Since J and I were going on an excursion that left relatively early, I got up at 6:30. K was at the gym. Just after J arrived at 7:10, I took some photos in the Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjordenm, the third-longest in Norway. The first photo is of Munkholmen, an island that used to be the home of a monastery. The other two are looking forward and aft.
We were at breakfast at 7:15, where I got my usual OJ, and fruit and meat and rolls. It was now 41°, but felt like 36°. There was a little sun. K showed up to join us before we headed to the World Stage.
At 8:37, we were off the ship sporting blue stickers. It was spitting, which was not a good sign. Just a minute later, we were on the bus with American Tammy as guide and Bertl driving. We were underway at 8:45. Tammy and husband moved here to be closer to family.
As we drove out of the port, we passed a statue of Leif Erikson that was a copy of one in Seattle. The statue was given to Trondheim to celebrate its 1,000 year history as a Viking city and the ties between America and Norway. It strikes me as a bit of an odd choice considering he was born in Iceland and died in Greenland. But, he was a Viking that everybody knows. So, there's that.
Norway was founded around 872, when Harald I Fairhair declared himself king of the Norwegians. The Summer Royal Palace is here (it is yellow). The king is very approachable. In 1905, Norway became independent of Denmark.The king insisted on a vote, because he was a Danish prince. This made him the only elected king. They have a right to camp and forage, which is a fun fact. Another is that the group a-ha ("Take on Me") is from Norway.
Trondheim has a population of 220,000 with 40,000 students at the university. The university and research are the main industries, but the Nidar chocolate factory is located here. The streets are wider in this town to prevent the spread of fire, a change instituted ages ago.
By now, it was about 9:00, and we stopped to see the exterior of the Nidaros Cathedral. This Evangelical Church of Norway structure began as a wooden church and it is called Nidaros, because that is the original name of the town. It is built over the 1030 grave of St. Olav, the Viking king who converted Norway to Christianity and became “Norway's Eternal King". (Kings are consecrated here today.) In 1070, a stone church was begun by Olav's nephew. It was gradually replaced by new building parts in the 13th century. It is the world's northernmost medieval church and was quite the pilgrim destination in the Middle Ages. In 1868, it was decided that fires and lack of maintenance required a massive renovation to create the national symbol that is the church today. It is made of soapstone and nothing original is left as that stone doesn't last. The exterior was renovated from 1925-1983. It is again a pilgrim church.
We approached the cathedral from its northern side and went around to the west front, which was the entrance. The tour did not include entrance to the church.
Such an old cathedral started out Catholic, of course. But, around 1530 the monastery and half of the cathedral were burned by lightning. The king celebrated and took it as holy confirmation that all should be Lutheran. I think, like so many rulers, he didn't like the power of the Church.
Here on the front facade are a bunch of statues, which is rather typical of Gothic churches. (It also has elements of the Romanesque.) The really white one with a battleax is St. Olav, who was a warrior king. (https://vestfronten.no/en lets you see who each one is by scrolling over it.) The top row is made of the Patriarchs and some prophets. The three statues to the right of St. Olav as you look at him are Charity, Hope, and Faith. Apostles and a couple of saints are on the bottom row. On the other side of the Rose Window from them is an angel and Adam and Eve. Up on the spire is a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, which was sculpted in 1965 by Kristoffer Leirdal, who gave it the face of Bob Dylan!
When we were given a bit of free time, J and I circumnavigated the church counterclockwise. It was a pretty cathedral. Across some grass from it was the old archbishop's palace and around it on three sides was the cemetary. The fancy double doors are the King's Entrance, which is used for the consecration of new kings. They really like their hardware on those doors.
I'm certain that the octagonal part on the eastern side housed the main altar. We also found a great manhole cover.
At 9:23, J and I were back on the bus two minutes early. Unfortunately, five people were late and we didn't get underway again until 9:35.
Our next stop was at 9:55 on an overlook. We had great views. To our left was a grain silo and then Munkholmen out in the fjord and the Ilen Church on land. We had a good view of the Nieuw Statendam at the dock. Across town on a hill, we could see the TV tower, one of the tallest buildings in the country. I got a good shot of the western facade of the cathedral over the Nidralva river.
We were on the bus again before 10:05. We passed a stave church that would be at our next destination, but we did not get to see it up close. At 10:15, we arrived at the open-air cultural heritage Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum in the rain. We rushed inside the entrance building and had to go through to an open area behind it. After an introduction, we were split into two groups. Our group was sent to the village part of the museum. There, we were given an intro to the area, while standing outside of the Apotheke, sorry, apothecary (Norwegian is so close to German, I just go for the German word) in a mixture of snow and rain. !! Seriously-you can see it in the second photo.
The spot was a central square in this town of old buildings that were brought from elsewhere. There were a hat shop and a photography studio in the shops behind us.
When we were released for a time, we were told to wander and go in any open door we liked. Our first stop was the lower floor of a rich person's home. The clock was lovely.
We didn't go in the post office, but we did go in the Konditorei, or pastry shop. We could peer through glass at the shop part and then look at displays, including one for Coke. We happened upon a bathroom and J took advantage of it, but I wasn't too sure it was for public use and delayed.
Another example of Norwegian being related to German. This would be a Sparkasse, although Bank means "bank". In any event, it is a savings bank.
Having been in a wealthy home, it was time for a merchant. Luckily, there was a sign with info in English, a rarity.
J and I and a few others were back on time. The next guide showed up, and so off we went to the farm area. We passed King Sverre's castle ruins. It was for it that this was named (Borg is castle in Norwegian). The ruins date to 1183. We had this incredible hill to climb. I did give it a thought, but decided I had to climb it, in spite of it being steep. I needed to see the farm buildings.
The farm buildings were rather small, and yet I see that many folks on the internet have taken photos of them. The large red-trimmed house is more obviously photogenic. It is a farmstead with an interesting modern story.
We were led into a far more humble-looking building, at least from the outside. Inside, the ceiling was beautifully painted and there was a handsome cupboard, as well as a substantial fireplace. This, however, was no residence. As the young male docent told us, this was a place for celebration. People gathered for weddings. The celebration would last for days and all would bring food. An older woman was in charge of making sure everyone went back home with food that they themselves had not brought. One reason they all came was fellowship with folks they hadn't seen, while they were on their far-flung farms. Also, young people came looking for a mate. You couldn't be a Norwegian bachelor farmer, no matter what Garrison Keillor says. There was too much work. One way they'd test compatibility was to put a potential couple up on a tree stump nose-to-nose to see how long they could stay there. Food would be handed up and they had to work out how to eat without falling off. If they seemed to hit it off, he would give her what the guy called a "wooden iron". mangleboard.com, which called them mangle boards and explained that they were an early form of iron, noted that in the 1600's they began to be decorated:
Obviously, this sudden interest in aesthetics reveals a change in meaning. The mangle board, while remaining a functional object, became a courtship gift offered by the man to his bride-to-be prior to the wedding day. The beauty and quality of the mangle board were a symbol of the future husband’s means. In some regions, legend has it that the mangle board was used to make a wedding proposal official. The suitor hung the board on the door of the house where the woman he wished to marry lived; if the board remained on the door, his proposal was rejected. The rejected suitor could not then offer that board to another woman. This may explain why some mangle boards do not have initials (usually three) or dates (the year of the marriage) on them and why the spaces provided for this purpose have remained blank.
And did the girl give a gift? Indeed. She would present a knitted "willy warmer", which was actually something Norwegian men used to wear to prevent frostbite, and the guy gave a wink when mentioning that she would need to know the size. Wikipedia actually has an entry for willy warmer and notes:
There was a tradition in Norway and Denmark, particularly on the Faroe Islands, where a girl would present her boyfriend with a forhyse to see how seriously he took their relationship. If the gift was rejected, this was seen as evidence that he was not yet ready for marriage.
He also told us about the traditional costume. In our country, grandparents might start a college fund. In Norway, they start the costume fund. Then at 15 or so, when the young person is confirmed in the the church, they receive their costume. It is designed to be altered as they grow. Such foresight! Sometimes, they are handed down in the family.
They talk was really interesting, but I kept glancing at my watch because we had a time to be back at the bus. Plus, I needed to use the restroom and we needed to duck in the shop. We'd had no opportunity to buy postcards yet.
So, even though we were sitting in the front, as you can tell from the photos, we finally had to get up and rush down the hill in the rain. J headed for the shop, while I went to the restroom, where there were only 3 or 4 stalls and a line. Luckily, someone decided I was on an earlier bus and told me to go ahead. When I came out, J had found postcards, but no pin. I hurriedly paid and we flew out to the bus, boarding at 11:20. We needn't have rushed as others were later than us. Finally, at 11:25, we were on the road.
At 11:37, we were let off at the port. There was a souvenir stand there and we managed to find a pin for Trondheim. We then decided to go off to the grocery store that she'd pointed out nearby. We like looking around in them, plus we thought we might find some of the local chocolate.
We walked along the inner harbor and could seeing a swimming pod, before we cut over to a parallel street.
We walked through a large parking lot that had a fair number of cars. As we neared the street called Havnegata, we saw a really cool building whose look reminded me of a Mondrian painting. Awesome!
We saw Coke bottles packaged much like they are at Sam's. What surprised us was the notation that the soda came from Iceland!
We did find the chocolate. We also found some chocolate dipped mango slices to snack on. We put our purchases in the backpack to keep them dry in the rain that had started again. We walked down the street to see the Leif Eriksson statue, since we were so close and hadn't been able to photograph it from the bus. We were surprised to read that he supposedly sailed from Trondheim.
We were going to just walk along the road parallel to the fjord, but a gate prevented us from getting to the ship. So, we were forced to go back through the parking lot. We did notice an indoor swimming pool there that we would later see from the Lido Deck.
When we got back to the ship, it was 43°, but felt like 35°. I was in my cabin by 12:20 and found a note that Holland America would not honor the transportation back to the airport that we paid for months ago. J got the same note. They said it was because we were flying before a certain time. I was furious and decided K and J needed to talk to the concierge. Meanwhile, I sent an email to our AAA travel agent to tell her and ask her to try to fix it.
J and I went to lunch on the Lido deck at 12:40. I got my salad and Coke Zero. We split a fantastic flourless chocolate cake, strawberry swirl cheesecake, and a lemon meringue cupcake.
We went up to 12 and got the crossword puzzle before going to the room before 1:30. There, I was able to get a photo that showed some of the interior of that swim hall.
We did the crossword and J was gone by the time it hailed at 2:05.
Then, I closed my eyes for a while.
By 4, we were sailing and I got a shot of Munkholmen one last time.
We hustled down to the dining room at 5 for dinner. I decided that since drinks were basically free, that I would get the Strongbow Apple Cider. J got a Sprite and K had pinot grigio. The appetizers were interesting: quinoa and pomegranate; smoked chicken with golden raisins; and corn soup with bacon.
Even though we were nowhere near Austria, I felt I had to order the Wiener Schnitzel, which was pretty good. J chose the grilled pork chop with pear and thyme sauce. K chose to be an outlier again and ordered the Mediterranean salmon bowl, which he liked.
J and I would split a mango blueberry crisp and orange-lime panna cotta. K ate a turtle pie, which neither of us would eat.
When we finished dinner at 6:45, J and K went to deal with dining discrepancies. I went to the cabin and saw in my email that D at AAA was working on the transfer to the plane. This, meanwhile, was the view outside.
At 8:15, the sun was shining and a lot of rocking started. It continued for hours.
I took a shower and did needlework. Since we were headed for the Arctic Circle, this was the view at 10:38- not quite a sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment