Laurel:
Yes, it is indeed I. But just to clear something
up, I am not technically "from" Norway. I was born and raised in
Montana, moved to Norway from Seattle, lived there apprx. 10 years before I
moved here to Israel, where I have been residing for the past 5 years. At any
rate, regarding the statue. It is, in fact, still in Ålesund. It stands in
the city's Municipal Park ("Byparken"). The Ålesund tourist
bureau says of the Municipal Park: "The Municipal Park
(Byparken) contains a statue of Rollo, a gift from the city of Rouen in 1911:
This viking chieftain is believed to come from the island of Giske near
Ålesund, and he is attributed the honour of founding the Duchy of Normandy
in 911, thus being the ancestor of Wilhelm the Conqueror. The park also has a
stone monument of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II who made major contributions to
the rebuilding of Ålesund after the Great Fire in 1904."
It might also interest you
to note that the Norwegians do not use the name "Rollo" for this
viking. They use the name "Gangerolv".
Also, if you want to search some data bases at the
Ålesund College to see if you might be able to find some additional info
on Rollo/Gangerolv, try this web site and click to see the English
version:
Hope you and everyone on the list are doing well
these days. I must get busy - still working on that book I've been translating
from Norwegian to English.
My best to you always,
Kristin A. Hussein
Taurus International Word Processing Service
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