Wednesday, June 24, 2015

They are all named Olav!

This morning, we bid farewell to Oppdal, and Iren's lovely house (Iren herself left last evening).  We would have loved to stay longer, such a beautiful and peaceful place....  But it is a long way to Bodo, so have had to get on our way.















First stop, Tronheim - the 3rd largest city in Norway (after Oslo and Bergen).  Unlike many of the coastal cities, it was not badly destroyed by the Germans, and so has retained a lot of the original architecture, dating from it's fonding in 935 by Olav  Trygveson.  This first Olav was a Viking, whose statue in the center of town is also a large sundial (they say "the largest in the world" - but who knows....) - however, it was not sunny enough for us to experience it.  This first Olav led to many other Olav's.







 Here is Olav the 5th (father of the current king - who is not named Olav, so I can't remember what he is named....) - who was much beloved for his humility and closeness to the people (I think that's what the statue is supposed to show - that he just just "normal").  The seagul on his head certainly seemed to think he was very apporachable.











This is the original royal palace - and where the king and queen still stay when in Trondheim - it is described as "alarmingly" close to the street, and a security nightmare.








 The cathedral - part Roman style, part Gothic - is the Nidaros cathedral (the river that crosses the town is call the Nide), but was known as St Olav's cathedral until the reformation, when the king of Denmark (who at the time was also king of Norway) decided that all Norwegians should be protestant and should get rid of their saints - and their Olav's too.  (that particular Olav was Olav the 2nd - he was made a saint because after going to England, raping and pillaging his way through there, he decided that he liked their religion and converted (by force) all of Norway.
 This part of the cathedral is clearly Gothic:  One of the bishops had traveled to England (the amount of travel these people did blows my mind!) and much admired their cathedrals, so wanted to redo all of it in Gothic rather than Roman style.  But the plague came and killed 2/3 of Norway (!!!!!) and they just did not have enough people to finish the work, so now it's half and half -  making it more interesting.
 The remains of St Olav may or may not be in the cathedral, because the catholics hid then from the protestants (so that they would not destroy them) - and apparently hid them so well that no one has found them till now.  Pilgrims used to walk from Oppdal to Trondheim (about 80 miles - so not very long, but through tough terrain and weather!) to pray there.  Since Trondheim was mostly spared during the war, the stained glass windows as still intact. (you are not supposed to take pictures inside, but Joe snuck a couple......)


 We visited the war museum, housed in the the old army barracks next to the church:  It basically describes 500 years of wars between Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with one or the other siding with the others (or sometimes with Russia, or France, etc....).  They went at it for a long time - and then just stopped around 1905.  After all this time, and all these wars, they basically ended with exactly the same borders they started with.  I think there is a lesson there....

We then walked onto the old "happiness bridge", where legend has it that if you make a wish, it will be granted.  So I wished for sunshine.  It worked! (should have wished for peace on earth - darn!)


Joe took many artsy-fartsy pictures of the old warehouses, the boats, and the cobblestone streets.


 And of the pansies on the pedestrian "flower bridge".














However, nowadays, it is at times hard to distinguish one modern city from another - and this could have been anywhere in the world (Burlington, VT??).








There was a large farmers market going on and we bought amazing strawberries which, even more amazingly, were cheaper than at the Croton farmer's market.
Then, we drove on to Steinkjer - a not particularly interesting city (not it's fault, it was completely destroyed during the was and had to be rebuilt in a hurry), because it is the start of the Kystrisveinen - the beautiful coastal road that leads to Bodo.  We are staying at a very mediocre hotel (the best in town, we have been told), but only for one night.... We don't care, except - what hotel in Norway does not have black out shades???????  Thankfully, I bought a sleep mask with me - and Joe can sleep through anything.

No comments: