Matfestivalen

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This past weekend in Skien has been filled with festivities starting with a football game and monster truck show on Friday, food festival on Saturday and Sunday there was the 11 hour viewing on TV of the Henrik Ibsen boat leaving its port in Skien and traveling up the Telemark Canal, as well as a craft festival in the city.

We only went to the football game on Friday and the food festival on Saturday. Of course we couldn't miss a football game - that's no surprise. The food festival was fun and attracted many people in Skien. There were booths from tastes around the world - like Finland, Sudan, Thailand, Vietnam and Germany.

I tried svele while there. To the best of my explanation, it is a type of pancake, but more like an American pancake. Norwegian pancakes are thin, but American pancakes or as some people call them flapjacks are thicker and larger. Svele is similar to that. The svele we had at the festival was served with butter, sugar, a berry sauce and baked apples. YUM!!!

Odd Grenland and a very nice sunset. 

A statue in Skien to represent the city's
history with the logging industry. 

The food festival had a relaxation contest.
Welcome to Norway, right?
The key to this contest was to drink a cup of coffee, lie down and the
person with the lowest heart rate won. 

In the city center and enjoying a smoothie. 

As you can see, it was incredibly crowded here. 

Posing with Arild's friend and showing off svele - a type of pancake.

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