Great day at Lillehammer and Maihaugen Open-air museum...
8 am and Gudny texted me to let me know she was leaving home. That was my signal to get ready... only this time, I was actually already up. ;o)
The weather was overcast, but looked promising, since a few ray of sunshine were coming thru the clouds. And the temp wasn't bad either. So I was really looking forward to a day out with G.
She arrived at my place around 9.30, sat for about 10-15 minutes before we were on our way. The drive isn't that eventfull, but it's not that far either. We used about an hour and arrived at Lillehammer at exactly 11am. I was going to get a new jacket, and also needed to find a restroom, so we stopped at Strandtorget Mall. Found the restrooms first, and they had these nifty doorhandles with lights in them, that showed whether it was free or occupied.
Ok.. on to the sports store.. tried on a lot of different jackets, but none that I liked so we left and went to the mainstreet instead. We were getting hungry as well, so decided to find a jacket for me first then something eat. And so we did. The last sports equipment store on the street I found one I really felt comfy in.. yaaay. So we went looking for a place to eat and since it was a nice day, partialy clouded and good temps we wanted to sit outdoors.
As we walked back we found a place called "Oliven" or "the Olive" in English. It looked nice and I went inside first to order. I was first in line, placed my orders and went back out. Then Gudny went in to place her order and she had a bunch of people in front of her. In the mean while I waited to get my food. After about 30 -40 minutes it FINALLY came and Gudny got hers at the same time.
After the lousy meal we were craving for some icecream and headed over to an icecream parlor. Ooooh heaven.. it was sooo yummy after that non so good food. HAHAHA...
On we go.. off to Maihaugen, the Open-air museum...
Maihaugen is located only about 5 minutes drive from the center of Lillehammer, and is easy to find as there are plenty of signs to tell you where to drive. We parked at top/northern parking lot and had a bit of fun going the wrong way trying to get in. Your eyes are the first to go blind, and I guess we both had lost our sight for a while, since non of us saw the BIG sign saying Main entrance.
Anyway... we found our way, paid the entrance fee of 100NOK ($20) and went inside. Of course, the first thing we did was to find the restroom. Didn't want to have to go as we were walking around this huge area....
As we started on our tour, the first thing we noticed were these kids cart right outside the doors. And we wouldn't have been us if we didn't have some fun with them and shoot some pics... hahaha. ( don't think we'll ever grow up.. ;o))
We took our time walking around, looking at these amazing buildings from the 1700's. As all these buildings are autenthic and moved to the museum from all around the Gudbransdalen Valley, it gives you a great insight into how life must have been.
At this one farm, they had to have been very wealthy as the farm was huge. Even compared to todays standards.
And I'm always amazed at how well preserved these buildings are and how skilled they were at putting them up. You won't find equally great carpentry today and I bet that the houses buildt today will NOT last as long.
On our walk we came upon this old tractor and again we just had to goof around. Taking turns climbing and striking different poses on it. It was as fun as ever and we laughed at ourselves.
As we did a wee bit later when we had fun with this old horsewagon.
By now our walk around this amazing place was almost over. The only part left was the town. The stores and buildings are equally well preserved as the rest of the buildings here, and it was fun to see how it used to look like. They even had one store open, that we only peeked inside and shot some pics. At the end of the street they have the post office. They show the history of postal service for the past 100 years. It was real cool to see how the post men dressed a 100 years ago and also that they actually had to arm themselves due to bandits.
And the "America Letter"... so many emigrated to the States and sent letters home to those who were left behind. Must have been real hard to see their loved ones sail off to a foreign land they had only heard of.
To be continued....
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It's a great opportunity to explore how people lived, how the arcitecture was and how the life has changed since the 1700's.
I had a blast walking around seeing the old buildings and how life used to be 300 years ago. This one farm was moved from Våga in Gudbrandsdalen Valley, and was buildt in 1732. It was placed in the exact same shape as it originally was. Amazing....
It's well worth a visit if you're in the Lillehammer area.
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