LAUREL IN NORWAY

Mom and I together in Norway - what a feeling!

Kristy's table was ready and supper tasted sooo good!

Nora woke up to see her Farmor and Tante.

A morning of opening goodies from Canada

Nora in her woolen layers, ready for her outing

Of all things to forget to pack with me - a toque and mittens!
(Thank you, Kristy, for lending me some.)

Enjoying the Easter Sunday meal with the Hansen families,   Lotte and Fritz and family

On Tuesday, April 2, Todd took Laurel to a football (we would call it soccer) in Molde.  They drove back after the game and boarded the "Finnmarken", one of the eleven ships in the Hurtigruten line.  Each day one of the ships leaves Bergen and travels up the west coast to the top of Norway, where it turns around and returns to Bergen.  It takes eleven days to make the round trip, hence the eleven ships.  Laurel and Todd got on when it docked at the Kristiansund habour at 10 pm.  They had a room for the night, had breakfast in the morning and got off after it docked in Trondheim.  They headed right to the Nideros Cathedral, then spent the rest of the day exploring the city and doing some shopping.  Here are Laurel's pictures from that trip.

Molde fans

Good footwork!

Laurel and the Finnmarken

We had a soak in the hot tub before breakfast - great start to this special day.

Morning sun in the dining-room

Todd in his Canada gear 

 The yogurt bar with nuts, dried fruit, seeds etc. for topping

 

                               Really nice viewing area -we didn't sit here much as we were on overnight.

     I Facetimed home from the ship - amazing technology as it was 
great reception from the Atlantic Ocean to the prairies!                                                                

View from the ship

View of Trondheim with the Nideros Cathedral way in the background.

 Todd was so excited to show me these sites that he had also shown to Dad and Mom.

I was so thankful to be able to visit Nideros,  the northernmost medieval cathedral.
It was amazing!

Todd probably would have liked to visit a museum after the cathedral,

but he took his big sister downtown to do some shopping,

 then to a restaurant for spinach soup and reindeer stew!

Todd also gave Laurel a tour of Kristiansund area, including a trip to the beach where she put her foot in the Atlantic Ocean and wrote her name and the date in the sand.

The Atlantic Ocean Road is a popular tourist site with its unique bridge that curves as you drive up, with the feeling that you are driving off into space!  Here are some pictures of that day trip.

Bridge on the Atlantic Ocean Road

Another view of this bridge

Snowing on the rocks and water (and Laurel!)

A suspension bridge near Kristiansund

A lighthouse off in the distance

This is legal in Norway!

Drying fish on large racks

Todd at his place of work with Swire - inspecting, and 

preparing containers to be shipped to offshore drilling sites

Now Dawson wants to tell you a bit about how they survived without Mom for over a week!  Here's his version of their holiday.

Mom in Norway by Dawson Diekrager

Having my mom gone was really different because she is so caring. It was just my dad, Ashley, Eric and myself. We did have a ton of fun. We swam, stayed at the Regina Travelodge. We also went to my uncle and auntie’s house for 2 nights. I went bowling at Eric’s hockey wind up, it was a lot of fun because I got one strike,  Eric got two and dad got three. When it was close to the time my mom was coming home I missed her amazing cooking and having a full family meal. We were not home alot because we were either in Regina or doing something. I kept in touch with my mom on my ipad. One night I got to face time with her,  the screen was great. Every day was a new day when my mom was gone.  When she was here I could ask what are we doing tomorrow but we didn’t know because she wasn’t there.  I didn’t menschen it to much because I would make Ashley very sad and she would cry. My grandma Gaylene was home  from Hemet just before my mom left. She made us good home maid meals.

  That was my guest blog