DAY 35 - A DAY AT TRYLAND - NORWAY. - Saturday 28th May, 2022.

 A bit of a photo bomb today, as most of our day was spent at home relaxing and exploring our immediate vicinity.  The boys have had two very big days of travelling so we decided that we needed to let them unwind and enjoy their natural surroundings today especially if we planned to explore in the next few days.

Because we didn't have to be anywhere today, we had a very leisurely start to the day, a little later breakfast than normal, and then Poppy, Maria and the boys took to exploring the river bank and the woods around the house.  I still can't get enough of our views and to be truthful I was also really happy to chill out today and just enjoy our surroundings.  

What a way to start the day with a view like this..

Sitting on my bed, I get to look out at this.... So serene and peaceful...

 I loved being able to look out of my window and seeing Steve and the boys down by the river interacting like this together.  These are precious sights and even more precious memories and makes me sad that we aren't around more permanently in the live of these very previous boys.  I so wish they lived closer and we were able to see them more regularly and do special things with them as we do with our grandies back home. 

Poppy and his boys.

Maria Steve and the boys found some lovely wildflowers growing in the forest and around the house and came back with a lovely bunch of wildflowers for me... So sweet.  They were pretty excited to bring them back to me too. 

Lots of beautiful wild flowers growing at the moment...

Blessed with a bunch of wildflower from my boys...

We found a vase and put them in the lounge area so that we could all enjoy them...

My beautiful flower bouquet for Theo and Elliot...

There were times when I had to almost pinch myself to beleive we were fortunate enough to have a holiday in this beautiful location.... so special.

Our deck was built up on a bit of a hill and there was a lovely gentle slope from it down to the road below.  Poppy showed Theo how to roll down the grassy hill and this kept the boys amused for quite a while...

Rolling down the grassy slopes

They had lots of fun rolling down the hill together...

 

Pete had baked some anzac biscuits before we left so we enjoyed morning tea out on the deck in the beautiful sunshine.  It was a lovely warm day today so we enjoyed being outdoors...

Morning tea outside this morning.

The perfect day in the perfect place...

View from our front deck..

Steve found some more really pretty little white bell shaped wild flowers so he ended up picking me an extra bunch which we kept in our room.  Feeling very loved and spoilt today.. 

We fed the boys around11.30am and then put Elliot down for a sleep.  Whilst Elliot was sleeping Pete set up some Netflix for Theo so that he could have some quiet time also.

We needed some fresh groceries so Steve and Pete decided to go for a drive into Mandal to do some shopping.  Mandel was approximately 20 minutes away from where we were staying down towards the coast and it was a much bigger centre than Konsmo.  

The drive into Mandal was quite pretty.  Mandal itself is a beautiful city with the Mandalselva River running right through the main part of town.  The city has a rich history and is characterized by historical and modern architecture.  In the city centre you have the contrast of the beautiful white buildings and homes built along the river bank along with the modern concrete bridge and the beautiful Buen Kulturhus with it's clear lines, and harmoniously curved facade and the green curving roof.  The river also contains some floating art.  

The boys were impressed with the city had noted that we all needed to come spend a day here and explore it a little more...

As we had to leave before 6am on our morning of departure, we knew that we would not have time to give the airBnB a thorough clean before leaving so we opted to pay for the cleaner to come in and clean the house.  We were given a price and asked to leave cash on the table when we left.  As we haven't been using cash at all since we have been away, it mean we had to go and try and find an ATM to get some cash our.  This was not as easy as it sounds to find, another one of the reasons the boys wanted to go into Mandal rather than shop at Konsmo.  They were able to find a ATM in the main pedestrian mall in Mandal.   

Modern Bridge and boat moorings in Mandal.

Egil Skallagrimsson by Gustav Vigeland..

The boys came across this sculpture of Egil Skallagrimsson which was created by the famous Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (whose most famous works at Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo...

Gustav was a local of Mandal having been born here on the 11th April 1869.  He was the second oldest of four siblings and he explored his creative talent from an early age in his father's carpentry workshop.  He went on to become one of Norway's most famous sculptors with his work occupying the largest scupture park in the world in Oslo.   I have visited it now on two occasions and it really is quite magnificent and definitely worth the visit.

This character called Egil Skallagrumsson, a name we had never head of, turned out to be a rather interesting but somewhat scary viking...

Egil Skallagrimsson was a Viking Age war poet, a sorcerer,, bererker and a farmer.  He was born in Iceland about 902A.D.  He supposedly composed his first poem at the age of 3, and often display rather berserk behaviour, and this together with the description of his rather large and unattractive head, has led to the theory that he may have suffered from Paget's disease. 

At the age of seven, Egil is cheated in a game with local boys.  Totally enraged, he goes home, procures an axe, and, returning to the boy, splits the skull to the teeth of the boy who had cheated him...

He entered the Viking life as a teenager and happily and successfully followed that calling until he reached middle age...  As a Viking chieftain, Egil fought and led Viking raids throughout most of northern Europe.  His violet and successful career took him to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, England, Saxony and Frisia.  He fought as a mercenary for King Athelstan, King of England, killed a might royal berserker of the King of Norway in a duel and literarily chewed through an opponent's neck in another ferocious hand to hand duel.  He was every bit a Viking and a very dangerous one at that.

Egil was not a blond, blue-eyed, handsome Viking, but rather, he resembled a more taciturn menacing troll of a man.  Yet, this violet, brooding, troll-like Viking had deep human feelings and emotions which he expressed both in his behaviour and through his poetry.

Some of his most notable poems where written when he suffered great grief on the lost of his brother and his sons.

Egil developed a lifelong friend with a fellow Viking named Arinbjorn Thorsisson, a Norwegian, and they both protected each other's back throughout their long relationship. After a number of decades of close friendship between the two men, Arinbjorn retired in honour from service to the Norwegian king and returned to his estate in the Fjordane  area of Norway. For the occasion, Egil composed a long skaldic poem in praise of his great friend...

He also composed love poetry.  After hi brother's tragic death, he fell deeply in love with his brother's widow, Asgerd, and Egil quietly pined away for her, a he as a bashful lover and could not easily express hi feelings openly.  Finally,  his good friend Arinbjorn and also a close kinsman of Asgerd, got him to reveal the poems he had composed in his head for Asgerd.

Asgerd and Egil were married and stayed so for life. There is no mention in Egil’s Saga after that of any woman sharing Egil’s bed other than Asgerd.

After a successful career as a Viking, Egil retired in middle age to his farm at Borg in Iceland. Here he lived well, and for the most part peacefully, into old age. He is said to have lived at least into his 80s when he died of a sudden illness at his daughter Thordis’ farm at Mosfell in around 990 A.D. Thankfully, Egil, a pagan, died at least 10 years before Iceland turned Christian. In his final decades, he continued to compose skaldic verse and he even made light of himself as an old man with a failing body and dwindling power. 

Egil Skallagrimsson

After the boys had been to the bank and done their bit of shopping they took a little drive around town and then took the scenic route home.  The countryside is so beautiful.  It doesn't matter where you look, everything is green,  tall trees, solid rock and water...

And all of the houses are made from wood.  We saw no brick house at all whilst we were in Norway.

Solid rock everywhere...

By the time the boys got home, Elliot had woken from his sleep and both of the boy were ready for adventure.  Steve decided to take them for a bit of a walk down to a quarry that was at the end of our road.  

To say the boys had fun would be an understatement.  They loved the big pile of gravel and had fun climbing up them and trying to slide back down again...

Theo sliding down the gravel heaps...

It was along trek up to the top of the hill...

Elliot had his own little pile of soil that kept him quite busy..

Down he comes

Head first

Such a tiny little boy in a great mound of dirt...

It's been a great day of just chilling out.  Tomorrow we will be ready to get out and explore this great area that is Southern Norway.

Our time overseas is fast running out.  We have less than two weeks left over here now and already we are starting to feel a little sad every time we think about leaving...