simz who was a mining engineer from Cornwall and became wealthy in the mining business. His grandson apparently lives in Spokane, because another man we met today talked to the grandson 13 years ago when he came to Norway to look up the farm.

The countryside is very rural, green and beautiful. About 100 kids and their families were swimming in the lake and enjoying a beautiful 75 degree day on the lake. It was a large lake, maybe same size as Hayden Lake, but no jet skis or water skiing. Just a bunch on kids swimming.

Norway map

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/europe/norway/norway.htm

I canæt seem to copy a Norway map so here is a link

North Cape July 30

Today we went out to the most northern point in Europe, the North Cape at 71 10 21 north. As stated earlier, beautiful day and very unusual. People who took same tour 2 days later experienced 46 F, windy, foggy and rain. So we were lucky! Bus kept having to stop for reindeer on the road. Reindeer grazing on all the fields nearby. No trees this far north, only green barren hills. Big globe on cliff marking the most northern point. Stopped at an authentic Sami house to see authentic Sami person by authentic Sami tepee, wearing authentic Sami costume with his authentic Sami reindeer and authentic Sami gift shop! The Sami make their living from herding the reindeer. I think this authentic Sami makes his money from the tourists from the Hurtigruten tour buses! The reindeer are on the coast in the summer and swim across a narrow strait to get to the mainland and move 300K inland for the winter.

On the Hurtigruten

July 28

Arrived in Bodø and the boat turned West toward the Lofoten Islands. http://www.lofoten-info.no/default.htm Nice afternoon, and as we got closer the high mountain wall of the Lofoten Islands rose out of the sea. "The Lofotveggen "wall" measures 100k in length and rises defiantly from the sea" according to the guidebook. Fishing is the primary industry and the islands have many beautiful fishing villages with fisherman's cabins where tourists can stay. Arrived in Svolvær at about 9 for a one hour tour of this beautiful city surrounded by high mountains. At 9 PM it is still broad daylight this far north.



July 29 Narrow passage though Trollfjord http://www.fjordtravel.no/images/hurtigurten/hurtigruten_pic10.html about 100 meters wide with snow capped rugged peaks on either side. Stayed up on top inside Panorama Room until midnight or so. Decided to go to bed when it got dark, but it never got dark! The saying goes, you can always sleep when you go south! Toured Tromsø, largest city in the north and home of the Arctic Cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Cathedral. Has the world's northernmost brewery as well! As the ship sailed on tonight, we stayed up and watched the midnight sun!

Trondheim!

The boat departs at one PM!

Svartisen Glacier!

Hello from Trondheim! Trondheim is Norway's 2nd largest city of 200,000 people. We arrived here from the north of Norway on Saturday morning August 4.

We had no internet access on the Hurtigruten so here is a day by day summary of our trip:

We had a great time in Bergen during the day on July 25 while waiting to board our ship. Took a ride to the mountain overlooking Bergen on the Fløibanen funicular. It was actually sunny and nice in Bergen which is pretty unusual in this very rainy city. Boarded the ship at 6PM, had a nice dinner and sailed for the north.

July 26. Beautiful day. Cruised into Geiranger fjord, one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway. Check it out at www.geiranger.no/attractions. Waterfalls everywhere, incredible scenery. On the Hurtigruten we are on one of the older ships, 1982 version and somewhat small with about 220 passengers. About 160 are Germans and we are the only Americans. Did meet a couple gals from London who spoke pretty good English. Our assigned table mates are a very nice German couple from Munster where Mickey's family is from. One slight problem is that they spoke no English and our German was limited to Guten Morgen and Auf Weitersen (from Sounds of Music). They were our table mates for 6 days! But using sign language and drawing on lots of napkins, we learned a lot about each other and had a great time! The Norwegian crew included many college students who all spoke great English and were a lot of fun.

July 27. The boat docked briefly in Trondheim (for 4 hours). Ruby's 2nd cousin Åse and her husband Frithjof met us at the dock and had breakfast with us on board ship. To my surprise the restaurant crew of young Norwegians sang me the Norwegian version of Happy Birthday! We also had cake for breakfast. It was a wonderful birthday surprise. Hopefully I can post a picture on the blog when I figure out how to do it on this computer. (As I write this, I am overlooking beautiful Trondheim fjord from cousin Turid's house near Trondheim)

July 28. Crossed the Arctic Circle this morning at 7:15:26. Had a contest to guess the time. We didn't win, the winner guessing within 15 seconds. At the circle is a globe on an island marking the line. Connie explained the ceremony the next morning in her blog posting. It was a lot of fun. The ships captain helped King Neptune and really had a great time pouring ice cubes and icewater down the passengers' backs. We then all got a drink of wine and an official Polar Circle certificate. At 8:30 this morning met at sea by smaller boat to take us to Norway's 2nd largest glacier Svartisen which can be seen from the ocean. It was really nice having cake and coffee at a little restaurant overlooking a lake with the glacier reflecting on its surface.

On Top of the World!

Greetings from Connie, pinch hitting for Ken. They called today, actually Tuesday, from the ship, using Ingrid's cell phone and a Verizon phone card. They haven't been able to get any internet access, and have had trouble making calls. I'll try to pass on what they told me - I'm sure they'll fill in the details later. They're having a great time, great weather, and many neat experiences. At North Cape, the normal temperature is 50, but they had 70! North Cape is at 71 deg. latitude, the northernmost point in Europe. It's daylight all the time - the sun took a little dip, then came right back up. They went up to the Russian border, but couldn't go across - it requires a visa and lots of money. The Russians are very strict about it - if you put one foot across the border, you would be fined $1,000.

They're the only Americans on board the ship - have been meeting lots of interesting people. They've eaten whale and ox meat and lamb, and will be having reindeer meat. The captain held a "baptism" ceremony when they crossed the Arctic Circle - KM&R were "baptised" with ice cubes and water down their backs, and they received an official "baptism" certificate. They're on their way back down the coast now. When they were talking to me, the ship was getting out into the open ocean and rougher seas. Did you get the web address I emailed, linking to a map of Norway and the realtime position of their boat? Here it is again: http://services.hurtigruten.com:8080/hurtigruten/index.jsp?lang=en

Their ship is the MS Lyngen. When they get back to Tromso, they'll attend a midnight concert. On their itinerary, they said they were taking a Samstund bus tour at Harstad. Actually, the tour is to Stamsund, a fishing village. No wonder I couldn't find it on the map!

That's all I can remember - they should be able to do their own posting when they get to Trondheim.

Over and out,
Connie