Visit to the Olympic city of Lillehammer
We visited the Maihaugen open-air museum, where we learned about how people lived in Norway in earlier times.
Our guide, Veslemøy, took us into the Bjørnstad large farm from the 1700th century. The entire farm yard from Vågå has been moved and collected at Maihaugen. A total of 27 different buildings belong to the farm. We heard a bit about what the different houses were used for. We visited the main house, Andersstua, and learned about how the big farmer, his family, the householders and the workers worked together on the farm. About tasks and the distribution of responsibilities between them.
Furthermore, we "went back to the future" and were given a tour of the house of the future, which was built in 2001. It is a research project, was meant to be future-oriented, and was to be used as a laboratory for entertainment and communication technology and the like in the home. The aim of the research was to simplify everyday life so that people could spend more time on things they want to prioritize. It was interesting to see how they thought about the future in 2001, now that 23 years have passed and we have some sort of conclusion.
Queen Sonja
Our guide also took us into Queen Sonja's childhood home, which was built in the 1930s, but with interiors from the 1940s-1960s. The Funkisvilla was moved from Vinderen in Oslo to Maihaugen and was completely finished in autumn 2020. The home has been restored to the way it was when Sonja Haraldsen lived there from 1937–1968.
After a lunch break, we went through the exhibition "And slowly our country became our own" where we learned about Norway's history from the Ice Age to the present day. Here the students were given tasks that they work on in groups.
Norway's Olympic Museum
You can find the museum at Maihaugen and we learned about the history of the Olympic Games and its ideology.
Before we traveled back to Elverum, some students chose to experience the center of Lillehammer, while others prioritized being driven up to the top of the Lysgårdsbakkene ski jumping facility and went down the stairs all the way to the bottom. It was here that the opening of the 17th Olympic Winter Games in 1994 was held, as well as all the Olympic jumping exercises. We got to see with our own eyes how big everything is.
We thank you for an experience-rich day.
