Lillehammer is a very small town of only about 25,000 people. And yet, they successfully hosted
the 1994 Winter Olympics. We stayed at the Rica Victoria Hotel, just a block from the main
pedestrian thoroughfare in the middle of town where most of the shops are.
 The trip iteneray first took us to Oslo, the capital of Norway. We had one full day of sightseeing before we had to head out to Lillehammer the next day. We spent much of the day in Oslo in what one might call the museum district, where we packed in no less than five museums and a sculpture park. A couple of Oslo bus and train drivers made sure that we did not end up on the wrong side of town. |
 We're not certain if Norway is always icy, but the sidewalks were very icy on our trip. City workers do spread gravel onto the sheets of ice, but for those unused to walking on such a surface (that means us!) the going can be tricky. While we strolled like babies learning to walk in the park some Norwegians sped past on their morning JOG. |
 The first photos are of Vigeland Park, famous for its sculptures of people in all stages of life, exhibiting a wide range of emotions and engaging in various activities. All of the statues in the park are nudes, but they are quite varied subject matter. Even this iron gate includes nudes. |
 The monolith is the centerpiece of Vigeland Park. The bodies that make up the monolith are arranged in a specific order. Deceased lay at the base beneath the elderly, adults and finally the young at the pinnacle, representing the progression of life. |
 Looking from the base of the monolith to a sculpture in the distance. The include visible and the steps in the middle were far too icy to be used. We found an alternative route, that while icy, was not as steep. |
 Here I am standing in front of a circle of bodies at the top of the incline in the previous photo. Had Penny stepped back a little further she might very well have slid to the bottom of the hill. |
 The view from the circular sculpture looking back towards the monolith and the center of the park. |
 Penny made me take this picture of a crossing sign. This was just outside of Vigeland Park. Since most Norwegians speak a bit of English, they have to know what it says. |
 Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerhahl made numerous expeditions to prove the ability of ancient people's to span the oceans. His Kon-Tiki and Ra rafts are on display at the Kon-Tiki Museum. Pictured here is the Ra2 raft, which sought to prove that the papyrus rafts made by Egyptians could have reached the Americas. |
 Norwegian's are famous for their polar explorations. The Fram Museum includes the entire 19th Century exploration ship of the same name. The ship's unique hull design was shaped to lift up in winter pack ice and prevent crushing of the hull. |
 Here's Penny walking along the balcony that surrounds the ship. A small plank allows visitors to board the ship and even go down below decks. Norwegian kids seemed to love running around on the wooden deck, which made quite a racket below. Judging from the size of the doors and bunks below deck one can assume that the average height of people has grown in the last 100 years. Penny almost had to duck! |
 Here's Penny at the helm of the Fram. Penny would probably tell you that the thing she most remembers about this museum was that it was cold. Not just chilly. It was FREEZING COLD. Colder than outside and that's no exaggeration. We could not determine if this was meant to be a learning tool to illustrate how cold it can get in the Arctic Circle. If so, we got the picture. |
 A view of downtown Oslo from the Norwgian Martime Museum. While not completely frozen over, note that the fjord consisted of ice blocks and ice slush. Penny noted that ducks and sea gulls had difficulty moving through the slush, but they managed. |
 An island in the Oslo Fjord just south of the city. Several islands lie south of the city and are serviced by ferries, some only in the summer. |
 The last museum of the day in Oslo for us was the Viking Ship Museum. We almost missed this one because I had us going in the wrong direction on the bus. Noticing my confused look as we got off at the wrong stop, the bus driver got us back onto the bus and delivered us where we wanted to go. |
 The ships here were all used as burial ships for prominent leaders. Since the ships are about 60-70 feet long and quite massive, it's fairly obvious that they took the person's death seriously. This is no average casket. The 2 largest ships in the museum date from the 9th century AD, before Norway officially adopted Christianity. |
 Another shot of one of the viking ships showing their distinctive shape. This and the other museums that we visited in Oslo were situated on a peninsula to the west of downtown. Except for the museums here there are mostly just a large number of well-to-do houses (it's an upscale neighborhood by Norwegian standards). Farther north there is even some land that houses the stables of the Norwegian Royal family. The main barn, complete with royal emblum, could be seen from the bus as it passed by. |
 The bus taking us from Oslo to Lillehammer farther inland did not leave until 10:00 AM. Since we were still somewhat attuned to Central time waking up early was not a problem. After breakfast Penny and I decided to walk around downtown. The problem with this in Oslo this time of year is that the Sun does really rise until 9:30 and even then does not clear the horizon enough for good photos until later. So I tried this shot with a flash of a statue in front of the national theater. |
 When we got into Lillehammer our group was told that everyone's room was ready but one. Of course, that was ours! We decided to make the best of it and walk around town until the room was finished being cleaned. We were happy to find that the main pedestrian thoroughfare was just a block from the hotel. This mall of shops was a common photo op during the Olympics, but it was far less crowded during our visit. |
 Lillehammer only has about 25,000 inhabitants. When awarded the 1994 winter Olympics many people had to scramble to find the city on a map since few had heard of it. Here's a photo of a church in Lillehammer just a few blocks from our hotel. |
 Another shot of the church at the center of town. We tried to go inside but the building was locked. We also almost slipped on the sidewalks around it which had not been graveled. Is graveled a word? |
 This is Mesna creek that ran though town and right next to our hotel. Though much of it was frozen there was still some water running during our visit. |
 Lillehammer is near 4 ski areas. The closest is Hafjell, which was the site of some Olympic events in 1994. For the Olympics a torch carrying Olympian was cut into a hill, which you can see here. |
 The mountains around Lillehammer are low compared to those in Colorado and other western states. The top of Hafjell sits near 3,000 feet above sea level, up to 10,000 feet below some of the higher resorts in the US. We found out that this means a skier is less likely to get winded due to high altitude. |
 The main skiing gang. From left to right, Penny, Ken, Marsha, Noriko. This was the core of group we skied with 2 out of three days. We all skiied well together, neither too fast, nor too slow and just the right level of difficulty. We skiied at Hafjell for 2 days. Penny and I skied at Skeikampen on our third day. Skeikampen was a smaller resort, but in a portion of the valley that received much more snow. Many of the mountain tops in that area were totally treeless and completely snow covered. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on that day. |
 Penny and I took one day off from skiing to tour the area around Lillehammer. The first stop was to the town of Hamar, south of Oslo and the Hedmarksmuseet, which features the ruins of the Hamar Cathedral. The Cathedral was one of the most important in Norway when constructed in the 1100's. |
 Hamar's importance was already in decline when it was burned in 1567. At the time Swedish troops were heading back to Sweden after failing to capture Oslo. Here, Penny stands below one of the cathedral's arches. |
 After the cathedral was burned the stone crumbled away under the harsh weather. For years the ruins were kept under a tarpaulin until funds could be raised for a more permanent solution. That solution came in the form of an all-glass enclosure that you can see here. The top of the A-frame of the enclosure also happens to match the historical height of the original cathedral. |
 Here's the guide that told us about the Cathedral. She's holding a picture of what the cathedral looked like before it was destroyed. She's apparently a competitive skier when not giving tours. |
 Here I am standing under one of the other arches. The museum is actually closed for the winter, but they opened it temporarily for our tour group. |
 A closeup of the alter in the cathedral. Church services are once again being held here, though there are no plans to rebuild the structure. According to our guide, this is for the best, since we can use our imaginations to picture what the original church was really like. |
 A view from the cathedral looking out over Lake Mjosa (the letter "o" should have a slash in it to make it properly formed in Norwegian), the largest in Norway. The cathedral sits on a small peninsula looking out over the lake, which must had made it a spectacular sight in its day. |
 Here's Penny standing next to the speed skating surface in the Viking Ship arena. This building was the scene of Olympic speed skating in the 1994 games. The design of the building resembles a viking ship turned upside down and embedded into the ground. |
 This is the same arena in which Dan Jansen of the US finally overcame a history of disappointment to win a gold medal in the final Olympic race of his career. A 500m specialist, he was not expected to medal in the 1000m race, but he went on to stun everyone by setting a then World Record in the event. |
 Throughout our stay in Norway it did not snow. There was enough on the ground to make the skiing good, but a little more snow would have made it great. Alas, we got none, until the morning when we were set to leave the country. Here's a shot of our hotel with the bus that would take us to the airport. The weather pattern that brought this snow would also delay us in Amsterdam and cause us to get to Austin a day later than expected. |
The trip iteneray first took us to Oslo, the capital of Norway. We had one full day of sightseeing before we had to head out to Lillehammer the next day. We spent much of the day in Oslo in what one might call the museum district, where we packed in no less than five museums and a sculpture park. A couple of Oslo bus and train drivers made sure that we did not end up on the wrong side of town.
We're not certain if Norway is always icy, but the sidewalks were very icy on our trip. City workers do spread gravel onto the sheets of ice, but for those unused to walking on such a surface (that means us!) the going can be tricky. While we strolled like babies learning to walk in the park some Norwegians sped past on their morning JOG. 
The first photos are of Vigeland Park, famous for its sculptures of people in all stages of life, exhibiting a wide range of emotions and engaging in various activities. All of the statues in the park are nudes, but they are quite varied subject matter. Even this iron gate includes nudes.
The monolith is the centerpiece of Vigeland Park. The bodies that make up the monolith are arranged in a specific order. Deceased lay at the base beneath the elderly, adults and finally the young at the pinnacle, representing the progression of life.
Looking from the base of the monolith to a sculpture in the distance. The include visible and the steps in the middle were far too icy to be used. We found an alternative route, that while icy, was not as steep.
Here I am standing in front of a circle of bodies at the top of the incline in the previous photo. Had Penny stepped back a little further she might very well have slid to the bottom of the hill.
The view from the circular sculpture looking back towards the monolith and the center of the park.
Penny made me take this picture of a crossing sign. This was just outside of Vigeland Park. Since most Norwegians speak a bit of English, they have to know what it says.
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerhahl made numerous expeditions to prove the ability of ancient people's to span the oceans. His Kon-Tiki and Ra rafts are on display at the Kon-Tiki Museum. Pictured here is the Ra2 raft, which sought to prove that the papyrus rafts made by Egyptians could have reached the Americas.
Norwegian's are famous for their polar explorations. The Fram Museum includes the entire 19th Century exploration ship of the same name. The ship's unique hull design was shaped to lift up in winter pack ice and prevent crushing of the hull.
Here's Penny walking along the balcony that surrounds the ship. A small plank allows visitors to board the ship and even go down below decks. Norwegian kids seemed to love running around on the wooden deck, which made quite a racket below. Judging from the size of the doors and bunks below deck one can assume that the average height of people has grown in the last 100 years. Penny almost had to duck!
Here's Penny at the helm of the Fram. Penny would probably tell you that the thing she most remembers about this museum was that it was cold. Not just chilly. It was FREEZING COLD. Colder than outside and that's no exaggeration. We could not determine if this was meant to be a learning tool to illustrate how cold it can get in the Arctic Circle. If so, we got the picture.
A view of downtown Oslo from the Norwgian Martime Museum. While not completely frozen over, note that the fjord consisted of ice blocks and ice slush. Penny noted that ducks and sea gulls had difficulty moving through the slush, but they managed.
An island in the Oslo Fjord just south of the city. Several islands lie south of the city and are serviced by ferries, some only in the summer.
The last museum of the day in Oslo for us was the Viking Ship Museum. We almost missed this one because I had us going in the wrong direction on the bus. Noticing my confused look as we got off at the wrong stop, the bus driver got us back onto the bus and delivered us where we wanted to go.
The ships here were all used as burial ships for prominent leaders. Since the ships are about 60-70 feet long and quite massive, it's fairly obvious that they took the person's death seriously. This is no average casket. The 2 largest ships in the museum date from the 9th century AD, before Norway officially adopted Christianity.
Another shot of one of the viking ships showing their distinctive shape. This and the other museums that we visited in Oslo were situated on a peninsula to the west of downtown. Except for the museums here there are mostly just a large number of well-to-do houses (it's an upscale neighborhood by Norwegian standards). Farther north there is even some land that houses the stables of the Norwegian Royal family. The main barn, complete with royal emblum, could be seen from the bus as it passed by.
The bus taking us from Oslo to Lillehammer farther inland did not leave until 10:00 AM. Since we were still somewhat attuned to Central time waking up early was not a problem. After breakfast Penny and I decided to walk around downtown. The problem with this in Oslo this time of year is that the Sun does really rise until 9:30 and even then does not clear the horizon enough for good photos until later. So I tried this shot with a flash of a statue in front of the national theater.
When we got into Lillehammer our group was told that everyone's room was ready but one. Of course, that was ours! We decided to make the best of it and walk around town until the room was finished being cleaned. We were happy to find that the main pedestrian thoroughfare was just a block from the hotel. This mall of shops was a common photo op during the Olympics, but it was far less crowded during our visit.
Lillehammer only has about 25,000 inhabitants. When awarded the 1994 winter Olympics many people had to scramble to find the city on a map since few had heard of it. Here's a photo of a church in Lillehammer just a few blocks from our hotel.
Another shot of the church at the center of town. We tried to go inside but the building was locked. We also almost slipped on the sidewalks around it which had not been graveled. Is graveled a word?
This is Mesna creek that ran though town and right next to our hotel. Though much of it was frozen there was still some water running during our visit.
Lillehammer is near 4 ski areas. The closest is Hafjell, which was the site of some Olympic events in 1994. For the Olympics a torch carrying Olympian was cut into a hill, which you can see here.
The mountains around Lillehammer are low compared to those in Colorado and other western states. The top of Hafjell sits near 3,000 feet above sea level, up to 10,000 feet below some of the higher resorts in the US. We found out that this means a skier is less likely to get winded due to high altitude.
The main skiing gang. From left to right, Penny, Ken, Marsha, Noriko. This was the core of group we skied with 2 out of three days. We all skiied well together, neither too fast, nor too slow and just the right level of difficulty. We skiied at Hafjell for 2 days. Penny and I skied at Skeikampen on our third day. Skeikampen was a smaller resort, but in a portion of the valley that received much more snow. Many of the mountain tops in that area were totally treeless and completely snow covered. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on that day.
Penny and I took one day off from skiing to tour the area around Lillehammer. The first stop was to the town of Hamar, south of Oslo and the Hedmarksmuseet, which features the ruins of the Hamar Cathedral. The Cathedral was one of the most important in Norway when constructed in the 1100's.
Hamar's importance was already in decline when it was burned in 1567. At the time Swedish troops were heading back to Sweden after failing to capture Oslo. Here, Penny stands below one of the cathedral's arches.
After the cathedral was burned the stone crumbled away under the harsh weather. For years the ruins were kept under a tarpaulin until funds could be raised for a more permanent solution. That solution came in the form of an all-glass enclosure that you can see here. The top of the A-frame of the enclosure also happens to match the historical height of the original cathedral.
Here's the guide that told us about the Cathedral. She's holding a picture of what the cathedral looked like before it was destroyed. She's apparently a competitive skier when not giving tours.
Here I am standing under one of the other arches. The museum is actually closed for the winter, but they opened it temporarily for our tour group.
A closeup of the alter in the cathedral. Church services are once again being held here, though there are no plans to rebuild the structure. According to our guide, this is for the best, since we can use our imaginations to picture what the original church was really like.
A view from the cathedral looking out over Lake Mjosa (the letter "o" should have a slash in it to make it properly formed in Norwegian), the largest in Norway. The cathedral sits on a small peninsula looking out over the lake, which must had made it a spectacular sight in its day.
Here's Penny standing next to the speed skating surface in the Viking Ship arena. This building was the scene of Olympic speed skating in the 1994 games. The design of the building resembles a viking ship turned upside down and embedded into the ground.
This is the same arena in which Dan Jansen of the US finally overcame a history of disappointment to win a gold medal in the final Olympic race of his career. A 500m specialist, he was not expected to medal in the 1000m race, but he went on to stun everyone by setting a then World Record in the event.
Throughout our stay in Norway it did not snow. There was enough on the ground to make the skiing good, but a little more snow would have made it great. Alas, we got none, until the morning when we were set to leave the country. Here's a shot of our hotel with the bus that would take us to the airport. The weather pattern that brought this snow would also delay us in Amsterdam and cause us to get to Austin a day later than expected.