June 18 - Norwegian Wood

After a tender ride and a shuttle bus ride we found ourselves in front of the City Hall in Trondheim. This wasn't one of those incredible city halls like in Copenhagen and Stockholm. It was just the place where the shuttle bus stopped. 

A short walk brought us to Nidaros Cathedral. This cathedral was started in 1070 and was finished around 1300. Over the years it has been badly damaged or destroyed by fire at least five times but now it has been fully restored. It is the largest cathedral in Norway and was built on the grave of St. Olav. The kings of Norway are consecrated here. (Trondheim was once the capital of Norway.) Pictures were not allowed inside, but I will say two things: It is not as ornate as a Catholic cathedral and the rose window is spectacular from the inside.

These guys are not really monks. More like docents.

Don't forget to look up and down when you are traveling.

Adjacent to the cathedral can be found a square which contains the Archbishop's Palace and Museum, as well as the Royal Regalia. You can see 1,000 year old foundations and little models of the cathedral and Archbishop's compound as they looked during different centuries. The Archibishop's Palace is the oldest secular building in Norway.

The Crown Regalia included crowns, scepters and orbs. Not nearly as extravagant as the Crown Jewels we saw in Denmark. No photos allowed.

Right across from the cathedral sits Thomas Angell's Hus. It was built in 1770 to be a retirement home for indigent widows. That was very progressive for the times. It's very progressive for today. But, wait! It gets even more progressive. At some point in the 1800's changes were made to allow the widows to cohabit with well-recommended widowers outside the bounds of traditional marriage.

Not far from Thomas Angell's Hus we came to Gamle Bybro - The Old Town Bridge. It was built between 1681 and 1685 after one of those big fires. It is one of the most photographed sights in Trondheim, even when it is undergoing repairs. From the bridge you get a nice view of the old wooden warehouses lining both sides of the river.

The first city in the world to have a bicycle lift was Trondheim. The Sykkelheis helps you get your bike up a steep hill to the university. It looks like you can be riding it during this process. 

The old neighborhood on this side of the bridge is called Bakklandet. It is pretty and quaint, with cobbled street, old wooden houses, and a number of cafes. We chose Baklandet Syddsstation for lunch, based on reviews on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor did not lead us astray. The restaurant was in one of the old wooden house and the inside looked like it was still a house - your grandmother's house to be precise. There were embroidered pillows and cushions everywhere, and embroidered wall hangings.Somebody  was very busy. 

The motherly proprietress greeted us and explained the menu to us. One of the options was a herring buffet. Ken was blown away by how delicious all the different types of herring and breads were. I chose the fish soup becase I kept hearing that fish soup was a Norwegian specialty. It was okay, but I wouldn't get it again. We both had the local beer. I liked it a lot - it was very light, with no bitterness to it. Food is not cheap in Norway. You just have to try not to think about that and enjoy your meal.

We crossed back over the Old Town Bridge and headed toward the town square. On the way we passed Vår Frue Kirke (Our Lady's Church). It was built in 1150. It looks like it is still in use, but there is a coffee shop in the back portion of the sanctuary. There were a lot of homeless people or drug dealers or both hanging about and one or two were actually sleeping in the coffee shop.

The central square in Trondheim is the Torvet. It's a good landmark for orienting yourself. There is a tall statue of Olav Tryggvason, who founded Trondheim in 997, and the shopping district is very close by.

The Stiftsgården is the Royal Residence and the largest wooden building in Europe, completed in 1778. What were they thinking? This city has suffered so many disastrous fires over the centuries. 

We headed down towards the waterfront and came to Ravnkloa Fiskehaller - a fishmarket/cafe with interesting displays about fishing.

Finally, we reached a statue which characterizes Trondheim well - The Last Viking. This contemporary statue honors the brave fishermen of Norway and ties them to Norway's Viking history.

Transportation infrastructure

Trondheim is connected to the rest of Norway by an airport, a good road system, and a good ferry system. Bicycles are popular, but it's not like Denmark.

Why are the front wheels smaller?

The Hurtigruten

The Gulf stream keeps Trondheim a little bit warmer than you would expect for 63.30 degrees North. It doesn't have the look and feel of a cold-weather city. There are lots of cafes with outdoor seating - even a barge on the river tied up next to a restaurant. No skybridges. Lots of deciduous trees in town, not so many evergreens. Lots of small very green farms on our sail-in to Trondheim.

Some of the interesting things in Trondheim that we didn't have time/energy to see:

-- Ringve Museum - a collection of 2,000 musical instruments

-- Trøndelag Museum - a folk museum

-- Granåsen Ski Jump - in use all year round with artifical surfaces

-- Lokken Mines - walk for half a mile in an underground copper and pyrite mine

-- National Museum of Decorative Arts

-- Court House

-- Trondheim Synagogue, the second northernmost synagogue in the world, after Fairbanks, Alaska (?)

-- Cissi Klein Park, honoring a Norwegian Jewish girl who was a victim of the Holocaust. Cissi was arrested at school and deported to Auschwitz, where she died.

-- Children's Technological Museum

Tonight, back aboard the ship, we went to see a Beatles tribute band. They put on a grand show, and it was fun to be immersed in "our" music. Isn't it good, Norwegian wood?