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Published: June 22nd 2014
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Trondheim 17 & 18 June 2014
We arrived in Trondheim in the afternoon of the 17 June. We could see that it was a good sized city with 160,000 people. We drove into "Sentrum" to get a 'feel' for the city. We ended up at the Fort by accident so went for a walk around. As it was getting onto 7.00pm we decided to look for somewhere to park for the night. We drove out into the suburbs and found a small car park which was next to a child care centre and near the city cemetery. We thought our neighbours would not be too noisy!!!
We went for a nice walk after dinner.
The next morning we watched working parents drop their children off at the centre and then at 8.30am drove 10 minutes into the city. Parking was easy. Trondheim is an old city in central Norway. The city is dominated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which has 25,000 students and contributes greatly to the city's economy.
Trondheim is the oldest of Norway's major cities, and its old heritage can still be traced in and around the city centre. Once parked, we
walked over the Gamle Bybru (old bridge) and onto the cathedral.
The marvellous Nidaros Cathedral (Nidaroddomen), the second largest church of Northern Europe, towers over the city centre, which is roughly the area inside the meandering Nidelva. When we visited the Archbishop's Museum we saw how the cathedral grew from the 1300s. The 1st part of it was built over the grave of Olav the Holy. Nidarosdomen is the biggest church of Northern Europe and the only major Gothic cathedral in Norway, and the pride of the city. It has Romanesque features also. Towering over the city centre at its southern edge, the majestic cathedral is
the defining feature of Trondheim. Nidarosdomen is also Norway's national cathedral. We learned that it was badly burned in 1531.
We then went next door to the Archbishop's Palace, which was partly burnt down in the 80's, and has been heavily restored. It houses an archaeological museum, which includes an excavated Mint workshop for the minting of coins and the crown jewels.
We then went into the Town Square...and the sun came out!!!....for 15 minutes!! We had been lucky with the rain as later that night after we had checked into
a camping park, it rained constantly, but didn't bother us as we were inside. Tom found a shop that was selling sausage, bacon and onion and he couldn't resist it. It was lovely on this cold day. We then had lunch.
We then drove around the town looking at the Arena, athletics facilities, St Olav Hospital and seeing all the school and abundance of university buildings. We then went to Camping Vikhammer (via some food shopping) which had good (and free) WiFi and good facilities.
The next morning we woke to overcast, occasionally drizzly conditions. Not to be deterred, we drove into the city and parked next to the Royal Residence, 5 minutes before the English guide was to start - great timing. The guide loved his work and he presented a wonderful story on the history of the residence 64-room residence. A wealthy Copenhagen woman, Cicilie Christine de Scholler, the widow of a privy councillor, built the now, largest, timber mansion for today's equivalent of 10 million Norwegian Kroner in 1778. The rooms we visited were all in a line as we could see each door to each of the rooms, at the one time. The style
is Rocco with Baroque detail. Every room had difference decor but there were 2 massive rooms, one a ball room/grand dining room and the other a room that, in more recent years, was re-designed by the Danish Queen. It had all thinks pink velvet. It reminded me of a room in Versailles in France. We were not allowed to take photos.
There was a Norwegian mum with a 4 year old girl (the little girl couldn't speak English), so the guide interpreted for her and gave her a task of finding the items that were on the coloured sheet he had given her. She found nearly all of them by herself.....and it kept her very occupied. I thought of my little granddaughter Gemma xxx.
The tour lasted an hour so after we hopped into Mollie and headed south, to Lillehammer.
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