On Saturday 23rd June, I drove from Oslo to Lillehammer for the day. This account is partly an experiment to see how feasable it is to use my Zaurus PDA to keep a similar account of my upcoming two week tour of Norway.
The drive was uneventful, but quite pleasant. Nothing like the spectacular scenery of the Oslo-Bergen trip, but this meant I did'nt take hours and hours getting there by taking pictures every 500 yards. There was a cycle race on the road in the opposite direction. After every bunch of cyclists (it may not be strictly the correct collective noun, but they looked like a bunch) there was a huge queue of traffic waiting to get by. I counted myself lucky that the race hadn't been in the direction I was going. I arrived in Lillehammer Sentrum at about 2pm, and quickly found a car park.
I exited the car park and was greeted by a stream which ran down the hillside cascading over rocks and under a bridge and then under the car park. I set off in a random direction hoping that the car park wasn't too far out of town. I was soon in the middle of town - Lillehammer is not a big place - in a small square by the (as my guidebook acurately described it), "architecturally unique" art museum.
The sun had come out, and I was discovering that Lillehammer was a rather nice little town. I sat in the square and planned where I wanted to go, then set off in search of some lunch. I came across the main high street, which was refreshingly bereft of fast food franchises, and very colourful. In one direction was a small park with a fountain and a cafe with tables outside, overlooking the fjord and the hills beyond. I walked around this park eating the hot dog wrapped in a fajita that I had bought from a street vendor.
Down the high street in the other direction were the shops. The buildings were all painted in bright colours. The distant hills could be seen down the end of the road. A crowd had gathered to listen to a marching band, all dressed in white. I took in these sights and sounds as I made my way down the street.
I stopped in a place called, "Free CD Shop", but despite the name had to pay for the Live CD I bought. Having seen the high street, I set off for the Norsk Kjøretøy-Historisk Museum.
The museum was at the end of a narrow shopping arcade. Inside were all kinds of old cars, from the first car imported to Norway to the Norwegian built "Troll." I spent couple of hours in here looking at all the cars and imagining how uncomfortable some of them must have been to ride in.
Having had my fill of classic automobiles, I set off next for the ski jump. Lillehammer had hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics and thusly one could, according to the guidebook, visit the facility and ride on a chair lift to the top of the jump. Being fan of going to the top of high places I couldn't resist.
Consulting my map, I made my way away from the town and up the hill on foot. It then started to rain. The further I went, and the more effort it would have been to turn back, the harder it rained. (And the more I thought this was a bad idea.) By the time I made it to the start of the winding entrance road to the ski jump I was thoroughly soaked and convinced that I wasn't going to be riding in a chairlift today. I wasn't sure I wanted to be dangling from a wire high above a hillside in the pouring rain either. I took shelter under a tree and wondered about giving up, but it seemed so far back now that I might as well at least have a look at the place.
I was ultimately pleased with this decision. As I trudged to the top of the hill, the rain abruptly stopped, and the sun came out. There is a lesson here: Don't let the rain stop you from doing what you want because it might turn out fine in the end. And that works on so many levels too! I did get my ride on the chairlift, and it was great fun. I felt quite happy riding up the hillside with my legs dangling about 100 feet above the ground. The view over the town below was superb.
Once at the top I visited the ski jump tower. You can look down the jump ramp and out over the hills. Looking down that ramp I wondered what kind of courage (or madness) it would take to launch onesself down it for the first time - and I wrote the same sentiment in the visitor's book.
Having taken in the view, I went back down the hill, back to my car, and back to Oslo. On the way I found myself caught up in the cycle race which five hours later was still going on! Oh well - I'd had some good luck with the weather, I can't complain!