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Our Trip to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, Jun-Jul-2012

All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 2012:  All rights reserved

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Scandinavia 2012 Slide Show

We flew MSP-Copenhagen via Reykjavik, Iceland, on Iceland Air:  An excellent way to cross the Atlantic.  We spent a couple of

days in the heart of Copenhagen, staying at the same rooms that Jeff Mellor and I stayed at in 1992 on our trip around the world,

owned by Turid Aronsen, right in the heart of Copenhagen, just one block off the central pedestrian street, the Strøget.

We then rented a car at the Copenhagen airport and drove to Varberg, Sweden, where we spent a few days visiting with our cousins,

Jan and Kitty Bendiksen and their children (Arild and Jan Erik) Arild's wife Kristina, and their grand children (Philip and Sophia).

From Varberg, we drove to Blilie, in Norway, between Olso and Lillehammer, from where my great grandfather, Hans Christian Blilie,

emigrated to Wisconsin in 1890.  Here, we visited with our cousins the Narums for several days before heading out into the western

part of Norway to see the fjordlands and mountains.  I knew little of the fjordlands before the trip.  Now I can say, very strongly, that

the Norwegian fjordlands are a sure bucket-list place:  One of the most majestically beautiful landscapes I've seen, anywhere in

the world.  Go there, now.

After the fjordlands, we spent several more days at Blilie visiting with family and seeing Jon Anders Narum's studio and seeing him

perform at a local event with Knut Anders Sørum.  The Narums are the most musically talented family I've ever met.  Their own group,

Narum, has had huge success in Scandinavia, including a Norwegian Grammy.  Jon Anders also produces many records in his studio;

and Lars Christian also plays with the very successful Hellbillies.  It was amazing to be in homes full of musical instruments and to listen

to their great playing (be sure to watch / listen to the video of Lars Christian playing his piano.)

It rained a lot.  Don't be fooled by the majority of sunny day photos.

 

At MSP, wating to go	Reykjavik and Jamie enroute	Brolaeggerstraede, where we stayed at the home of Turid Aronsen	Copenhagen, street cafe dining	Street scenes in video, Copenhagen
Copenhagen	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	Copenhagen
Copenhagen	Copenhagen	Copenhagen.  It did rain quite a bit ...	Copenhagen	Copenhagen
Jamie goes direct to the source LEGO store on the Strøget	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	At the home of Turid Aronsen, Copenhagen. Top Left:  us in June 2012 Top Right:  Jeff Mellor in the same room, Aug 1992 (2 different PENTAX fisheye lenses)	Video shot from our window:  Workers singing in the street, early morning
At the home of Turid Aronsen, Copenhagen	13 Brolaeggerstraede.  Looks a bit scruffy; but it's just fine	Copenhagen:  Boat touring in the rain	Copenhagen:  The boat tour (the Little Mermaid)	Copenhagen:  The boat tour
Copenhagen:  The boat tour	Copenhagen:  Walking on the Strøget	Copenhagen:  Walking on the Strøget	Copenhagen:  Walking on the Strøget	Copenhagen:  Walking on the Strøget
Copenhagen:  Walking on the Strøget	At the National Museum in Copenhagen	At the National Museum in Copenhagen	At the National Museum in Copenhagen	Copenhagen
Copenhagen:  Bikes everywhere	Copenhagen:  Bikes everywhere	More sidewalk dining	More sidewalk dining
Crossing the BIG Øresund Bridge to Sweden	A beach on the way to Varberg (lunch stop)	A beach on the way to Varberg (lunch stop)	A beach on the way to Varberg (lunch stop)	A beach on the way to Varberg (lunch stop)
Wind turbines, souther Sweden	The Bendiksen's home, Varberg Jan and Kitty and Rufus	Kitty, Jamie, Jan, Phyllis, my Mom They took such good care of us! At the Varberg fortress	At the Varberg fortress	At the Varberg fortress
At the Varberg fortress	At the Varberg fortress	At the local wildlife refuge	Jamie and Rufus	Planning our revised trip to the west of Norway.  I'm grateful to Jan for setting me straight on driving in Norway (plan for short distances) and helping me sort out where to go and how to use the camping huts.
Jamie, sleeping in	Family gathering at the Bendiksens Arild's children Sophia and Philip, Jan-Erik	Me and Arild	Kristina, Jan-Erik, Arild, and Philip	Kitty and her lovely cake
Arild, Jan-Erik, Jan, Kitty	Big family group at Jan and Kitty's home: Back row, L-R:  Me, Jan, Jan Erik, my Mom, (Arild's son) Philip, (arild's wife) Kristina. Front row, L-R:  Phyllis and Jamie, Arild, Kitty, (Arild's daughter) Sophia		Their home	Coffee in the sunshine Jamie, leaping Rufus's agility hoop
Some of Jan's many fossils and minerals	Me, relpacing the tuning machines on Jan's guitar	Varberg's harbor	Glass maker's shop	Glass maker's shop
Walking around the fortress	Walking around the fortress	Walking around the fortress	Walking around the fortress	Walking around the fortress
Near the fortress	Near Varberg	Near Varberg	The local ice cream place	The local ice cream place
Small harbor south of Varberg	Small harbor south of Varberg	Another big bridge in Sweden	Lunch stop on the drive from Varberg to Blilie	On the way to Bliliegård
On the way to Bliliegård	On the way to Bliliegård:  The Einafjord behind, looking north.  The farm is just above the fjord (lake) on the northeast side	On the way to Bliliegård, along the Einafjord	At the farm:  Bliliegård	At the farm:  Bliliegård:  The old doorway.   At bottom:  The doorway in around 1880, with my great-great grandparents Blilie and my great grandfather Hans Christian Blilie and John Arne Narum's great grandfather Mathias Larsen Blilie And:  Me with the Narum's in August 1992
At the farm:  Bliliegård	At the farm:  Bliliegård	The farm house.  The first floor of the part at right was built in 1701.	At the farm:  Bliliegård	This tree was planted by Lars Christian Blilie
Lars Christian Blilie (Parliament photo)	Clocks made by Lars Christian Blilie in the mid-1800s	Lars Christian Blilie and sons Mathias Larsen and Hans Christian	In the dining room with Benedikte and Bjørnar   In the yard	Gave stones of Mathias Larsen Blilie and his wife, at the Eina church
The Eina church	Inside the Eina Church	Ås Kirke, near Lena, where Lars Christian Blilie is buried   Church records here More records	At Lars Christian Blilie's grave at the Ås Kirke	The inscription on Lars Christian Blilie's head stone
At the churchyard of the Ås Kirke The old stables	At the Raufossgård, in Raufoss, where Julie has her studio	At the Raufossgård, in Raufoss, where Julie has her studio:  Julie, in her studio	With another cousin:  Kristin Fjellseth, at Raufossgård	Videos of the kids show camp that Amaelia participated in and Bjørnar played the drums in
Benedikte and Bjørnar's home in Raufoss	Benedikte and Bjørnar's home in Raufoss	Jamie and his cousin Amalie (Jon Anders and Julie's daughter) at Benedikte's and Bjørnar's home	Norwegian al fresco - with blankets!	Inside Benedikte's and Bjørnar's home
Jamie and Amalie		At Bliliegård	At Bliliegård	At Bliliegård
At Bliliegård	The newspaper telling of Narum's Norwegian Grammy	At Bliliegård	At Bliliegård	At Bliliegård
At Bliliegård	At Bliliegård	Breakfast, Jamie waking up, Phyllis and me singing and playing Jamie playing his first song	At dinner Julie's son Benjamin (we neglected to get a photo of him the one night we got to see him)	View of the Mjøsafjord near Blilie
Very old Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena	Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena	Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena	Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena	Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena
Hof Church, Østre Toten, Oppland, near Lena	Jamie and his cousin Peder (Lars Christian and Annette's son)	Jamie and his cousin Peder (Lars Christian and Annette's son)	Jamie and Peder on the trampoline	Lars Christian, holding the Norwegian Grammy awarded to their band, Narum.  And playing his piano   Video:  Lars Christian "improvising a little" on the piano.  Be sure to listen to this!  (It's an MP4 video of about 5 minutes and may take some time to download.)
Lars Christian and Annette's and his youngest child, Selma	Selma and Lars Christian and Annette's oldest, Emma	Annette and Selma	John Arne doing proper Norwegian cycling!	Next day:  Into the West
Stave church at Lom	Stave church at Lom	Into the mountains	Into the mountains	Into the mountains
Into the mountains	Into the mountains	Into the mountains	Into the mountains	Looking into the Geirangerfjord from the Dalsnibba lookout (what a road going up to that lookout!)
Looking into the Geirangerfjord from the Dalsnibba lookout (what a road going up to that lookout!) (Check out the ocean-going cruise ship down there!)	Looking into the Geirangerfjord from the Dalsnibba lookout (what a road going up to that lookout!)	Geiranger	Geiranger	At our hut at Geiranger. We can highly recommend the "camping hut" system in Norway for economical accommodations.
The road sign for huts.  These huts are great.	These are also important signs:  Waysides, including ones with toilets (WC).  And the 80 kilometer per hour sign is something to remember:  Pretty much the fastest you are ever allowed to legally drive in Norway is 80 kph.  Yep, 50 mph, all the way to wherever you are going ...	From our hut at Geiranger. (It would have been a nice place if it had a view!)	From our hut at Geiranger.	From our hut at Geiranger.
On the deck at Geiranger In the first hut at Geiranger	Cruise ship from our hut deck	Oyster catcher and her young	From our hut at Geiranger.	From our hut at Geiranger.
View from the hut window	Inside the hut at Geiranger	Rainbow!	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords (Fjellen, fossen, fjorden)	Sod-roofed houses
Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Through a long tunnel in the mountains	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords
Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Lunch in the mountains
Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords	Goats on the road!	Mountains, waterfalls and fjords
The Sognefjord and our second hut	Jamie, enjoying taking photos	Our second hut	Jamie at the second hut	The Sognefjord
Ferry over the Sognefjord	Ferry over the Sognefjord	Ferry over the Sognefjord	Ferry over the Sognefjord	The Sognefjord
We were touring the fjordlands at the season of spreading the liquid manure -- one smell I will remember from Norway!	The Sognefjord	The Sognefjord		Taking a break
The back of the car, on the road	High mountains again	Water falling everywhere		Lake reflections
Powerline maintenace		Sheep on the road A troll	Amazing lake reflections	Out third hut, at Øvre Eidfjord
Out third hut, at Øvre Eidfjord	Phyllis at Øvre Eidfjord (look lower right) Video from our third hut	Phyllis and Jamie at Kjeåsen Undergrowth	Kjeåsen, where we almost got stuck in the tunnel	The tunnel runs uphill for 30 minutes and then downhill for 30 minutes, alternating.  The signage was a little vague
		Vøringfossen	Hardangervidda mountains	Hardangervidda mountains
Hardangervidda mountains	Hardangervidda mountains	On the Hardandervidda	Cycling in the rain ...	Our third hut at Geilo, and a magpie for Jamie You could skip Geilo, an uninteresting ski town
Our third hut at Geilo	The stave church at Torpo	The stave church at Torpo	The stave church at Torpo	The stave church at Torpo
The stave church at Torpo	The stave church at Torpo	Heading back to Blilie	Along the Einafjord	Back at Blilie
At the farm John Martin playing the guitar	Dinner time	Big family group at "the doorway": Benedikte, Amalie, Bjørnar, Phyllis, John Arne, Jamie, my Mom, Ingrid, Anders Johan (Ellen Johanne and Jørn's son), Ingrid's best friend, Ellen Johanne	The boys playing	The boys playing
The boys playing	John Martin Narum  Fodnestøl	Jamie sleeping	John Arne painting his barn from a lift	Jon Anders and Julie Narum's home on the Einafjord
John Anders in his studio (at their home)	Guitars everywhere!	Cool bathroom, papered with sheet music!	Jon Anders playing his resonator	Jon Anders playing his resonator
Anders Johan in the studio and Ellen Johanne playing piano	Me playing Gymopedie No. 1	Me, playing Jon Anders' D-42 12-fret, playing Here Comes the Sun	Jon Anders playing the D-42	Anders Johan playing
Jon Anders and Wilbury	At the park directly behind Jon Anders' and Julie's house, on the Einafjord	Swans at the park	At the park directly behind Jon Anders' and Julie's house, on the Einafjord	At the park directly behind Jon Anders' and Julie's house, on the Einafjord
Jon Anders, Julie, and their daughter Amalie.  Look further up the page for a photo of their son Benjamin	Amalie and Wilbury	Jørn and Ellen Johanne and their sons:  Anders Johan and John Martin	Big family groups at Jon Anders's and Julie's home by the Einafjord	Jamie at the farm
The three musketeers:  Peder, Jamie, and Anders Johan	The boys playing	More of the boys playing	More of the boys playing	More of the boys playing
At dinner	Late evening chat and cognac with John Arne and Ingrid	Jon Anders playing with Knut Anders Sørum	Jon Anders playing with Knut Anders Sørum	Jon Anders performing at a local event with Knut Anders Sørum
We stopped by to John Arne's brother Eskild's home in Kapp, for a brief visit	Me playing Eskild's guitar	We visited with Ellen Johnanne and Jørn at their home in Gjøvik, above the Mjøsafjord	Ellen Johanne and Jørn's home	Jørn Fodnestøl, Ellen Johanne's husband playing his hand-built Tele-Strato-caster
Jørn, playing his hand-built Tele-Strato-caster	Jørn playing his 1975 Les Paul	Jørn playing his 1975 Les Paul	Ellen Johanne playing the piano at her home	Ellen Johanne playing the piano at her home
Jamie and Anders Johan, on the computer	Reproduced newspaper item from Mathias Larsen Blilie from 1897	Last dinner at Blilie	Video of Emma	John Arne talking about old photos
Lars Christian's wife Annette and daughter Selma	Lars Christian, Annette, Peder, and Selma	Old photo of our great grandfather, Hans Christian Blilie, taken in Wisconsin	Lars Christian Blilie and his second wife	More old photos
My great grandfather, Hans Christian Blilie with his wife Regene (Arnsen) Blilie, and sons, Louis (Lars), my grandfather, Marius (Maurice), and John (Johan), circa 1890, in Wisconsin	John Arne Narum (second from left) around 1947 with "the doorway" on Bliligård behind the family group	42 mph zone (example).  You go slow in Norway	On the road back to Copenhagen	Next-to last hotel, near Trollhattan, Sweden
Northern Sweden, on the way back to Copenhagen	Northern Sweden, on the way back to Copenhagen	The big Øresund Bridge back to Copenhagen	The last hotel, Copenhagen (Kastrup)	Our last dinner:  At Copenhagen
Back to MSP	Over Iceland on the way back	Over Iceland on the way back	Over Greenland on the way back	Over northern Canada on the way back

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All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 2012:  All rights reserved

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Phyllis and Jim's family photos - Main Page

Background image is Norway, Fjordlands, 2012

Last updated:  30-Jul-2012