We stayed over night at Sten's place and walk down in the morning to the farm for breakfast. Our niece has gone back up to the raspberry bush and picked some fresh one for us, so we enjoyed them over breakfast. Then we all hung around for a while before getting ready to leave. Shortly after 10 AM we head off on our tour of Koppang.
Our first stop is at Koppang's town center. We have a few errands to run. During this time Lars' mom runs into some of the people she knew when she was growing up here. One of the guy's apparently still has her photograph from then. Our next stop is at the cemetery where Lars' Aunt and Uncle are buried. It is the first time that we have been to the cemetery. We had brought some flowers with us, which we planted. While it is sad, we all have a good laugh when the daughter says that her mother would be so pleased to have so many cheerful and happy people stop by for a visit. She would be wondering what is going on up there and would want to join in with all the fun.
After we had been to the cemetery, we stopped off at the old school that Lars' mom used to attend as a child. They had one teacher in the one class room and they would all have to take turns keeping the fire going in the winter. The toilet was an outdoor latrine.
From here we drove further out of town to the main church where Lars was baptised and his mom was confirmed. It is a beautiful octagonal wooden church. While it is locked, the gentlemen working on the lawn are kind enough to let us into the church.
We spend some time looking around the interior, and then we wander around the cemetery and make our way up to the small mound behind the church overlooking the river. It is a very peaceful spot.
It is now time to head up to the mountain resort where we will spend the next few days relaxing and hanging out. We drive north of Koppang and at Atna we turn west up into the mountains. After a short ways we turn onto a small country road that is only open in the summer. It takes us about 50 minutes to get to Skjerdingen. One reason we are staying ere is that it is near the farm where Lars' mother spent a long, cold winter after the Second World War.
After arriving, we check in and get assigned our rooms. It is a nice place, but nothing fancy. The rooms are a bit hot - the window must have been closed for a few days. These places are designed for the cold and not the heat. After we have settled into our room, we hang around waiting for lunch. A large group has filled up the dining room and we are waiting for them to finish. In the meantime we go and sit out on the terrace and enjoy a beer or two.
We have a late lunch at 3 PM and then hang out once again on the terrace having the coffee and cookies. The rest of the afternoon is spent doing nothing much. We just hung out, read some and took a nap. Then at around 6 PM we went down to the indoor pool for a swim with the children.
We have dinner in the dining room and then retire once again to the terrace for dinner. Once we have finished out coffee, however, we move the gathering up to one of the rooms where we have set up a bar with the drinks that we have brought with us. We play some games, talk and have a drink or two (or three).