Koltur postponed

Koltur was postponed to Friday, and we have plans to go to the gay pride larade on Friday, so we will have to see if we can reschedule for next week. Not very much time left.

Suduroy

We left Langasandur at 7 am in order to catch the ferry to Suduroy leaving Torshavn at 8am.  The ferry trip is just over two hours each way.  We had a light snack on board, then arrived at Tvoroyri without a camera.  Apparently, something went awry when we tried to charge it in Langasand.  We checked in at Hotel Tvoroyri to order lunch, and got permission to charge the camera there.  We travelled through northern Suduroy for about an hour, using the phone for our camera.

In Sandvik, the northernmost village in Suduroy, we stopped at the place where Sigmundur Brestirsson came to land after his epic swim from Stora Dimun.  Then we stopped for ice cream in Hvalba and took a picture of the jaw bone of a sperm whale.

Then we drove back to Tvoroyri for lunch and to retrieve our camera.  From there, we travelled south Through Oravik and the tunnel to Hov and on to Vagur.  From there, we drove to Lopra and through two tunnels to reach Sumba, the southernmost village in Suduroy.  Then we took a tiny, winding road to the southernmost point of the Faroe Islands, Akraberg.

On the way back to Tvoroyri, We took a detour out of Vagar to see the WWII area at Skuvanos, where soldiers had radio towers and a canon, watching out for Germans flying overhead.  The area is locally known as Eggjarnar (the edges.)  After that, we detoured out of Oravik to Famjin for Faroese waffles before heading to Tvoroyri.

While at the waffle house, there was a special private party upstairs, with a special American guest.  Unfortunately, we were not permitted to go in to talk to him.  He had recently said on Utvarpi (local radio station) that the Faroese salmon is the best in the world!

We returned to Velbastad at 10pm.  What a long day, but beautiful trip.

Vidareidi

So, today we drove from Langasand, through (literally) Eysturoy, through Bordoy (again, literally), to Vidoy and Vidareidi.  We made a little side trip to Kunoy, just to say we had been there.  We walked through the family home (where my grandmother was born) drove to the church where my great grandmother was buried, and had lunch in a restaurant run by my mother's cousin.  We saw the northenmost house (also in Vidareidi).  From there, we could see the back side of Enniberg, the highest escarpment on the planet!  You can't actually see the cliff's face except by boat.

On the way back, in Leirvik, Eysturoy, we stopped to fish off the harbor.  We caught approximately 25 fish in a matter of 15 minutes.  We caught seidur, apparently called coalfish in English, though that doesn't mean anything to me.

We then drove past Langasand to Tjornuvik, one of the oldest villages in the Faroes.  It also happens to be the northernmost village on the island of Streymoy.  There are some viking grave sites there that were discovered by a couple of boys!  We also were able to get a new view of the Giant and the Hag from there.

Annika killed my camera (batteries), so give me a few days to get back to Velbastad to download the photos off her camera.

We crossed the Atlantic twice by bridge, and once by tunnel.  We travelled through 5 land tunnels, which ranged from 2 to 6 kilometers in length. 

Still sore

Stóra Dímun was last Thursday. It is now Sunday, and my muscle soreness is still hanging on. Only Elsa and I got sore. What's up with that?

Expect to finally go to Langasand tomorrow. Can't wait, nor can the kids.

Stora Dimun at Last

Having packed a lunch the night before, we arrived at port at 845 for our 9 am departure.  What a great trip.  We sailed from Torshavn, south, past Sandur and Skuvoy, to the southeastern section of Stora Dimun.  Bear was taught how to steer, but he couldn't see over the boat, so the captain still had to help him fairly constantly.  When we got close to the island, we boarded a rubber boat that took us to shore.  

There was no pier, so the farmer (owner of the island) met us on a rock.  He held the rope to the boat and lent us a hand up.  However, the waves were lapping pretty forcefully against the rock.  We had to time our jump to coincide with the boat being at its highest and closest to the rock.  Once we were all disembarked, we waited for the boat to gather the other half of our group.  Then the farmer led us up the mountain to the farm.

This sounds easier than the actuality.  First, we had to grab a length of rope that was attached to the rock face.  We basically rappelled (is it still called that if you are going up?) up this small cliff face.  We trekked across a mass of boulders, climbed nearly vertically over grass, then took a path on the cliff that had a railing (on the inside!)

Once we had reached the farm, the farmer's wife had provided a snack for us.  Coffee, tea, and faroese waffles (complete with rhubarb jam and whipped cream, yum).  Then we explored the island as much as we were up to.  For me, that consisted of walking around the farm buildings.  Annika and I purchased some sheep skins.  Then, at 3pm, we trekked back down to the, now infamous, rock.  This took a bit longer, because it was twice as scary going down as it was going up.  

Bear had injured his knee upon landing, then again on the way down, so he was unable to bend it.  He was terrified of missing a step on the rope climb, so two men in our group guided him the whole way.

Once the boat was underway, the captain cooked us a meal of fish, onions, and potatoes.  Interestingly, the fish livers were included.  At one point, while I was bored, I wandered back to the command area, and the captain gave me the controls!  I steered for about an hour, through high waves and around the end of Streymoy, the largest of the islands.  

What a grand adventure, three hours down, four hours there, and three hours back.  I'm exhausted.  I will post photos tomorrow.

Supposed to go to Stora Dimun

So the trip to Stora Dimun was postponed, due to weather issues.  It wasn't even that bad.  I guess it doesn't take much to make the trek up from the harbor on Stora Dimun impassable.  Anyway, it has been rescheduled for Wednesday.  Keep your fingers crossed.

We decided to give Nolsoy a try.  It is right across the way from Torshavn.  But the boat doesn't leave until 1230, so we went to the outdoor museum first.  There we saw how they lived a few hundred years ago.  we stepped through time, into an old farmstead, complete with 6 barns (cows, steers, potatoes, milk, grain, and hay.)  It was quite interesting and eye opening.

Then we headed for the harbor, and no parking for any more than 2 hours.  So we parked by Hanna's apartment.  The ferry to Nolsoy took less than 30 minutes.  We walked around for quite some time, just enjoying nature.  The kids spent hours playing on the rocky shore, looking for crabs, jelly fish, and other sea life.  They found a live hermit crab, a dead regular crab, and zillions of jelly fish of various kinds.  It would seem that the krill were in heavy supply.

Then we visited the grave of Ove Joensen, who rowed a small boat from the Faroes to Denmark in the mid 80's.  He later drowned while swimming from Torshavn to Nolsoy.  He is something of a town favorite there.

We also visited the ruins of grain storage from viking times, where it is said that a young woman hid from pirates.  She was eventually found.  The pirate that found her, cut off her right breast and raped her.  The rest of the pirates felt so bad about their fellow sailor treating her so badly, that the hung him and applied a healing salve to the wound.  The jar that held the salve is still at the museum in Torshavn.  The story of the young woman was included in the wax museum tour in Vestmanna (remember, we were there early in our trip.)

At 1650, the ferry returned to Torshavn.  Elsa had to stop at a cousin's house before heading home, because he was leaving for Denmark.  They gave us a HUGE chunk of spik (whale blubber)!  So we ended up having turran fisk, spin, go eplir for dinner.

Turran fisk, spik, og eplir.

Slættaratindur attempt

The goal, yesterday, was to go to Slættaratindur, the highest peak in the Faroes. However, when we got close, it was in too much fog to make the hike worth our while. Plus Elsa wasn't sure enough of the direction to attempt it in the fog.

But let us start from the beginning:

We left Velbastað at around 11 am, drove through Tórshavn, Hoyvík, Hvítanes, and Kaldbaksbotnur to get to the first tunnel (2.5 km). Then we continued north through Kollafjørður, Hósvík, and Streymnes. Then, before we crossed the bridge over the atlantic ocean to the next island, we decided to visit my other Mammubeiggji (Bjørgheðin) in Langasand.

I gave the kids a whirlwind tour of "home," paying particular attention to the places that have stories behind them. This was the second time we saw Nicolina and Bjørgheðin, but the first time we saw Olevina (their daughter and my best friend) andher new boyfriend Ole.

Then we proceded on our tour, through Svínáir, Ljósá, and Eiði. Just outside Eiði, we stopped and looked back over the peninsula to 'Risin og Kellingin' or 'the Giant and the Hag.' A little further up the road, we stopped at the parking place for Slættaratindur and debated the wisdom of continuing the 2 hour round trip in the fog. We continued to Gjøgv instead.

In Gjøgv, we went to the restaurant, Gjáargarður, where Bret and I had our anniversary dinner many years ago. A band was playing outside, consisting of a guitar, a violin, and a ukalele. The uke player is also a well known artist, Janus á Húsagarði, whom i am apparently related to. His mother and my mother are ferminingar (third cousins.) I bought one of his posters and had him autograph it!

Then we walked around the village for a while. There was a family reunion being held in Gjøgv, so there was quite a crowd. Elsa knew a fair number of them. We played down on the shore, both in the canyon, where the village got its name, and in the open areas.

When we'd had enough of that, we drove on to Oyndarfjørður and the rocking stones. These are two huge boulders in the water that actually move with the waves. It is a strange sight to behold.

We then headed home a shorter way, that involved two tunnels and narrow roads.

Seyðarhøvd again

Had to go to bed early because I got vaml from eating too much seyðarhøvd!

Natural History Museum

We took the #5 bus to Nordasta Horn, switched to the #3 bus to Landavegin, walked to Brynhild's shop (almost) and then up the hill to the museum.  There we studied the bones of 3 different species of whales (grind is actually a dolphin), some rather fantastic quarts specimen, hundreds of fish, and a bunch of birds.  The even had a taxidermic polar bear (didn't know they came to the Faroes) and two taxidermic seals that you could cuddle up to.

Then we walked to the Haskula, where the kids took their lesson in Faroese.  I crocheted while I waited.  At this point, all four of us have fingerless mittens or gloves! either knitted or crocheted.  The class goes from 2 to 4 pm.

On the way home, we walked up Landavegin to the grocery store, shopped, took the #3 to Nordasta Horn, and then waited 1 hour for the #5, which took us home to Velbastad.  The round trip has become second nature for us as we have done it at least 10 times now.

Danielle snuggling with the seals!

Skuvoy

Wow, the trip to Skuvoy was so nice, Danielle and Bear had a blast.  Annika was a little freaked.  She said we had to stop visiting people and start traveling so we could see all the islands before we leave.

We saw Sigmundur Brestisson's "Stone".  His grave marker that only has a cross on it.  There is pretty much nothing else to do there, expect hike, so that's what we did.

There are no signs to tell you what's what, so we didn't get anything to eat.  We saw people go into a house empty handed, and came out with shopping bags, so we're pretty sure that was a store, and an old guy told us there was a diner, and the name of the owners, but I couldn't get him to tell him where it was or the name of the building.  (Everyone names their house on that island, reminds me a little of England.)

The trip back on the ferry was so rough that we all stayed inside.  Danielle decided to venture out, but came back fairly quickly soaked.  Annika announced that she no longer wanted to visit all the islands, only the ones we could drive to!  LOL.

Sandur

Elsa, Flovin, and I drove to Sandur yesterday to check things out, show me where the stores and services were, and to drop off the luggage at Eygjorg's cabin.  The skies were clear blue, only the airplane trails could be seen.  There was no wind.  The cabin was and is lovely.  I took a million pictures, which I will upload as soon as I figure out how to get online with my computer.  (They have wifi, but it is password protected and they did'nt leave us the code.)

We then drove home, picked the kids up from class, and bought groceries.  The kids and I returned around 8 pm, riding across the island on the bus.  We are all in heaven, staying at this quaint little cabin, relaxing and eating.  We should have gone for a walk last night, because the wind is so strong this morning that we are a little intimidated by it.

Happy 4th!

Annika and Danielle were disappointed that we were not home for their favorite holliday.  So I made burgers (American style) complete with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and Danish fried onions.  The buns were better than what we usually get in the States, more substantial.  Afterward, we had watermelons and made noise with whistles and poppers and blew streamers at each other.  We closed the evening by watching Harry Potter 7a.   We have been watching the series for the last week!  Unfortunately, there is a shortage in Denmark, so 7b will probably not be here in time for us to watch it with Durita.

Anyway, just goes to show that you do not have to be in the States to have a good 4th!

Today, we are being kicked out to make room for other guests.  Eybjorg has allowed us the use of her summer home in Sandoy.  While there, we plan on making a side trip to Skuvoy.  That will make it 3 down, 15 to go (Annika is planning on visiting all 18 islands while here.)

Argir

After their lessons today, I took the kids to Argir.  I showed them where we lived, where we went to school, where we used the road for sledding if the snow was perfect, where the boys would run water down the schoolyard hill so we could slide to school, where we played chicken with the cars and got yelled at, where we went to church, where Sorensen's used to be, and where the kiosk was.

Then we went down to the beach and walked around, the kids found a dead jelly fish and thought it was a used breast implant.  We then walked to the church yard, but I couldn't remember where Abbi was interred.  Danielle suggested we each take a row and walk up and down the aisles until we found it.  It took about ten minutes of this before we actually found it.  Omma was not on the stone, so I rang Mammubeiggji to see if she was somewhere else.  Apparently, they just haven't had the money to carve the stone yet.

After that, we walked to the bus stop (another 30 minute walk) and waited about 30 minutes for the bus.  The bus didn't stop!  Luckily, the #3 bus was there at the time.  I asked him if something had changed because the bus hadn't stopped.  He called the #5 and made him turn around and come back.  We got home only 5 minutes late.  LOL.

So far, the kids have mastered basic introductions and can discuss their moods.  They are trying to learn a song.

Miscellaneous happenings

Eddy (Mamma's cousin) came to visit us last night.  That was really exciting.  He stayed for a good 4 hours, and we chatted about everything under the sun.  He still lives in Argir.

We got the Olavsoku t-shirts mailed off.  Mamma, you have to let me know when you get them.

Rosi will be visiting Flovin and Elsa, starting Thursday.  So we are being kicked out.  We took the opportunity to call Eybjorg i Dali and have arranged to stay at their summer house in Sandur during that time.  The kids have their Faroese lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, so we will be gone from Thursday evening to Tuesday morning.  It will be a bit like camping.  No hot water! Though it is fully stocked with food, towels, dinas, etc.

Seydarhovd

Guess what we had for dinner today!

My absolute favorite meal in the world!!!

Church goings

Funniest thing.  So Elsa invited us to go to church with her, since she sings in the choir.  We got there just in time for the service.  Apparently, the priest use to live in Argir.  He and his friend Shurur had a crush on me and JoAnn.  One day, they decided that they had to write it on a piece of paper and put it inside our door.  Bergir loves -- and Shurur loves --.  He remembers that the front door was locked and they had to unlock it using the hidden key.  He remembers seeing our giant aquarium.  But most of all, he remembers that they were unable to properly close the door afterward.  He had a guilty conscience for a long time afterward.  LOL. 

JoAnn, if you are reading this, this was Joanes's little brother!

The church service was very nice.  I didn't recognize any of the songs, but just sat there and listened.  I went up for communion.  They used real wine!  Plus we all drank out of the same challis.  No grape juice or plastic cups for these people.  This is the real McCoy.

Bret, I think we should live here when you retire.  We'll spend spring through fall in the Faroes and Winter in Arizona.  Sound good?