Going to Norway has been a dream of
mine since I was a kid. Growing up hearing stories about our ancestors coming
from Norway, making Krumkake and other Norwegian foods, wearing the traditional
Norwegian outfit. When we planned the European cruise and were going to be so
close to Norway, I started looking into how feasible it would be to add Norway
to the trip. Matthew of course, told me that I needed to just do it… like he
always does… especially since my parents were planning on staying in Europe
longer and wanted to go to Norway also. So, we decided to add a week to the trip
and fly to Norway with my parents. To make the most of our time, we rented a
car and my parents routed out the trip and planned Airbnb stops along the way.
Before leaving, I planned out our
routes, figured out the ferry systems (as well as I could online), determined approximately
how many hours a day we would be driving, figured out what cities we should
stop in and explore along the way. My Dad did his part and researched the areas
where his grandparents came from (Finnestad’s and Spjelkavik’s). These were the
two main destinations that we were going to visit in Norway, and all the others
were extras along the way. This part of the trip was a lot different from the beginning,
as it was just the four of us, we had a car to travel with, and we went from
one stop to the next, touring the country on our own.
We had to get up early on August 11th
and catch our Uber to the airport. Thankfully, I booked it the night before, so
it was waiting for us in the morning. We ate a quick breakfast at the airport
since the hotel was not ready to serve food when we left. We caught our flight
to Norway and started on our next adventure.
The first order of business when we
got to Norway was to get our car. We had upgraded from our original car since
we brought so much luggage, but we were still concerned it would not be big
enough. Thankfully, we were able to upgrade one more time and get an even
bigger car. The car we had upgraded to was an electric only-car since it was
all that was available but this one you could use gas or electric which was
just perfect. We also added my Dad as a driver since it only cost $6… this also
was a God-decision as he drove a lot of the trip.
We quickly loaded up the car and
started on to our first destination… a quick trip to Sweden. I mean… how can
you be so close to Sweden and not made a trip there. We knew that adding a detour
into Sweden would make it a LONG day, but it was worth it just to be able to go
to another country for a few hours. It was approximately a 2-hour drive from
Oslo to Stromstad, Sweden and I enjoyed every minute of the drive. It was so
beautiful and brought so much joy to just be in Norway. Of course, we were
racing the clock to get to Stromstad while the stores were still open so we could
buy some souvenirs in Sweden.
Welcome to Stromstad
After dinner, we continued on our way
and headed to our first Airbnb. We contacted them to let them know we would be
arriving late in the evening. She was completely fine and told us to enjoy our
drive. We were only a few hours away, but we experienced our first ferry ride
to get to her place. It took a long time for the ferry rides not to be exciting
for me… I love the water views and being on the ferry gave me plenty to look
at. It was such an easy experience, especially since the car came with a tag
and we didn’t have to do anything but drive on (and pay later). We didn’t bring
much into the house the first night, only what we needed to sleep and a change
of clothes. Our plan was to get up in the morning and continue on our way.
We got up early the next morning to
continue on our way. The drive from Larvik to Stavanger was approximately 5 ½ hours
and Stavanger was the area where the Finnestad’s came from so, we wanted extra
time to explore the area. Of course, the first order of business was to figure
out how to get gas when you don’t understand the language. The guys were able
to figure it out but man alive was it expensive… no wonder electric vehicles
are so common.
We enjoyed some beautiful sites along
the way. I didn’t sleep a wink in the car on the entire drive through Norway…
no one else can say the same. Sometimes I would take pictures, other times I would
just soak in the beauty. Often, I would be praying and asking God for wisdom for
situations we were dealing with. It doesn’t matter how far away you are, or that
we were on the trip of a lifetime, it seems like Satan will take any
opportunity to attack… and attack he sure did. The drive gave me lots of time
to cry out to God… to process (though it was too much to process in just a
week)… to figure out plans when original ones fell through… plans that did not
include Matthew flying home early. Norway was my dream trip… and I wasn’t going
to let Satan completely take it away from me.
We finally arrived in Stavanger. We
were not able to check into our Airbnb until 3:00 pm so we decided to tour the
city and buy souvenirs while we waited. We also found a place to eat lunch in
the area. Our Airbnb here had some complications and was uncertain about the accommodation
for a while so to compensate, they gave us coupons for a free lunch at a local
restaurant. Unfortunately, this was our only lunch in the area so we didn’t
think we would be able to use them. Funny thing is, we ate at the same
restaurant that the coupons were for and the food was delicious. We later found
out that they had the same restaurant at other locations, so we brought the
coupons with us.
After lunch, we dropped off our
belongings at our Airbnb and then headed out to look at the Finnestad sites. There
were lots of signs named after the Finnestad Family. Street signs, buildings that
had it because of their address, we talked a local that lived down Finnestad
street and his mother had lived in the area for years. Finally, we happened
upon the Finnestad House of Prayer. We were BEYOND EXCITED to find the church
and be able to take pictures here. The only thing that would have been better
is if it was a Sunday and we could have attended a service or if it was open
and we could have gone inside.
After touring the area where our
ancestors lived, we returned to our Airbnb. This time, we unloaded everything
so we could do laundry. Thankfully, we did so because it ended up being the
only place that had a dryer until the end of the trip… it took FOREVER to dry
but we got our clothes washed and dried in time. We were not super hungry for dinner,
so the guys picked up a few items at the store to eat while we stayed back to
do the laundry. We had a relaxing evening before heading out the next morning.
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