We had a very early start to another long bus day, so after a quick, delicious hotel breakfast we left Oslo. Our first rest break was at a gas station/rest stop in Espa that is famous for their buns! The rest stop has a famous bakery where they make various kinds of buns - cinnamon, caramel, raisin, chocolate, etc. They had a large merchandise section, with clothing, toys, other trinkets branded with the bun logo. I obviously had to buy a mug for my souvenir collection! Heidi brought us a sampling of all the different buns, and it was a delicious start to our long drive.
Even though it was a long bus day, the scenery made it go by fast. Before we knew it, we were driving into Lillehammer to go to the Maihaugen open air museum. As we drove in, you could see Olympic logos on buildings and the ski jump stood out in the distance. As an Olympics fan, I was more excited to see anything Olympic related than the open air museum! We were given a tour of the open air museum, and then had time to go wander throughout the museum buildings and have time to into the gift shop. The museum was interesting, but I felt it was geared more towards the hoards of kids there on school trips. However, when I went to the gift shop, I noticed that there was an Olympics exhibit. You apparently had to have tickets, but the employees let us through the gate into the exhibit when they noticed us looking. I was so surprised that no one was in the exhibit except us, and that it wasn't advertised more! I had a great time looking around.
We were late leaving as one tour mate got lost and there was a hilarious back and forth of people going to look for them and then passing them. Several hours and one traffic jam in a tunnel later, we found ourselves at the Borgund Stave Church from the 1200s. It was so crazy to see something so old still standing. It was really hot out, so the guide pointed out how the tar was melting off the church, and how there are only a few companies left that make the special tar for these churches.
We continued on for several more hours before finally reaching our hotel for the night in Lærdal. We had just a few minutes to drop our bags before meeting for dinner in the dining room. We were served roast, roasted cabbage with apples and prunes, a cauliflower soup, and a chocolate cake. It was delicious! I went for a walk after dinner, stopping at the grocery store for bus snacks for the next day, before heading to bed.