Kay and Sylvia's Norwegian Adventure 2015: Mariakirken and Grandpa Alfred's Relatives

I was in Bergen for Christmas Eve and Christmas 2009 before Kari Malmanger's wedding to Hans Svedahl in Songdal and went to the Mariankirken (St. Mary's Church). It was at that time I learned that on January 1, 2010, the church would be closed for significant renovation - really stabilization - for five years. The construction of the church is believed to have begun in the 1130s or 1140s, which makes it the oldest remaining building in Bergen.

Mariankirken finally reopened last week. Today was the first regular church service there in 5.5 years and it was quite well attended. (No photos were allowed during the service, so the one photo with the length of the church looking toward the new organ doesn't show how filled the church was.) The first hymn was "The Church's One Foundation" - this hymn was printed in English as well as Norwegian in the Psalmebok (hymn book). Another well-known hymn with a melody by Vaughan-Williams was a hymn I knew with the words "All Creatures of Our God and King." One of the good parts of the renovation is that a new organ was installed in the church. My friend Jostein was telling us about the number of organ concerts last week (before we arrived) and how happy everyone is about the new organ.

After the church service, which ended with a wonderful postlude, we walked down to the embroidery shop at Bryggen so Mother could purchase a few more needles for her cross-stitch project. (Mother says she needs a bit of walking each day!) Then we took a cab to Nesttun (suburb south of Bergen) to meet Helge Jonassen who drove us to her parents, Gunnhild and Harald, our hosts for lunch. When I was in Norway for seven weeks in 2001 looking for the right place to establish a student teaching program, I stayed with Gunnhild and Harald for one week in their lovely home in Fana on Fanafjorden. Gunnhild had the bygdabok (history book of families in Norway) out for me to see how we were related. She has an uncle (great-great?) who was a brother to Madela, Grandpa Alfred's Grandmother. Other guests at the dinner included Gunnhild's two sisters, Berit and Ingebjorg, Berit's husband Tore, and Gunnhild and Harald's daughter, Helge, who was our driver from the Nesttun station to her parent's home and back.

We enjoyed hearing about the Hurtigruten trip the three sisters had taken with their spouses and a few more for a group of 10 family members about 10 years ago. Tore recalled a saying from his daughter-in-law about people who go on the Hurtigruten trip: they are "newly wed or nearly dead!" We talked about Malinda Munsen's wedding to Andrew Boyko; Gunnhild and Harald visited Story City at that time and were able to attend the wedding. Helga has a daughter from China she adopted about 5.5 years ago; Shi-ying was with a friend today and will be in 6th Grade next year. They also shared that the entire Jonassen family (19 of them) was in Tunisia on vacation, fortunately for them, last fall. Then we were treated to a wonderful meal of those famous Norwegian open-face sandwiches with salmon, shrimp, roast beef, or ham decorated with garnishes so they looked like pieces of art. The meal ended with an ice-cream cake and coffee and more sharing.

Helge took us to the Bybanen (light train) so we could ride back into the city, which took about 25 minutes. Since it was raining, we found a cab back to our hotel. We stopped in the lounge for an orange and some tea and met a couple from Florida who are going on the Hurtigruten trip tomorrow. We will be on the ship in just two days!