A short pub story...

The owner has taken his own bear photos that decorate the walls of the pub. The 500 piece wooden mural and the special yellow and red cedar as well as the rockworks are all done by him.

By the entrance stands a Viking Rune Stone showing his Norwegian heritage with writing in Runes. Stroll around the pub and you will find trolls and ravens in murals and pictures throughout the pub.

With the extensive natural west coast décor and relaxed atmosphere, our 36 staff members will do their best to make you feel good about the place and the unique scenic view you can enjoy from the patio. We are very proud of our friendly staff, and with the quality of the food and the unique atmosphere, you will find this neighbourhood pub a very special place to visit.

THE RUNE STONE

Made to order a thousand years after the Norwegian Vikings first set foot in Canada, it tells a story the same way the Vikings would have bragged about their adventures. You might want to brush up on your knowledge of Runes, Icelandic, and Norwegian dialect from Tornes before you read it, but some English is also in there. Inside the entrance to the pub is a short description of this special granite rock, that both the Viking gods of Odin and Thor are part of. Did you know that 4 out of 7 days in the week comes from the name of the Vikings Gods? For example Thursday comes from the name Thor.

A rune stone is like a stone book where the Vikings would write down their adventures and stories. They where written in the lettering of “Runes” on the rocks, and many of these rocks still exist in Scandinavia. However the more common writing on wood is now perished with the wood.

NORWEGIAN TROLLS

Nisser and Trolls are all trough the pub, including in the wooden mural. From the growing up on a farm on the west coast of Norway near the town of Molde, the owner was a strong believer of these underworld creatures that would be expected to show up, especially on a dark and stormy night. As a kid in the darkness of winter, the trip to the outhouse in the barn, would be a very scary, and short adventure. But then again you would have the friendly Nisser that would look after the cows in the barn. How could you not believe in those when every Christmas they would eat all the porridge you set out to them? Now are you saying that trolls do not exist? Go out by yourself in the forest on a dark and stormy night in the middle of the winter, bring no flashlight or other worldly things, and you will soon become a believer!

More about trolls: Some trolls were believed to be giants as the mountains. In fact a lot of mountains in Norway have their names from trolls. Trolls are firmly embedded in the Norwegian language and expressions and you certainly do not want to be call a “Trollkjerring”! They were shaggy and rough-haired, with trees and moss-like growth on their heads and noses, their noses were long and they would stir with it when cooking broth or porridge. Some even had two or three heads, some only had one eye in the middle of their foreheads. Their features differed from humans with four fingers and four toes and a long tail to boot. The trolls lived to be hundreds of years old, but would die and turn into stone if the sun caught them. They might have looked frightening, but were actually often good natured and terribly naive, so sly peasants would successfully trick them. Their supernatural powers consisted among others of transforming themselves, for instance into beautiful young ladies. Many hunters and farmers were such lured into the mountains and captured, but the trolls could never hide their tails, if you only could get to see them from behind you would know if the captivating creature was a troll or just a beautiful country girl.

BEARS AND BEERS

To know the west coast you must know the bears. The Bear Photos, raven and deer pictures are all done by the owner. Look at the natural red cedar frame work on the photos, they are all as nature made them. As a back country hiker and skier, it was only natural to add what Europe does not have, the great wildlife of the west coast. Many of us can just look at our crippled apple trees, to be reminded of when the bears beat us again at the timing of the ripening fruits. We are blessed with our wildlife and it is there to enjoy for all of us. Bears love Beers, and especially our Irish Kilkenny and Guinness on tap is an attractant that is hard to hide from them, so drop by and enjoy our Bears and Beers, we are proud of both.