Winter Solstice / God Jul / Merry Christmas

It is 8:30 a.m. right now and pitch-black outside.  Winter in Norway.  The sun will rise at about 9:30 a.m. and set about 3:00 p.m.  But you can't actually see the sun until about 10:15, because it is hidden by the mountains to the southeast.  Mountains hide the setting sun about 2:30 p.m.  The sun at noon is extremely low in the sky, just a few degrees above the horizon.  The whole day is more like a long sunrise followed by a long sunset.  The colors are gorgeous.  The snow, lately, sparkles from the cold. 

There is a nice tradition, here, of placing candles, real or electric, on the window sills of homes and apartments.  Restaurants' tables are all candle lit.  Stores place candle-lit or oil-lamped lanterns at the entrances to their stores.  Wood-fires heat everyone's living rooms.  It all makes for a very cozy Christmas time. 

In Norway, we say "God jul" (pronounced "Goo Yool") for Merry Christmas. "Jul", or as we call it in English, "Yule" refers to a 12-day winter festival that predates Christianity in Scandinavia.  It has come to mean "Christmas."  "God" means "good". 

Winter Weekend in the Mountains: Bryllupsfest

Candles on the table 

The Christmas Market and the Sleigh Ride were great fun, but our primary purpose for being in Røros was to celebrate last summer's marriage of Unn and Ole Morten.  We were an intimate group of 16 including the wedding couple, so Unn and Ole Morten were able to hold the "fest" in a wine cellar not far from the hotel.  Toasts were presented by Tove, Unn's father, Ole Morten's mother, sister and grandfather.

The chef prepared a special "game" dinner.  The appetizer was a grilled grouse salad; the soup a wild mushroom, the main course was reindeer and the dessert was a cloudberry compote with a sour cream sauce.  Of course, there were cakes, coffee and cognac.

Ole Morten's Grandfather and his Grandfather's lady friend really had a good time.

Ole Morten's sister and her samboer were a handsome couple.

Ole Morten's cousin entertained us! 

It was a really lovely evening with good food and good company.  Everyone's toasts were very moving.  I told Tove that I had never cried so much at a wedding!

Ole Morten wore his new bunad!  We used to joke that the Oslo bunad was a 3-piece suit and an iPhone.

Love this picture of Ingvild, Mari and Arild

Winter Weekend in the Mountains: Kanefart

4 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, we all went around the corner from the hotel for go on the kanefart (pronounced KAH-neh-fahrt).  A kanefart is in essence a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh.  If you want, and you're not at the office, here's some appropriate music for this post.  Aren't you glad it didn't just start playing automatically?  I hate that.

Arthur Fiedler And The Boston Pops - Sleigh Ride

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Our horse and sleigh.  Horse is on a coffee break.

Zipping past Bergstadens Hotel

Horses have right of way?

The sleigh ride goes through the town.

The view from our hotel room!

It snowed during part of the ride.  Note 4PM and already dark!

Ole Morten, Unn, Unn's dad, Einar, and Ingvild. The spots are snowflakes.

We rode through dimly lit old neighborhoods with very old wooden houses and narrow streets.

Difficult to take pictures at night, without flash in a moving sleigh.

Took this one with a flash.  This was the horse-drawn sleigh right behind our's.

Residential Neighborhood.

Rest stop for enjoying Gløgg

Ole Morten's sister, Jeannette and her "samboer" Tormod.

Our driver took this picture of us.  We drank Gløgg.  Note how I look like an Australian Cattledog with one blue eye and one brown.

The ride lasted about 45 minutes.  We had blankets and skins to keep us warm.  We got to see parts of the town that tourists normally don't see.  We stopped along the way to enjoy our gløgg.  One of the wedding guests on the trip is from the US, too (Pennsylvania).  She remarked that the kanefart was one of the best things she's ever done.  It was fun.

Winter Weekend in the Mountains: Christmas Market

We left Trondheim on Friday around noon for the 3-hour drive to Røros on slippery, snowy winter roads.  Our car was packed with Tove, me, Arild, Ingvild and 3-yr-old Mari along with luggage for the 5 of us.  Tove drove as she was clearly the most experienced among us drivers on snowy roads.  Mari was absolutely perfect during the drive.

Ole Morten had reserved rooms at Bergstadens Hotel.  It is a quaint old hotel centrally located in town.

Bergstadens Hotel

In the lobby.  Very cozy!

Tove and the "perfect passenger"

After checking in, relaxing and then meeting Unn and Ole Morten who arrived by train from Oslo, we did some Christmas Market exploring.  Røros is well-known for two markets -- It's Christmas Market that occurs around 2 weeks before Christmas and it's Røros Martnan, a winter festival in February that has been perennially held since 1853.  Although the Christmas Market is smaller in scope and attendance, it is really fun to experience, as I hope the photos will illustrate.

Tove, Ingvild, Unn, Ole Morten and I head out to the Market

Examining the wares.

A Russian was selling traditional Matryoshka dolls

Mulled wine mix sans wine

No chipmunks roasting on an open fire.

Full moon added to the ambiance

Not Main Street Disneyland, but rather one of the two streets for Christmas Market in Røros on Saturday

The motorcycle not only "rocked" but it could be taken from the rocker and used like a training bike (everything worked)

So what did I buy among all the variety of clothing, wood carvings, ceramics, leather goods, cheeses, sausages and cured meats?  Butter.  I bought genuine local Røros butter.  Those of you who watch Colbert know why.

Winter Weekend in the Mountains

Last weekend we went to Røros to attend Unn and Ole Morten's "bryllupsfest" (wedding feast/party/reception).  Those who follow this blog might recall that Tove and I attended their wedding in NYC last June.  They chose to hold their bryllupsfest in Røros in December because Unn enjoys winter so much.  It was a great decision.  Not only was it an excellent bryllupsfest in an of itself, it was also a great weekend to put everyone into the Christmas spirit.  The story of the Røros weekend will unfold in three parts: 

The Christmas Market

The Kanefart (?)

And the bryllupsfest

And when I came back it was WINTER!



Winter at the church across the street from my language classes.

My last post's topic concerned the mild November weather here in Trondheim.  On November 18, I took off to the States to visit my older brother in Oregon, my family in Chicago and my Japanese boss in Irvine.  I was gone for 16 days.

My brother, who suffers from a mental disability, is doing well at his group home in Dallas, Oregon.  Dallas is in the heart of the Willamette Valley wine country.  Some day I'll go wine-tasting there.  They make world-class pinot-based wines ranging from classic Burgundian style reds and whites to California styles to a unique Oregonian style that is somewhere between California and France.

My brother and I went to Salem, Oregon, stayed in a hotel there, and did some sorely needed clothes shopping (for him).  After getting two suits, four pairs of slacks, two dress-shirts, two ties, and a stylish overcoat, John just might be the best-dressed man in Dallas, Oregon.  We reminisced about the old days, trips to Lake Tahoe, Mom and Dad, music and the like.  We ate steaks and burgers for dinners and lunches and junk-food cereals for breakfasts.  We met our lovely cousins Stephanie and Diane for lunch one day and I could tell that John really enjoyed seeing the cousins whom he had not seen in a year and a half.



Thanksgiving at The Larkins

I left John and Oregon to celebrate my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, with my family in Chicago.  I have been in Chicago several times for Thanksgiving and this was by far the warmest ever.  I think it got into the 60s which would be 30 degrees warmer than other Thanksgivings there.  Ryan and Wendy live within walking distance (or short bus ride) from Devon, Patrick and Piper, which is great for everyone.  I stayed with Ryan and Wendy in their apartment. 

The day before Thanksgiving, Ryan and I went to a Birrieria near his apartment to eat birria.  Neither of us had ever eaten this Mexican stew before and we were anxious to try it.  At this particular restaurant they make traditional Jalisco style birria with goat!  It was absolutely delicious.  I mean really, really, good.  We were so excited, because we went in with a certain amount of trepidation, but were we surprised!  Great fall food.

Thanksgiving with my family was wonderful.  It was my first Thanksgiving with my granddaughter Piper.  She amazes me. 



Piper is a "ham" when she knows her picture is being taken.  Can you read her t-shirt?

The turkey dinner was delicious.  I like the way that Devon labels the table (she covers the table with brown paper (like paper-bag paper)):

 
After dinner, Piper showed Ryan and Wendy her prowess with the iPad:

Wendy, Piper, Ryan

 On Friday the weather was so good that we played bocce ball in the park.  I don't remember who won (it wasn't me).  Saturday I offered to babysit Piper so that the 4 other adults could go out to dinner together.  They don't get to do that often.  Piper was an angel.  I found "How to Train your Dragon" on TV and as soon as she saw it, she became mesmerized.  It was quite funny how entranced she became.  TV might be Newton Minnow's "vast wasteland", and I might even agree, but it is a great sedative.

After Chicago I flew to SoCal and spent a week with my Japanese boss.  I stayed with my stepsister, but she barely saw me due to my long days with the boss.  The weather was delightful, so it came as quite a shock to come back to wintry Trondheim last Sunday.  It has snowed every day this week and the thermometer has hovered between 30 and 33 degrees Farenheit.  It is very pretty but it's so strange to have the sun rise at 9 a.m. and set at 3 p.m.  All the winter pictures, including the one at the top were taken around 12 noon.

The local school, from the bus.

Our local market, taken from the bus.