27 Aug 2016 – Tyssedal Hotel
Tue & Wed: Tyssedal, 0.62sqK (150-acre), pop 692, a village in Odda municipality in Hordaland county. Typical monotown, depending upon the energy received from the hydropower station. Norsk Vasskraft- og Industristadmuseum – Norwegian Museum of Hydropower and Industry drawn by the architect Thorvald Astrup (1876–1940) and constructed between 1906 and 1918. Above 3pix downloaded.
Tyssedal kyrkje was built in 1965 by the architect Axel Fronth. Above 3pix downloaded.
Tyssedal Hotel (1913)***This historical hotel is home to a spectacular collection of art. The state of my room after unloading things off the pack. 1 night NOK1,437 S$235 breakfast included is NOT worth it. Service OK but What! NO Herrings for Breakfast!! Much prefer the room at Byrkjenes/Odda the first night which I highly recommend – stay there and drive or take the bus to see the art here.
Nils Bergslien, Christian Krogh, Askvold, Adelsten Normann, Morten Müller, Ludvig Shramstad and Hans Dahl are among the artists represented here. The work of Geir Grung, one of Norway’s best known modernist architects is exhibited. Chose to stay here to admire some of these works but hardly any info on these paintings. The art collection***** here is worth more than the hotel. Link below is in Norwegian.
http://www.h-avis.no/puls/siste-puls/odda/kunsten-mer-verd-enn-hotellet/s/2-2.921-1.7719340
Glad that the paintings are still there but disappointed in the loss of heritage in the running of the hotel. Sad for Norway – a group of Polish bought over this location in May 2016 and the complete Polish staff has little knowledge of Norway or Norwegian and the art collection here. Even the guests are from Poland and did not seem too interested.
Above 2pix paintings by Krohg and Bergslien are downloaded – not possible for my idiot-proof camera to shoot decent pix with the kind of interior lighting there. Pix with the former hotel director Kolbrún Baldursdottir explaining why this Bergslien is her favourite.
Waiting for the midnight bus back to OSL on a wet evening in a cold-looking and pathetic waiting room which has signs stating – but no one dares approach an elderly white-hair senior to ask her to leave because doors will be locked. Alas, the Norway (not Mother Nature) I once knew and fell in love with has to make way for progress! The irony is that it was places similar in this area – Balastrand and Voss that I was so awed by 50yrs ago during my first visit in Norway with father.
Thu: arriving in time to wish the family safe journeys as they head out to Hardangervidda for their annual reindeer hunt. Slept most of the day in the comforting rhythm of the falling rain .
Fri: TGIF – slowly but surely regaining back some energy. Tkx Kirsten for the visit and for keeping me company. Great to catch up. Appreciations to Kari for the invitation to Filtvet for the weekend. The heart is saying yes yes yes thank you and the body is saying are you crazy? Have a wonderful weekend and the weather has been forecast to be a fantastic one. Looking forward to catching up next week.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life – Muhammad Ali