Summer Vacation 2017- Lillehammer and Sogndal

July 17 and 18

On the afternoon of the 17th, after touring Oslo and getting lunch, we headed to Lillehammer. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Olympics, and we stayed at a neat hotel at the bottom of the ski jump. We had time in the evening before dinner to explore the hotel grounds, and we had fun playing frisbee golf, checking out the sculptures in their sculpture garden, and taking a dip in the hot tub.

This was a sculpture that was more or less a colored mirror, so we took a funny photo of ourselves!

Wow, we're good at frisbee golf.

We had a lovely buffet dinner in the hotel. After dinner, Lindsay, Ben, and Dianna walked to the top of the ski jump. I was far too lazy to do that.

Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, it's bobsled time!

The morning of the 18th we got back in the coach and headed to Sogndal. Before we left Lillehammer, the bus took us up to the ski jump, and we got to play around a little bit there. Then, on the road!

Our first stop was at Lom, where we got a little tour of a stave church, which is the architectural style common in old Norway, but most have been torn down now.  The Lom church is mostly from the 1600's, but some parts are older, and some are newer. The guide told us they hold a church service there every 3 weeks, and they have 7 parishoners.

We ate lunch in Lom, and my parents and I enjoyed a Norwegian cafeteria. I loved the cafeterias there. Good food!

The Lom stave church

Back on the bus, and the next part of the trip was through mountain passes. I really enjoyed this part. I was surprised and grateful not to get car-sick (I got some motion sickness meds before I left the states), and so I was able to enjoy the beauty of the Norwegian mountains. We made several stops for us to get out, take pictures, and stretch our legs. The mountains were cold and snowy. They were were rocky, with no trees. There was clouds and mist. It was neat. Our coach driver was amazing, because those roads were narrow and full of sharp turns. Riding with Guyer was far less scary than riding on a school bus in the Honduran mountains. Doesn't come close.

At the top of the pass, it was about 40 degrees.

Lindsay dips her toe in a nearly frozen lake at the top of the pass.

Once we got down the mountains, we stopped for a break, and our guide, Birgitte, had a surprise for us. She gave us a snack of Norwegian goat cheese on crackers, with cranberry juice or a Norwegian alcohol called aquavit. The goat cheese was delicious!

Cheers!! Ben, Dianna, Lindsay, Me, Birgitte, and Guyer

We arrived in Sogndal in the evening, and Lindsay, Dianna, Ben, and I took a walk through town, which took about 10 minutes, because it is a very small town. Then I took a walk in the other direction with my mom, along the river that feeds into the fjord. We had dinner in the hotel, and went that night to buy groceries for lunch the next day.

In the morning we got back on the coach and headed to a nearby town to take our Fjord tour by boat!