Norwegian Wood 2006

So, I have to be a tourist sometimes and not just a woodworking researcher. Once the museum had closed, I trekked up the hill to get a look at the Lillehammer Olympic ski jump. You might know that I am an avid skiier, but you probably do not know about my pre-teen delusions about my future as an Olympic skiier. Bill Johnson's gold medal in the early 80's probably inspired this optomistic plan. He was a teenage delinquent stealing cars for fun. He had never skiied until he was put into some sort of ski rehab at 19 years old, then he won the gold. Well, I had a much earlier start (at skiing . . . late starter for auto theft), and I was still years from being 19, so there you have it.
The amount of huffing and puffing it took to get me up to the base of the Olympic stadium is probably some indication that I am not in Olympic condition, but it did take some determination to climb through town in the rain. Hungry. At night! (Well, it doesn't get dark, but still it was evening and I could have been sitting on a sofa having a beer.) I rode the chairlift up to the top of the ski jump tower and got to stand right at the competitors launching pad. Pretty steep for not being allowed to turn on your way down. I tried to imagine what might be going through one's head at this moment. "OK, am I ready for the next 3 seconds? . . . . I should be since I've been getting ready for the next 3 seconds for my entire life . . . just don't dig that edge in and break your neck like that other fellow . . . concentrate, focus, ok, give me a minute to breathe first . . . . ". Probably they aren't thinking anything. These are professionals! If there was any shred of Olympic downhill dreams left in my mind, the downhill simulator fixed that. I thought it would be exhillerating, but the virtual experience of going 130 km/hour around the gates was nauseating. I was so relieved that I made it to the bottom. As I was catching my breath, the screen showed the top of the bobsled course. That was when I hit the "Emergency Stop" button.
On June 28, I took the East-West Express bus across Norway from Lillehammer to Bergen. This is beautiful country. I feel like I am driving through a postcard, a really green and curvy postcard. Now I wonder why I brought everything except for Dramamine to Norway.