out from Stavanger tour

The morning view from our 7th floor hotel room. We look out over the lake and see the large hotel where we stayed during our summer 2000 visit to Stavanger.

Taking a morning walk, Peg captures the seagulls walking on the frozen lake. The SAS Radisson Atlantic Hotel is in the background.

Santa helps the Stavanger children board the holiday train in the shopping area next to the Stavanger Cathedral.

Before taking us on a tour south from Stavanger, Gunleif joins Keith in the Hotel lounge for coffee and more history research talk.

The one site Peg wanted to see was the Rogaland Art Museum because of their reputed collection of Lars Hertervig paintings (we missed it last trip).

Many of the collection pieces were being restored in preparation for the centennial retrospective, so were not viewable, but there were a few like this one -- "The Old Pines" done in 1865. It is a favorite.

This paneled corner cabinet was painted during the time Hertervig (1830-1902) worked as a decorator of furniture for the Annensen Painting Workshop in Stavanger.

This is a very nice piece called "Fjord Bottom III" and clearly reflects the Tysvær scenery around Borgøy, an island in the Hervik fjord and a prominent view from Slogvik farm where we would be staying.

The title of this piece is "Fra Skanevik." Our interest in Hertervig began because of his prominence in the cultural history of Tysvær. We were further intrigued to learn of his Quaker childhood.

This is a portrait of Alexander L. Kielland, Stavanger's favorite son and successful national author. He ranks in the top 4 with Ibsen. His social commentary was liberal and he was a mentor of Hertervig.

This is a charming cigar-flicking depiction of Kielland's sister, Kitty. Kitty was a very famous impressionist landscape artist in her own right. Her work has been honored on a Norwegian stamp.

Our interest in this painting was not so much the subject, but his job description of "sorenskriver" (chief magistrate of a rural district) since it followed close upon a conversation about that very title in which Gunlief told us about how King Christian IV long ago had ordered that each area appoint a person responsible for record keeping.

Peg and Gunlief leave the art museum with the Mosvatnet (lake) and a modernistic sculpture in the background.

Keith and Gunlief are dwarfed by the famous bronze swords at the national monument at Hafrsfjord marking the location where in 872, King Fairhair fought the last battle to unify Norway.

The Sola Ruin Church has an interesting history. It was recently restored after having been taken down during WWII because the Nazi concern that it was an identifying landmark. The significant stones were numbered as it was deconstructed which made it possible to reconstruct most of it accurately to its original circa 1100 form.

The view to the sea from the Sola Old Church site. This was where the prominent historical figure Erling Skjalgsson had his extensive farm around the year 1000 AD. (Yes, maybe Erling was one of Keith's ancestors.) It is not hard to imagine Viking life in this rich historical area.

As we drive farther south along the coast, now in the Klepp kommune, we view more of this flat agricultural area. This is in such a contrast to the rugged mountainous land that makes up so much of Norway.

After turning inland and looping around to the north, we go through the community of Klepp and come to a place called Fosseikeland. This photo shows the "foss" or falls on the river. The reinforced concrete factory on the left detracts much from the beauty of this area.

From higher up above the river, this view shows how this hill has been denuded and eaten away by the mining of material for the factory.

It was in Fosseikeland that Keith's 3rd great grandparents Tormod Madland and Siri Seldal lived around 1810, after they left the Madland farm in Gjesdal, and before they moved to Stavanger. Keith likes to think that it is in this more northeastern area that his ancestors lived.

After driving through the city of Sandnes we stop and Peg takes this picture of the area across the fjord to the east.

The early afternoon sun keeps getting lower and makes for this interesting photo of the south end of the Gandsfjord in the Sandnes area. A rigging of a huge floating crane is on the right.

A little further up the fjord from Sandnes, Gunleif shows us an exploratory oil platform under construction.

A short distance further north on this fjord towards Stavanger, we stop at Gunleif's office. Here Keith and Gunleif pose in front of a huge concrete structure. This was built as a demonstration of the techniques used in building the huge concrete legs for offshore oil platforms. It is now used for storage with a meeting room at the top.

02. Day 2, Part 1 - Stavanger views, Rogaland Art Museum, tour to Sola, coastal, Kleppe, Fosseikland and Sandnes areas south of Stavanger - Saturday, December 15, 2001