Trondheim and Vicinity
A pleasant segment of our trip has been a visit from Nico's niece's husband, Christian, and their son, Brooker. Brooker had been in Norway for a ski training camp, so they were somewhat in the area and could take us up on our offer for anyone to join us. We arrived the day before and tied up in the downtown marina. Trondheim is a big cruise ship destination.
It was an easy walk to the supermarket to provision for an incoming teenage boy. We had to amend our original sailing plans because a coastal storm was about to visit, too.
So, as soon as they arrived, we headed off (after a slight delay to deal with a fuel issue) and motored 25 miles to the town of Austratt, by the entrance to Trondheim Fjord. It was a quiet, pastoral setting with a great deal of historical interest.
We walked from the marina to an 11th-century manor house that was renovated in the 1600s. It was the seat of powerful chieftain families during the medieval period. One resident was Ingerd Ottesdatter, whom the author Ibsen used as a character in one of his plays.
Walking further down the road, we passed a sign that was a memorial to the 250 or so Croatian men that the Germans had enslaved to build the nearby fortification. Many died in the process. We climbed a hill and there we saw a massive triple 28cm (11 inch) gun that was originally from the battleship Gneisenau, which had been damaged by a British attack during WWII. It could shoot 730-pound shells 24 miles. We had a tour of the underground facility, which consisted of bunk rooms for 200, latrines, kitchens, a mess hall, ammunition, and five floors for loading shells and maneuvering the giant gun.
A certain beauty in the mechanics and materials
Where the shells were loaded
During the war, this building was on another hillside. It was a range finder to direct the fire.
For natural history fans, here are a few pictures of the flora and fauna seen on our walk.
After a lovely sail, we spent the night in Borsa, where Hitler was going to build a new city after evicting the people from Trondheim so he could make that city a base. Then on to Trondheim, the third largest city in Norway, to wait out the storm. We had a great time there. I remembered the cathedral from my visit 56 years ago. It is impressive! As we walked up to the entrance, a wedding was beginning, and it was fun to see the guests wearing the national costume. There was gorgeous embroidery and silver jewelry.
It was a very windy day!
We went down into the crypt, where there were gravestones from 1100.
This is a Sami altar in the main church. The Sami are the indigenous people of Norway.
Historians think the Lewis chessmen, whom I fell in love with when we were in Scotland, were inspired by the carvings on the cathedral.
Trondheim is a lovely city with wonderful architecture, both old and new.
And boats...
Old and new...
We walked around the city and went to several museums. The military museum had artifacts from the Viking period up through World War II. It gave a balanced history of the resistance but also described the thousands of Norwegians who supported Hitler. The four of us found the former submarine pens that are now used for the national archives and a bowling alley. Lots of concrete!
We took a bus out to the Folk Museum and saw some more old buildings, including a stave church. Historians determined that the age of the church is somewhere between 1163 and 1170 based on their analysis of the wood. The church smells smoky because it has been preserved with oil and pine tar, just like the old boats.
One of the homes at the museum dating from the 1700s.
No windows in these churches.
It was a great few days with these guys. I think Brooker received a major crash course on WWII, but he took it in stride. On the stormy day, they even rented a car and drove to the Arctic Circle! We have a lot more traveling to do before Far and Away reaches that latitude.
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