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In July, Di Anna and Jack visited friends in Norway.
Our plan for this trip was to visit a Norwegian couple that we met on our trip to Amsterdam in the summer of 2005. Their names are Oystein Moltubakk, husband of Gunhild Navjord. They live on a tiny island (about one mile square) in the village of Stokmarknes , which is located about 700 miles north by northeast of Bergen. The island is 68 degrees north latitude, which is 1-1/2 degrees north of the Arctic Circle. We stayed with Gunhild and Oystein for 8 nights, and we had no special plans of what to see or do. We left the decisions up to them. During that week, we felt that we had become part of their family and that we had experienced Norway not as tourists, but as natives.
On the return trip to the US, we rented the self-catering flat in Bergen, where we stayed for 2 nights, resting up for the return trip home. Scandinavian Airlines lost our luggage (we only carried one bag). On the trip over, our bag was lost in Copenhagen (we finally received it on our 4th day in Stokmarknes). On the return trip home, they lost our bag in Washington, DC. We received it in Hillsborough the next day.
Our trip was the most special of any we have ever made. Norway above the Arctic Circle is like another world--the foliage, the wildlife, the culture, and our special friends. There is so much I could say about our experience, but I'm not sure anyone really wants to read that much. I did keep a journal while I was there. This final sentence was written on the plane during our 16-hour trip from Bergen to Copenhagen to Washington to Raleigh and home again. It is as follows:
Before I take a nap and join my hubby in quiet snoring, I'll think once more of our friends Oystein and Gunhild, who are traveling at this moment to their homeplace where they plan to remodel the family cottage on the southeastern sea of Norway. Maybe someday, we'll cross the cold North Sea again and visit them in the land where Vikings once roamed, magpies scavenge, and the sun shines--even at midnight.
Di Anna C. Kruse
