Unfortunately today's start was very frustrating. We had to pick up our
rental car and the plan was to drive to Lillehammer for lunch and then
complete the rest of the drive North to Lom in the afternoon.
The car rental places open at 9am. We had one car booked at the downtown
office and our car was booked at the airport. Unfortunately the airport
in Oslo is about 49km north of the city.
Bruce and Dave left at around 8:30am to get the car from the downtown
Europcar office, with the plan of then driving to the airport together
to pick up the other one. The first car pickup went fine...no
issues...no passport required.
They then drove out to the aiport...it is a long drive and the traffic
was heavy. We got a call from them at around 10:30am telling us that
they were insisting on seeing Dave's passport. It had taken them so long
to get there that driving back to the hotel and back out again would
have taken hours, so they figured that the best way to deal with it was
to fax a copy.
We faxed a copy to the Radisson Blu at the airport (who were being very
helpful) as we were unable to send the fax through to the Europcar
office. I then called Europcar directly to tell them that their fax was
not going through, the lady gave me an email address. Rob and I took a
picture of his passport and emailed it to her.
Well, it turns out that the email address she gave us was wrong, and the fax that we had sent was "not good enough"!
So we had her send us an email, and we replied to them with the picture...well they couldn't open that!
Finally they let them go after much pleading from Dave. They finally got
back to the hotel to pick us up at close to 1:30pm...so unfortunately
our whole morning had been shot by their strange insistence on seeing a
passport. Dave has learned his lesson about always carrying his
passport...but what is weird is that we hadn't had to show one in
Copenhagen and the Europcar office downtown hadn't insisted on seeing
one that same morning.
We are finally out on the road, the traffic is horrendous on the way out
of town as their was lots of construction and congestion.
It opens up after the airport...again...and about and hour or so out we
stop at a nice picnic spot on the side of the road for lunch. The
weather had turned to rain again unfortuntely, but it holds off slightly
for us while we eat.
We finally reach Lillehammer at around 4pm. Lillehammer is a really nice
place. It is sort of like an Aspen Resort. The prices here are very
high, but they have really nice boutiques with beautiful goods in them.
We grabbed coffees and walked around for awhile.
We then headed up to the Olympic Park to have a look at the ski jump area and arena. It was pretty neat.
We phoned the hotel in Lom and told them that we would not be in by
their requested 6pm, and then we got back on the road headed for Lom.
The drive north is really pretty. It is very reminiscent of BC. We were
on the E6 all the way until Otta, and then we started heading West on
the 15 to Lom. We were staying at the Nordal Turistsentre in
Lom and it was really neat. They have a hotel and also a selection of
cabins that you can rent. We had rented a 3 bedroom cabin and it was
fantastic. A bit expensive at $400/night including sheets and towels,
but it was neat to all be under one roof. The cabin was neat and clean
and all wood like a log cabin. It was really great.
Lom is a lovely place. It is small and remote and so lush. The water
rushes through the town at an amazing speed and there is a cute little
bridge and dyke to stroll along.
In the backdrop is the Stave Church, a very impressive structure that we would have a closer look at in the morning.
After settling into our rooms, we headed up to the Kafeteria at the
hotel and had a delicious dinner of traditional fare. It was artery
clogging, but the meatballs with gravy, and creamy cabbage were amazing!
After dinner we did some emailing before heading back to the cabin. We
stayed up reading and drinking beer. Despite the bad start, it was a
nice ending to the day.
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