A few years ago we visited Norway as a family, retracing a few familial heritage sites. It was great fun as we had done a similar trip some forty years earlier. This time we were working off research my cousin had done through Ancestry.com and thus had honed in on additional family farms throughout the Oslo to Bergen area.
One memory from stepping off the plane back in the 70’s was that all the kids were blond and tall like me. After living much of my childhood in Asia and Africa, this was delightful. Similarly, on the more recent trip I kept having feelings of deja vu, when the waitress was slightly sarcastic like my cousin or the viking haired checkout guy nodded and chuckled in repressed good humor. Returning to an ancestral home can be a reflection back upon one’s self and one’s family. For me there was undeniable comfort in my surroundings.
Back when my ancestors left the country in the mid 1850’s most all travel was through the fjord system as the mountainous landscape makes for difficult road construction. The ferry system is still a significant player in the transportation infrastructure as it was in the 70’s. We drove along narrow roads with stunning vistas across fog filled fjords. But there are many more tunnels through the mountains now. In fact Norway boasts the longest tunnel in the world.
At an astonishing 15 miles (24.5 km) long, the Lærdal Tunnel is the world’s longest. Costing 1 billion Norwegian kroner to build (that’s about USD $110 million) the tunnel connects the small communities of Lærdal and Aurland.
Its design is admired all around the world, as it incorporates features to help manage the mental strain on drivers. Every 6km there is a cave to separate sections of road. The lighting varies throughout the tunnel and caves to break routine and provide a varied view.
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/norway-facts/
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