Day 1 - Winter action in Lillehammer

Victor Vela Martinez from Spain lets us take part of this fun day:

On the way to the city that hosted the Winter Olympics in 1994 we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and how snowy everything was. When we arrived at the train station Heidi, a local guide, was waiting for us. A bus took us to Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena and Kanthaugen Free Style Arena.

Toboggan race

At Kanthaugen, the first activity was tobogganing; we went up to the top of the hill and slid down from the top to the bottom on sledges.

The first time we were taking it easy, but the next rounds we got more confident and brave and did not use the brakes at all. At the last section of the circuit, a long steep slope, we got the highest speed. We had so much fun and it was wonderful!

After the race we went to a tipi, where we warmed up with a little bit of Aquavit, a Norwegian spirit drink distilled from either grain or potatoes. We tasted some Norwegian specialties. The main course was a stew of elk and reindeer, a new experience.

Olympic tour

After lunch we went to the Norwegian Olympic Museum, located in the Håkons Hall, an arena built for the Winter Olympics in 1994. There, we did a tour and discovered more about the history of the Olympics and particularly about the most outstanding athletes and the Norwegian participants.

Speeding up

Later, we went to the Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Lugetrack
where we got the opportunity to try bobrafting! The speed got up to 100 km/h and we were subject to forces up to 3G during the ride.

A cold night's sleep

Finally we visited the Snow Hotel in the Hunderfossen Winter Park, were we spent the night. We slept on reindeer fur and inside a warm sleeping bag. It was a unique sensation sleeping in -7 ºC, surrounded by ice. Everything there was so calm and quiet.