Statsraad Lehmkuhl Archives - Nine Years in Norway

Statsraad Lehmkuhl: boats met on an August journey

January 17, 2015 by Cindi 20 Comments

Blah. That’s the only way to describe the weather these past few days. Dreary and rainy, it’s boring to be inside but miserable to be out during the short daylight hours.

To lift my spirits, I was looking through photos of more exhilarating times and found these, the last to be shared of our four-hour sailing adventure last August on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. As we journeyed, other boats met and joined us. It reminded me a bit of the Pied Piper.

Remembering the way the wind, clouds, sun, rain, rainbow, waves, seas, and emotions mixed is uplifting now!

A few images and short video of that part of the adventure:

August 20, 2014 - boats met on the journey

How about one from Christmas, when we glimpsed the Statsraad Lehmkuhl’s holiday spirit through the car window as we drove to Sandviken to spend time with our grandson?

December 26, 2014 - Statsraad Lehmkuhl and Christmas

There. That helps to lift the dreary-day spirits. Now, to continue that, I think I’ll go over to get a sneak peek of the songs submitted for Michelle’s dance party. Come and join the fun! Which one makes you move?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Minimalist

November 9, 2014 by Cindi 31 Comments

Jen’s Photo Challenge this week is Minimalist.

“Minimalist photography is characterized by a large portion of negative space, a fairly monochromatic color palette … and an interesting subject that is able to stand on its own to capture the interest of the viewer … A minimalist photo can also effectively tell a story, in spite of its relative simplicity, and it is anything but ‘plain’.”

I had fun looking through photos to find a few that fit this challenge, and decided to take the definition of “minimalist” apart and find images that fit specific qualities better, but still have the overall minimalist look. Does this one fit the description of “a large portion of negative space”?

Lysekloster moon on January 14, 2014 at 7:52 pm

I found two that I think are a good representation of “a fairly monochromatic color palette,” one with warm tones and the other with cool. Which do you prefer?

May 24, 2014 - Lysekloster pine tree growth

May 24, 2014 – warm sunshine through a Lysekloster pine tree’s new growth

January 16, 2010 - below freezing ice crystals on a Langeskogen walk

January 16, 2010 – ice crystals on a below freezing Langeskogen walk

And then for the last one, “an interesting subject that is able to stand on its own to capture the interest of the viewer” … if you hadn’t already joined me vicariously on the journey, would this photo capture your curiosity as to what we were going to see?

August 20, 2014 – a peek towards the journey

Which photo is your favorite? And, if you’d like, share why it is!

Bergen Maritime Museum: boys becoming men on a training ship

September 16, 2014 by Cindi 10 Comments

Remember our visit to the Bergen Maritime Museum in mid July? Life has been a full, busy, and ever-evolving adventure since then, including a quick vacation in Spain, a trip on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, another adventure I’m getting thoughts together to share this weekend (hint: it involves a visit to the view outside my front windows), and family time … but I thought it was time to share another important exhibit from the museum about the initial purpose of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl as a training ship.

Discipline – Independence – Cooperation

Training ships under sail

First, a couple images and background from the museum’s website and brochure:

Source

from the Bergens Maritime Museum’s brochure

I took a few photos of the exhibit’s photographic display, thinking it wouldn’t be captured well through a camera lens. Are they enough to help you visualize the exhibit?

July 12, 2014 - Bergen Maritime Museum Training Ship exhibit

But what really personalized this exhibit for me was listening to my husband’s thoughts. He recognized one of the young boys pictured as an acquaintance from his early 1950’s Bergen neighborhood, and also remembers his parents and grandparents sharing the stories of their part of this living history. His words:

Using Statsraad Lemkuhl as a training ship for young boys to become sailors is to institutionalize an age old tradition in Bergen, and other sea faring cities along the West Coast of Norway.

But Bergen was by far the biggest city and for hundreds of years the most important and busy harbor in Northern Europe.

So, Bergen, already a melting pot of Norwegians, Germans, Dutch, English and other Scandinavians, attracted sailors from all over Europe to find a ship.

The “Immigrant sailors” were mostly grown men, but locally, boys from Bergen and the area around it, were sent on board a ship at the age between 12 to 15 years. They started as “Førstereisgutt”, which means “First Trip Boy”, and they sailed throughout the world; Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe.

The other part of this tradition we can date back to the Viking age. Up until the late fifties, sailors were gone for three to four years. In the old days, when the men folk went “a viking”, they were gone for years and many did not come back, either lost at sea or settled somewhere else.

The main point is that either as vikings or sailors, when they were gone, the women had to take care of everything. Housing, food, children, protecting their family; it was the responsibility of the women.

That is an important part of the Norwegian culture.

I come from such a family. Both on my mother’s and father’s side, I am the first man NOT to be a sailor. For hundreds of years all the men in my family, both sides, have been sent to sea at a very young age. My father was 12 when he sailed to Asia, my mother was married when she was 17 and a widow at the age of 18 and my grandmother was alone with four children for five years …

That really expands on the exhibit, doesn’t it?

That was then. And now? As I shared before, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl is still introducing civilians to sailing. But she’s also giving cadets and school children specific opportunities to learn. Visit her Facebook page to see her most recent “sailors”!

Wordless Wednesday: fjord sunset

September 10, 2014 by Cindi 21 Comments

August 20, 2014 - fjord sunset

weather, planes, water, introspection: the journey home

September 7, 2014 by Cindi 24 Comments

It’s been nice to have you traveling with me on our recent sailing/motoring trip on Bergen’s Statsraad Lehmkuhl. It’s time to finish the journey!

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

As you’ve seen in my earlier posts, the clouds and sky seemed to play tag throughout the three and a half hour journey. Sometimes we had warm sun, and other times the clouds covered that sun. Looking at the sky from our perspective was intriguing; the texture enhanced the Norwegian landscape and waters.

We could see the rain clouds moving in as we journeyed south on one side of the island of Bjorøyna, and especially as we turned to begin the journey north back to the Bergen Harbor. Passing Flesland (the Bergen airport) was fascinating for me. We’d just landed there a few days earlier after our trip home from Spain; seeing the planes land and take off from the perspective of the water, especially with the clouds, rain, and wind, gave me a whole new appreciation for the steady hands of the pilots!

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

As my “sneak peek” showed, the combination of sun and rain created a special moment: a rainbow, its top hidden in the clouds but the other side seeming to end at, appropriately, Lysekloster. Home! The rainbow hung in the air for quite a while: fading, getting more intense, fading again. Isn’t weather engaging and intriguing?

I captured a few images over the side of the ship. The look of the fairly smooth waters being disturbed by the ship’s passing was mesmerizing.

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

The bow had been full of other passengers while Jan and I were sitting on the stern, but I noticed it had cleared out a bit … and so, after turning north and passing Flesland again (which you’ll see in the video), I made my way up the steep stairs and discovered that, except for the sailor watching over that part of the ship, I was the only one there. According to the time stamps on my images I stood there for about thirty minutes, but it could have been five minutes or five hours; I lost complete track of everything and just lived in the moment.

I watched the play of setting sun and clouds, the wind and seas, the rain drops and sunbeams. It was an introspective time: just me, the wind-chased clouds playing tag with the sun and then covering its light almost completely, the rain clouds and wind enthusiastically pelting raindrops against my face and speckling my glasses and camera lens, and the smooth motoring below me.

I hate being on “the other” side of a lens and don’t normally take (much less share) real selfies, but I had to capture the moment of me at the bow with the masts of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl rising behind me. The sun’s light was amplified by the cloud, but I had to hang onto my hood as the rain driven wind was beginning to hit me — it was refreshing and invigorating and I really wanted to shout “I’m King of the World” (except we couldn’t get quite that close to the bow as portrayed in the Titanic movie).

But I was shouting it in my head!

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

We approached the Askøy bridge, and of course I captured it, craning my neck up and around, then turning around, to take it all in. Raindrops dotted the camera lens, and added an authentic watery look to the images.

Finally, figuring that my husband was probably beginning to worry I’d fallen overboard, I made way back to mid-ship. As my drenched self was walking up to him, ready to explain my absence, Jan smiled and said, “I *knew* where you were!”

Well, actually he burst out laughing; I think my “drenched self” looked quite amusing, probably like the proverbial drowned rat!

I had a difficult time sitting still. We next passed under the bridge to Sotra; I jumped up to capture that perspective from mid-ship on the starboard side. (These images were taken with a musical accompaniment — a gently-rowdy group who’d enjoyed several pints of Hansa beer began singing “… like a bridge over troubled waters …” to the amusement and delight of everyone.)

And finally, we were back in Byfjorden. I went back up to the bow — more crowded with people now, anticipating the return to the harbor — and looked back towards the Sotra bridge, with the ship’s masts and forward-bell centered in the image …

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

… and then forward towards Bergen and her familiar mountain silhouettes.

We entered the harbor. Almost back in port!

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

My camera’s rechargeable batteries almost at their end, I captured a few images of the crew throwing out the anchoring ropes as we moved carefully into port.

The gangplank was set in place.

And finally, reluctantly, it was time to disembark.

August 20, 2014 - the journey home

What wonderful memories I took with me as I walked back onto solid land! Here’s a short compilation of those shared in this post.

If you’re ever in Bergen during the summer and want to experience an evening trip, visit the Statsraad Lehmkuhl’s website to see what Fjord cruises are available. You can also take part in a longer sailing cruise where you learn how to operate the ship and experience a little real life sailing! (It looks as if they also have Pirate tours … wouldn’t THAT be a fun time with your kids?! 🙂 )

Sailing? or should that be Motoring?

August 31, 2014 by Cindi 20 Comments

I hope you’ve been enjoying my Statsraad Lehmkuhl trip so far; I’ve enjoyed reliving the moments! Today I’d like to share the experience of sailing … but since we were on the inner fjords in the Bergen area and no sails could be raised, that should probably read “motoring”!

Are you familiar with Godfrey Marks’ children’s song of 1880 about sailing on the ocean?

Sailing, sailing over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
‘Ere Jack comes home again.

It ran through my head a couple times as we were enjoying our trip. But it’s not an exact description of our experience. The sails weren’t up, the wind wasn’t stormy, and we weren’t out on the bounding main/open seas. So, should it be this refrain instead?

Smoothly motoring over the inland fjord
Where many a wind-swept raindrop fell
and hit-my-Uggs on-the deck-boards.

(Now that you see my true poetic talents, I hope you won’t unfollow me. 😉 )

There have been a couple comments on my previous posts that it looked cold and choppy. Yes, the wind sounds loud in my videos; depending on the side of the ship I was on, especially when facing the Norwegian Sea, it was windy and the waters show that disturbance. But on a ship the size of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, it was such a smooth trip! We were very comfortable. We know this part of the world; we dressed in layers (and brought hats, gloves, and scarves in a backpack, but didn’t need them), and relished every moment of fresh air, wind, sunshine, clouds, and rain.

And there was always that tarp/canvas to sit under if it got too rainy, and the warmth and coziness of below deck — with food and drink — beckoned.

But I didn’t take advantage of those comforts for very long. I wanted to be OUT in the elements to experience everything!

After leaving the Bergen Harbor, we turned south and traveled next to Askøy, passing under the Askøy bridge while I was downstairs eating and socializing. The video of this part of the journey begins as I came up on deck just in time to see the cruise ship after it had passed us; it turned north while we turned south to travel past Litlesotra, under the Sotra bridge, and continue south between Sotra and Bjorøyna. Just south of Bjorøyna was the half-way point of our journey, and we slowly turned to begin the trip back to Bergen.

Here’s a map of the journey so far; do you see Lysekloster in the lower right of that image? So close, yet so far away from home! 🙂

August 20, 2014 – motoring

Before the short video, here’s a gallery of a few of my favorite images from this first half of the trip. We were sitting on the stern, looking through the side rigging or up towards the sky, enjoying the views of the islands we were passing, the changing shapes of the familiar mountains rising in the distance, and the interplay of sun, white clouds, and rain clouds overhead and off in the distance.

And my video; it includes the cruise ship as she turned north, the bells ringing on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the peace of the journey on one side of the ship and the intensity of the wind on the other, and the rain clouds visible as we turned at the half way point of the trip.

Want a sneak peek of what we saw as we were turning?

August 20, 2014 – rainbow

Perfect skies for a trip of this type!

Next weekend it’s the rest of the journey, including my favorite part of the trip: standing (almost) alone on the bow!

Statsraad Lehmkuhl: leaving the Bergen Harbor

August 30, 2014 by Cindi 16 Comments

This week I have had the most fun reliving our short fjord journey as I went through my photos and edited the videos. I’d thought to have a complete “sail trip” post today, but decided it really needs to be broken up even more to avoid a ridiculously long post that would be difficult for anyone to follow. So, today’s photos and short video are about leaving the Bergen Harbor and entering Byfjorden: the beginning of our trip south on the inner fjord waters around Bergen.

As she began to move, I walked from starboard to port and back again, setting my camera on the rail, snapping and recording, capturing the experience of this large ship backing slowly out of her berth and turning about 220 degrees to face the mouth of the harbor and begin the journey. It was so gentle and slow, I had a hard time believing we were moving; of course that makes sense, as there can’t be any heavy waves or wake in a harbor, but the reality was even more quietly intense than I’d expected. The underwater propellers made interesting patterns on the surface of the water (which I was able to capture in the video).

I remember looking at the people standing and watching us, thinking what it must be like for them to see this large ship back and gracefully turn. Perhaps they were a little envious of those of us on board?

After turning, I took one final shot towards Bryggen, with the Fløibanen tracks rising up Fløyen, and Ulriken’s tower barely visible past the rigging.