7.9.18 Day 8 - Hurtigruten Trondheim et al

Up and at em before 6. Looked out the window and saw morning colours, so up and out to front of deck 5. 

Suzie joined me an hour or so later.

I found a temperature gauge on deck. It was about 10 degrees when our this morning.

A view along the way coming into Trondheim (as it turned out our tour guide - Wanda lived in this part of Trondheim.)

Then breaky and the usuals before docking at Trondheim about 9am. Once again we have a private walking tour of the city with Wanda organised by Suzie our travel agent extraordinaire!  Tracy and I are both in awe and wondering how we can ever match the quality so far. 

Leiv Eriksson. A Viking who really was rhe first to discover America.



Here we are with Wanda on the aptly named Flower Bridge. This is in the reformed dock area.

Some remnants have been left to remember what this area once was.

Old lock gates that are no longer in operation

Selfie with the crane and Wanda.

The Storage houses along the River Nid.



Here we are - listening, learning, asking questions and forgetting lots.

I loved Trondheim, for some unknown reason, it felt to me a little similar to how I loved Trinidad in Cuba. 

At our lecture onboard we heard about the importance of lunch packets in Norwegian life. Basically a packed lunch is the norm, as it expensive to eat out. Many buildings have a lunchroom similar to this where people gather to eat.

I really love these old storage buildings.

And the reflections too.

Here’s what they look like side on.

We are still listening and learning

Can you see our furry friend?

There she is.

The Nidaros Cathedral in the background and the famous Trondheim kissing bridge. All the bridges open to let sailing boats in. The river Nid is named after Nidaros. 

Wanda was excellent, a Romanian who fell in love and moved to Germany, when he wasn’t the right man, she met another German who got work in Norway and is studying his PhD at Trondheim Uni, the largest Uni in Norway and very highly regarded, and she followed him to Norway. They have a 10 year old daughter. Wanda is fluent in 4 languages as is her daughter at 10 - German, Romanian, Norwegian and English (which she says is Hollywood English)

Once again we walked for a good 2 and half hours, saw heaps, heard heaps and learnt lots, the trick is how much we’ve retained. Some of what we learned follows:

• The city of Trondheim prounouncnd a nearby mountain to be reforested to create a space for the people to undertake recreation. This took place in the 1850’s 
• The city has also experienced many fires with damage to wooden buildings over the years. Some of them have been rebuilt in an attempt at the style, while many are now brick and stone rather than timber
• The city has revamped the old port area similar (but better) to Docklands and is is also building a new waterside skyline. 
• City established in 997. 
• The population is 190 000 and growing by 10 000 a year. People are coming to attend university and for the technology industry - Trøndheim is Norway’s Silicon Valley. 
• Trondheim is not reliant on the oil industry. 
• Vikings discovered America 
• Trondheim is Norway’s 3rd largest city. 
• It has the largest Uni with 40 000 students and staff
• On arrival at Trondheim we passed an Island that I photographed. Wanda told us all about Monkhollen. Munkhollen is situated in prime position looking up the Fjiord and was used by the Vikings as a place to protect the city. They used is as a lookout over the entry to the town. It was also used for executions and the victims were beheaded and their heads stuck on sticks as a deterrent for other potential invaders. 
• It was subsequently used as a Monastery, then a prison. The Nazi’s used the Island as an observation point for the fjiord during World War 2. 
• Munkhollen is now a place to visit with a cafe and a sandy beach. 
• Trondheim was the Viking Kings first Capital city
• The Nidaros Cathedral is non-denominational, with Lutheran’s, Catholics and Protestants all using the church. It was originally timber and was ruined by fire and eventually rebuilt in stone, it has been a work in progress ever since and it is said that if it is ever finished it would mean the end of the world, as it is constantly needing repairs and refurbishing. 

The houses just looked better and better from every angle. 

Reflections were awesome too 

Nidaros Carthedral. Some really intricate stone masonry going on here. 

The gargoyles were all different. There are several styles in the church gothic, French, Roman etc. it is massive. 



The Archangel atop the very left corner of tower is carved with Bob Dylan’s face, as the stonemason was inspired by Dylan’s opposition to the Vietnam War. There are many more shots in the camera l, which I will get around to adding eventually 

The National dress. The Norwegians often receive their Burad (National costume) and it lasts for their lifetime. It is handmade and expensive. So it can be adjusted and remade as needed. Also for women the handbag/purse is important and matches the dress. 

• Highest consumption of candles per head of population in the world. They like the warm soft lighting in the dark months when there is very little sunlight 
• Copper, fish, timber were important for trade. 
• Bacalao - dried cod dish. Pickled or salted herring - prevented scurvy. 
• Houses were built with no corners to allow carriages, vehicles and especially Fire Trucks to navigate narrow streets. Vehicles had lit torches on the side, so it was important that the wooden buildings didn’t burn down. 
• Wanda pointed out the many people now living on the ‘Sunny Side’ (old dock area) own a ‘Swimming car’ or to us a boat. 
• Every mans right exists across Scandinavia - allows anyone to get out and camp in mountains and forests, and hunt and gather. 

A final view on Trondheim walk. These old ships are attached to the maritime museum and looked great in the water. 

Then it was back to the ship with rest of the afternoon ahead of us. 

Lunch on board as we depart from Trondheim. 

Views along the way. 






A ferry crossing our path. 

After lunch I went along to a cooking lesson - mussels. It was pretty basic and I was too full from lunch. There was very little provided for nothing and the plate of mussels provided was very generous. They do a good job really. People could purchase wine to accompany the mussels. Nice sunny day for it. 

Mussels demo. 

Totally difficult islands today. Smoothed off by glaciers and wind many years ago. 

Octagonal lighthouse on the way. Old. 


We saw many wind farms. 

A village





Beautiful little settlement. 

Taken from the screens around the ship that announce the Days program etc.  

Njord was the god of the sea and winds in Norse mythology. He is the father of Freyr and Freya. 

Another screen shot -

Something to look forward to tomorrow morning. 








Soup. This was prob my least favourite soup. On the whole the soups  were delicious

Can’t remember what it was but delicious.