Greetings from Norway

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Another Norwegian “highway”:

399K views · 10K reactions | Would you drive here? 🇳🇴 | Spectacular Norway

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Skipper’s Canyon road is prohibited for rental cars.

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That looks like a challenge, even for an experienced Norwegian driver:

Driving the Worlds Second most Dangerous Road - Skippers Canyon

PS: I don’t qualify under that description, although I have driven some challenging roads. Like from PM to Owers’ Corner and the Kokoda Track in PNG, logging roads in Sumatra, were I encountered the eqv. of “icy road” after rain.

Maybe the most challenging was the streets in Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1972. The main driving rules were;

#1 Drive on the best side of the street (w/least bomb craters or rubbish heaps)

#2 Don’t stop if you hit someone.

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i can remember when, driving in Singapore at night you gave right of way to buses and anything with the headlights close together. It was an army Landrover.

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Another problem was that many Singapore taxi drivers used only parking lights when driving at night. They were of the opinion that it saved petrol.

Many of them kept on “pumping” the gas pedal, also with the belief that it saved fuel. (It did the opposite)

PS: The passengers felt like “nodding dolls”.

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An amazing story about a boy from Ålesund who jumped ship in Savannah in 1893, served in the US Navy and ended up at Arlington.
There is now a book about him and his family. Here is the English version:

Amazon.com: From Lihaugen to Arlington.: A Norwegian Immigrant, the Medal of...

The book is also about his son who server in the US Army during WWII and about a cousin in Norway that was in a Gestapo prison in Oslo at the same time.

From an article in the local paper, Sunnmørsposten today:

A 17-year-old from Lihaugen in Ålesund goes ashore without knowing a word of English. He still deserves America’s highest military award. His son is not much worse.
The year is 1893. Martin Torinus Torgersen hasn’t been a sailor very long. But he signs off in the southern port of Savannah anyway.

Five years later, Martin enlists in the US Navy. It is here that he will perform great deeds in combat. More than enough to earn him the Medal of Honour.
Martin’s son Harry Torgerson also becomes involved in wartime - as a soldier in the Pacific in the forties. At the same time, a Norwegian cousin ends up in the clutches of the Gestapo.

The Author, Alf Ringdal is married into the family. With the book “From Lihaugen to Arlington” which was published earlier this year, he will revive some incredible destinies.

Courage and coincidence
– This is not just about medals and battlefields. It is a story about how far a life can go, and how courage and chance can lead a boy from Sunnmøre all the way to the US National Honour Graveyard.
War in China
Newly recruited Martin comes aboard America’s first modern cruiser, the USS “Newark”:

The USS “Newark” was the Navy’s most modern cruiser in the 1890s. Photo: Edward H. Hart / Library of Congress

The Spanish-American War is raging. Our man also takes part in the Chinese “Boxer Rebellion”. And this is where his heroism is particularly evident. The Boxer Rebellion is actually the “Union of the Righteous Nevers” - China has now experienced much rule by foreign powers. “Newark” is deployed in a multinational force to put down the uprising. They succeed after hard fighting.
Gunnery Constable Martin is honored with this background: “In combat with the relief expedition to the Allied forces in China, 13, 20, 21 and 22 June 1900. During this period, and in the presence of the enemy, Torgersen distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.”
In Sunnmørsposten on April 13, 1973, some more information about the heroic deed was reported: “There was a large loss of life on board, Martin was badly wounded, but he nevertheless crawled to one of the ship’s cannons, had it loaded and fired at the enemy warship. It was a direct hit.”
58 veterans are awarded the Medal of Honour after the Boxer Rebellion. The boy from Lihaugen in Ålesund becomes one of the very few Norwegian-born to receive that honor.

Ashore, Martin Torgersen takes a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He marries Danish Marie Larsen and eventually becomes an American citizen in 1905. Both died in 1935 and were buried in Arlington National Cemetery:

Martin and Marie’s grave at Arlington Honors Cemetery.
Photo: Elizabeth Fraser / US Army

Two of the four children become involved in World War II, namely Reinert “Ray” Torgerson in the Marine Corps, and Harry Laurence Torgerson:

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Torgerson resumed his civilian life after World War II, but did not live to be more than 45 years old.
Photo: Courtesy of Alf Ringdal

Battle in the Pacific
Harry will make headlines around the world. In August 1942, he takes part in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. As second-in-command of a parachute battalion, he must lead the attack on Gavutu – a tiny islet. But here the Japanese have built a seaplane base and dug countless bunkers and trenches. The story goes that Harry, using twenty boxes of TNT, single-handedly blows up around fifty machine gun nests with around 500 soldiers.
In the heat of the battle, an explosion rips off the seat of his pants – a point that made headlines in several subsequent newspapers. The gunshot wound to his left wrist does not prevent him from finishing.

Contempt for danger
His Silver Star is justified as follows:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity”. Captain Torgerson “with gallant disregard of the imminent danger, performed his duties with outstanding skill and undaunted courage (…) until the designated enemy positions were destroyed”.
Harry later takes over leadership of the battalion.
The Battle of Guadalcanal is considered a turning point in the Pacific War. Harry and his actions are featured in several American books. The Silver Star is the 3rd highest military decoration in the United States.
Harry ends his military career as a lieutenant colonel and resumes his studies, completing them in 1948. But unfortunately he does not live more than 45 years. Harry Torgerson passes away in New York in 1958.

In the “old country”, the cousin Leif Heinz Torgeirson, son of the author Reinert, is suspected of being involved in the Osvald group’s actions around the capital. He is arrested and imprisoned twice, but is eventually released.

Origin in Ålesund
– Few families can point to a father awarded the Medal of Honor and a son with the Silver Star, points out Alf Ringdal.
– In this resourceful and socially committed family, the urge to work and courage have been expressed in various forms. All originating in a working-class environment in Ålesund. One of the strongest aspects of working on the book has been the contact with Martin’s descendants in the USA.
Three of the grandchildren – Gay Burdick, Marie Jackson and Lee Bowen – have contributed memories and information that bring the story to life, the author says.
– I was moved to tears reading about Grandpa Martin, and his life, of which I only knew fragments. He sadly died four years before I was born. I remember Uncle Harry well, but I still remember little of his experiences, says 87-year-old Lee Bowen.
-“Martin must have jumped off a boat in Savannah and made his way along the coast to New York. I’m finally starting to understand more of how this all fits together,” says Marie Jackson.
– We are all faced with the same question: How did Martin get from Europe to America?

Knut Maaseide is particularly interested in older maritime history. After Ringdal’s book was available, he has found the fifteen-year-old first voyager Martin Torinus Torgeirson – as a cook on board HW Friis’s skating galley “Expedit” from Aalesund on a trip to Scotland in the summer of 1891. The ship he disembarked from in February 1893 has not yet been found.
– Maybe someone out there has the answer?

Alf Ringdal is married to Inger Falkevik, great-granddaughter of Martin Torgersen’s sister Gunda Mathea Torgeirson.
“From Lihaugen to Arlington” is distributed via Amazon. It is also available in an English-language version.

Source: Bygutten som ble veteran i verdenshistorien - smp.no

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The average price of a room at Hotel Union Øye has increased by almost 19 percent in this year’s high season.

Hotel Union Øye. Photo: Anne-Mari Tomasgard / 2023

So far in the high season, the average room price is 8,709 kroner, (USD 925) compared to 7,345 kroner (USD 780) in the same period last year. Prices are quoted without VAT and breakfast.
– We have managed to charge very good prices while also increasing occupancy further. It is a very solid increase compared to historical standards, says hotel director Mariann Øye.
Øye believes that the fact that the hotel is managing to fill more rooms while prices are rising is due to a targeted focus on guests who are more willing to pay.
Øye says that previously Norwegians were a far larger part of the summer guests at Hotel Union Øye.
– Now the hotel is almost exclusively full of international families. Especially Americans, says Øye.
International guests often stay for several days. When Sunnmørsposten visited the hotel, an American family had spent six days at the luxury hotel on Øye.
– We are hitting very well, and we are actually where we need to be.
Hotel Union Øye is one of only three Norwegian hotels in the international The Relais & Châteaux network, which is an international association of independent luxury hotels and restaurants.

Øye believes that recommendations from guests to each other are important in reaching the international market. According to Øye, it is not uncommon for guests to choose multiple hotels that are part of the same network when they travel.
– If we get a foothold in such a network, they will talk about it and tell their friends.

Palm Garden, living room, Hotel Union Øye (Archive). Photo: Johanne Nyborg

Union Øye

Hotel Union Øye – At your service

It MAY help to have a friendly ghost on the premisses:

Protocol 47

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In the fjord next to Hotel Union Øye you find this floating Sauna:

A refreshing swim in the fjord cools you down between sessions in the sauna.

Or you prefer a wider view from one of the nearby peaks?

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9.2K views · 1.8K reactions | One of the first linguistic shocks when driving...

Very popular photo motif by English speaking tourists in Ålesund:

Sakte Fart=Slow Speed.

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What is wrong about Norway?:

114K views · 2.3K reactions | 5 Things You Got WRONG About Norway | WorldWise

What is right about Norway?:

91K views · 1.6K reactions | What if you were born in Norway? | WorldWise

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A looong video with “facts” about Norway:

Living in Norway | The Truth About Life in the World's Richest and Most Beautiful Country | 30 Facts

PS: Don’t take the tile literally, we are not all insane.
Not ALL the facts presented are actually factual, but near enough for most who are not seeking academical level knowledge of the country.

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Anybody here who have been there, done that?:

Hiking Norway's heavily monitored Russian border

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A fair bit further south and west from the Russian border:

3.4K views · 2.7K reactions | I still can't believe how cool it was when...

Gautelishytta – Hikes & How to Get There | Komoot

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To more serious matters; Norway’s King Harald V (89) is gravely ill and in hospital :

Latest update by Norwegian Public Broadcaster (NRK) at 16:00 hrs.:[quote]
King Harald has been hospitalized at the National Hospital for treatment for the blood disease (hemolytic anemia) since Monday, August 17.
In recent days, several members of the family have visited the king. It is now clear that the family wants to be together.
During the day, family members have come to the hospital to visit the King. Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Prince Sverre Magnus, Princess Märtha Louise and Marius Borg Høiby all came to Rikshospitalet. Princess Astrid has also been there.

The Royal House has not released any further information about the king’s health.
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Source: Kongens helse er uforandret – NRK Norge – Oversikt over nyheter fra ulike deler av landet

People are congregating outside the Royal Castle in Oslo:

CASTLE SQUARE: People have gathered at Castle Square. Several have laid flowers. Photo: Truls Skram Lerø / NRK
They are awaiting news about the condition of our beloved King and hoping that he will pull true once again.

News in English:

Royal Palace warning raises more concern for Norway’s King Harald | Norway's...

Foreign media is also reporting on his condition. Here from BBC:

Norwegians lay flowers at palace as King Harald's condition worsens

PS: Will update as things develop.

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Sad to report that our beloved King Harald V is dead.
Long live the King

King Harald is dead.

King Harald passed away peacefully at the National Hospital at 6:35 this morning, the Royal House announced. King Harald was 89 years old.

KING OF NORWAY: King Harald was King of Norway from 17 January 1991 until his death today. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK

Norway has lost its king for decades. The royal flag on the roof of the Palace is now flying at half-mast, as an announcement to the people of King Harald’s passing.

The royal flag on the castle roof is flown at half-mast.
Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB

This is a change of throne: “The king is dead, long live the king!”

Norway has a new king. (Here with his Government). When King Harald died, King Haakon immediately became the country’s new head of state.

EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL OF STATE: The new King and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra met with the government for an extraordinary council of state at the Palace on Friday morning.
Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB

The flag is back on top

Shortly after the extraordinary council of state began, the royal flag was again raised to the top of the roof of the Palace to mark that the country has a new king.
But King Harald’s death will still be marked by flying the flag at half-mast from the castle balcony:

The royal flag at half-mast from the Palace Balcony to mark the death of King Harald. Photo: NRK

The government has decided that there will be a national period of mourning from now until after the funeral.

Source: https://www.nrk.no/

[AKBJR]

Sorry to learn this.

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Norway mourns King Harald as Haakon VIII ascends throne

Condolences is send by Heads of State and Governments from all over the world:

Europe's monarchs, world leaders mourn Norway's King Harald

Norway House in Minneapolis send their condolences:

He visited Minneapolis and Norway House twice. Last in 2011:

USA: The King's speech in Minneapolis

LAREST: King Harald’s coffin has been brought from the hospital to the Royal Castle:

Heavy rain did not stop people from lining the route to pay their respect to a beloved King.

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109K views · 3K reactions | A quiet moment of grief, gratitude and...

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A tribute to now dead King Harald V and the present King Haakon VIII for their interest in the Arctic region:

The King is dead

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Norway King Harald: A look back at the King who broke with tradition