Hadeland Glassverk (updated! new videos)

First, Happy Veterans Day!  Thank you to all the men and women who are serving, have served, or gave the ultimate sacrifice for our great country, especially the ones in my family.

Hadeland Glassverk is just what it sounds like - glasswork.  It's the oldest glassblowing factory in Norway and it is gorgeous!  It's an hour northwest of the city and takes two buses to get there, but it is well worth it.  The drive alone is breath-taking, providing an amazing tour of the local fjords and still blue lakes.  I posted some photos and video from the drive up and the end of this entry.  Located just outside Jevnaker, they have made this into a mini-village complete with cafe, bakery, honey house, and Christmas shop.  It is set across the street from another amazing lake with the most phenomenal vista.  My iPhone picture does not do it justice, but Rett got some better ones on his camera and I'll upload that when I get them from him.

There's a neat glass museum when you first walk into the information center, showcasing various samples of the pieces created by different artisans over the years.  It's very diverse - my favorite was a set of vases that looked like melting candles!  See below:

Some of the different pieces - my favorite ones are on the far left

Checking out the museum

For about $16, you can go into the glassblowing factory, watch the artisans work, and then MAKE YOUR OWN piece of glass.  Ok, so there is an artisan there helping you and by helping you I mean he's doing most of the work, but you're the one who actually does the blowing of the glass.  He just heats its, spins it, molds it, and twists it all while you stand on a fixed spot and blow into the end of the tube...ok, so your only job is pretty much to remember not to inhale ;-) But seriously, it was fun and we all got a cool memento.  Tyler and I made glasses and Rett made a honey pot (but he plans to use it for drinking whiskey!)  Check out the videos of each of us blowing glass:

Rett went first...

...then me...

...then Ty.

The glass is still very hot when you're done and takes at least 30 minutes to cool all the way, so we walked over to the bakery, which looks like a cute little chalet inside.  They served huge cups of hot chocolate and a variety of baked goods.  We each had a large boller - a local pastry flavored with cardamom and nutmeg, SO good.  There was frost all over the ground and everything outside, our first time seeing this since we've been here.  We made our way over to the honey house where Ty and I got a bottle of honey and a jar of whipped honey, both from the local area.  We'd never had whipped honey before, but oh my gosh is it good!  Great to spread on toast in the morning as part of breakfast or for a little snack in the afternoon :-)

They had a variety of different little shops - pewter, candles, a Christmas shop, and of course, glass.  In the pewter shop they sold some yarn and I got a couple colorful skeins of alpaca wool.  The pewter was really pretty, but we think we'll go back and get some later.  Unfortunately, we discovered that not all the glass they sell is made there - they outsource some of it and we only realized it when Tyler saw one of the boxes said "Made in China."  Kind of a buzzkill.  They do have some pieces that are in fact made on site, but we decided not to buy anything after that and that our own pieces would make the best souvenirs :-) Here are our finished glasses:

As promised, some pictures from the drive up: