Svalbard to Oslo, Norway and Beyond 2019
After leaving Svalbard, Lillehammer was our next stop on our Norway 2019 trip. It was a short flight from Longyearbyen/Svalbard to Oslo, Norway. The first thing we noticed exiting the plane in Oslo is that -10C/14F felt like a heatwave. We had bundled up for the Svalbard weather prior to leaving the plane, immediately we unzipped our jackets to keep from sweating. We grabbed our backpacks and headed to the train station at the airport with our Eurail passes in hand for the next train to Lillehammer.
The train is only 2 hours and takes a scenic route through the Norwegian countryside with views of lakes and farms with rolling hills covered in snow. I was last here in July 1990 (we did have a short train stop here during Eurotrip 2017) as they were ramping up for the 1994 Olympics. It is a small town and hard to believe that it could have hosted the Olympics due to its size. I have a friend from my time in Germany that lives in Lillehammer and we had only recently reconnected on social media. Good food, beautiful scenery, and seeing a friend from the old days when I still had some hair on my head, this was our plan.
Lillehammer
We arrived in Lillehammer in the late afternoon and walked to the hotel about 4 blocks from the station. The hotel we stayed in was an old mill house and was very easy to locate due to its bright yellow color and appeared to be the tallest building in town. I also chose this hotel as it has a bar on the top floor with great views and another reason I will mention later. We did not have any plans that night with my friend; and would meet up the next morning and she would be showing us around town. We had a quick dinner and went out for a walk to see the beautiful downtown area that was covered in snow.
It was after 8 PM, so stores were closed and the streets were empty for the most part. About a block from the hotel I saw a familiar building on a side street. We had just finished watching Lilyhammer on Netflix (was filmed mostly in Norway), and the building was the location of the “Flamingo Bar” from the show. It still had the VIP sign and the red light by the door. We walked up to take a picture and to look around on the side streets in the area. We then returned to the main walking/shopping street. It was nice to wander around the town for an hour or so enjoying the peace and quiet and the beautiful scenery.
Yep, it is Still Winter in Norway
Although it was warmer than Svalbard, it was still cold after walking around for over an hour. We decided to return to the hotel to warm up and to visit the top floor bar at the hotel for a drink and to enjoy the view. The hotel we were staying in was also featured in Lilyhammer including the top floor bar. The brief scene in the bar made me want to visit the bar. The view from the bar was part of the reason I chose the hotel. It was centrally located, it had an interesting history, not to mention it was reasonably priced, all pluses in my mind. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any good pictures due to the reflection in the window.
We were in Lillehammer on a Wednesday and Thursday; that Saturday was a big celebration for the 25th anniversary of the 1994 Olympics and the town would be packed with guests, including the Norwegian Royal family and former Olympians, etc. Luckily, the majority of the visitors were coming on Friday or Saturday, we could still enjoy the town without a lot of people.
Sightseeing with a Friend
The next morning we met my friend and she provided us a tour of Lillehammer from the top of the ski jumps to the Olympic Museum and Maihaugen, Norway’s largest open-air museum consisting of more than 200 buildings from different eras in Norwegian history.
My friend was in the process of opening a new café in town and we needed to catch a train to Brumunddal to see another friend, we had to cut the tour short. We had enough time to grab a quick lunch in town before heading to the station. It is always great to see old friends while traveling. Luckily I have a lot of friends in Europe from my time in Germany; we do try to meet at least one friend per trip if possible. During Eurotrip 2017 we met 10+ friends/family in a 3 week period.
Brumunddal
Our next stop on this trip was Brumunddal, about 35 minutes from Lillehammer by train. The train travels along the largest lake in Norway, Lake Mjøsa to reach our destination. It is a short train ride with great views of the lake or in our case this trip a frozen lake. We met our friend at the station and took our backpacks to her house before going out to dinner.
Our friend picked a place about 30 minutes from Brumunddal to have dinner; it was a quiet place in the middle of nowhere. It is really a winter sports area but was not very busy and the restaurant (Budor Gjestegård) stayed open a little later than normal for our late arrival. They served typical Norwegian food and it was quite inexpensive from what I remember. After dinner, we returned to our friend’s house to relax and catch up since we last visited her in 2017.
Kick Sled
The next morning we were suckered into riding a “kick sled”, this was interesting and actually quite fun. After participating in the Norwegian kick sled culture, we were given a tour of Brumunddal. They are building a structure in town (Mjøstårnet) that is the tallest timber building in the world. It is an 18-story mixed-use building standing 85.4m/280ft tall. The building was featured in Architectural Digest for its design and structural accomplishments. You can read more about it here. Unfortunately, we visited the building about a month before it opened, so we weren’t allowed to go inside. After our tour of Brumunddal, we said farewell to our friend and took the train to Oslo to see yet another friend and to meet her husband for the first time.
Oslo
We only had two nights in Oslo, and relaxing with friends was the plan for the most part. Our friend’s husband had prepared a great dinner for us, and we stayed up talking until at least midnight. It was a nice relaxing evening, no place to go, just sit back and take it easy. The next day we had some plans to see other sites in Oslo that we missed on the last trip. We wanted to see Vigeland Park, but became sidetracked on the last trip; it was a must this time. Our friends played the tour guide role and took us to the park, It is located in the center of Oslo with over 200 bronze, granite and wrought iron statues created by Gustav Vigeland over a 40 year period.
Time to go Home
We had a late afternoon meal in Oslo and returned to the house for drinks and relaxation. Unfortunately, we had to return home the next day as this was our last night on this trip to Svalbard and southern Norway. That night we received an email from Delta that our Amsterdam to Atlanta flight had been changed, after the Tromsø mess, we were nervous. Although if we were stuck in Amsterdam for a day, it would not be that bad. Luckily, it was only a flight number change, so nothing changed as far as the departure time in Amsterdam. Norway is one of my favorite locations to visit, great scenery, great people and a bucket list destination if you have never been there. There is so much to see and I keep finding a reason to return, not that I need a reason, it is Norway after all.
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