YCGL - Sept 2, 2023 - Laramie, for a while.
Hello Everyone,
It's been a while since I've been on. And its time to share some news. I'm going to be traveling in September and October, but not in my trailer. Actually, I'm going on three trips, but they are interconnected and all that I had planned to do with Sally.
I'm heading to Europe. The quick rundown:
1 week in Florence,
2 weeks in Norway and
2 weeks in the Mediterranean on a cruise.
And then back home again. And probably very ready to be back home again.
I'll start the story with Norway, because that has kind of been driving the rest. On our second trip to Norway in 2018, we went looking for Sally's family background. I had been doing a lot of genealogical searching and found the farms on which both her dad's parents had been born. Sig's father, Sam Solien had been born on a farm in Hommelvik, about 15 miles east of Trondheim. And I was able to go back three generations to where all four great grandparents were born in the 1750-60s. All of them are within a 20 mile radius of Hommelvik and we'll be able to visit many of their farms in one day. However, Sam Solien died in 1947, three years before Sally was born, so she didn't have any particularly close personal ties to him. Sandy was born in 1942 and might have remembered him some. There are pictures of them together.
The big find, however, was Sally's grandmother's farm. Kirsti Moen Solien grew up in Vingelen, Norway, 70 miles south of Trondheim as the crow flies. The farm is named Fremmermoen and there are records of the family going back almost 400 years, some 12 generations from the son of the current owner who will become the next owner. Kirsti was 18 when her family came over to the States in 1903. One of the stories she told of growing up was about taking care of the cows in the summer pasture above Fremmermoen. She spent her summers up there, all summer, milking twice a day and taking care of herself as a young teenager. She could hear the church bells on Sunday but couldn't go down and see her friends. We visited the pasture, the milk house was gone but the foundation stones are still there. As we walked away with her 3rd cousin, Einar and his son Tore and an uncle Magna, she put her hands on her heart and said she felt "at home" there.
Before she died, Sally decided she wanted some of her ashes to be scattered at the pasture. And in discussing it earlier with Sandy, she indicated that she wished to be there also. I contacted the family after she died and they very graciously invited us to come and do that. There will be eight of us there, Erik and Liz, Jaye, Lyndon and Tyler, Jere and Arthur, and me.
The youngers are then flying out to Berlin for a couple of days before going home. The rest of us are going to be going to Hommelvik and doing the Solien search. From there, to Trondheim and then along the west coast, visiting some WWII forts and driving the Atlantic Ocean Highway. We'll fly from Molde to Bergen for a few days and then take the Norway-in-a-Nutshell train, bus, ferry, Flambana, train trip back to Oslo.
And that's why we're going to Europe.
I'll start in Florence. Sally and I won (? read paid way too much for a good cause, Family Promise) an auction in 2019 for a six night trip to Florence and Tuscany. For a number of reasons, we never went. Since I was putting together the Norway trip, it was obvious that this was the time to use the Florence trip since it included the flights to Florence and back from Berlin for Erik and Athens for me. After asking Erik and Liz if they would like to go, Liz declined and Erik said yes, so we are meeting there in Frankfort and continuing to Florence. We've got reservations at the Accademia and the Uffizi Galleries, plus a day trip to Cinque Terre, with hiking! We traded a day in Tuscany for the Cinque Terre, but then we go to Radda in Chianti and stay at a winery there for two nights. Then, we'll drive back to Florence and fly to Oslo to start the Norway portion of the trip.
Finally, after we get back to Oslo, I'll fly to Barcelona for two nights and then get on a Princess cruise from Barcelona to Mykonos. I'm getting off in Mykonos and spending a night or two and then ferry or fly to Athens. I'll decide between now and Thursday the 7th when I leave.
Mediterranean with Greek Isles, France & Turkey
Atlanta, so I don't have to worry about that in Denver for the shuttle.
So, that's what's going on. I've spent the better part of 5 weeks doing plans, details and getting set up. I've set up some neat things
like in Kusadasi, I have a personal guide for Ephesus. I've got small group tours at a number of places,
and some surprises also. Don't worry, I'll have plenty to write about.
As we've already told you, Bob and I are so happy you are making this trip and getting to enjoy your family.
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