The weather is improving a little, but still windy and chilly--we feel right at home! We drove into Egersund with Anders and Astrid. Anders is my 3rd cousin also, first cousin to Tonnes and Rasmus. He is a successful farmer/business man and lives on Eigeroy. He is involved in a special mining operation near Egersund, mining a white stone, used in road construction in Germany and Denmark. He gave us a tour:
Then we had a look around Egersund, the town where my great-grandfather Jorgen was from.
We also toured the Egersund Fayance Factory museum where Tonnes had set up a significant part of the display, including a timeline of the factory's history and a hands-on area for blind visitors. Fayance refers to a type of ceramic dishes; the factory started in pottery with clay from this area and progressed to some very high quality pieces of artwork.
Ander's father was Mikal, whom we met in Oregon in 1995. Mikal passed away this last year. We visited with his wife Signe yesterday, for cake and coffee:
Can you believe she is 91 and still living in her own house and getting around fine? Her house is actually right next door to Anders. Also of note: Ingrid and Craig might remember Ander's children, Solveig and Mikal, who came to Oregon for the reunion that year. They are both married with children now; Solveig is a doctor in Stavanger, and Mikal is a shipbroker in Kristensand. Astrid (Ander's wife) is a nurse; she is a very lovely, down-to-earth person that I have really enjoyed getting to know!
Today we are going to walk out to the Eigeroy Lighthouse at the end of the island, and do a little more shopping in town. Hopefully I can blog some more this evening while the guys are watching European Cup Futbol--it's Spain and Portugal tonight for the semi-final. Ha det bra...
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