"Norway by Margie Bang" a Norway Travel Page by MissyWQ

My grandson, Jason Bang on 2 week U.S.military leave as Medic from Iraq and I visited Oslo, Arendal and Staubo and were treated ROYALLY by cousins Unni and Nils Lille and their adult offspring. I also finally met Eivind Hjelmtveit and his sister Ingeborg and her daughter who treated me like a long lost sister. I love them all so much!!!!

From left: Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, Queen Sonja, King Harald and Princess Martha Louise

Originally linked to Sweden, Norway was united with Denmark in 1380 under the same king and, as a result, was drawn into the Napoleonic Wars and an alliance with the French in the early part of the 19th century. In the political maneuverings which followed, Denmark ended up ceding Norway to Sweden in 1814. And although it retained its constitution and parliament, Norway was federated to Sweden and forced to accept that country's royal family as its own.

When that union was dissolved in 1905, Prince Carl of Denmark, the son of the king of Denmark and Princess Louise of Norway and Sweden, was invited to take over the throne of Norway. After a national referendum - which he had requested - showed that four out of five voters were in favour of his accession, Prince Carl agreed. He took on the name Haakon VII and moved into the royal palace in Oslo with his queen, Maud, and their young son Olav.

On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Norway and the king and his family were forced to flee the capital in the middle of the night. In June, the country fell to the invading forces and King Haakon set up a government-in-exile in London, sending his family to safety in the United States.

At the end of the war, the royal family and the King's Cabinet returned to Oslo to a rapturous welcome.

In 1959 it was a dream come true for me to visit the land of my 4 grandparents who moved to Brooklyn, New York. I still have cousins living in Norway having survived the war after the April 1940 Nazi invasion. (Ironicially in 1977 I was a guide in California for a German architect and his wife from Bochum, Germany - Hans & Ilse Knirsch. He told me he was on a ship invading Oslo and was told that as a sailor he was "saving Norway from the English." the same time my Uncle Nils Hjelmtveit, as Education Minister of the King's Cabinet was escaping to England with King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav, Trygve Lie and other Ministers.)

In 1959 we crossed over a bridge in our 1957 Buick Riviera from Sweden to Norway. At that time Sweden had left hand driving. They spent 11 million dollars to change years later.

Neighbors of my Aunt Elizabeth Bernhard in Oslo wanted to know what was the meaning of "U.S.Forces in Germany" on our licence plate. We were an Army family stationed in Nuremberg and Frankfurt. West Germany from 1957 to 1961.

In Geiranger we visitied relatives who own 2 hotels there. They had a 1927 Buick Rivera to use as a taxi. I must find the photo of the 1927 and 1957 Buicks together.

Finally in Novemeber 2005 grandson Jason and I visited Staubo, Arendal and Oslo to see cousins namely Unni and Nils Lille and cousin Eivind Hjelmtveit whose famous father visited the USA in the 1940's.

In photo, Nils Lille shows Jason Bang, what ancestors did. FISH AND EXPLORE!!!