Kay and Sylvia's Norwegian Adventure 2015: Middag with the Lekvens

After a restful night at the Augustin Hotel, we enjoyed a great Norwegian breakfast of artisan wheat bread, cheese, salami and ham, tomatoes, cucumbers, red pepper, fresh fruit (small slices of pineapple, watermelon, and oranges), OJ, and, of course, tea. Mother returned to the room to work on a cross-stitch quilt top. Note three sweaters in the photo! Not that the room is cold - Mother just needs more layers to stay warm. I remember seeing photos of Grandma Anna wearing her Norwegian sweater in the summer; it must be a 'Marvick thing.' I was off to run a few errands.

When I returned to the hotel room, Mother and I went down for some tea in the lounge. Then we went to another antique store just one block from the hotel en route to Pascal, a restaurant in Scandic Neptun, to meet our relatives, Alvhild & Odd Lekven, from Os, which is south about 40 minutes south of Bergen. Alvhild and Mother are 3rd cousins on Grandpa Alfred's side of the family. in 1962 Grandpa and Grandma visited Daniel Grindivol (Grandpa's 2nd cousin); I visited Daniel and his sister Hjordis in Os in 1971. Alvhild & Odd visited relatives in Iowa in 2008 (including our family in Story City). They attended two of the concerts of the children's choir in 2010 (at the Bergen domkirke or cathedral and at the Ole Bull Villa on the island of Lysoen). Mother spent a couple of days with the Lekvens on the children's choir tour. Now we had another nice meeting for middag. It's great to have ongoing relationships.

Interestingly enough, I had been communicating with their son Nils Ole about the day and time to meet. Last night, I found out that lunch was not offered at the Augustin so we changed to Pascal. My only 'immediate' communication was via email to their son Nils Ole, who responded quickly with the change. Today, I found out that he and his family are in the U.S.! (He had to call his parents from there to notify them of the change!) We had a fabulous meal of fresh sei (pollack) in a beautiful presentation. For dessert, Alvhild, Odd, and I had the small chocolate cake with a molten chocolate center with strawberry sorbet and mangos. Mother had the creme brûlée. I have included the menus in both Norwegian and English, which includes a legend of allergies in all items on the menu. I've never seen such a complete list before.

Shortly before we left the hotel, a bus arrived with a bride and about 15 friends, all wearing blue jeans and white tops. They were ready to party tonight - the last night out before the wedding.

One of the errands I ran in the morning was to get some rye crisp at the grocery store and fresh strawberries at the farmer's market along with the fish market. We are able to an orange and tea at the hotel, so that was our supper.

One final note regarding 'things to do in Bergen' last night... Sting was in town for a concert at Haakonshallen. He perfumed in Stavanger tonight. Jostein's home in Sandviken is fairly close to Haakonshallen and he said that if he opens his windows, he can hear concerts from there so why buy a ticket? Tickets were 699 NOK, which is about $90 - a good price for such a concert!