A lot of great guesses to where Gumbo was, even placing him in Norway, but this week Gumbo remained elusive.
Gumbo was at the beautiful Brekkeparken in Skien, Norway. It’s a 36-acre open-air museum that has 14 preserved farm buildings that were moved there from across Telemark County. The oldest is an open-hearth cottage which dates back to the 14th century.
Brekkeparken surrounds the Søndre Brekke estate, which is a museum now. From the museum café, you can see the center of Skien, the Skienselva river and the famous Telemark Canal.
The park is for all the citizens of Skien and is open throughout the summer months. Brekkeparken is renowned for its magnificent floral displays and has about 27,000 tulips.
I really enjoyed the park and the city of Skien. Skien is one of Norway’s oldest cities and the main terminus for the Telemark Canal. Although you get very few North Americans going there, Skien is quite popular with Norwegians and other Europeans going to take a boat ride on the Telemark. And the Telemark Canal, deserves all its hype. One note: when visiting Skien, be prepared to walk up a lot of hills and take plenty of stairs. And I’d also suggest you visit in the summer because a lot attractions are only open during the summer months
