Our Travel Blog

Third/Fourth Week in Norway & England

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:33:51 -0600

Our Norway adventure began in Bergen. After arriving, we traveled on a railcar vertically up the mountain to a beautiful perch that overlooked the city. Bergen is a gorgeous large village-like town that holds all the charm that you read about and see in pictures.

On Wednesday we took a tour through the Sognefjord. For 4 hours we traveled by boat through the fjords. After arriving at a charming town, we traveled the second leg of the journey back to Bergen via train. There were gorgeous waterfalls. At one stop, music played and pretty girls dressed like fairies with long wavy blonde hair came out from behind rocks and danced enchantedly for the tour (that is the truth). It was a beautiful, clear day. Once back in Bergen the rain began and we were hungry. Unfortunately, we ate at McDonalds but that was the best choice. We let the kids choose things off the super bargain menu at McDonalds similar to the $1 menu. They ordered little hamburgers, fries and free water and small ice cream. It still cost nearly $80. A restaurant would have cost no less than $300. Yes, after sitting at TJI Friday’s for 5 minutes and realizing that a hamburger was close to $40, with complete humiliation, we stood up and left. Luckily, breakfast was free at our hotel, including sandwich meat and bread. I told the kids to make a sandwich and grab an apple for lunch. They didn’t believe me, and when we wouldn’t buy them food, they went hungry. Believe me the next day, they packed a lunch.

The next day we took a city bus to the Edvard Greig museum. We walked in the rain for a long time. But the journey’s end was a pleasure beyond expectation. Edvard Greig was Norways famous composer who died in 1907. He had a beautiful home and a hut for composing that sat on the edge of a fjord surrounded by pine trees. We had a fantastic tour guide. We even learned that he kept a ceramic-type frog in his pocket when he performed. When he got nervous he reached his hand in his pocket and rubbed the frog. Our children could relate to that. The top of the frog was worn down. We loved Norway but were happy to leave the prices and rain behind and travel to London.

We arrived in London and stayed for two nights outside London. Our first stop was to Costco. Talk about excitement. We could afford ice cream and a rotisserie chicken. After being on food rations in Norway (and Denmark), it was complete euphoria. It really was like Christmas. We traveled to Huntingdon, Hemingford Abbots and Godmanchester where Kevin’s Hart and Marriott ancestors lived. The man who lives at the property of Thomas Hart and Elizabeth Marriott, was so energetic and pleasant. We made an appointment to meet him. Because Kevin’s relatives had previously visited, he had researched James H. Hart and knew his history well. He knew all of the pedigrees and could not have been more pleased and gracious to have us stop by. He showed us his garage, which was previously the barn of Thomas and Elizabeth Hart.

Kevin in Godmanchester--Hart ancestors Visit to Cambridge University

We traveled to Stratford where we stayed for one week. Our home was so perfectly located. We were one block from the town village. A small canal from the Avon river runs right by the flat. Each day we watched long boats carrying passengers float by the family room window. We walked one block to the grocery store and all the cute shops, historical sites and theater.

We spent a full day at Warwick Castle. It has been transformed to depict a 19th century party with many wax figures from Madam Tussaud’s. Grant (and the girls) had a lesson in archery, we saw the scary dungeon and climbed the multiple circular, narrow stairs to the top of Guy’s Tower. Kevin showed the kids their pedigree, which was on his laptop, which he had with him...humm. They are descendants from the first 10 Earls of Warwick. Grant held Guy’s sword and was so excited and proud to say, “this is my ancestors sword.”

There were two fantastic shows. One show had an eagle, falcon, and other birds of prey. The eagle soared 3 feet over our heads. The highlight, however, was watching a launch from a trebuchet (medieval catapult). It took nearly 30 minutes to load the trebuchet, with men walking inside large wheels (like a rat cage), to wind the ropes to lower the arm. Normally, they send a ball of fire, but the winds were strong, so they sent a 18” round stone ball in the air, soaring 150 miles per hour, in a beautiful, smooth arch high in the air. It was spectacular.

The next day we spent walking the streets of Stratford, visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace, Holy Trinity church, where he was buried, other family homes, including Anne Hathaway’s cottage and a butterfly farm. We had dinner with Cindy Henderson’s daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Marc Nelson, who are attending school here. They babysat the two little ones while the rest of us enjoyed the Royal Shakespeare Company in Taming of
the Shrew.
Holy Trinity Church Ann Hathaway’s Cottage

Today was another highlight. It was a day of Harry Potter and other things. We started with horseback rides through the Cotwolds.-- English horseback riding.

The Cotwolds are beautiful, pastoral mountains with fantastic villages below. Gloucester Cathedral was spectacular, and because part of Hogwart’s was filmed here it had special meaning to the kids. Edward II was buried here. Kevin was proud to point out to the kids that he was an ancestor but lost his enthusiasm after studying wikipedia entries about him. Next to Gloucester, is the Forest of Dean. We drove through the forest where Harry Potter was also filmed. We ended the day at Tintern Abbey. We read William Wordsworth’s poem that he wrote when he visited there.

Kevin has done remarkably well driving on the left side of the road, too. There have only been a couple times, where he had to maneuver quick and drive OFF THE ROAD to miss an oncoming car. Actually, Kevin has done extremely well. Kevin wants to know why I share things at his expense. I simply told him because I am writing it. I can say whatever I want.

We have also been reading the “Horrible History Series” for England. They teach the history of England with lots of gory, bloody, gross details that are usually left out of history books. Somehow, everyone seems to really like them. Kirsten was the first to finish all seven books. While we go on long drives, I read young adult historical fiction out loud. We have finished The London Eye, a new mystery novel told through the voice of an autistic boy. It was great. We then read Adam of the Road, about a traveling minstrel and his son set in 1296.

Maren and Kirsten think they may like to live here. However, they are very disappointed in the boys. After being in Scandanavia, they just can’t seem to find “a cute boy.” Ouch!!!

We then spent another day with Marc and Katie Nelson at Kenilworth. We visited the ruins of Kenilworth castle, had lunch in a pub, hiked to other sites in the area. (Again, Kevin showed the kids their ancestral connections here). That evening we saw A Midsummers Night Dream. It was so well done, we were crying with laughter.

We visited Jane Austen’s home in Chawton and saw her tiny table where she did most of her writing, including Pride and Prejudice (pictured on left), drove to Stonehenge and then to Bath. Bath, was truly an amazing city. Our time was well spent at the Roman Baths. It was very educational for all of us.

We took an open air bus tour around the city. One of the things that stood out to us was when the tour guide said, “and here is King George III, something.... King George III was the last king of America.” Funny how history is viewed from different perspectives. Our stay here ended with a quick trip to Oxford (pictured right).

Once again, we packed ourselves like sardines in a little, tiny minivan. We drove 5 hours to the Lake District. We had a surprisingly delightful stop at Chatworth. This is the manor where the recent filming of Pride and Prejudice took place (Mr. Darcy’s mansion). It was amazing...with a maze too (below).

After seeing so many cathedrals, it was heart-warming to visit the Preston Temple.

Now we are in Keswick, it is in the northern part of England called the Lake District. And....our flat is absolutely gorgeous. However, never judge someone or something from the outside. Our flat includes three levels above a ground level, which is actually a really nice restaurant (try keeping 5 kids from running and jumping off the stairs right over the dining room of the restaurant). We enter the flat from stairs from a back alley. OK...the alley is kind of creepy, but there is a church there too, so that makes you feel a little better. We share our entrance with the back cook room of the restaurant. So, every time we go up our stairs, we pass by the chefs, who are either chopping carrots, or sitting out back for a smoke. EVERYTHING SMELLS REALLY DELICIOUS (except for the smoke). I would eat there, because I can see how clean the kitchen is. It is spotless. The other weird thing is that Kevin is spending most of his time in a pub across the street. We bought this nifty device where he can hook up to the Internet anywhere.....but guess what....it doesn’t work in Keswick. So, I guess, luckily, there is a pub across the street, where he can get free Internet access. But, I have to admit, it is kind of strange telling the kids, “Go get your father from the pub, it’s time for family prayer.” Don’t worry the bottle is flat water.

Alley way to flat Front of flat--Green windows View from Kitchen

Basically, we are vegging, hiking, going on lots of nature walks and soaking up the incredible beauty here. We did pay a visit to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s home (pictured). Grant has studied Beatrix Potter intensely at school. So he knew all the stories about her and her books. Then we toured William Wordsworth’s two homes in Grasmere: Rydal Mount and Dove Cottage. We learned a lot about him. This stop has special memories to me, because 22 years ago, I studied here for two weeks with Richard Wordsworth, who was his great-great Grandson, at the Wordsworth Conference. Richard Wordsworth was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and had most of his grandfathers poems memorized. We would hike to a place where a poem was composed, and stop, and Richard would recite it. He passed away 15 years ago, and I think it was such a loss.

Today we visited a pencil museum, which is a 1 minute walk from our flat. You say, “pencil museum” what is that. Believe it or not, this tiny village is the home of the discovery of the pencil and graphite. It was fascinating. They showed pencils that were used in WWII, where they hid a compass under the eraser and a rolled up escape map around the lead. They would drop them for POW’s. Today, they make amazing watercolor pencils. After purchasing some, the children have spent hours at home looking out the windows are painting the beautiful scenery.

Tomorrow, we are going to celebrate Kirsten 14th birthday, and ironically celebrate our independence from this place. We wish you all a happy 4th of July!!!

Second Week in Denmark

Sat, 7 Jun 2008 06:55:38 -0600

We crossed to the other side Denmark to a town on the West Coast, Blavand. Here, we were spoiled. It is mostly a vacation destination for Germans. We spent a lot of time in the indoor swimming pool. We did so much driving it was nice to relax for a few days. We did, however, spend significant time driving to many more ancestral cities, and to Grant and Klara’s great excitement--Legoland. We ate at Danish bakeries, walked along the beach, watched movies and had a great time together.

Because of the extremely high cost of food, we were fortunate to have a nice kitchen to prepare food. We stayed for five days and then traveled and stayed in Skagen for 4 days, which is the northernmost tip of Denmark. Of course, we stopped at more ancestral towns. Altogether, we visited approximately 20 ancestral towns. The kids were excellent troopers. We took a tractor ride to the beach that is the very tip of Denmark where two seas collide and the waves crash into each other. We visited Hals twice. It is a darling market town that is set on the LimFjord and the Kattegut Sea. As we sat on the edge of town, looking out to sea we read Johanna Domgaard’s story of leaving Denmark to emigrate to Utah, which was very poignant. On our second trip to Hals, we visited the town history museum. They had wonderful records. We found our Domgaard ancestors in the census taken there. We learned that Lars Domgaard was a brick mason. We also learned that just prior to them joining the church, Lars and his brother, Niels, must have been next door neighbors based on the census, which usually went from house to house. Unfortunately it didn’t show us which house, but it was clear to the museum operator that they lived in the city. We surmised that they may have built their homes. Just before we left, I decided to tell the museum curator about the story I had found when the Lars and Niels Domgaard families joined the church. I began telling when the Mormon missionaries came to Hals and the townspeople were very upset. They all gathered around the home and began destroying the roof of their home and breaking windows and threatening to harm the missionaries. As I began the story, the curator joined in. She knew the story too. She didn’t have it in written form, but an older lady told her the story that had been passed down. This story must be a legend in Hals. She said that the people of Hals didn’t like having the good people of Hals taken away by the Mormons. Then, we looked at the clock and realized we had one hour to catch our ferry to Sweden--and it was at least a one hour drive (we actually needed to be there 30 minutes early). In Laurence style, Kevin drove like a “fast European.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t in a Lamborgini. Remember, Kevin learned to drive on the autobahn in Germany. How thrilling is a small diesel mini van shoved full of kids and luggage. Thanks to Kevin, for doing a dry run of the procedure a few days earlier, we knew right where to drop the Avis car, buy tickets and board the ship. We divided and conquered. They had shut the ramp but saw us running. They opened it with 0 seconds to spare. We joked that our ancestor guardian angels must have helped us. And in true Kevinese, he said, “Hey, travel isn’t exciting unless you push it to the last minute.” He really just wanted a James Bond moment. It was a really fun ferry ride, except for Grant. He was grumpy because we wouldn’t let him play the games on board (i.e. Las Vegas slot machines). No matter how we tried to explain the “evils” of gambling, they were still fun, harmless games to him.

We arrived and spent the night in Gothenburg, Sweden where we ate at Pizza Hut.

The thing that frustrated me the most about Scandinavia is that everything closes between 5- 7 pm. If you arrive late, and realize you have no milk or bread, you are out of luck until 10:00 am the next day. On Saturdays, all shops are closed by 3:00 and are closed on Sunday. Of course, I also loved the fact that everything closed down. I think it is great that the culture dictates closing up work and values time at home every evening and on weekends, especially Sunday. Kevin commented that for being a non-religious country, they observe the Sabbath better than Americans.

Here are a few pictures of some the ancestral churches. On the movie page, I’ve downloaded a few movie images. We really enjoyed visiting nearly 20 towns all across Denmark. We loved Denmark. It is beautiful, green, rural and flat. Everything is thoughtfully designed. Kevin loved the bakeries and smoked salmon.

Sindal-Peder Halvorson Hals-Domsgaard Gammel Rye-Nielson

Our Summer Vacation 2008

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0600

After leaving Sunday morning, we have finally made it to our destination in Denmark. So far, everything has gone well. Well--there’s a few minor hitches. The first came with our rental van which seats 7. Have you ever seen a rental car that seats 7 in Europe? It is the size of a big VW bug. Here is a picture of it. Look at the trunk space we are allotted. None of you will believe it but we managed to fit all of us in, including the luggage, with everyone buckled. Nothing short of a miracle.

After driving to Ragålege, which is a small coastal village about one hour north of Copenhagen we settled into a nice red vacation house that the kids call “the barn.” It is perfect--with a kitchen, family room, 3 bedrooms and a loft with two beds. Everything went well. Rågeleje is a quaint beach town that is one hour or so north of Copenhagen on the north coast of Sealand. It’s a cross between Midway, Utah and Newport Beach. The next glitch came when we went to pick up the key to the house at the Rental Center--it was closed. A note was left on the door that we were to pick up the key at a gas station down the road. The only problem was that the note was written in Danish. Luckily, an employee was still there and told us what the note said. The other miscommunication was that we didn’t bring our own linens. Whooops. We’ll have to rent them, but it is too late for today. Good thing we have clean shirts to put over the pillows. Everyone is so tired we don’t care.
Kevin and I went to the grocery store to buy groceries which was intimidating. I couldn't buy any mixes, because I couldn't read what the mix was (unless there was a picture on it) and since I can't read the instructions for baking, I can’t buy mixes. I'm having to rely on memorized recipes. When Kevin asked for help finding butter, the employee couldn’t speak very good English and turned to me for help in Danish. “Sorry, I may look Danish, but I don’t speak Danish.” However, almost everyone speaks near-perfect English.

June 3, 2008
This morning we got up early and tried to navigate ourselves to Copenhagen where Kevin gave a presentation to an IP law firm. It was crazy navigation. When we proudly arrived at the determined location, Kevin jumped out of the car and quickly coordinated, “meet in 2 hours.” Since I don’t have a cell phone it was scary saying goodbye. Klara then announced, “I have to go potty.”-- which we all know is the nightmare of trips. Maren and Kirsten took her into a nearby lobby as I stayed with the others in the car. Just as Maren and Kirsten returned, Grant yelled, “Here comes Dad.” The location was wrong and Kevin wasn’t sure what to do. He had no Kroner (Danish money) to pay for a taxi, and didn’t know how to make outgoing cell phone calls. To his relief, we were still there--with the car. Kevin figured out how to make a call and we dropped him off at the correct location. In the meantime, we went to the mall and bought a cheap cell phone for me. Thank you to Klara for needing to go potty.

June 4, 2006

We headed back to Copenhagen today (about a 1 hour drive). Kevin had a scheduled business lunch so I took the Grant and the girls and we headed to the palace and saw the changing of the guards. It was simple but nicely done. We saw the new opera house which was built in 2005 by a famous Danish architect. We walked into the Marble Church and went to the State Museum where we saw Christen Dalsgaard’s famous painting of Mormon missionaries preaching to a Danish family. However, we had to walk down a hall filled with statues. I hadn’t really prepared Mette and Grant for what they might see. Mette walked straight with her hands down to her side looking down and trying not to laugh, and Grant couldn’t help but laugh and point. I don’t think the museum docent thought it was too funny. Kevin met us there and we walked through a park to the castle that houses the crown jewels. We then hiked to the top of Trinity Church that overlooked Copenhagen. We walked along a shopping street and did “people watching.” What was so interesting is that we are traveling with 5 children and no one seems to care at all. The only person who pointed out to me with amazement that I had five children, was a tourist from Japan. The Dane’s seem to have it together with confidence and they keep a good time schedule. Businesses close early. People value time at home to spend with family. Family seems to be really important to them. We love seeing people riding their bikes everywhere. Cute girls in dresses and heels riding their bikes with baskets on them on their way to work. They wear gorgeous shawls around their necks. Mette has especially enjoyed going into shops and seeing her name monogramed on things to buy--keychains, pencil cases etc. She is in heaven. Next we made the obligatory stop at the Little Mermaid. On our way home we stopped in three ancestral cities. Horsholm, Birkerod, and Blovstod. Wow!!! is all I can say. Since we don’t have any addresses of residence, the church is the best place to go. In Horsholm, the church was absolutely gorgeous. The church bells were playing and we wondered why anyone would ever leave this place. The family cemetery plots are individual, beautiful little gardens divided by hedges.

On a lighter note, Maren and Kirsten are trying to figure out how to come here when they are older because there are so many good looking guys.

Church at Horsholm Church at Blovstrod Church at Birkerod

These three churches are in communities next to each other. They are in a “suburb” north of Copehagen. They served Grandpa Hansen’s family. Jens Hansen-- (mom’s Grandfather) was christened and married in Blovstrod. He was buried in Mt. Pleasant. His father, Hans Jensen, was christened in Blovstrad and buried in Birkerod. His wife, Anne Kirstine, was christened in Birkerod and buried in Birkerod. However, they were married in Horsholm. As records show , this Hansen (Jensen) family lived, married and died in this community for as far back as we have been able to document the family line. We looked for gravesites, but no luck. Had we arrived when the Vicar was there, we may have had help. Horsholm was set on an estate surrounded by water. It was gorgeous.

We enjoyed going to the Viking musuem in Roskilde. They found many sunken viking ships there. The vikings purposely scuttled them in the harbor to block the mouth from Norwegian Vikings who were attacking Roskilde.