20 May, 2023

Another brilliant day forecast to be 20 Deg C. with 6 overnight. We decide to see the sights today so that we can dedicate tomorrow to booking accommodation for our Northern European trip later this year.

Lillehammer’s Maihaugen, with close to 200 buildings, is one of Northern Europe’s largest open-air museums. Anders Sandvig, its founder, collected from old houses and farmyards within Gudbrandsdalen to provide a sample of Norwegian culture and history in a museum.

HIs backyard collection grew to the point where in 1904 the city set aside an area already known as Maihaugen, bought Sandvig’s collection and established the Sandvig Collections (Sandvigske Samlinger) there.

As we drove into Lillehammer yesterday we could see the twin ski jumps on the hill behind the town. We drive to the top of the jumps and discover a commanding view over the town, lake and the hillsides opposite.

Lysgardsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena opened in 1993 for the 1994 Winter Olympics where it hosted the ski jumping and Nordic combined events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

The venue sees 80,000 annual jumps in the winter and 20,000 in the summer season.

As we drive out of town we see numerous people training for cross country skiing using their summer equipment.

We drive 18 km north to the Hunderfossen Amusement Park on Gudbrandsdalslagen (lake) which featured in one of the episodes of “Lilyhammer” (Season 1, Episode 8: “Trolls”). The park is one of Norway’s biggest tourist attractions, with over 275,000 visitors each summer. Founded in 1984, the park currently has more than 60 attractions with many of the rides and attractions themed after or inspired by Norwegian folktales by Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe – including trolls.

Next we drive 35 minutes south then east to another lake, Nord Mesna, The return route on the other side of the lake, essentially a logging road, provides a far better view of the lake below.

As we are driving by Hakons Hall on the way back to the hotel, we stop to check it out.

It is the largest handball and ice hockey venue in the country with a spectator capacity of 11,500 people.

The Hall is regularly used for handball and ice hockey tournaments, concerts, exhibitions, conferences and banquets.

After we return to our hotel I finally have to fix the settings on Lynn’s phone camera to stop her complaining that the camera won’t work properly when she has to take quick photos. Since it is the identical phone as mine it has to be either a user issue or she has stuffed up the settings. It is quite easy to reset but while testing the camera she has to stick her finger in.

This afternoon we walk around the town checking out the different styles of architecture that sit cheek by jowl in the town.

There have likely been settlements at Lillehammer since the Iron Age and the village is mentioned in the Old Norse sagas as Litlikaupangr – “Little Trading Place”. It is also mentioned as a site for Thing assembly (local government) in 1390.

The village was granted market town rights in 1827. The whole valley was a major transportation route from the capital to northern Norway for the passage of timber and agricultural products.

The town centre is a late nineteenth-century concentration of wooden houses and stately buildings interspersed with modern designs.

Kulturhuset Banken was built in 1895 as premises for Lillehammer Sparebank inspired by the Italian Renaissance. The building also contained a festivity venue for the city of Lillehammer and served, among other things, as a courtroom during the treason settlement after WWII. Today it has a concert hall and several smaller halls that are used for cultural purposes.

The museum was founded in 1921 as a gift from merchant Einar Lunde. The museum has two parts: the building designed by architect Erling Viksjo completed in 1963. The newer building (Flygelet) designed by the architecture firm Snohetta and opened in 1992. During the 1994 Winter Olympics this building served as the main venue for cultural activities.

Our hotel, known as the Art Hotel Breiseth, was established in 1898 by Thora Breiseth and is one of the oldest hotels in the city. In the early 20th century the hotel was associated with the Lillehammer Painters. Many of the painters paid for their stay with their own artworks. Fredrik Collett, Thorvald Erichsen, Lars Jorde and Alf Lundeby are among the painters that stayed here.

21 May, 2023

Although it is a beautiful day outside today we have to get started on our Northern European hotel bookings. We did have a very leisurely breakfast but by 3:00 pm we did manage to finalise a number of bookings which took all day. We still have lots to do so hopefully we have a quiet day during our next stay at Sunde.

I am starting to dislike the low quality yet expensive food in Norway so we hunt out a Chinese Restaurant for dinner tonight. Hopefully it is better than our experience with Chinese food in Gothenburg.

22 May, 2023

It’s time to move on. Today we are heading for a small village named Sunde which is about 10 minutes’ drive south of Alesund.

Our journey will take us on a 5 hour north-westerly route. We start out at 9:45 am after filling the tank. It’s 21 deg. C.

Taking the E6 on the valley floor we follow the Gudbrandsdalslagen past the towns of Sjoa, Otta to Dumfoss where we turn onto the E136 – surprisingly still following the Gudbrandsdalslagen until we reach Lora.

When we reach Bjorli we follow the Rauma River which is a torrent. So far we have been driving through farmland with the odd town, ski resort pine forest harvesting and road/bridge construction.

The broad valley that we have been driving through for several hours becomes quite narrow. And the snow-capped mountains that we saw in the distance at the beginning of our journey gradually become closer.

The steep, rocky mountain sides have multiple water falls cascading down their sides. Reminds us a bit of our trip to Milford Sound.

The mountain peaks become quite high and jagged.

Our original plan was to drive the Trollstigen Pass on Highway 63 through to Sylte but it seems that the pass won’t be open for another couple of weeks as the snow hasn’t melted enough yet.

Still, we plan to go to the start of Highway 63 to check that it is indeed still closed. Apparently it is quite a fantastic drive with great vistas. Yep, it’s still closed.

This is the view that we should have seen today.

Instead, we get to see a troll.

At Andalsnes we follow the Romsdalsfjord until we turn left onto the E39 at Moa and drive south to Sunde.

The Sunde Fjord Hotel is about 18 km from Alesund and is next door to the Solevagen E39 ferry.

It is surrounded by fjords and has views of snow-capped mountains: Storfjorden, Hjorundfjorden and the Summnorsalps.

Luckily the hotel has a small restaurant so once we unpack we won’t be moving again until tomorrow. Instead we’ll sit on our balcony – probably wrapped in the blankets provided as it’s now 12 Deg. C – and take in the view until after sunset which won’t be until 11:45 pm!

After a couple of weeks of clear blue skies we may be in for some cloudy days so it may be a catch up day tomorrow.

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