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| No thanks, really. |
We are still in Petersburg, Ak. We meant to stay a week or so, but we've had so much fun, that we have stayed quite a bit longer. That's where Bill's favorite line comes in, "We have no schedule, and we're sticking to it."
You might be wondering what a Norwegians Only sign has to do with with our visit here. Petersburg is known as Alaska's Little Norway. It was founded over 100 years ago by Norwegian fishermen, and is named after Peter Buschmann, an immigrant who homesteaded here. He built a cannery, a sawmill, and a dock, and this homestead grew into the town of Petersburg. We are reminded of the Norwegian heritage everywhere we go.
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| Fish processing plant next to the harbor. |
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| This sign is in a hardware store. |
Rosemåling, or rosemaling is the name of a traditional form of decorative folk art that originated in the rural valleys of Norway. Rosemåling is a style of Norwegian decorative painting on wood that uses stylized flower ornamentation, scrollwork, lining and geometric elements, often in flowing patterns. (Wikipedia)
Rosemaling can be found everywhere in Petersburg.
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| Sidewalk at the harbor |
It is embedded into sidewalks everywhere.
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| Sidewalk downtown. |
Businesses have rosemaling painted on the front, some examples:
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| Office building |
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| Florist |
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| Downtown bar |
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| Bank |
A nice piece of artwork in the library.
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| Beautiful |
The Sons of Norway have the oldest chapter in Alaska. Their building was constructed in 1912, and is now on the National Registry of Historic Places. They have a Viking ship, the Vahalla, and a Memorial to people lost at sea, on the adjoining deck.
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| Low tide |
This sign....
Guess what Fartsdemper means.... Speed Bump of course. 😁
BTW (by the way), our Thanksgiving table was quite resplendent. (Versus the photo in the previous blog post.) This was courtesy of being hosted by our new friends on SV Tonga, and these two lovely ladies, as well as their parents, one of whom was a highly acclaimed French Chef, (in a previous life). This was their first ever American Thanksgiving, and everyone enjoyed the large amounts of food, and great company.
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| Eva, and Louisa use their artistic talents. |
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| It doesn't get any better than this! |
Have you been to Norway? Do you like rosemaling, how about lutefisk? What was the best part of your Thanksgiving?
My husband's family is Norwegian-American so I found this post really interesting. There were many reosemalled things around their house. Love how they've done that to the sidewalks. I've never had lutefisk, and not sure that I'd want to. Lefse, on the other hand, is a wonderful Norweigian dish that was served at the holidays, like Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteApparently, the Norwegian Ambassador comes here once in awhile, and enjoys the town's hospitality. Now everyone is talking about the Christmas tradition of "Julebukking". All the downtown stores put out incredible amounts of delicious food for customers to enjoy. You don't have to be in costume to participate. :-)
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