Olympic Action

To Lom, Norway

Today was pretty much just a travel day starting with the train and ending with the bus. Cam accompanied us into Oslo making quite certain we were clear on our times, train numbers, and platforms before giving us a hearty goodbye and heading off to work. The train ride was pleasant and uneventful. Mostly, we passed the time reading, writing, and playing cards. A three minute stop in Lillehammer to change trains and we were off again to Otta.

Once there, we had four hours to kill before our one-hour bus ride to Lom, our final destination for the day. We took advantage of the time to work on math and spelling. The spelling list has swelled of late and comes primarily from Dex and Kylie’s first drafts of their blogs. Although the weather was overcast and drizzly, the bus ride scenery was spectacular. Norway gets tons of rain, and at this time of year it is green, green, green -- grassy hillsides, steep forested slopes, and plenty of lakes, fast flowing rivers and waterfalls.

We had arranged for a tent spot at Lom Camping, only a half kilometer from the bus stop, but when we learned they had indoor rooms available, we decided to forego the fun of setting up in the rain. Our two-bunk room was clean and neat. Dex and Kylie weren’t interested in going out to eat, particularly when presented with opportunity for some unsupervised free time, so Meg and I walked into town, bought groceries, and enjoyed a rare dinner alone. The pizza and pasta at Amore were unexceptional (perhaps the result on not getting to Lom under our own muscle power), but we ate our fill and took the leftovers back for the kids.

We were super excited tonight when we finally figured out how to get the old CRT TV working and could actually watch some live Olympic action. Ok... it was only speed walking and a funny game called “håndboll.” Kylie decided to root for the Chinese speed walkers and Meg for an Aussie, Dane Bird-Smith. In case you missed it, the two Chinese took gold and silver, and Bird-Smith, bronze. Go Australia! For "handball," the teams (Norway versus some other country we couldn't figure out) would bounce and run with a grapefruit sized ball before throwing it into a hockey-like goal. Still, it was the Olympics -- small countries playing obscure sports, but still, the Olympics!