June 19
Thursday, and the sun is out and the skies are blue. We arrive in Trondheim at 8:30 with enough time for a quick look around the first capitol of Norway. This town was established by the Viking King Olaf around 990. He is the King who brought Christianity to Norway.
Bill and I rented bikes from the ship so we could see more of the town in our alloted 2.5 hours. This was a smart move – it was fun riding by the rest of the cruisers walking the 30 minutes to town and we got some much needed exercise.
We visited the famous Nidaros Cathedral, an immense Gothic church built between 1070 and 1300 on top of King Olafs grave. How did these people have the vision to design, engineer, finance and build such a big project knowing it would take 200 years to finish?
We rode through the Bakklandet neighborhood, the old quarters dating back to xxxx and still in use for residential and retail use. Norwegian buildings are painted primarily in just four colors – forest green, barn red, a golden yellow and occasionally orange.
We walked the bikes up a very steep hill to reach the Kristiansten Fortress (festning) which sits on the highest hill overlooking the whole city and the fjord. This fortress was rebuilt in 1680s after a big fire to defend against the Swedens.
The fortress is surrounded by a park with bike and walking path.
We had a nice quiet afternoon and evening hanging out in the lounge on 7th deck watching the changing scenery. It is a quiet crowd. We met a couple from Maine who are riding the ship all the way up North to Kirkenes and back down to Trondheim. I think that the food might get tiresome by then.
The sun had not set at midnight and I checked again at 1pm and there was the orange streaks of a sunset at the horizon. It just barely pops below the horizon and then comes right back up. Our cabin is in the back of the boat and is very noisy when the ship stops in the middle of the night. They just run their stern thrusters for an hour while loading and unloading cargo.
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