Who can pass up bacon oast for breakfast?! We tried to bring some home, but it has to be refrigerated. So, what exactly is bacon oast? It is basically cheese with bacon in a squeezy toothpaste looking tube. Does that sound delicious or what?
    

After a nice breakfast of toast, fried eggs, and bacon oast, it was time to leave the awesome Ringebu farmhouse.

First stop was the Ringebu Stave Church. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt; We searched for a man and two pig carvings, a dragon carving, and Norse god faces at the top of some pillars.

I think this was the dragon carving in the top left. Doesn’t really look like a dragon to me

And this was the man with 2 pigs carving; Again, questionable

Pretty sure we were all churched out. Next up was Maihaugen, an open air museum with replicas of Norwegian history (churches, houses, barns, fishing villages, post office). I found some great little homemade booties and a lamb stuffed animal for Kate and Egg’s baby (Nate was born August 19th). The funniest part about the museum was the ‘20^th Century Houses’, basically 1950s style.

One of the oldest two-story houses in Gudbrandsdal. Oddly enough, it didn’t actually say when the house was built.

One of the most exciting pictures from Maihaugen.

Adam and Loan fishing at Maihaugen.  Pictures courtesy of Loan’s camera.
     

The best part of the day came in Lillehammer. We visited the Olympic ski jump. There were a bunch of people practicing, even though there was no snow! The surface of the jump was like a turf, and they would just stop at the bottom in the grass. We were able to walk underneath the jump and up to the top where the skiers would take off. It was very cool to be able to get that close! Never would have happened in the U.S.  The following are lots and lots of pictures of the ski jump.  Some of them you’d swear were against green screens, but no, we were taking pictures next to and below the jump.
 

We took the long way up

The skiers take the short (smart) way up

View from the top

Olympic torch

Loan and I doing our best ski jump impression; Loan looks much more committed.

Outside the Olympic ice rink.

We made a quick stop in the town for lunch and headed on to Oslo. We took a round about way (ie, we had no idea where we were going) to fill the cars with gas and drop them off at the rental company. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out and relaxing in our Oslo lodging, another great AirBnB apartment.

Napping in Oslo before dinner.

Sunday was a slow morning, finally starting the drive to Ringebu around 11am. Amazingly, I have found traveling companions that are even slower than Ryan getting going in the morning. I really don’t mind, though, because it makes for a relaxing trip. Most of the day was spent driving. In addition to the ‘normal’ cars mentioned in an earlier post, we have seen a very large number of Teslas and American muscle cars. We made a stop at a few churches along the way and a cemetery that (we think) had a lot of the Kostad ancestors.

Ryan outside a Stave Church

Norwegians love their trolls!
     

Church and cemetery with Kostad ancestors.
      

We rolled into Ringebu pretty late, after most restaurants and grocery stores had closed, so we picked up Chinese takeout on the way to the AirBnB. This AirBnB was absolutely breathtaking! It was the second house on a farm, where the grandparents used to live. The houses overlooked a beautiful green valley and lake.

Unloading at the farmhouse

View of the valley out the back

Storage barn off to the side

The mom was there when we arrived and showed us around the house using the little English that she spoke. Amund, the son, who we estimate to be a little younger than us, arrived a little while later. He was the one who had put the house on AirBnB, and we were his first visitors! Amund had been an exchange student in California during high school and then attended a small college in Michigan. The family invited us to eat dinner out on the porch of their house next door. While we ate our Chinese takeout, they brought us out local delicacies to try, including aquavit (potato liquor), cured pork, potato crisps, and beer and wine.

Dinner on the deck at 10 something at night – Courtesy of Loan’s camera

Proscuitto, potato crisps, and aquavit – Courtesy of Loan’s camera

The house itself was an interesting mish mosh of stuff.

View from the dining room table

Ryan sitting at the dining room table, engrossed in Lonely Planet

Chilling in the living room before bed

Saturday was spent wandering all around Alesund. First stop was the Alesund Church. The person at the tourist info office said it would be open, but as is typical with our church experiences on this trip, it was closed. On to the Art Noveau Museum, which housed interesting exhibits on the various styles of architecture, the fire of 1904 and rebuilding of the city, and the impact of Japanese influence. In the corridor to the June Art Museum, Loan, Ryan, and I stopped in the kids’ activity center to make some of our own art. I know art is subjective, but the items in this museum were not what I would call art. The thing closest to art was a sculpture that looked like a bunch of breasts stuck together.

Alesund, built in the Art Nouveau style

Another closed church

We were all getting a little museumed out, but headed to the Aalesund (alternative spelling of Alesund) Museum anyway. The museum was 3 levels that took us through the history of the city. The most interesting parts were about WW2 (still not sure if the Enigma machine on exhibit was a real one) and the Uerad life boat that crossed the Atlantic in 5 months in 1904. There was a replica of the life boat that we could climb into. Tight quarters for a rocky trip on the Atlantic! Dramamine would have been a necessity on that trip.
     

The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing 418 steps up to Fjellstua for nice views of the city, followed by an evening kayak trip around the harbor. Dinner was late, like most of our dinners in Norway, since 10pm feels like about 6pm. Loan and I shared a few dishes, including whale and reindeer. Not bad, but neither make my favorites list.
     

Views from the top.
    

Interesting and slightly freaky carvings on the way down

Wondering if the REAL Amazing Race passed through here. I don’t watch the show, so I guess I’ll never know.
     

Cars we did not expect to find in Norway.
     

Kayaking around the bay before dinner.

Dinner in Alesund