Arild Nygard

This beautiful town in the southeastern part of Norway nestled in the bottom of the fjord it took its name from was a site for sore eyes when I reached there last winter. I had been away for 21 years. It was too long they told me and I guess they were right in that. A lot had changed since last time that is for sure. A lot of new buildings and modernization had happened. The big dry dock and shipyard was all gone. The dock had a ferry terminal connecting it with Sweden. This town that was once the high seat for the big whale hunting companies that opened it all up in the Antarctic was now bearing very little sign on the exterior that is was still a very active shipping community. The nature of shipping had changed so much that any direct link like the shipyard was no longer viable there. The cost of operation was simply too high for it to be competitive. Instead the owners had simply moved location of their business and just kept local offices intact. Oh yea, the old money was still there but more out of view nowadays. I remember as young boys we would go down to the docks and get some freshly caught shrimp that was cooked on the way into port. It was still warm and we would eat it right there on the docks with some fresh bread and mayonnaise. Man was that good. Once you had the real fresh stuff you will never forget the taste of it. Later on in my travel to Norway I realized that it was not just my hometown that had changed but I had also changed and so had the whole country of Norway. Even the language had changed. There was new words added to it all the time but it was still easy to understand, after all it was still my mother tongue.