27 November 2014

Norway: Day Four, Trondheim

Yesterday was a busy and full day, and it was so much fun. The view from the apartment I am staying in, looking out across the fjord at Munkholmen Island:

I started the day with a visit to NIdaros Cathedral (Nidarosdomen) and the Archbishop's Palace (Erkebispegården). The cathedral was started in the 12th century and was dedicated to St. Olav. Unfortunately, a lot of it burned down in a fire in the 18th century, but they did reconstruct it and it was done so well it was hard to decide what was original and what was reconstructed. 
It had a rather stark interior compared to other medieval cathedrals - just a few statues, no painting, no gravestones, a rather plain floor...everything was removed during the Reformation. And it was still stunning, because it gave the architecture a chance to shine. Unfortunately, there were no photos allowed inside, but I think looking at the outside makes up for it, just a little:
The Archbishop's Palace was formerly where the Archbishop lived (a bit obvious due to the name). Trondheim was the seat of the first archbishopric in Norway, and the diocese stretched over to Scotland and included the Orkney Islands - there were quite a few things with Norwegians ties in the church in Kirkwall, because it was once part of the Trondheim diocese. I love how things tie together from the places I have visited! Inside was a museum with one floor dedicated to stonework that had been discovered during the reconstruction, and one floor that showed all the archaelogical finds and everything was signed in English too! 

After the my visit, I met up with my friend Sveii for a little walking tour around Trondheim. The center of the city is very compact, and easily walkable. It is almost like a triangular island, nearly surrounded on all sides by a river, and probably takes less than 15 minutes to walk across. We went through some pedestrian-only shopping streets, and then headed over to the Old Town. 

Sveii made sure we stopped in at the library on our way so I could check out a Norwegian library! Inside the front door are ruins from an old church, including a few skeletons under glass - which was definitely a first for any library I've been in. They had some really great displays and everything appeared to be organized with the Dewey Decimal system!
Crossing the Old Town Bridge:

These are the backsides of the houses/shops - boats used to come right up the river and dock under or next to the shop to unload their goods. I would love to have an apartment in one! 

We stopped in at a cafe for a cinnamon twist thing and a hot drink before continuing on to the Kristianstenfestning fortress. The fortress was built in the 17 century but only used until 1816 when it began to be used as a place to watch for fires. And then sadly the Nazis did occupy it when they occupied Norway. It was hard to take a picture of the fortress itself, because we were walking up a huuuge steep hill (and said we'd never want to live there because it would be all ice in the winter and how would you get up and down it!?). The views of the city from the top were great, along with the setting sun. 
We stopped in at an antique store which was so neat - tons of rooms full of things from the 1800s to the 1970s. You could spend days in there, just poking around to discover everything. There was even a (very out of tune) piano, and Sveii played it a little bit. 

Then we picked up a few groceries and some ingredients needed to make chocolate chip cookies and we went back to the apartment. Now I brought with me light brown sugar, Nestle chocolate chips, and a Crisco shortning stick, because those ingredients I didn't think I'd find over here...I should've also thought about the vanilla extract! So we substituted vanilla sugar instead, and made due with no measuring cups, instead I used a mug to eyeball the measurements and Sveii was put in charge of using a whisk to mix everything together. And they turned out nearly the same as at home, just a slighty different taste but that is probably due to using the different flour, sugar, and butter...plus the vanilla sugar. 
And finally we ended the day with delicious burgers. It's really funny how quickly your idea of what is inexpensive changes when you are in an expensive country! $30 for a burger sounds like a lot at home, but here it was on the less expensive side, since a McDonald's burger is $10. 

Today I'm leaving shortly to prepare our Thanksgiving feast! Which means more adventures in cooking in Norway and should be another fun day. 












2 comments:

  1. Bonnie, Uncle Rich here...had a choice to read your blog or pass out from eating too much Thanksgiving food at Dianne's Dad's in North Carolina. Chose the blog and have caught up from Day 1 to present. Love the pictures and descriptions as always. Glad you chose this country. Enjoy your time...God Natt!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely fantastic! Love your blog! Love Mom and Dad :)

    ReplyDelete