Hopperstad stave church in Vik

hopperstad stave church in Vik sm

Leaving Førde today by bus to Bergen. We'll be staying with families on the island of Sotra. In Førde we have been to many places in a short period of time. We visited the Norwegian Gaming and Lottery authority, the Foundation Authority, the County Cultural Department, and Sparrbanken - a bank.

Katherine and I stayed with Halle, a Norwegian bacholer farmer in Voss. He lived in Myrkdalen, or "dark valley." His farmhouse was furnished with antiques of up to about 200 years old. His brother, who is deceased, is Hans Skjervheim, one of Norway's most famous philosophers. Halle has traveled all over the world. Go here to see a picture of him with Katherine and me near his mountain milking cabin (where the farmer's wife would come to milk the cows in the summer while they were up grazing in the mountains).

Last night I met a man who knew an Ole Roen in southeastern Norway. Last name spelled exactly like mine. Maybe a long lost cousin. Also, in the Rotary Directory for Norway, there is one Ole Roen, from the Oppland region (which is the same region where my great-grandfather, Ole Thorstein Roen, comes from). Maybe I will send him a letter or call him - he is 76 years old and a member of a Rotary club in the east of Norway.