On the morning of Friday 24/5 we left Stromsund, Sweden, heading south then across to Trondheim in Norway. I made a quick pit stop beside a lake so I could go for a very quick dip. I’d wanted to while on the Wilderness Road but hadn’t seized the opportunity. Now was my chance.

While Glen was in the bathroom, I climbed down off the back and plunged my feet into extremely cold water at this very picturesque spot. However, it was so cold that I quickly chickened out and got out again. But when Glen showed up, he spurred me on so I had very little choice and plunged in, did a quick doggy paddle in icy, icy water, then got out again. Lake: done.

We stopped at another very big beautiful waterfall further up the mountains and then again just before the border for lunch. Then we crossed the border, which was marked with a Swedish flag on one side and the Norwegian flag on the other. I slowed down to 30kmh and then sped up again and that was that. 

Before we got to Trondheim and all its traffic, therefore its stressors, we stopped in a town, literally called Hell. We had to go to the train station to get photographic evidence of it and so we could forever say, with complete legitimacy, that we’d been to Hell and back (pretty apt considering we were sorting out our separation at the time). 

When we got to Trondheim, there was a bunch of faff to get the key to the apartment then find a place to plug in the car. We went to one location, in a big empty free car park, but we couldn’t download the app because, for some inexplicable reason, it couldn’t be downloaded on any app store unless it was the Norwegian one, which we couldn’t access being Australian. 

We drove back into town and into a paid multi-storey carpark which had chargers, but in order to use the app (which we could download, hallelujah!) we needed an sms to verify but because we’re not on roaming, we couldn’t get the sms. So I called Shawn in Melbourne to make use of his working mobile and eventually got the code required. (With the benefit of hindsight, I really should have called someone else as this no doubt enraged and upset him.) I then realised I’d parked next to the wrong charger, which meant a further delay. The whole thing made me irate.

Food helped. We got some groceries then settled in for a while. I went for a walk later than night, and the city was beautiful during golden hour. I wanted through the old town and over bridges, took some snaps, but found that I was desperate for the loo and had left the key with Glen who was keen to go to sleep, so I headed back.

Trondheim seemed to be going through some sort of heatwave as it was about 24°C during the day, when the average is normally 16°C at that time of year. This meant that, along with the sun not actually setting, the apartment was extremely warm due to there being no air con and no fan so it didn’t make for a very good night’s sleep as I needed to keep the doors and windows open for the very limited air flow. Such trials.

Trondheim Cathedral

On Saturday morning we headed into the city to do the sightseeing thing, covering some of the ground I’d covered the night before. We arrived at the cathedral around opening, and bought a combined ticket for the cathedral, the regalia and the archbishop’s palace…then bought another ticket to climb the tower in the cathedral.

We were lucky in that there were only two spots left for the 10am tour, which started soon after our arrival. We were warned about how narrow the climb up the tower was going to be…which I think made things worse for me. I was second from the back so I didn’t slow anyone down, but what I should probably do next time is go at the front so I don’t get jammed behind anyone. It was very narrow and claustrophobic and my brain very quickly told me I was going to die and never get fresh air again. So that was fun.

We eventually emerged at the top and wandered around all four sides in the glorious sunshine and fresh air, me not at all worrying that I wouldn’t be able to make it back down. But the descent was much easier with more spacing between me and the person in front and with me counting all the steps so I had something else to focus on. 

Once safely back on the ground, we looked at the inners of the cathedral for a bit, with its beautiful rose window and giant organs, then outside for coffee and cake, where a husky-type dog made me his packmate.

From there it was into the archbishop’s palace with its archaeological ruins (part of the palace museum is the excavated walls from the earlier buildings). Excellent interpretive sculptures showing the growth of the cathedral on the floorplan/space of the current cathedral. Watched a video for a bit about all the artisans involved in the cathedral’s maintenance (10,000 panes of glass in the rose window), then out to see the Crown Jewels. 

Organs…crown jewels…what a day! 

The jewels were fewer than in Sweden and all made from about 1860 and paid for by the then-king because of monarchy issues. (Norway seems to have had a pretty bad run with being taken over a lot by neighbouring kingdoms for much of its life.)

After that, we walked through the town, seeing people boot scoot in the main square, before grabbing a cinnamon bun and walking home for lunch. I dozed for a little bit then headed out to catch the boat to Munkholmen, a little island with a fortress, gun battlements and a beach. I didn’t do the tour of the inside of the main building but enjoyed wandering around and then putting my feet in the freezing water before sitting and reading my book until the return ferry.

We didn’t do much in the evening, except for attempt to move the car from the expensive parking garage but to no avail so left it there until the morning, when we collected it and drove the half hour out to Trondheim airport for the flight to Oslo.

Trondheim: tick.