Norway is spectacular!!! We took a scenic route through the countryside into the mountains today and it was one beautiful vista after another on a sunny day.

Our first stop was a rest break at a place that’s apparently well known for their fresh rolls. We had some with chocolate chips in them and we thought they were just okay. They sold trucker hats and t-shirts with their red and yellow logo on them (pretty ugly). I’m kinda sorry we didn’t take any photos of this place. Oh well!

Our main event for today was at Maihaugen, an open air museum with buildings from the 13th to the 20th century. We had an awesome guide who was quite theatrical (in a good historical way) and entertaining. She took us through the amazing stave church, the school house and some of the other oldest buildings. Then we were free to roam though the rest of the sections on our own. Dick and I ended up separating at one point and I was able to have some quiet time on my own.

The next stop on this long journey was a cheese factory where we learned about the unique Norwegian brown cheese. We had a taste test and it was pretty good! I just have to get past the look of it. 😋 It helps that they put the cheese in decorative molds.

We passed through Lum where there is another beautiful stave church and we had a short rest stop to take pictures. While we were there, the tour guide got a message that there was a rock slide blocking our route just past the inn where we were spending the night. So for the rest of the trip, our tour guide and driver began planning an alternate route for the next day.

We could see the barrier across the road when we arrived and realized how fortunate we were that our lodging was on the right side! Speaking of our lodging . . . this was the most unique place of our entire tour. There were about 8 small traditional Norwegian buildings in addition to the main building. We were assigned buildings and room numbers and handed these heavy ginormous keys. They kind of looked like the size of Hobbit houses. We had to duck through the first doorway.

There was a hiking trail behind the buildings and we followed it until it got too steep. One of our tour friends joined us. We saw lots of blueberries and mushrooms.

The day ended with a four course meal featuring mushroom soup, deer pate, veal and a sort of ice cream sandwich. That may not sound so great, but it was expertly prepared and absolutely delicious!

I thought I might try a bath before bed , but realized that it would take a very long time to fill this tub 😂