On our journey today we passed through Hell (with an extra E), a lovely place with sunshine and cute little homes, and actually, the grass is greener on both sides.
We listened to our favorite radio station… 101 Cave radio, the buzz…. There were so many long dark tunnels through the mountains, breaking only for a twist along the ultra glassy fjords; you could hardly tell where the land met the water. The longest was 24.5km, so I’m not sure where the oxygen was coming from! Chest pain, ahhh… wait maybe I’m holding my breath. There were a few odd sections with psychedelic lights resembling a cool cave.
For lunch we got hot dogs with drinks for a steal, at $22. And somehow the fruit from breakfast made its way into my bag, saving another $10. We thought that was thrifty until we checked out of the cave hotel and found out there was a parking charge… Of $100 for 2 nights. Shocking. Thanks for not informing us ahead of time.
While driving through this fine country, an observation since arriving is that the majority of houses are colored white, yellow or red, much like condiments on the ever-popular hotdog! Visually, they pop from the countryside in a “look at me” fashion. If your barn is red, your house is white. If there is one house alone, it is red….
Around 5pm we noticed the Bluetooth symbol on the less than basic but brand new rental Peugot. Sweetness, our own tunes had been possible… All day, on both drive days. Darn, we could have been spared the static.
We pulled into Lillehammer about 6pm after some tight but scenic roads through farm fields, along those glassy fjords, and through some quaint cottage country. We stayed at the base of the ski jumps near the Olympic village at our most cost effective location yet. We took our sore butts on some fresh mountain air down the steep path to town for a Sunday evening stroll through the quiet, sleepy streets and enjoyed a nice meal at a riverside pub on the patio, before hiking back up for a pause on the bleachers to watch the remainder of a young girls soccer match. It seems to be a popular sport here in Norway, as this morning we crossed paths with a tournament in Voss with what seemed like the entire country’s population of children in soccer gear. Did I mention they are all blonde??