Streets of Trondheim

This is one of the major intersections in downtown Trondheim, just half a block from our apartment. Along this street are numerous clothing stores, hair salons, an indoor shopping center, and a Burger King. Conveniently, one of the only Trondheim branches of our bank is located on this corner! The bus in the photo is the FlyBussen, the Norwegian airport shuttle we took when we arrived. You will, too, if you come visit! This is the Torg, the central square in Trondheim. In the center is a 58 foot statue of the Viking King Olav Tryggvason who founded the city in 997. We walk through this square almost everyday. This photo was taken early in the morning, but usually the square is full of people. Since we've arrived, there have been several markets, tents, and music stages set up in the square. There's always something going on at the Torg!

This is one of the pedestrian shopping streets - no cars allowed. Rolf walks along this street on his way home from NTNU everyday. On a summer day, the street is full of shoppers. Most of these businesses, and in fact most businesses in Trondheim, sell clothing, boots or haircuts!

This is the main street through the Bakklandet neighborhood that we walk along everyday on our way to NTNU. The charm of this street is difficult to capture adequately in a photograph. All the buildings are brightly painted, the street is narrow and paved with cobblestones, and the small shops have curtains and flowers in their windows. During the day, the street is full of pedestrians, bikers, and people enjoying a cup of coffee at one of the cafes.

This is a view of the canal just behind our apartment. The wharves have been converted into stores on the street level with condos in the upper levels. We walk along the canal on our way to the train station, the pier, and Solsiden (a fancy shopping mall with the largest grocery store in downtown Trondheim). The canal was once used by merchant ships, but is now a modern marina. We don't see much boat traffic, but we have seen a lot of people watching TV or sunbathing on their boats while still tied to the dock!

The Ringve Estate

In the middle of the botanical gardens is the Ringve estate. Built in the 1850's, the estate was acquired by a gentleman who was very fond of music. His estate, along with his collection of historical musical instruments, is now Norway's national museum for music and musical instruments.

We didn't pay to go inside the museum, but we spent some time looking at the buildings from the outside. This is a photo of the inner courtyard of the estate.

In the background of this photo, Meghan is sitting on the front steps of the Ringve house, waiting for Rolf to finish taking photos...

We saw this beautiful building on our walk home from Ringve. It was unfortunately a private residence and unavailable for tours, but we ogled at it for a while through someone's side yard regardless!

Ringve Botanical Gardens

On September 9, the skies were blue and the sun was warm, so we took the morning off from work and walked 4 km to the Ringve Botanical Gardens - a 32 acre park made up of a floral maze, an arboretum, and a Renaissance garden. The botanical gardens surround the Ringve estate which is shown in the following blog. In this photo, Rolf is admiring some flowers in the floral maze. This garden has 50 sections, each devoted to a different plant family. We spent a long time here, in part because there were so many beautiful flowers in bloom, but also because we did a lot of back tracking from all the dead ends in the maze!

We saw many bees taking advantage of the warm sunshine, stocking up on nectar from all the blooming plants, like the one in the photo above. The botanical gardens are perched on a hill with a very nice view of the Trondheim fjord. You can see the start of the arboretum to the left of the path below.

The Renaissance garden is laid out in classic symmetry and maintained as a vegetable and herb garden. This was the part of the botanical gardens where Meghan could finally identify some plants. We helped ourselves to a nice stalk of fresh chives, but don't tell anyone!

Sverresborg in Black and White

With the color removed from the following photos, you get a sense of the many textures and shapes found in these buildings.

The Nesset Farmhouse

Two pillared storehouses

The roof of the Engelsjord Cottage

The Haltdalen Stave Church

The Haltdalen Stave Church foundation

Sverresborg Vernacular Architecture

The following photos are taken of the vernacular architecture at Sverresborg, the Trondelag Folk Museum. We couldn't get enough of their beauty and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

From left to right: the Detli House, two pillared storehouses, and the Mjøen cowshed.

From left to right: the Detli House, the Mjøen cowshed, and the Vika House.

A cookhouse and a smithy

The Engelsjord Cottage

The interior of a farmhouse

Sverresborg Folk Museum

On August 29, Rolf and I walked up the western hill of Trondheim to Sverresborg, the local folk museum. Folk museums are rare in the U.S. but were established in Scandinavian countries to help create distinct national identities as they became independent from each other around the turn of the 20th century. They are typically collections of traditional buildings from the nearby region, dismantled piece by piece, and rebuilt at a central museum site. At Sverresborg, there are 85 buildings in all, taken from the city of Trondheim, rural farms, coastal communities, and Sami villages. Meghan is standing on the earthern ramp of the Nesset Farm's barn in the photo above. This area of the folk musem was complete with a pen full of live (and very muddy) curly tailed pigs and rabbits!

The buildings in the photo above are from a large farm near Oppdal. Notice the enormous timbers of the house on the left - at least 2.5 feet in diameter! Rolf is standing in front of the house on the right to give you a sense of scale.

This is a photo of the inside of a traditional Norwegian farmhouse. The interiors of many of the houses were very dark because of exposed timber walls and few windows. Looks like they are ready to serve the Last Supper!

In this photo, Kristine (a Fulbright student from New Jersey) is describing the function of the Haltdalen Stave Church to Meghan and Tyler (a Fulbright student from New Hampshire). Stave churches were built by the early church, after Norway's conversion to Christianity around 1000 AD. There are no windows and no benches inside - no sleeping during the sermon in this church!

This is Meghan peeking out of a traditional Sami hut, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia and Russia. They are best known for reindeer herding, for which they still have the sole rights in northern Norway.

Stiftsgården - The Royal Residence

On August 15 we took a tour of Stiftsgården, the royal residence in Trondheim, still in use by the Royal family today. The house is actually quite simple in decor, but its size makes it worthy of a royal residence. The ceilings are 15 feet high, the windows 7 feet high, and it spans an entire city block. When we arrived for our tour, about one third of the tourists were Norwegian, two thirds were German - and then there was us. We knew this because the information sheets about the residence were in a different color depending on the language - Norwegian, German, or English - and we were the only ones to grab the English translation! They split the tour into 2 groups, one led in Norwegian, the other in English. The German families were upset that a tour was not in German that day, but our tour guide offered to pause every so often so that parents could translate for their children. Everyone had to put blue plastic booties (like shower caps) over their shoes to protect the ancient floors.

Stiftsgården was built in 1774-1778 for a very wealthy and ambitious widow during a time of commercial growth in Trondheim. The palace was sold to the state in 1800 and was used primarily by the Governor of the region, but the governor had to move all of his belongings out when the Royal family came to visit! It became exclusively the Royal residence in 1906, after Norway's independence from Sweden.

The tour guide spent a long time talking about the three modern kings of Norway: King Haakon 7th, King Olav 5th, and King Harald 5th. It sounded like the current Royal family did not visit Trondheim very often, and when they did, it was a BIG deal. The last time they were in Trondheim was for Princess Martha Louise's wedding in 2002. Unfortunately, the more private areas of the house used by the family during their visits were off limits during the tour. Only the more formal rooms were open to visitors. In the picture above, Rolf is standing at the royal entrance, strictly used by the king and the queen upon their arrival. It fronts onto Munkegata, the main thoroughfare in town.

Most of the wood floors were bare pine planks, unpainted and unfinished. However, some of the plank floors in the more formal rooms were painted to look like wood parquet. And, oddly enough, the walls around the wood stoves were painted to look like marble. Our tour guide said that in the early 19th century, faux finishes were considered to be more prestigious than the real thing. In the picture above you can see the back side of the house, which is where everyone else enters. Out of respect for the privacy of the royal family, we were prohibited from taking any pictures inside, but fortunately, we both have perfect memories ;)

Fruits of Our Labor

Plums and nectarines are apparently in season in Europe and have been showing up in the corner grocery stores by the truckload. The first nectarines I bought were perfect, but the second batch was mealy and bland. Since food is so expensive here, especially produce, we couldn't just throw them out. My solution? Baked lefse filled with chopped nectarines and sugar!

Berries have been in season in and around Trondheim since we arrived at the beginning of August. Last Thursday, we hiked back to Vattakammen overlook in Bymarka to pick more blueberries before they go out of season. The blueberries were definitely scarcer than they were 3 weeks ago, but we still managed to fill two tupperwares.

On our hike back down, we were rewarded with this beautiful rainbow from a light rain passing over the harbor. Another picture perfect day in Trondheim!

Only in Norway...

We saw this pair of signs at the top of a particularly steep street. Double red triange = double black diamond = expert drivers only!

Now, I wouldn't take this sign too literally, but a sign a few meters away reads, in Norwegian AND English: " Empty your car... Before a thief does!"

Contrary to what this sign may lead you to believe, not all people crossing the street in Trondheim wear pants and a top hat, but wouldn't it be fun if they did?

The text on this sign reads: "Bli learling - full fart mot framtida." Call us little kids, but we can't help but get a chuckle out of the Norwegian word "fart", especially when the sign is so suggestive.

This could be you! If you look closely, the mannequin has blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth and a bloody arm. The sign in the window reads: "A cat has 9 lives, you don't. Use Jordan." If you figure out what that means, let us know.

IKEA

Yes, we went to IKEA, the evil Swedish empire taking over Norway's economy. But our motives were pure: free transportation, cheap food, and 10 kroner Soft Is ($1.50 ice cream cones). First things first: dinner! This is Meghan with her medium plate of kjottboller og potet (meatballs and potatoes) from the IKEA cafeteria, all for the bargain price of 69 kroners ($11). To gain a true appreciation for what a deal that is, most restaurant entrees start at around 200 kroners ($32). After our hearty meal, we wandered the IKEA maze looking for the last few household items we needed to buy - a dish rack, rugs, a hand broom - all very exciting to our readers I'm sure. After checking out, we stopped for one last bargain IKEA treat, 10 kroner ice cream cones.

Here are Rolf and Andy showing off their IKEA purchases in front of the free IKEA shuttle. With 20,000 students at NTNU University, the shuttle is just smart business. Hey, we fell for their marketing ploy!