Overnight Hike in Bymarka, Part III

To the west of Storheia is an open area of peat fields and stone hills at a high elevation. There were no trails through this area, so we just started walking in the approximate direction of a small lake we were hoping to camp by that night. The whole area was either wet peat soil or exposed rock, so the first tiny patch of shallow, dry soil we found was where we pitched our tent! In the photo above, look for our tent behind some trees on the right.

The small lake turned out to be one foot of standing water on top of the peat soil, but it was clear so we filtered it and drank it anyway! The photo above shows the view from our campsite of the picturesque cropland and fjord below. As we ate dinner that night, we sat on the rocky perch and watched ferries and cargo ships far below as they steamed up and down the fjord.

On our way home the next day, we left the peat fields and returned to the eastern forest, shown in the photo above.

On our way home, our trail climbed to the peak of Geitfjellet, the mystery peak that we did not reach on our first Bymarka hike (see "In Search of a View"). Geitfjellet overlooks the Trondheim river delta and Rolf snapped this cool photo of the mountain ridges disappearing into the distance.

This is a panorama of the view from Geitfjellet at 416 meters above sea level. Trondheim is just visible on the horizon in the far left corner.

Overnight Hike in Bymarka, Part II

This is Meghan, hiking along what we thought was the trail through a beautiful and very WET peat field. We were thankful we decided to wear our hiking boots instead of our tennis shoes! After crossing the stream flowing out of the lake we were supposed to be hiking towards, we realized we must have taken a wrong turn.

The peat fields in Bymarka are full of beautiful mosses and plants, including the carnivorous Sundew shown above. To view the Sundew in action, check out the following YouTube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEcoUFawDKs&feature=related. It was so bizarre to be hiking over such vast expanses of spongy, wet soil. When we were crossing one field, Rolf could feel the ground bounce with every step!

After bushwacking up a steep hill, we found the trail we were supposed to be on, and stopped to eat lunch on the shore of this lake. Many of the lakes in Norway are formed by small dams, like the one Meghan is sitting on in the photo above.

After lunch, we hiked to the highest point in Bymarka, Storheia, at 565 meters above sea level. At the summit, we met a tall Norwegian orienteer who was staying in Trondheim for the World Orienteering Championship. Many of the paths we thought were trails turned out to be tracks made by the orienteering hordes as they ran from checkpoint to checkpoint throughout Bymarka. After chatting with us for a few minutes, the orienteer bounded down the steep side of the summit and continued on to his next location.

Inspired by the apparent ease of his descent, we decided to follow him. It turned out to be a bit more challenging with heavy packs!

Overnight Hike in Bymarka, Part I

Within a few days of our arrival, we were itching to get out of the city and into nature. So, on August 12, Rolf and I departed for an overnight hike into Bymarka, the nearby nature area on the western outskirts of Trondheim. We wanted to circumnavigate the park, so we took the city bus 5 km south to Granasen, Trondheim's ski jump, to begin our hike. Bymarka is approximately 30 square miles (about half the size of Itasca State Park), so most Norwegians just walk in for day hikes. We turned a few heads walking around in our full hiking backpacks!

The trail was a footpath at best, and unmarked except for enormous mounds of earth that, on closer inspection, were ant hills swarming with millions of black ants! We continued to notice streams of ants criss-crossing the trail but they didn't bother us and weren't mosquitoes, so we were happy.

Many of Bymarka's waterways are dammed, forming lakes that are used as water sources and recreational areas. We walked along the shore of Bymarka's largest lake, Skjellbreia, shown above (click on the panorama for a larger view in the browser). The lake was rocky and clear and surrounded by pines reminding us of lakes in the Boundary Waters.

The park is used by so many people that the paths and trails begin to look like the branches of this tree. Some trails were marked on our map, but many were not, so we had a difficult time trying to stay on the right path! We looked like tourists in a big city, with our map and cameras out while we hiked.

Harbor Sightseeing Boat Tour, Part II

We made a brief stop at Munkholmen (The Monks' Island) an hour into the tour. About 2/3 of the passengers got off here to bath (swim) for the afternoon and take the regular ferry home. We were enjoying the tour and decided to see Munkholmen some other day. Munkholmen was Trondheim's execution ground in ancient times, a monastery in the 11th century, a prison and fort in the 17th century, later a customs house, and now a popular recreational area!

Here we are passing by the local swimming beach on Munkholmen.

From Munkholmen, we crossed the fjord on the west side of Trondheim and followed the shore back into the canal bordering the northern edge of the city. By the grain elevator, we saw this ship, the Wilson Aveiro, being loaded with corn.

To enter the canal, we passed under the old lift bridge. The tour guide said that the lift bridge is rarely used, but because of the 2 meter tide in Trondheim, it was necessary today. Notice the enormous concrete block used as a counter weight on the bottom left side of the bridge in the picture above.

This is a picture of our wooden boat and its captain at the loading dock after our tour. The regular ferry to Munkholmen is in the background, fully loaded and ready to depart!

Harbor Sightseeing Boat Tour, Part I

On August 8, we went on the harbor sightseeing boat tour in Trondheim. We were in an old wooden boat, built in 1949, captained by an older Norwegian man and narrated in Norwegian and English by a young Norwegian woman named Magde. The tour began by trolling up the River Nid where the first wharves were built along the inner bank. There was a big fire in 1681 that started in one of the wharehouses. After that, flammable materials were restricted in wharves within the city limits, demarcated by the river. The wharves on the outer bank of the river, shown above, were first built post-1681 to house blacksmiths and flammable materials.

Here is a view through the boat window at the Gamle Bybro (Old Bridge). It was built in 1681 in conjuction with the construction of the Fort and connects the south end of Kjopmannsgata (Merchant Street) with the Bakklandet neighborhood. Bakklandet was the location of poor, working class housing in the 1980's and was almost torn down to make room for the construction of a highway. But, there was too much citizen protest and the plans were cancelled. Bakklandet is now a very desirable neighborhood in Trondheim, just downhill from the Fort and the University.

Here is a view of Bakklandet from the River Nid with the Fort at the top of the hill.

The tour went up the River Nid just a short way, then we turned around and entered a series of man-made canals at the mouth of the river, northeast of downtown. In the photo shown above, you can see the remains of a thick stone wall between the two cranes. This was one of two submarine bunkers built by the Germans during WWII which are now used for shipping. The bunkers could hold 8 submarines each.

Next, we went out into the fjord where we saw many Norwegians in their sailboats and motorboats enjoying the warm, sunny, summer day. To be continued...

In search of a view...

On our first day in Trondheim, we found this great walking trail through town that follows a stream up into the hills - complete with waterfalls! On this day, we were curious to see just how far up the hill the trail went. Who knows, maybe we would finally get high enough to get a good view of the city...

Unfortunately, the trail dead-ended at a busy street about halfway up the hillside. So we continued walking along the road and then cut through the side streets hoping to find a trail that went up into the forest on the hillside above town. While we were walking, we happened on this great view of Trondheim, but that wasn't high enough, Rolf said, so on we went...

Luck was on our side that day and we stumbled upon a trailhead into the forest amongst the houses. There were a series of trails crisscrossing each other in this area, so we paid close attention to where we turned at the intersections and tried to head in the general direction of UP...

Just when I was ready to turn around (it was almost dinnertime!), we saw a big rock ahead. From the top of this rock, we found the great view of the city and the fjord we had been searching for. Success! This seemed to be a popular destination as there were several benches and a notebook in a plastic tube for signing your name. And, to Rolf's glee, there was a large patch of ripe blueberries at the base of the rock, where we spent the next 45 minutes picking a half liter before heading home.

On our way back down, we ran across this signpost and decided to take a picture so we could figure out just where we had gone. Later, we learned that we had hiked to Vattakammen. But where was Geitfjellet and what sort of view could be had there? That would have to wait for another adventure...

Happy Birthday Meghan

We invited the other American Fulbright students over on Saturday night to celebrate Meghan's birthday. Using our oven for the first time, we successfully baked a Sjokoladekake (chocolate cake). We had to Google the meaning of the symbols on the oven dial as there was not simply a "bake" or "broil" option. Here, we can heat from above, heat from below, heat from above AND below, heat from above with a fan, etc., etc.!

We were lucky to find balloons and birthday cake candles at Rema1000, the corner grocery store.

Here we are eating leftovers the next day...

Rolf stowed away a pair of Teva sandles he bought for me back in the states so I would have something to open for my birthday. We didn't have any wrapping paper, so Rolf sifted through the garbage can in our building and found a magazine. He then spent nearly two hours cutting out every interesting picture in the magazine and piecing them together to form a sheet of wrapping paper.

Kristiansten Festning (Fort)

The fort was built after the great city fire in 1681 to protect the city against attack from the east.

Outside the fort.

Andy, another Fulbright from the U of M, and Meghan climbing up to the bastion.

The fort held strong against an attack by 10,000 Swedish troops in 1718. The Swedes were forced to retreat in the middle of winter and only 400 made it back home across the mountains - comparable to Napoleon's retreat from Moscow for the severity of casualties.

Walking along the top of the fort wall.

Home Sweet Home

Our apartment in Trondheim is located near the canal in the center of downtown, right in the middle of all the activity. Our building is painted red, and we are on the third floor in the attic with 3 sky lights that face the alley and a window in the bedroom that overlooks a 2nd story deck in the middle of the building. The street we live on looks like an alley to us, but it is actually a "veita", a cobbled street remaining from the city plan during the middle ages. We rented our 400 square foot apartment fully furnished, but we still had to buy several necessities, such as: sheets, pillows, towels, a dish drying rack, and an entry mat.

The bedroom is just about the size of the bed - 48" x 78". Good thing we are used to sleeping on a 3/4 bed back home! No sheets or pillows were provided, so we went to a local store called Princess to buy them. In Norway, they use a bottom sheet (jerseylaken) and each person has their own "comforter" that has a removable cover that you can wash. It is becoming more common for Norwegian couples to share a larger comforter, which we opted to purchase, but they only had one type of cover - satin - and it was expensive! The washing machine in the apartment broke with our 1,800 NOK purchase locked inside, so we have been using T-shirts as pillowcases...

The Craigslist ad we rented our apartment from had many pictures of the apartment, but there was always one door we couldn't figure out where it led. Turns out, it's a toilet closet! I'm assured by our Norwegian neighbor, Sindre, that this is not a Norwegian custom.

This is the view from the entrance to our street, Taraldsgardsveita. Beyond the Sushi Bar is the city's old outdoor fish market and the canal.

Icelandair

We flew Icelandair to Trondheim, Norway with stops in Reykjavik, Iceland and Bergen, Norway. In flight, we had a brief but amazing view of Greenland. At the top of the picture, you can see Greenland's ice sheet flowing down into glaciers and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

We were seated in Business Class on our Icelandair flight. This entitled us to the same larger seats as First Class and a complimentary meal and beverage. It was fun to see how the "other half" lives!