The Lillehammer Adventure Continues

Before I have Ken tell you about getting caught naked in our room this morning, I'll start. To answer a few questions...the layering of clothes is working great, however tomorrow will be the test as we do our Norway in a Nutshell tour. I am being very careful EVERYWHERE I walk, but especially on the cobblestones and I am feeling great ! I think I am walking off all the calories taken in. We have the breakfast that comes with the room and then dinner. Our breakfast this morning was a pretty typical Norwegian hotel breakfast...great crusty breads, meats, cheeses, jams, tomatoes, cukes, peppers, cereals, dried fruits and nuts, potatoes and those little wienies and of course mackerel and today's extra was shrimp in yes, a sour cream dressing. There are little placards on the table (English on the back) with tips for healthy diet. Lots of coffee everywhere too. The folks here in Lillehammer are a hearty, stocky farm sort. I'm feeling quite thin today ! Okay, I'll turn this over to Ken. Thanks for all of the comments. I'm glad you are all enjoying the trip with us....we will send you the bill when we get home. Here's Ken.......

And what you have been waiting for! I had just gotten out of the shower this morning when we heard a knock on the door. Sally was sitting on the bed and had not gotten dressed yet either. Someone knocked on the door. I thought it was someone that was trying to make sure that we were up and ready to go as there was a touring group in the hotel. Again there was a knock that was harder and someone said something in Norwegian. Sally, the expert in Norwegian, wasn't able to interpret. Just when I needed her Norwegian language skills, my suspicions of her skills were correct! She can't speak or understand the language! Again another knock as a key was inserted and began turning in the door. I yelled wait, I'm not dressed! The nice young man began pushing the door open. He said, 'Smoke alarm.' I told him that I needed to get dressed, and Sally quickly slithered under the comforter as I put on some pants. I opened the door, and the young man looked around the room, and said, 'Open the window.' We had evidently set off the smoke alarm from the steam when we showered. The weird thing was that we did not hear any alarm go off. Lucky for Sally that I wasn't still in the shower when the alarm was set off, or she would have had an even funnier story to tell. Boy, would have he been surprised! It was just like being at my mom and dad's home in Tukwila; there smoke alarm always went off when we showered at there place and then left the bathroom door open when finished. Maybe they had a Norwegian smoke alarm in their home! Ken

Wow, see what happens when I encourage him to blog ! He may be using more than 10 words a day by the time we get home. If you can't get on to post a comment, it may mean we are updating at the same time. We are off to Oslo after we pack. We may stop at the Olympic museum if it is open (Ken will not give up his women's ski team search). We will try to post pictures in Oslo, but don't know what future hotels will be like computer wise...so far so good ! Love to you all and thanks for playing ! Sally

We are back in Olso after a trip to the site of the 1994 Olympics, a 2 hour drive to Olso, and then lost in downtown Oslo for an hour. Sally was finally able to get the GPS working. It kept directing us down one way streets, but it got us close enough for me to find the hotel.

Well as you can see at the top of the blog there are some picures of our adventure to the Olympic park. It was spectacular! The view from the top of the 90m ski jump was unbelievable. How do I know this you ask? Well, I climbed 669 steps to the top of it to take the picture from above. I was quite proud of myself until I met a couple walking up the steps as I was about half way down. I told them they only had 335 more steps to go. The gentleman relplied that the large jump had 952 steps. I asked if they had walked up it today, and he replied yes. My ego was really deflated along with my burning thighs!

Lastly, we shouldn't gripe about gas prices at 3 dollars per gallon; I paid the equivalent of 7.28 dollars per gallon. About 60% of the price of gas here is for taxes.

Tomorrow...Norway in A Nutshell. Ken