Uvdal Stavkirke

A main reason we visited the Oslo area was to take a day trip to Uvdal to see the Uvdal Stave Church. While it was about a two and half hour drive one way, it was worth every minute.

"Norwegian stave churches are a unique type of medieval wooden church characterized by their distinctive post and lintel construction. They are considered a significant part of Norway's architectural heritage and a unique contribution to world architecture. These churches were primarily built between 1050 and 1350 and are the oldest preserved wooden churches in Christianity." Additionally, the Uvdal Stave church was of special interest to our family, since on one of the church pews a family name (and likely a geographical indicator), "Huseby", was painted.

The office where we checked in and storehouse were two of the original buildings found on the property. Although there were other farm buildings added later, we spent most of our time in these two buildings besides the actual Stave Church. After our tour was over, the office was also our small gift shop and afternoon coffee stop. It was a very quaint way to end our trip sipping on some coffee and treats.

The storehouse was actually just as interesting to me as the church, but in different ways. I appreciated the construction of the foundation very much. "The construction of the Pillared Storehouse got its present appearance when it was completed in 1746. It has never been moved and as a result still stands on its original plot. The structure is a typical example of a Numedal "Stbbur" (Pillared Storehouse). It has two stories, with the second being a workshop full of tools. Between the stairs lead up to the threshold entrance there is a large gap, traditionally intended to prevent mice from getting to the first floor where all the food was stored."

"The Numedal Valley contains the best-preserved collection of medieval buildings in Norway. It has four Stave Churches alone. Compared to the other stave churches (Flesberg, Rollag, and Nore), Uvdal is high on the hillside. Moreover, it is still surrounded by ancient farm buildings. This church was in use until the late 19th century when the town built a new church further down the valley."

"The original stave churches were very small, and over the centuries they became impractical. Because of this, they have been constantly expanded, renovated, and redesigned. For Uvdal, it’s almost as if each century has added something to the church." Typically the expansions were just simple add-ons to the original structure. Building the church to be longer, or wider, with new rectangles added to make the church larger. The exterior is paneled, and covered in tar, as are all Stave Churches.

Uvdal's best feature is its painted interior. "Benches with ornately decorated sidewalls were added to the nave in 1624. The oldest part of the interior was probably richly ornately decorated by painting during 1656, the expansions during 1684 and 1723. The painting style is Rococo. Rich decorations of flowers and vines cover the interior. The artist (or artists) is unknown, but it’s clear inspiration came from European art. Until 1620, the only light came from portholes high up, but that year two windows were put in."

After the building tours we walked around the rest of the property and farm. At the top of the hill, looking back at the church and the valley, we found a great spot for family pictures. It was a nice way to end the tour. Wish we had more time. Looking back at these pictures now at the time of writing, it still amazes me that we were able to pull this entire trip off and that we were able to spend a few weeks over in Norway this summer.

Oslo Morning Ride

This morning I went on a quick ride around a lake west of Oslo, just north of Asker. It was a beautiful morning and reminded me of Washington State. In fact, I think Washington is the closest state to Norway in terms of the landscape and weather.

The gravel ride took me around a lake that included a nice little boardwalk to get over the waterfall and river that was feeding the lake. On the way back up the hill to our Air BnB I passed two inline skaters wearing CU Buffs kit. What are the chances of that?

Våler...in search of the Rudshagen Farm

One of the main reasons we came to Norway, and specifically the Oslo area, was to visit two areas where we had connections to our family's heritage. One of the areas was Våler, in search of the Rudshagen family farm. Other relatives had visited this same place and we had seen pictures, but unfortunately we didn't have a good idea of where it was exactly located before hopping in the rental cars for the drive north from Oslo and near the Swedish border.

The drive from Oslo to Våler was one of my favorite memories of our trip. It was basically like a massive Green Bluff in Spokane, but prettier and even more green. We drove past little farms and rolling green farmlands for miles and miles. It was very quaint and pretty.

Our first stop was in town, and although the main town was very small, it still had a restaurant or two where we found some locals enjoying a Saturday afternoon with some drinks, food and local music at a cafe and pub. Michelle asked some of the locals if they had and idea what side of the highway and river the photo we had was taken, and after consulting a few resident experts they weren't sure where the farm was located but that it was clearly taken from the other side and looking back at the town.

Before we headed out to look for the farm, we stopped at the local church and cemetery. I believe the old church had burned down, but parts of it were preserved and it was rebuilt on the edge of the property while the new church was built. The main hope in walking the cemetery grounds was to see if we could find any known relatives that were buried there. We all spread out and walked the entire grounds, and while we didn't see any specific person we recognized, it was awesome to see the entire place just flooded with the same last names I had only seen on paper in genealogy records. Rudshagen (or Rudshaugen) was there, but most of what we found were Engebretsens, which is the same name as my Mom's side of the family with just a slightly different spelling (Engebretson). A few example pictures are below.

From the church we drove to the other side of the highway and river in search of the farm. At this point all we had to go on was a picture of the farm buildings and surrounding area. Since we had two cars we split up and drove a little bit around the farms located on that side. We drove on a few of the main roads trying to match up the buildings until we settled on one specific area based on the photo. Some of the buildings looked similar to the photo, so I tried to get a decent look at the old house that was still on the property despite it being surrounded by a bunch of newer buildings. We eventually ruled it out, but decided this was the closest thing we could find since the skyline of the photo, trees, and other landmarks matched this little hill where we were standing and parked. 

Unfortunately it wasn't the exact place, and the two small farm buildings we were looking for were a field or two farther over, but we were essentially in the adjacent field and close enough as far as I'm concerned. In reality we had driven right past the small side road and missed the actual farm, since it was probably a half a mile off the main road. We had concluded that the old buildings had been torn down for more farm lands, since the last family visitor had last seen it a long time ago.

So, these pictures are not from the farm, but the fields, views and skies were the same ones my ancestors had farmed generations ago:

I wish I could say that this was the end of the day's story, but unfortunately I had to make my major blunder of the trip as we were leaving the farm. Inevitably something goes wrong on a trip this big and this long in a foreign country, and today was the day. We had parked on a side road to another farm so we could walk around. It was so overgrown with greenery that I didn't realize there was a large ditch between the side road and the main road. When I backed out I turned too soon, and got the rental car stuck in a ditch. I tried to get it out myself, but it almost rolled and it wasn't going anywhere. Long story longer, we ended up having to call the rental company and have them send a tow truck with a giant wench to pull me out of the ditch. There wasn't any other option that to wait about an hour for the truck to show up. The car got a little damage on the front bumper too, so when all was said and done this mistake cost about $1,500 to fix. Thankfully we got out though, and able to drive back to Oslo, because the day was ending and I was beginning to think we'd have to knock on random Norwegian doors and ask for help and a place to sleep that night.

Over to Oslo

This morning we packed up our suitcases and duffel bags and made the brief walk over to a train stop near our Air BnBs in Bergen. The train took us directly to the airport for the short flight over to Oslo. Upon arrival in Oslo we hopped on Norway's version of the bullet train, which took us straight to Oslo Central Station downtown. Here, we picked up our rental cars and later returned for me to pick up my bike rental.

The next morning I did a short ride a little west of Sandvika where we were staying. I went looking for some trails I had seen on the map, but they turned out to be pretty rocky, so I turned around. Other than the trails, the ride was a little bit of bike path and a little bit of rolling farmland. The area really reminded me of Eastern Washington and the farmland around Spokane, sort of similar to Green Bluff. At any rate, it was just nice to see some more of the local area I wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Bryggen & Fløibanen

"Bryggen is a historic harbour district in Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on the west coast of Norway which was established as a centre for trade by the 12th century. In 1350 the Hanseatic League established a “Hanseatic Office” in Bergen. They gradually acquired ownership of Bryggen and controlled the trade in stockfish from Northern Norway through privileges granted by the Crown. The Hanseatic League established a total of four overseas Hanseatic Offices, Bryggen being the only one preserved today.

Bryggen has been damaged by a number of fires through the centuries and has been rebuilt after every fire, closely following the previous property structure and plan as well as building techniques. Bryggen’s appearance today stems from the time after the fire in 1702. The buildings are made of wood in keeping with vernacular building traditions. The original compact medieval urban structure is preserved with its long narrow rows of buildings facing the harbour, separated by narrow wooden passages. Today, some 62 buildings remain of this former townscape and these contain sufficient elements to demonstrate how this colony of bachelor German merchants lived and worked."



"The Fløibanen is a funicular railway, owned by Fløibanen AS, in the Norwegian city of Bergen. It connects the city centre with the mountain of Fløyen, with its mountain walks and magnificent views of the city. It is one of Bergen's major tourist attractions and one of Norway's most visited attractions. The line is 848 m (2,782 ft) long, covers a height difference of 302 m (991 ft), and carries nearly two million passengers a year."

Bergen by Bike

I was able to do two rides outside of Bergen while we were on vacation. The best way to explore an area is by bicycle. My first ride was about three hours long and followed the peninsula north of Bergen and along Byfjorden (literally translated: the city fjord). Two days later I went south of town and rode for about two hours. The route was an out and back around Kalandsvatnet, which is a nice little lake. Both were great rides!

Norway in a Nutshell

Today was the big event planned for the entire family while we were in Bergen. Known as the Norway in a Nutshell Tour, it was comprised of a two train rides, a fjord cruise, a bus transfer, and then another train ride back to Bergen. As far as I can recall, writing this several months after the fact, I think this was the one day all seven of us spent together.

Our train ride departed from Bergen Sentrum Station in the morning, which was about a mile walk from where we were all staying. Our train was the main line that would take you all the way across Norway to Oslo, if you wanted to go that far, but our stop was in Myrdal so we could connect to the Flåm Railway.

"The Flåm Railway has been described as one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and is one of the leading tourist attractions in Norway. The train runs from the end of Aurlandsfjord, a tributary of the Sognefjord, up to the high mountains at Myrdal station. The journey features the finest aspects of the stunning scenery of Western Norway. Over the course of one hour, the train takes you from sea level at the Sognefjord in Flåm to the Myrdal mountain station, situated at 867 metres above sea level. Myrdal is also a station on the Bergen Line, meaning the Flåm Railway connects with trains running between Bergen and Oslo.

The Flåm Railway is one of the steepest standard gauge railway lines in the world, with 80% of the journey running on a gradient of 5.5%. The train runs through spectacular scenery, alongside the Rallar Road, vertiginous mountainsides, foaming waterfalls, through 20 tunnels, and offers so many viewpoints that, for many people, a single trip up and down is not enough."

Shortly after departing Myrdal the train stopped at Kjosfossen. All of the train piled out to take pictures and watch a pretty random theatrical display to music, involving two women in red dresses to which I didn't quite understand the significance other than to add a little bit of entertainment.

"The Huldra, seductive beings of Norse Mythology are brought to life with the backdrop of the magnificent Kjosfossen Waterfall along the delightful Flam Mountain Railway."

Down, down, down the train went to the fjord town of Flåm. When we arrived I wasn't expecting a giant cruise ship to be anchored in the narrow valley of Flåm, but after looking at the map, the waterways connect all the way to the ocean. It was just an unexpected sight to see such a large ship in that small area, proof that the fjords in Norway are quite deep.

I was also not expecting Flåm to be such a tourist trap. People and shops were everywhere, but I guess that makes sense since the area is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Norway. Personally, I didn't really like it, but at least it gave us something to do for a little bit while we waited for the boat to leave for our fjord cruise.

The cruise was really pretty and just what you would expect. The first half of the voyage was along the Aurlandsfjord before we took a left turn and went down to the end of Naerøyfjord. There were waterfalls left and right coming off of the top of each mountain and into the fjord, but many of them didn't really turn out in pictures. My favorite part of the cruise was passing villages and single farm houses clinging to the sheer cliff face above the water.

The cruise ended in Gudvangen, which took us by bus back to the main train line between Bergen and Oslo. Along the way we stopped at a hotel, which had an amazing view of a valley below it (picture is below). After this quick photo op we joined back up with the train and rode it back to Bergen. I'm not sure I remember the walk home, since this adventure was an all day affair. As the quote above mentioned, I feel like I should go back and spend a lot more time in the area to really soak it all in.