Day 17 *22.07.2023

Today, after waking up, we had to look around to see where we actually are... It's beautiful here... Right by a river, a bit secluded from the road... Not bad 😌😉

After breakfast, we discussed how to spend the day, the weather forecast showed a lot of rain... So we first entered the Traffic Museum in Lillehammer in the navigation system. So far, the museums have often been great, but also expensive... This one here was free... So the expectation wasn't really high... But even this museum, divided into 2 halls (one with vehicles, one showing the development of road construction) and a large outdoor area, was well built, modern, and educational. For the girls, it wasn't so interesting, they spent the first time in the car and stayed in the outdoor area.

After that, we went to Maihaugen. Maihaugen is a cultural history museum with an open-air museum and a regional museum of the Gudbrandsdal in Lillehammer, Norway. It is the most visited tourist attraction in the region. The museum was founded by the dentist Anders Sandvig (1862–1950) under the name De Sandvigske Samlinger (The Sandvig Collections), who began collecting old houses and buildings from farms in the Gudbrandsdal on his private land in 1887. When his land became too small, the city of Lillehammer offered him the present site for use in 1904, which already bore the name Maihaugen (May Hill) and represented a kind of city park at that time.

The museum was then opened in 1904 and is also a popular destination for residents of the surrounding area to celebrate May 17th (Norwegian National Day) and for burning a Pentecost fire. In 2005, the name Maihaugen finally prevailed.

The museum consists of around 200 historical buildings in three areas:

The Village (Bygda) - settlements from the Gudbrandsdal in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Garmo Stave Church

The City (Byen) - Lillehammer at the beginning of the 20th century

The Residential Area (Boligfeltet) - houses from almost every decade of the 20th century

Exhibitions:

• How the country slowly became ours - an exhibition about Norwegian history
• Hidden treasures - from the collections of Maihaugen
• The old workshops - craft exhibition
• Local art and handicrafts from the Gudbrandsdalen

In addition, there are cafes, historical shops, and activities as well as the Norwegian Postal Museum (Postmuseet) since 2003 and the Norwegian Olympic Museum since 2016. The Norwegian Crafts Institute, whose mission is to preserve old craft traditions and the intangible cultural heritage of Norway, also has its headquarters in Maihaugen. (Source: Wikipedia)

After that, we went to the target campsite in Moelv, Steinvik Camping... We arrived there around 6:30 p.m... There were still some spots available, though... An hour later, everything was occupied... The campsite also included a small restaurant... We treated ourselves to it to end the evening comfortably...

For another trip, this is definitely a place we would visit again, as there is really a lot to offer... https://www.steinvikcamping.no/