Our tour group was up bright and early. We left our Oslo Hotel immediately after breakfast and started our two day drive over the mountains to our final destination of Bergen. These turned out to be two of the best days of the trip!
After driving for a couple of hours through the pastoral countryside and along the banks of Lake Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake, we made our first stop near Lillehammer. This open-air museum included the Olympic Museum and Maihaugen, one of the best of the "folk villages" that display old houses brought from around the country.
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| Lake Mjøsa is a long narrow lake that extended from just north of Oslo all the way to Lillehammer. |
Our cute young guide, Oda, was a lot of fun. She introduced herself, then took us to the old Garmo Stave Church, dark with the ages. At the schoolhouse, Oda took on the role of the teacher and, using her strictest demeanor, had us line up, boys and girls. "Do you call that a line?" We had to show her that we had cleaned our hands before entering the school room. After a quick lesson, she offered a book to one of our group to read. He laughed and quickly handed it back. Well, the "teacher's pet" in me came out, and I said, "Jeg kan lese det." (I can read that.) Looking a little surprised, she handed the book to me, where I was a little dismayed by the very elaborate Gothic font, but I gave it a try, using my very rusty knowledge of Norwegian.
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Oda lines us up in front of the schoolhouse.
This building came from the town of Skjåk and was built in 1863. |
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| Our teacher starts the lesson. |
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| My fellow tour companions grin as I struggle through the Norwegian text. |
Next we explored the interior of some of the farm homes, filled with furniture and household objects from the 1700 and 1800s.
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Ander's Cottage was built in 1777. The large room served as a kitchen, dining room,
living room, and bedroom for the landowner and his family. Those who labored on the farm
ate with the family. |
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The interior of Ander's cottage.
The beautifully carved and painted cabinets are typical of Norwegian furniture,
and the exteriors of houses are often elaborately carved as well. |
After the guided tour, we were set loose to explore more of the other buildings and farm houses. Maihaugen is lovely, a forested area high on a hill, dotted by pastures and small ponds, and the weather couldn't have been better.
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| You can still find grass roofs on houses in Norway. |
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| The little church was a Fishermen's Chapel. The poster below explains its history. |
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Along the way, some of us encountered this little duckling.
We were quite worried about him, as Mama Duck was nowhere in sight.
I hope he made it home! |
At the end of the route was the "residential" area, Norwegian houses from the 20th century, including the childhood home of Sonja, the current queen consort of Norway. She was a commoner, so there was a bit of a scandal when the crown prince, now King Harald V, fell in love with her, but after nine years of secretly dating, they were finally wed and have been happily married since 1991.
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| The Residential Area of Maihaugen |
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| Queen Sonja's childhood home |
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| The interior of Queen Sonja's childhood home |
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| The pharmacy |
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| The goldsmith's shop |
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| Bill and Susan on the steps of an old house in Maihaugen. |
We continued up into the beautiful forested mountains, past rivers, lakes, and waterfalls. At times, tunnels cut through the mountains. Later in the day, clouds moved in and the landscape became more barren, and we spotted snow-covered mountains.
Our next stop was the Borgund Stave Church, the oldest and best-preserved of the 28 remaining stave churches. This wooden church was built in 1180...and at least 80% of it is original! Our guide explained the ongoing work to preserve the church and used his flashlight to allow us to see the ancient artwork in the dark interior. How wonderful and amazing that it has survived all these years.
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| Visitors Center for the Borgund Stave Church |
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I am fascinated by the dragon carvings on the stave churches -
a blending of Norse and Christian religion. |
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| The beautiful interior of the Borgund Stave Church |
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| Intricate carvings on the walls of the church |
Next to the Stave Church was the relatively brand-new Borgund Church, which was sanctified in only 1868.
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| The Borgund Chruch Sanctuary |
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| The bell tower |
Back on the bus, Jonas drove us higher into the snow-dotted mountains where we had our only rain shower of the trip! We finally arrived at our mountain hotel in Lærdal, where I joined Bev and Ruby for an evening walk along the river behind the cute little town of white houses...a nice, peaceful ending to another beautiful day.
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| Our mountain hotel for one night |
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| Gorgeous scenery behind the hotel. |
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