Lillehammer

A friend from my program and I went to Lillehammer.  I had promised myself I'd make it to that former Olympic city while in Norway this summer, and once the Beijing games started, how could I not?

We took the train, which was supposed to be just over 2 hours to Lillehammer.  Only, two stops before Lillehammer they told us we had to get out of the train b/c of a signal failure, and that a taxi would take us the rest of the way.  Luckily there were only about 20 people left on the train so we went in two maxi-taxis.  The ride cost about 1700 kroner.  Taxis are just not the way to get around Norway -- the ride from the Oslo airport to the city ends up converting to about $150-200.  needless to say, this was *not* a cheap ride to Lillehammer.   good thing we didn't have to pay!

We walked around Lillehammer a bit, which is a cute little town.  It must have been amazing during the '94 winter games!  We then walked to the Olympic museum, which is in one of the arenas built for the games.  There is a short film about the Lillehammer games.  Then there is a history exhibit from ancient Olympia and then every modern Olympic games.  On the top concourse there is more history from the Lillehammer games, including clips from the events and lots of artifacts.

Then we talked up the mountain a bit to the ski jump venue, which was also the site of the opening ceremony.  From 10:00 a.m. to noon, and again from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. someone goes down the ski jump, even in the summer (albeit without snow).   What a cool summer job would that be?  "Hi, I go down the ski jump once every 10 minutes for four hours a day."  I really can't wait to see a proper ski jump event with snow!  We then took the chairlift up to the top of the ski jump (there are two -- 90 m and 120 m).  The view of the city, the lake, and all the surrounding areas was amazing.  We then walked down the ski jump (stairs) and the mountain.  my legs are most definitely sore today.

Sadly, everything in Lillehammer closes at 5 pm, so after a little bit more perusing of the town.  You can definitely purchase a lot of athletic or winter sport clothing.  You can also buy a cheese slicer.  Did you know that the standard cheese slicer that most people know was actually created in Lillehammer?  amazing!

What a great little trip on my last full day in Norway!