Norway Road Trip Stop 1: Lillehammer, the Little Olympic Town | 2 SBD Trivia Prize | Adventure Every Day

Much of the drive on the way there goes along Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake. So even though it is a somewhat dull drive on the motorway, it still comes with plenty of beautiful Norwegian landscapes.

The town itself has a population of around 27,500 people, so as you can imagine, it's not all that big. This is a somewhat surprising fact considering that it hosted the 1994 Olympic Games. It's hard to imagine how such a small town with really only two main roads going in and out was able to accommodate the large crowds from all over the world that the Olympics draws, but apparently they did.

Speaking of which...

Norges Olympiske Museum

One of the main attractions in the city today is the Olympic museum, which commemorates not only the '94 Games but the Olympics in general. A worthy stop if you're passing through.

Plus, you get a chance to try out everyone's favorite Winter Olympics sport (well, behind curling of course): biathlon, where you get to sprint on skis until you are exhausted and then pull out rifles to shoot at tiny, far away targets.

No surprise they picked this to be the simulator sport. After all, Norway absolutely rakes in this event, specifically this guy, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who has the most all-time Winter Olympics medals with 13. (Coincidentally, his last name means "the bear valley". Maybe that has something to do with it...)

Maihaugen Outdoor Museum

Directly behind the Olympic Museum is Maihaugen, an outdoor cultural park that is basically a slightly smaller version of the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo.

It features over 200 buildings from a wide range of eras, from several hundred years ago to modern day. This includes the Garmo stavkirke (stave church) pictured here. Stave churches are viking-inspired wooden cathedrals from the middle Ages (perhaps more on this next post).

The one sitting here dates back to the 1200s and was originally located in a town called Lom. It was moved to it's current location in Maihaugen in 1921.

Admission to Maihaugen can be combined with the ticket for the Olympic Museum, so these make for a great pair to check out if you have the time.

Storgata and Nikkers Restaurant

Storgata is one of the main streets passing through the downtown of this quaint little town. Storgata literally means "the big street" (essentially Main St.), so I guess that's pretty appropriate.

Part of it is closed off to vehicle traffic, and there you will find stretch of upscale shops if you're into that sort of thing. As you can imagine it's not exactly my cup of tea haha, but it's a nice walk through.

At the west end of the street lies Nikkers Restaurant, a rather touristy place but with nice atmosphere. They are famous for a moose sculpture where the head is on the inside of the restaurant and the rear end sticks out the back:

According to the sign next to it, it is illegal in Canada to throw a live moose out of an airplane, and illegal in the US to give alcohol to a moose. It does not specify whether these behaviors are permitted in Norway, but I don't recommend trying either!

The nicest part about Nikkers is sitting on the outside patio right next to the creek. Mom and I were lucky enough to have nice enough weather to sit out and enjoy a meal. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Nikkers for the food alone (though it was decent), but if the weather cooperates it's for sure worth it for these kind of views: