Monday, January 16, 2017

Sunday Walks

Weekends in Norway seem to involve walking in some way.  On Saturday in Oslo everyone was out walking with baby strollers or dogs and enjoying the fresh, brisk air.  Sunday in Moss seems to be no different.  Weekends in Grand Forks in the winter I find myself wanting to hibernate and hide away from the cold weather in my house.  Here in Norway I'm finding I want to do the opposite.  Naturally, I want to experience as much as I can while I'm here, but I have begun to crave a walk daily.  Sunday Brittney and I ventured out for a couple hours to explore the waterfront in Moss.  It was lovely.  The picture above was from our walk and you can see the North Sea...pretty sure that's right!

First off Moss is hilly.  So we ventured down this walk to get to the water.
I love the cobblestone streets.  I feel like I get to discover a new corner of the town each time I take one of these little paths.  We then walked by the library.
The library is the brick building on the left and in the same picture you can see the rock with the sculpture.  The closer version of the sculpture is on the right.  I love that outside the library is a sculpture of a boy reading.  I'm loving all the public art in Moss too.  

Next on to the water.


I'll get over how peaceful and wonderful the water is some day...maybe not.  The walk was so lovely and we could watch the ferries come in and out of the harbor.  There is a walkway near the beach that has room for bikes and walking and had several people out for a stroll.  Even though is was around 2:00 or 2:30 the sun was getting low.  There was something so refreshing about the cold air and the water.  

There were also swans.
I know from previous experience not to mess with swans.  These swans were no different. You could tell they were used to people and I assume were looking for food.  The picture on the right felt a little like a swan attack. They are pretty...from afar.

Also look at this cute children's play thing on the beach...hippo!!!


It was getting chilly so we stopped in a coffee shop to warm up...there was food...I can't stop...everything is so delicious! 


Finally...we found moss in Moss!  I couldn't help myself!

And now for our history lesson.  At the end of the 9th century Harald Fairhair was a Viking that wanted to subdue the violence in Norway while increasing his wealth and power. He joined forces with the powerful earl of Lade in Trøndelag and in the end of the battle Harald was the victor.  Harald did not establish any great system of government, but his son Håkon who later came to rule helped establish regional assemblies. He was known as Håkon the good. These assemblies made laws, passed judgements, and were presided over by a person well versed in the laws, known as lagmann.  Håkon also established a navy called leidang.  The assemblies and navel defence strengthened the monarchy. Håkon the good died in 960.






















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