Today we’re going to Gjøvik, a town about 45 km (28 miles) from Lillehammer, on the opposite side of Mjøsa lake. Except that we have to travel 2 hours south to Oslo by train, then 2 hours back up to the shores of Mjøsa lake by bus, to get to Gjøvik! And it’s raining! So I will digress and write about yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday we took an afternoon walk, away from the hills and down to the shores of Mjøsa lake, Norway’s largest lake, formed as a long narrow Y-shaped lake as the glaciers of the last ice age receded.  Lillehammer sits at the north end of the lake, where the Gudbrandsdalslagen river flows in. We found a pedestrian bridge that crosses a narrow, about a half mile wide, section of the lake.

The Vingnesbrua, the ‘bridge to Vingnes’, the small village with a small marina at the foot of the bridge.

The view upstream from the Lillehammer side of the bridge.

The view back towards Lillehammer as the sun shone on the ski jump and ski slopes above town. You get a much better perspective of the ski jump from here!

The view from the top of the ski jump in winter, from a picture in our room.

Back to this morning now. Robert got up early and walked back to the bridge at 6:30am to fly the drone. It was the best part of the day weather-wise, with the sun shining on the little village of Vignes across the bridge!

The blue sky did not last long though. The clouds were thick by 10:45am when we boarded our train to Oslo!

Luckily we did not have to walk in the rain in Oslo to catch our bus! Here’s a brief glimpse of downtown Oslo in the rain!

Thankfully the rain held off in Gjøvik while we walked for 25 minutes to our Airbnb, the ground floor of this house, opening to a nice garden.

We weren’t so lucky when, after we unpacked a few things, we walked to the closest grocery store. It was a light drizzle and we were happy to get back, settle in and enjoy a quiet evening and an early bedtime!

What a difference 2 days of rain makes! Between rain squalls we took a walk back up along Storgata (translates to ‘Big Street’) and marveled at the transformation of the little creek running through town! Compare to yesterdays pictures!

The rock slab creek crossing is completely underwater! Impassable!

The rainy season arrived overnight! Overcast skies and puddles. We walked uphill to the main street, Storgata, and window shopped. Yesterday was the best weather day forecast for our 3 night stay in Lillehammer, and here are some pictures of the little tributary stream, the Mesna river, that runs through town on its way to Mjøsa lake.

Travel day again. Moving south to Lillehammer , famous for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics!

Our train follows the valley formed by the Gudbrandsdalslagen river, through bucolic farm country.

We reached Lillehammer at about 1pm so we had time to check-in at the Stasjonen Hostel adjacent to the train depot, drop off our luggage and explore the town.

A former bank building now houses a high end restaurant!

A beautiful park on a hillside sloping down to the Lillehammer Church.

Flower beds taking advantage of the long summer days and sunshine that are soon transitioning to Autumn and the rainy season here.

A different take on the ‘mounted trophy head’! The restaurant on the opposite side of the wall was not open, so we don’t know if the head is inside!

We walked uphill from the main shopping district of town to the Olympic Village, transformed into a Sports Center for summer and winter sports activities.

Yes, that’s snow! Outside an arena at the edge of the Olympic Village.

A montage of Olympic sites, a skate park, arena, ski jump in the distance, and Viking inspired sculpture.

This morning dawned with rain threatening so we did some paperwork, cementing the last of our travel plans through Europe, while the rain came and finally slacked off. We took a walk back into the village center to stretch our legs.

Ski runs above town illuminated by the sun breaking through the receding rain clouds!

At Memorial Park, between the shopping center and the large church we found a pavilion with monuments and signage, and we got a WWII history lesson! Dombås at the time was an important rail and telegraph center linking north and south, from Trondheim to Oslo. During the German invasion of Norway in April of 1940, on April 21, the Dombås railway station was bombed by the Germans. The first American military casualty of WWII occurred in this bombing raid. While serving as a military attaché prior to America’s entry into the war, Robert M. Losey was killed … He had been attempting to complete the evacuation of the American diplomatic legation from Norway to Sweden in the wake of the German invasion.

The Dombås church, built in 1939, was spared by the Nazis.

A beautiful sunset on our way home. It is definitely feeling like autumn here in the mountains of Norway.