Tombstone Tuesday -- Tanum Kirke and Cemetery



Beautiful Tanum Kirke in Baerum, Norway.  Nearly 1000 years of ancestors were baptized,
confirmed, married, and buried here.



Tombstone Tuesday -- Norwegian WWII Hero



This past summer I saw this grave in the cemetery of Borgund Stave Church located in Borgund, Lærdal, Norway.
Buried here is Kristian Johansen Kullerud from Royken.  He was born the 10th of December in 1909 in Nes, Romerike, and he "fell for Norway" in Borlaug, the 30th of April, 1940. Although I can translate the rest of the
epitaph, I am unsure of the actual meaning.  Help, Dad??? 



Norway's 1910 Census

My father sent me a link to this Aftenposten newspaper article (in Norwegian) regarding the new release of the 1910 census.  This was very exciting news to genealogists who had waited 50 years since the last census (1900) was released.  The article nicely puts the 1910 census in perspective -- it is the year before Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole and two years before the Titanic sank.

A total of 2.4 million people were registered in the 1910 census.  Unlike the 1900 census, when only children under two years were recorded with a date of birth, the date of birth was recorded for the entire population.  The details of a household are also very impressive.  The Aftenposten article gives an example:

Translation: If you are looking for the name Olaf August Gundersen in contemporary Kristiania, Oslo today, you get to know that he was born 16 August 1890 in East Aker. In 1910, he lived at 32 Industrial Street in Kristiania, studied medicine, and was unmarried. But it does not stop here. The census indicates all people within the same household. Thus, it appears that the medicine student lived with his mother, Augusta Gundersen, born 5 March 1855 in Arendal. His mother was single and listed as a landlord by profession. And as a landlord, it is perhaps not surprising that she had her own maid, Helga Bolette Olsen, born 6 June 1894, from Vanem, Moss. Mother, son, and maid lived on the ground floor of a building with nine apartments on four floors, where there were 41 people residing out of 42 when the census was taken. Rents ranged from 675 to 1000 kroner per year. The caretaker in the porter's lodge did not have to pay rent.

Not bad information from a name in a census!

Some interesting facts about the 1910 census is that not only resident Norwegians were recorded but also Norwegian sailors in Norwegian ports and Norwegian waters. Moreover, returning Norwegian-Americans had to provide additional information, such as the year they moved out and back home, place of residence before they left, and their last job and home in America.  This is the first census that provides information on repatriated Norwegian-Americans.

Additional things to keep in mind is that one may not find "Einar Gerhardsen," for example, whose name was in fact "Einar Olsen" in 1910, the son of Gerhard Olsen. Therefore, the family historian must keep the name changes during this period of time in mind when searching for his/her ancestor.

If I understand the article correctly, it also says that seven people in two offices in Stavanger and Voss are responsible for transcribing about 2.6 million records from about 450,000 forms from the census, one for each household, into a searchable computer program.  Wow! 

The article goes on to remind the impatient genealogist that there is a new waiting period.  The 100-year law means another ten years until the next publication of similar material, unless the law changes, of course.  One consolation is that several municipalities, primarily the major cities of the country, only have a 60-year release date. Thus, for example, the Oslo census from 1950 recently became available -- the year when the Kon-Tiki movie was premièred, a plane with 28 Israeli refugee children crashed on Hurum, and the Korean War broke out. 

I love how the author of the article puts the years in perspective, don't you?

The Digital Norwegian National Library

I was really excited to find a great number of Norwegian books digitized and available for free from the National Library in Norway (click here).  I tested it out by searching for some bygdeboks I really wanted, and I found several!  These books are essential sources of information for Norwegian genealogy research.  The ones I found were downloadable as a PDF, too.  Some books haven't been digitized yet, but I believe they eventually will be.  The site does say that in some cases books may not be available for download outside of Norway due to copyright issues.  Check it out!

Seven More Days -- Norway's 1910 Census

This snapshot was taken with 6 days, 15 hours, 29 minutes, and 45 seconds to go for the release of the 1910 census!

In seven days (December 1), Norway's 1910 census will be available for free here.  I am very excited about this because I will have another glimpse into my ancestors' lives.  The census will tell you where they lived, all the occupants of the home, occupation, and I believe this census has birth dates rather than a year or age.  In earlier censuses, the year of birth is often off a year or two.  The 1910 census has one major difference in that it included a special form for returning emigrants which recorded where they had lived and what their occupations had been; however, this data is expected to be incomplete.

Personally, I am excited to have a look at this census because somehow two of my most important ancestral families were not included in the 1900 census.  The two farms, By and Jordbaerhaugen, happened to be adjoining and a bit far off in Baerum, so perhaps they were accidentally forgotten. 

Happy hunting in the 1910 census! 

Tombstone Tuesday -- The Cemetery of Haslum Church in Baerum

Haslum Church in Baerum, Norway, was built around 1190.  Many
of my ancestors were baptized, confirmed, married, and buried here.

Norway, Days 13, 14, and 15

On Day 13, we set out on a two-day non-genealogical tour.  However, for all I know my ancestors visited or lived in the areas we were to visit.  My father really wanted me to see Western Norway, which has some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world.  All my life I have visited the Oslo area and not ventured far from there, so this was going to be a real treat.  So, early that morning, we headed to Luster on the Sognefjord, where we had reserved a cabin.  HINT: cabins are the economical way to see Norway.  They are located in campgrounds, but can be very nice with all the amenities included.

One of many pretty views on the way to Borgund Stave Church

Borgund Stave Church

On the way, we stopped to see the Borgund Stave Church located in Borgund, Lærdal, Norway. It is one of only 28 stave churches remaining today and one of the best preserved.  A stave church is a medieval wooden church; these churches were Catholic before Lutheranism came to Norway. All of the surviving stave churches are in Norway, with the exception of one in Sweden and one Norwegian stave that was relocated in 1842 to the outskirts of Krummhübel, Germany, now Karpacz in the Krkonoše mountains of Poland (Wikipedia).

After a lovely drive, through some of the prettiest country I have ever seen, we arrived in Luster.  The cabin we rented was right on the fjord, which was one giant mirror to the surrounding mountain landscape.  The weather was perfect -- not too cold or hot -- and the sun shone through the occasional cloud.  I went down by the water where there was a bench, and I thought this would be the perfect place to learn to meditate or find peace in your life. 
 

Views from our cabin in Luster

One very nice surprise was the Dale stone church that was built in Gothic style in the year 1250.  It was open to the public during evening hours, and what a treat.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and, recently, wall drawings dating back to before the Reformation were found during renovation.  Some may even go back to the 12th century. 
 

Dale Church in Luster

Artwork dating to before the Reformation

The altar in Dale Church

In the high country, on the way to Geiranger.  Notice the
glacier in the background.

After a nice night in Luster, we started the 3 hour drive to Geiranger, Norway.  The route would take us through the beautiful Jotunheimen mountain region. Luckily, the weather was great, which allowed for spectacular views of the Norwegian fjord country. We also drove down the Boeverdal and pass just below Galdhoepiggen, the tallest mountain in Norway.  And when we arrived at the overlook that showed us the beauty of Geiranger below, it was like being in a fairytale because it was almost too beautiful to be real. In fact, it is so exceptionally beautiful that it is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Geirangerfjord is located in the southwestern part of the county of Møre og Romsdal, north in Fjord Norway, approximately 100 kilometres from the town of Ålesund.
 

My Dad poses with Geiranger below him

After taking several pictures from above Geirangerfjord, we drove down through the town and looked for the campground where we had rented a cabin.  The cabin had two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchenette, and a lovely view of the fjord.  We could sit on the porch and watch the boats and ships go by.  Later, we went to town and walked around.  It was really cute and filled with tourists, especially since there was a cruise ship parked on the water in front of the town.  After shopping for some dinner, we headed back to the cabin to cook it.  The plan was to rent a boat after dinner, but, unfortunately, the sun gave in to rain clouds, and by the time it passed, it was too late.  But my son and I went and played ping pong for a while before observing a beautiful sunset and turning in for the night.
 

Sunset view from our Cabin... circa 11:00 pm

The cabin...

The next day, we had to say goodbye to Geiranger and take the route toward Oslo and our return to the United States.  Again, the scenery was lovely -- waterfalls, rivers, lakes, mountains.  I was particularly enthralled by the glacier blue color of the rivers.  The water everywhere looked like a child had picked out a turquoise crayon out of the box and colored it into the landscape, which had somehow magically turned into reality.  

The blue color of the water looked like it came from a crayon box

From the moment we arrived in Norway, striking scenery played before our eyes.  But I have to say, the two days I spent in Western Norway, taking in the aqua-blue color of the fjords and rivers, rocky cliffs with spouting waterfalls, and the dark green vegetation surrounding primary-colored houses dotting the landscape were simply stunning.  And when you have a family history belonging here, it is even more special.
 
Thanks for taking the journey with me through my blog!  Unfortunately, I could not post all my adventures in Norway, but I plan to sprinkle my blog every so often with a lovely picture from this trip -- perhaps Treasure Chest Thursday would work.  This trip was truly a treasure to me.

Norway, Days 11 and 12

On Day 11 in Norway, we took a tour of different farms in the area of Baerum, Norway, where ancestors had lived.  Some of the farms I visited were Bryn, Løken, Grorud, Skollerud, Burud, Bye, and Jordbaerhaugen.  Bryn, Burud, Løken, Skollerud, and Jordbaerhaugen are mostly important to my Christopherson (Kristoffersen) line I often blog about.  This line goes back from my grandmother's father.  Grorud and Bye are farms in the line of my grandmother's mother.  There were other farms I was not able to visit because of lack of time or the logistics of getting there, such as Burudhaugen and Stokker, but I received pictures of them from relatives.

Løken Farm today.  My ggg-grandmother, Ellen Hansen Christopherson
 was born and raised here.

Bryn Farm.  My ggggggg-grandfather (yes, 7 greats) moved from Stokker Farm
to Bryn Farm.  Four generations later, the line moved to Burud Farm.

Houses on Burud Farm (above and below).  Three generations lived on Burud.

Part of Burud today is a golf course.

Jordbaerhaugen Farm where my gg-grandparents, Jonette Kristoffersdatter and
Olaus Kristensen, lived.

Bye Farm.  Several generations on my grandmother's mother's line lived here.

In the afternoon, my grandmother's oldest brother's daughter (aka, her niece) came to visit us with some pictures.  There is an interesting story about my grandmother's oldest brother, John.  When he was born, my g-grandparent's were living in Midtskogen where my g-grandfather worked, tending to the telegraph lines.  But this place was far from civilization, so to speak, and my g-grandparents left their son with his aunt and uncle.  When they left Midtskogen and went to get their son, he didn't want to leave the people he now considered his parents.  I was told that my g-grandmother would say "never give away your children, even for a little while."  She obviously had regrets.  However, John was often visiting his biological parents and all his siblings.

The altar in Tanum Church (built circa 1200).

Day 12 was a Sunday, and we thought we would take advantage of the church services, so we could see the inside of our ancestral churches and also to participate in a Lutheran service.  First we went over to Tanum church in Baerum, which was built around 1200.  The inside was beautiful, and I took several pictures.  We found out that the old baptismal font had to be removed because it needed repair.  It was in the back room of the church, and I was able to see it.  It is about 300 years old and was used for many of my ancestors and even my brother.  Afterward, we drove over to Haslum Church, also a very nice church, and we stayed for their service.  There were two baptisms on this day, which was very nice to see.  I could well imagine a baptism during older times.  After the service, we walked around the cemetery.  The grounds are so lovely and peaceful. 

The baptismal font in Haslum Church (built
about 800 years ago).

For lunch, we went over to another cousin's home -- my father's cousin to be exact.  Several other relatives joined us, and we ate a lovely typical Scandinavian display of cold foods.  Later, when we had coffee, my father's cousin gave me a very thoughtful and wonderful gift.  She had been given a silver necklace with a cross pendant after my great-grandmother's death. and she decided to pass it on to me.  Wow.  I was rather emotional at the unexpected gift.  I have been wearing it quite often, and I was told it was something my g-grandmother Jørgine liked to wear often.  It was probably a gift from my g-grandfather Thomas.  Anyway, we had a wonderful time, and after all that food, we went to our next stop for dinner at the house of some old Italian-Norwegian friends.  Of course, they made a wonderful pizza I was barely able to eat because I was so full from my previous event.

Haslum Church

This marked the last day in Baerum.  The next day, we were to take a trip to Western Norway.  So stay tuned for those pictures and stories coming up soon!

Norway, Day 10

Painting by Christian Krohg at the Maritime museum in

Oslo.  Krohg liked to paint marine scenes in action. 

Here, we see a seaman handling heavy sails high up

in the rig.  My ggg-grandfather Samuel Andreassen

was probably doing exactly this when he fell to his

death on the 3rd of June, 1875.

On Day 10 in Norway, the plan was to visit the Statsarkivene in Oslo (same building as the National Archives) because I really wanted to find my ggg-grandfather's sailor record.  This is the same ggg-grandfather who emigrated to Norway from Sweden in 1869.  He had already been a sailor since 1859 in Sweden.  My gg-grandfather Emil had told my father, who had been working on a school book report on Norway's maritime history, that he had lost his father Samuel when he was only 4 years old (in 1875).  He explained to my father how his father had climbed the mast of his ship and fallen to his death, and that this had happened off the coast of South America. 

On one of my earlier posts from Norway, I told you about my visit to the Methodist church, in Fredrikstad, where I met with an historian who showed me the church's death records (most online records are from the Lutheran church and a few dissenter congregations).  For the first time I saw that my ggg-grandfather Samuel Andreasen had died on the 3rd of June, 1875, by "drowning at sea."  I thought perhaps this meant he was buried at sea.  I was hoping a visit to the Statsarkivene would give me more detail.  Unfortunately, seaman and military records are not available online, and you have to go in person, or try requesting the information by mail or email. 

The "Sjøfartshovedrulle" is the most valuable record to look for, as the personal history and career of the sailors were recorded on this register. You will find the name, residence, date of birth (and death), date of sailors patent issue, and the dates of advancement in rank. The records will also tell you what ship your ancestor was on, his destinations etc...  For good information on the seaman registers, click here.

Microfilm readers at the Statsarkivene in Oslo

Well, all this is good and great, right?  Here is where I will actually make a complaint -- my first for the whole trip in Norway.  Although Norway is phenomenal for having a wonderful online archive site with FREE records of all kinds, and I could go on and on lauding them for being a genealogist's dream come true in practically all things genealogy -- records and bygdeboks and so on... I was quite disappointed with the service at the Statsarkivene.  Who would have guessed!  The people I happened to encounter on this particular day did not seem to know what they had on hand, whether I asked about the seaman records or soldier records (I also wanted to find the soldier record for a gggg-grandfather from Halden, Norway).  I was even told I could find my records online (completely untrue) and given the hint I should go home.  Like I said, this may have just been my bad luck on this particular day, and on another day I would have found some better help.  Nonetheless, I was not taking no for an answer, and with my father's help I explained that the records existed on their site and that they were not available online.  Luckily, I was also meeting a blogging friend -- Laila.  She was the president of the Oslo area genealogy society for several years (find her blog here), and we had planned to meet in person.  I went into the reading area, and she was there with Liv, who also worked for DIS-Norge (genealogy society). After greeting Laila and Liv in the reading room, Laila came out and basically told the front-desk person what records they have available regarding seamen.  I was able to get a print-out of their microfilm catalogue for seaman records, and then we went to the room with the microfilms, found what I needed, and set up the first reel on the reader.  What a relief!  I have to say that by now I wasn't feeling too hopeful of finding anything.  Somehow I'd lost my faith in what I was searching for, but I was so wrong. 

His name was spelled in Swedish -- Samuel Andreasson.  Unfortunately,
the micorfilm printer was not available, and I had to take a picture of the
screen with my camera.

After about an hour and thirty minutes, or so, of reading through the records, I saw his beautiful name: Samuel Andreasson.  It was written with the Swedish spelling, and I wondered if he signed the register himself.  It did seem to me that the names on the register did not always match the handwriting of the other entries or that of all the individual names.  It also seemed odd that a Norwegian official would have written his name with the Swedish spelling "Andreasson" rather than "Andreasen." 

The list of ships sailed are on the left (and the year).  The center colums tell

us where the ship left from and where it was headed.  The last ship listed is

Frithjoff, which was headed to Bristol, England.  Next to the destination is the

death date of 3 June 1875 and the explanation that he had died at sea after a

fall from the top. 

I literally could have screamed, I was so excited.  I ran to get Laila in the reading room because I needed another pair of eyes to tell me I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.  Laila came back with me, and we both looked at Samuel's records.  He had signed up in December of 1869, the same month he married Oleane Jakobsdatter, and there was a list of ships and tours he had been on with destinations such as England, Holland, and France -- among others.  And then there was the last ship where he had served: the Fristhjoff (not sure about the spelling).  Next to the ship's name came the information I had been looking for:  3 June 1875, dead at sea after a fall from the top (literal translation).  He had most definitely died after climbing the mast, probably to fix a sail.  The only thing that my gg-grandfather did not tell correctly was the location of the ship.  Samuel had not died off the coast of South America but off the coast of England, as the ship had been headed to Bristol, England.

Laila, me, and Liv at the Statsarkivene in Oslo

 What a relief!  I felt so happy and so sad at the same time.  I felt that I had brought Samuel back to life.  Here were the voyages he had made toward the end of his life.  These were voyages he took, leaving his wife and small son back at home, and on one voyage he never returned to them.  How sad.  And to think that only two years ago I didn't even know his name.  His descendants had forgotten him and his life's story, but he had come back and he was there on the microfilm screen telling me what had happened to him.  He mattered on this day to me, his descendant, and he was not forgotten.  So, here I tell you that Samuel Andreasen, husband to Oleane Jakobsdatter and father to Emil Georg Samuelsen, was born in Sweden to a soldier and his wife.  I have seen the cottage in Sweden where he was born in 1841.  I have followed his path of emigration to Norway from Sweden.  I have seen the Methodist church where he was baptized as a convert and where he had his son baptized.  I found his voyages on the seas as a sailor and learned of his unfortunate accident and early death.  This ancestor's life truly went full circle for me this summer.

Later that day, my uncle invited us to sail on his sailboat.  Strange, but this seemed rather fitting on this day.  So my son, me, and my father set out to meet my uncle and his significant other at their boat.  It was a surprisingly gorgeous evening after a bit of rain in the afternoon.  The water was beautiful; the view was extraordinary.  What a wonderful way to spend the evening.  We found a spot to anchor for a while and have some coffee and dessert.  On this evening, being out at sea was in my blood.  My ancestors had taken to the seas and at least one had died there... who knows how many there are I will never know about, because I'm guessing some of those pesky Vikings who traveled the world were related to me.

My son and uncle's dog sailing.  Scenes on the fjord below.

Thanks for tuning in.  My last few days in Norway will be posted in the next couple of days.

Norway, Day 9

From the moment I learned that "Haugen" was a surname derived from a specific location, I have wanted to find it.  But "Haugen" means "the hill," and plenty of people lived on one because Norway is a land of hills.  Of course, I didn't understand at the time how to go about finding records and doing genealogical research.  Once I started on the journey, though, it became one of my dearest goals.  And find it I did, with some help from others, too. 

The first hint of a location came from my great-grandfather's baptismal record.  It said his parents were living in Moum Farm, Borge Parish, Østfold, and beneath the farm name was another in parentheses -- Haugen.  A hill in Moum Farm it was then!  From census records I also knew that it was Moum Søndre or South Moum.  That narrowed it down pretty well.  But, of course, I wanted to know exactly where Haugen was.  Through an historian in the area (see his web site here), I learned about property records on the Digital Arkivet site and, voila, the property record for Haugen in Moum Søndre was found.  It clearly showed that my ggg-grandfather Andreas Andersen was the first Haugen, obtaining property rights in 1867.  His daughter, Hanna Marie Andreasdatter married my gg-grandfather, Emil Georg Samuelsen, and the record shows they also purchased a lease of land at Haugen to build another house.  It seems like several siblings of Hanna's also lived at Haugen and carried the Haugen surname.

The property record for Haugen in Moum Farm, Borge Parish, Østfold

But is finding this record good enough for me when I am in Norway and can see Haugen with my own eyes?  Of course not!  But how to find it...

Lucky for me, my father's cousin contacted someone who had actually grown up in Haugen.  Before my arrival in Norway, he showed her the way to the ruins of Haugen.  Today, there is a company on the Glomma River there, and the vegetation has taken over the area where the Haugen houses once stood.  The man she met said the houses were destroyed in the 1960s.  He remembered a place that was very beautiful with a good view of the river and fruit trees he used to climb as a boy.

So, on the morning of my 9th day in Norway, we set out to see Haugen with my father's two cousins, the daughters of one of his cousins, my mother, and my son.  My father was feeling better, so he also came along.  We followed my father's cousin to the site, which was somewhat industrial looking with the company's handiwork all over the area.  After our cousin received permission from the office, we headed to a wooded area nearby.  To my left, there were piles of dirt obstructing the view of the river.  To my right was a mass of wooded vegetation.  But there was a path that we could follow into the brush.  Together we climbed over thick plant and tree debris and roots.  We finally arrived at an area where there were bricks strewn all over the ground.  A look around brought us to an old water well, which was a sure sign there had once been homes there.  Another sure sign of a past residence was the presence of fruit trees.  We found apple and cherry trees mixed in the wooded vegetation.  There were also berry bushes.  It was sad that the past of Haugen was so buried away from what must once have been a very pretty place, but I was very excited to be there, at the birthplace of my name.  I kept one of the small green apples from a tree as a souvenir.

The view from Haugen today

Haugen descendants searching for their past

A water well

Bricks on the ground

Apples from the Haugen apple tree

After visiting Haugen, we drove over to Vesten, a little community on the Glomma River that once was very important to the timber industry.  My ggg-grandparents, Anders Pettersen and Anne Kristine Simensdatter, raised their family there, and their daughter, Nicoline Andersdatter (my gg-grandmother) was their first child born there.  Nicoline married my gg-grandfather Ludvig Hansen, who had arrived from Rolvsøy to work the timber.  He also seems to have been a seaman for a period of time.  They had a large brood of Ludvigsen children, and one of them was my g-grandmother, Jørgine Amalie Ludvigsdatter, who married Thomas Alexius Haugen, son to Emil and Hanna Haugen -- both of whom I mentioned earlier with regard to Haugen.

The house in Vesten built by my gg-grandfather, Ludvig Hansen
 circa 1896

My g-grandmother Jørgine wrote a beautiful poem about her childhood, and in it she tells how she lived with her grandparents and loved to watch her grandfather build boats.  She also liked to go down to the river and watch the men work the timber.  Eventually, her family was growing too big, and her father went up the hill to build his own house.  I am happy to say, I was able to see this house, which only recently left the family.  The house has to have been built in the 1890s.  Of course, I was also curious to see if down the hill I could find the house where my g-grandmother's grandparents lived.  The historian who lives in Vesten that I mentioned before had pointed out the house he thought may have belonged to the grandparents.  When I saw it, I was pretty excited because it was in fact old enough to be the likely house.  Below the home was another building that could easily have been a workshop.  Beside the building was enough room to work on a boat.  I could picture g-grandmother Jørgine watching her grandfather shape wood for a sailing vessel, or a rowboat perhaps.  Overall, this was a very exciting visit.

Probably the house of my ggg-grandparents, Anders Pettersen and
Anne Kristine Simensdatter

The workshop and possible boat building area beside it

In Vesten, the river was once filled with timber logs

After visiting Vesten, we had lunch and said goodbye to one of my father's cousins.  With his other cousin and her husband, we headed out to see Fredriksten in Halden.  This Norwegian fortress was constructed in the 17th century as a replacement for the border fortress at Bohus, which had been lost when the province of Bohuslän was ceded to Sweden by the terms of the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 (see Wikipedia). The fortress was named after King Fredrik III of Denmark and Norway, and the town of Halden was also originally named after him, having been known as Fredrikshald between 1665 and 1928 (Wikipedia). 

A view of Fredriksten in Halden

I was very interested in finding the old monument commemorating the death of Charles XII. According to Wikipedia, in the fall of 1718, Charles attacked Norway, intending to first capture Halden to be able to sustain a siege of Akershus. The Swedish trenches had almost reached the main fortification walls when a bullet struck and killed Charles XII while he inspected the work. The death of the king ended the war. The memorial is located in the park where the Swedish king fell, just in front of the fortress.  I really wanted to see this monument because I had an old picture from the late 1920s where my grandmother and her two sisters are standing in front of this monument. But when I saw the monument, it looked nothing like the one in my grandmother's picture.  As it turns out, the monument had been changed 7 times, and it had also been moved as the historians changed their minds about where the king exactly died.  The monument that is there today has been there since 1938.  The picture of the monument in the late 1920s in some ways looks more interesting to me.

The Charles XII monument today (since 1938)

The monument of Charles XII in the late 1920s

On our way back "home" from Fredriksten, we stopped in Drøbak, a very pretty town on the water.  An important event in Drøbak's history is the World War II sinking of the German cruiser Blücher. The ship was transporting German soldiers and bureaucrats for the planned occupation of Oslo, but the sinking by the Oscarsborg fortress delayed this, and thus allowed for the evacuation of the Norwegian Royal Family, parliament, and cabinet, and for the nation's gold reserves to be denied the occupiers (Wikipedia).  We visited the memorial, which is the ship's anchor, and also walked around the town.  One other interesting place was Santa's post office filled with letters from around the world.

Drøbak Harbor

The famous anchor representing the sinking of the German cruiser
Blücher during WWII

Letters on the wall of Santa's post office

I have been behind on my postings regarding my trip because I have since returned home and things have been a bit hectic.  Thank you all for your patience as I continue to post the last few wonderful days I spent in this wonderful country of Norway.  Every day I carry its beauty in my heart.