After a long rest in Gjerdrum, I spent a day at Raavangbakken, the name of my family's hytte, at Espa, on the east side of Mjoesa, Norway's biggest lake. It used to be an old "husmannsplass", a small farm belonging to a bigger farm nearby - the people living there had to do virtual slave labour for no money for the bigger farm, in addition to running their own farm, in order to stay there. The feudal system survived for a surprisingly long time in Norway... My grandfather was born on a "husmannsplass", but eventually a law was passed that gave "husmenn" to right buy the farms they were "renting".

I love this place... the sunsets are amazing when seen from the huge balcony.

Seen from below. The building-projects never seem to stop - underneath the balcony...

... we are building a shower! An uncle, the brother of my grandfather and myself... feeling very manly, of course. A shower sounds a bit extravagant for a hytte, but bear in mind that there's no running water here - you have to heat the water on the stove in the kitchen, carry it outside and pour it into a big bucket, then an electric pump will give you two minutes of warm water at 14 liters per minute!

I spent a lovely evening here with my mum and dad, two uncles and an aunt, and my grandfather's brother. On Saturday I went back to Oslo, see Oslo I, but the travelogue continues, not quite chronologically, with my trip to the mountains a week later...

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