Loen, Norway

Hi there folks,
Free internet is wonderful as is using an English keyboard.
We spent most of today on the bus seeing things such as the
famous ski jump at Lillehammer, visiting an 800 year old
church and cemetery, and waterfalls and frozen lake and the
Nord Fjiord (say that 3 times really fast)
We left Oslo at 7:30 this morning and arrived in the resort
town of Loen about 6:45. A really LONG day of driving w/
stops along the way. If I can figure out how to do it,
I'm going to post (or maybe get Nikki to post) some
pictures on the blog I sent you information about a couple
of days ago.
We visited a Norwegian farm this morning owned by a man
named Richard Uguul. He grows grain, has a lovely
farmhouse and he and some friends served us Norwegian
waffles with strawberry jam and clotted cream. Really
good, altho' it doesn't sound very good. the main
attraction for me at the farm was several buildings with
sod roofs. This is for insulation and looks really COOL!
Whatever seeds happen to drop onto the sod, that plant
grows. I was visualizing sod houses in Bwd with
bluebonnets planted. That would just be too unusual.

The scenery around the farm was great, huge lake, mountains
and snow on top. After a few more hours of travel, we
came to Lom, the town w/ a "stave church" that name has to
do with it's contsruction. Really pretty, I have pictures.
(In fact over the last 2 days, I'v taken 107 pictures)
We began climbing and climbing (in the bus) and we saw more
and more snow on the mountains. We traveled along a river
and soon it was a river w/ big chunks of ice, then it was a
river with mostly ice. Where we are now, the river/lake
is frozen solid. We are in a mountain resort with a
little town (Loen) at the bottom of the mountain.

We just came back from dinner and it was a large
smorgaasboard--picture the most extensive buffet you've
ever seen and double it. Some unusual foods available
were reindeer, moose, squid, eel, Some I tried, some I did
not. Then there was tiramisu, creme broule, and so many
more desserts, that I hesitate to guess what they were. I
DID NOT TRY THEM ALL.

Tomorrow we go on a Fjiord Cruise and then have free time
in the little town or to do spa things (hot tub, massage,
etc) We were going to get into the hot tub tonite, but it
closes at 8 and it is now 9:20 Tuesday May 22nd. We stay
here another day and night before department to the place
w/ no phone/t.v. service, so I'm sure there will be no
internet. I'll try to get pictures downloaded to the blog
or to Nikki so you can see the beauty of the place. Altho
no picture can capture theis ethereal beauty.

More tomorrow. Have a great day. E