Let's talk about the wonderful country that is Norway - because man; what a gorgeous place it is! First things first thought; we must discuss that our sweet (and salty) little kittens were convinced they were coming along with us to Norway. They happily climbed atop my open suitcase, ready to travel to another country and get started on seeing the world!
We flew out of Dulles on the evening of Friday, August 30th and made our way to Amsterdam - where we were greeted by much cooler weather that felt so wonderful as we stepped off the plane for the first time in almost eight hours. We had a quick layover in Amsterdam before we boarded a less than two hour flight from Amsterdam to Oslo - and then, we were in Norway!
In an effort to see as much of the country as possible - not an easy feat when you consider it takes something like 23 hours to go from one end to the other - my parents rented a car and we started our journey heading from Oslo to Grotli; which is about twenty-five minutes from Geiranger and the UNESCO World Heritage Sight of Geirangerfjord! Our Saturday adventures included getting to Norway and getting the car, then heading out on the open roads of Norway with stops in Lillehammer and Lom en route to our first hotel in Grotli.
Do you remember much about the 1994 Winter Olympics? I will tell you that this was the Winter Olympics that occurred after Nancy Kerrigan was whacked in the leg by Tonya Harding's husband... so Nancy ended up getting a silver medal in figure skating... and ol' Tonya didn't even place! Lillehammer was the host town and the opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies and some of the ski/ski jump competitions were held at the location we stopped to check out on Saturday.
Lillehammer sits on a huge lake and is surrounded by stunning hills that perfectly suited the ski jumps - as seen in the picture below! There was a huge bike race happening at the stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and so we couldn't get anywhere near it - you can usually tour it, but when I say there were people everywhere - the place was crawling! We were lucky to be able to park for free (we didn't have any Krone yet) and poke around - thank you kind Norwegian lady!
We were only in Lillehammer about an hour and then we popped right down the road and grabbed some burgers for lunch at a cafe, before then continuing on to the small town of Lom. I don't know if stopping here was necessarily planned but my Mom spotted a Stave Church (or a Stav Kirke) and so we made a stop in the town! And I must say - it was a great little spot to stop - there was a waterfall that we didn't expect but man; gorgeous!
A Stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church that was built in a post and lintel style construction. They used to be widespread in Europe but the ones that survive today are mostly located in the country of Norway. The churches were built in conjunction with Christianity coming to Norway way back before the 1100's... so some of this churches are incredibly old! And they are also incredibly detailed - we weren't able to go inside the Stave Church in Lom - but we would get to go in one later in the week!
Once we finished perusing the church yard and exterior of the church, we crossed the bridge and snapped some pictures with the gorgeous rushing waterfall that went through the middle of this little town! Talk about a gem - somehow I completely missed this waterfall when we drove over it the first time; I guess I was distracted looking at the Stave Church, but what a gorgeous sight!
Once we left the little town of Lom - we had about an hour to go before we arrived at our destination: Grotli Hoyfjellshotell! Quite the mouthful, isn't it? This was also; in my opinion, a hidden gem that my Dad found! The hotel has been run by a family for almost 120 years and is truly a definition of Norwegian hospitality; with a huge dining room that has dinner each evening and a huge breakfast spread each morning (breakfast is included). The hotel is only about twenty-five to thirty minutes from Geirangerfjord and the drive is lovely
It was lovely to arrive at the hotel, have a meal and have the views above out the windows! My Dad thought that we were looking at snow, while Ryan thought it was just a discoloration in the rocks but it turns out it was just one of many glaciers that exist in Norway! So how about that? We settled in pretty early because we were starting to feel the jet lag and we had an exciting day planned for Sunday - and I can't wait to share all about it!
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Stops & Stays Along the Way...
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