how to mark Carl Barks' 103th birthday

[Lunnan & Hjort]

March 27, 2004: Barks' 103th birthday. How to spend it?
How to mark the occasion? 

Well: you might consider going to Tralla La, or a decent copy
thereof. Such a tour is in fact being organised, by Norwegian
Donaldists Tor Ødemark and Torill Hylland. The "Tralla La"
in question is the valley between Stalheim and Gudvangen,
on the west coast of Norway. Hylland appears to be the owner
of Gudvangen Fjordhotel, and she has tried to make her hotel,
and its vicinity, have resemblances to the famous Tralla La valley.
(And two of her cooks have been picked from Neuschwanstein
in southern Germany; there lies the castle that reportedly gave 
Walt Disney the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle of 
Disneyland.) 

The tour is (apparently) open to everyone worthy of the "Donaldist" 
or "Barksist" label. The tour involves: 

* Friday 26th: Bus from Oslo to Gudvangen, ultra-scenic ride.
      Various Barksian events at night.
* Saturday 27th: Excursion costs 10 bottlecaps. Boattrip to the 
      famous & scenic Flåm. More Tralla La events. Dinner with
      speeches and lectures (?).
* Sunday 28th: Long breakfast, more seminars (?). Then bus 
      to Oslo at 13:00. 

The total price, for bus Oslo - Gudvangen and back, two nights, 
dinners and lunches and breakfasts, according to the invitation 
I got in the mail today, is NOK 950 (about Euro 120; quite a 
reasonable price, I'd say, for Norway; a similar weekend with 
ordinary hotel prices would easily cost the double). 

Tor Ødemark has been an active Barksist and comics fan for a 
number of years. He has published articles in various fan-magazines, 
and once in the mid-1980ies (?) he went to Oregon to meet Barks, 
the whole thing covered in the press. 

If you are interested, you may contact Mr Ødemark at tor at nortur.no ,
or telephone (+47) 22 80 37 30. 

Nils Lid Hjort 

PS: I am simply reporting the basic facts of the invitation I received
today, and have nothing to do with either TØ or the arrangement! 
I do assume that it is ok for me to report on this event on the DCML,
as the organisers ask us to make it "more public", and to mention this
to persons that they might have "forgotten". While this is geared mostly
towards the vaguely defined crowd of "Norwegian Barks fans who 
might have known Tor Ødemark 10-20-30 years ago", it is clear that
also people outside this core segment will be welcomed. I notice that
both Don Rosa and Marco Rota are on the invitees list. -- This list is
a bit "pre industrial revolution", dating essentially to the pre-email 
and pre-DCML days, I observe; there are arguably "famous present 
names" not on the list, etc.