On Wednesday we arrived at our new host club Franklin Rotary Club. Our first stop was at the Mammot Cave where we took the amazing frozen Niagara tour. In the afternoon we all met our new host families, and we were all very pleased to once again find the hosts to be a perfect match for each and one of us.
On Thursday we started up with a visit at the Harmon/Becker Plant where they produce speakers and audio equipment for cars. We all enjoyed this well structured plant, and were very impressed with their exceptional health care system. Next we visited Quebecor World Plant, a large scale printing company, very interesting! After lunch we toured the Corvette Museum, all getting carried away and quarrelling about which one of us should be able to take the ZR-1 2009 model back home to Norway (ignoring the fact that most of us already are pushing the limit of luggage allowance). Our day concluded with a visit at The Medical Centre in Bowling Green. We all got a chance to experience Heidi getting carried away in the laboratory, and appreciated the Director taking time to guiding us for 2,5 hrs.
Friday started with a visit to Simpson Elementary School. Here we all enjoyed the enthusiastic pupils, and we also met up with Gary, one of the members of the Kentucky GSE visiting Norway in March. Next we toured the New Mathers Metal Plant, where they produce stabilizers for 4×4 cars. Fascinating precision! At lunch time we presented our team and District for our new friends at the Franklin RC. After lunch we visited Meredith and Don Halcomb’s 5000 acre farm, Walnut Grove, where we were introduced to variety trials, large machinery and interesting new crops. We also visited their feed mill in Schochoh. In the evening Wallace and Jane treated us and our host families with a royal dinner, and we thanked them all with entertainment and a taste of our lovely Aquavit.
On Saturday we all went to Nasville! We started off with the Opry Mills huge shopping mall, all taking the scheduled shopping seriously. We then toured the Opryland Hotel, amazing us with their extravagant decorations, consisting of no more then three enormous indoor gardens. Most of us still inn shopping mode we all found it hard to keep the time table, but eventually we found our way to one of the best restaurant in Nashville were Heidi and Marius treated them selves with an out of this world fantastic lobster soup. The rest of us not envious at all… Next the highlight of our tour: Saturday nights Grand Ole Opry Show with some of the greatest country stars on the stage! We finished off our night in Nasville in the Second Fiddler with a live country band!
We all send our hartfelt thanks to our host families and members of the Franklin Rotary Club, making our stay with you an unforgettable experience!
Gallery from Franklin:
Marius, Aina, Heidi, Sissel, and Egil,
By now, hopefully, you have had some rest at Lake Barkley Lodge and ready for the remainder of your journey to see more of our beautiful state of Kentucky and visit other Rotary Clubs in our District.
I wanted to tell you what a pleasure it was to be a host and accompany you on your visit. Each one of you are excellent ambassadors of your country and are to be commended on how well you represent yourself and your country. The program you presented at Rotary was outstanding, informative, and at the same time gave us more personal information about each of you.
We love your enthusiasm, sense of humor, and patriotism. I will never forget the parade in front of our home on May 17th–your Independence Day.
Jane and I loved having you in our home for the farewell dinner and hope some day you will come again for a visit. You are always welcome.
Have fun on the rest of your journey and hopefully our paths will cross again someday.
Till we meet again,
Wallace Herndon
By: Wallace Herndon on May 19, 2009
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