Norway Vacation Diary (Part 2)

Thursday July 8th

Then we went up into the hills, and stopped to pick up some lady. As the driver approached the front door, he heard a voice coming from inside the garage. The lady was locked in the garage; she couldn't get out of the garage, and she couldn't get into the house. Three of us managed to force the garage door open, and let the woman out. When we found out that it was not her house, and her bags were locked in the house, we went on to the airport without her.

This trip I was scheduled to fly Northwest Airlines from San Francisco to Oslo, and then fly Braathens on to Trondheim.

Marit and Kine met me at the airport in Trondheim Værnes. We drove the back roads through Hell to get to town. It is a slower road, but the scenery is beautiful. I took a little bit of a nap until Tove got home from work. Later we went in to Heimdal to have dinner at the China House, me and Tove and Kine and Marit.

Afterwards, Tor and Ellen came over for a little while, and we sat around on the patio and talked until late at night. The sun did not go down until after 11:00PM.

Saturday July 10th

On Saturday we drove out to Hell and picked up Ketil. We met his cat Nils, and we played in a hayloft in the barn where they were drying a huge load of hay.

We drove out to Færttenfjorden (at Langstein) and rented a boat. Five of us took a little 14-foot open fishing boat out onto the fjord. We putt-putted out to a small island, and began fishing. Kine caught a little tiny Torsk (cod) that we decided would be good to feed to the cat. Then, Kine caught a large fish, about half a meter. Eventually I caught a Sei (pollack) that was 17.5 inches long (45 cm), and Tove caught a couple of Torsker and a huge Mussel. At one point, Tove caught herself by the hair.

We stopped on the island for a while, and packed all the food and drinks and clothes and the BBQ's onto the island. It was so cold and windy that we gave up and took the boat back to shore and went back to Ketil's house.

Back at Ketil's, there was a slight "communication breakdown", and I was somehow elected to clean the fish. Now that was interesting, because I haven't cleaned a fish in over 25 years. I managed to muddle through, and ended up with three decent fish, ready for cooking.

While I was cutting up the fish and my fingers, Marit started the BBQ and Ketil and Tove started making garlic rolls and setting everything else up. We BBQ'd steaks and hot dogs and ribs and had garlic rolls and potato salad. It was out in the country and it was beautiful and serene.

We left Ketil's around 10:00PM, and of course it was still light out. We drove through downtown Trondheim on the way home. It was very strange to see all of the people in downtown Trondheim all dressed up for going out in the daylight.

We stayed up until after the sunset at about 11:30PM. After a couple of long tiring days, we all slept in till noon on Sunday.

Sunday July 11th

It was still overcast and a cool (17 degrees) so we sat around and did nothing for most of the day.

In the evening, we went over to Morten and Merethe's house, and saw Marius and Tonje and the new baby Alexander. I played with Marius (4) and Elin (7) and Bambi the dog.

We ate Pizza and sat around and talked for hours. Morten showed me his new Taxi bus, a Mercedes that sits about 9, with a wheelchair lift in the rear. Once he has that set up and operating, it should generate a good cash flow.

After several hours, we reluctantly headed home, and we watched TV until we were too tired to keep our eyes open.

Monday July 12th

It was overcast again, so we were sluggish and slow.

Tove and Ellen and I went down to the Fish Market Ravnkloa in downtown Trondheim. We bought 3 kilos of shrimp Reker. Tove also bought some dried fish, basically fish jerky. Don't bother. We walked around the busy downtown area a little bit.

We had planned the shrimp dinner with Tor and Ellen, but Tor had to work late, so we started without him. These shrimp were fresh boiled and complete in the shell. They had to teach me how to remove the head and the shells from the shrimp, and make sandwiches. We ate a couple of bowls of the shrimp, and then they taught me a card game they call "idiot". (the last one left with cards is the Idiot) Tor showed up later, and ate while we played cards. When he was done eating, he joined in the game. It is fairly easy to learn the rules, but the strategies take a little longer. Still I think I did well, I was not the idiot as many times as Tove was.

After a couple hours of cards, Ellen gave Tove a massage for her back, while Tor and I discussed his work. He is a repairman for large appliances for restaurants and bars. We talked about ice machines and coffee machines and we laughed a lot. It rained a little as the night wore on.

Tuesday July 13th

The day seemed to hint that the sun might finally appear. We drove over to the fort and toured the cannon tower and the grounds of the fort. The sun was shining and it was Norway "hot" (about 75 degrees).

Then we went down to the Bakklandet area and walked all over the historic sections of town. They have a bicycle "lift" up a steep hill that goes up to the fort. You put a coin in the machine, and a small foot pedal runs up a track along the curb, pushing you up the hill. At least that is the way it is supposed to work. It is a lot of fun to watch people try to ride the lift up the hill.

We walked across Gamle Bybro and over to the grounds (Marinen) of the Cathedral Nidaros. We walked down Munkegaten to the main square. At this time of year there are many produce stands and people all over the square. Tove got a small box of strawberries for nibbling as we walked.

Morten and I went to Lille London to play Pool for a while. It was a bad display of pool playing, thanks to the alcohol.

I ordered a screwdriver, and they delivered me a blue drink. I asked them what they put in a screwdriver, that I was expecting Vodka and Orange Juice. They agreed, but were unable to explain the blue color. The drink was actually okay, so I drank it. Later I asked for another one of the same, and I was delivered a red-orange drink. It was okay also, but not the same.

After a while Tove and Marit arrived. It was cute to see Morten teaching his big sister how to play pool.

Morten had a little bit too much to drink, and we began to be concerned when he began shaking. They threw us out of the pub, and we had to get Morten some fresh air. Morten tried to get back into Carl Johan, but was refused at the door. We tried to put him in a taxi, but since he is an owner-driver for Norge Taxi, he refused to get into a Trønder Taxi. We finally got Morten's driver to come take him home.

Marit and Tove and I walked a few blocks to Monte Cristo, another nightclub. The crowd was sparse since it was a Tuesday night. We had a few more drinks, and danced a little. I ordered another screwdriver, and this one was actually the right color! An old friend of Tove's from her youth came by, and he stopped to drink and talk with us. He struck out with Tove, so he put a target on Marit. Soon they were dirty dancing like wild lusty kids.

Monte Cristo closed at about 2:30 AM, and we called Morten's driver to take us home. We had three foxes (the four-legged type) cross right in front of the taxi as we drove to Bjørndalsbrua. We arrived home a little after 3:00 AM and the sun was just coming up.

It was quite bright out, even though it was the middle of the night. This picture was taken at 3:18AM (1/30 f4). (needs to be scanned then inserted)

Wednesday July 14th.

We drove to Sweden. It was beautiful and green, but unfortunately it rained off and on all day and night long. I drove the 589 KM to and from Østersund.

We stopped at a waterfall just on the Norway side of the border. Brudånsjordan ?? and we later stopped in Åre (O-ray) for a late lunch.

When we got to Østersund, we went to a mall, but it was getting late, and most of the stores close at 6:00, and that is it. The only toilets anywhere were pay toilets. They all cost 5 KR. Of course we did not have any Swedish coins with us, so we had to get change. It was utterly ridiculous, and really annoying.

We drove over a bridge to the island of Frøsøn and we went up in the tower to look over the city and the surrounding area. It was windy and raining so hard, that we could not even see out the windows on one side of the tower. It would have really been spectacular on a sunny day.

On the return ride, I stopped and took a picture along a river at 9:00PM. It was all very beautiful, but I really wish that it had been less cloudy and overcast.

We finally arrived back in Trondheim about 11:30PM.

Thursday July 15th.

Another rainy overcast day, with the promise of some sunshine on Friday. Summer in Norway reminds me of late winter, early spring in California. Very green, cool and rainy, with low clouds and overcast all the time.

It was too rainy to go do any of the "summer' things, so we went to a couple of the larger malls in town, City Syd and KBS.

Later we went sightseeing around town. We went down to the shore of the Fjord, to a beach area called Ringve, and to Djupvika beach. We hiked around the area, through the woods and to the grounds of a Mental Institution named Østmarka.

On the way back, we drove all over the town, and through the industrial section and the Hippie section of town.

On the way back out of town, the Sun finally peeked through the dark clouds at 9:00PM, the first we had seen of it all day long.

That night we played cards with Tor and Ellen and had a nice time at their place.

We had a late dinner of dried meats, potato salad, scrambled eggs and vegetables.

Bowls and buckets on the back patio had gotten close to two inches of rain. It was amazing to me, because I knew that it had rained, but it certainly didn't seem like that much.

Friday July 16th

The sun was finally peaking through the clouds a little bit this morning.

First we went to the main office of Fokus bank to try to retrieve my ATM card that had been "retained" at a Mini-Bank on Thursday. The security officer spent almost 30 minutes trying to track down where my card was, and why it was not at the main office. We then drove to another branch where they did have my card, and I was able to get it back from them. Of course I still could not use it, for fear that it would be "retained" again.

By the time we left the downtown area, it was completely clouded over again, and it was beginning to sprinkle.

After wandering around for a couple hours, we drove out to the mall City Syd and ate and shopped some more. Then we went to Obs (the Norwegian version of Home Depot) for Marit to pick out paint colors and wood paneling. By then it was raining. On the way home we got ice cream and groceries. We had shot the entire day, and hadn't really accomplished anything, but we were hoping that it might be sunny the next day.

Tove spent an hour trying to teach me the alphabet and numbers in Norwegian. It is difficult because some of the "extra" vowels in Norwegian are very similar to other vowels, and it is hard to pronounce them. (at least it is for me)

Saturday July 17th

Saturday was a day of leisure, with nothing planned, so of course it was the first nice sunny day. Tor and I replaced the weather-stripping in Tove's car, and we cleaned and vacuumed the car. Later I spent a couple hours battling weeds near the front door.

The temperatures ran as high as 25 in the evening, with clear blue skies, as we sat on the patio and played cards.

At 8:00PM we went down to Tor and Ellen's for BBQ. Tor's daughter Frid was visiting, and the father daughter teasing, poking and playing was very amusing. We had a variety of pork meats, all grilled to perfection, garlic bread, salad and fresh homemade french fries.

Afterwards we played Idiot for a couple of hours, and watched the few clouds in the sky turn red-orange about 11:00PM.

As we were heading home a little after midnight, we found a hedgehog (pinnsvin) drinking the cat's bowl of milk in the back yard. I scurried to get my camera, but was unable to get a picture of the little ball of needles.

Sunday July 18th

The day started out looking nice and sunny with blue skies and puffy white clouds, much like Saturday, so we took the 12:30 ferry out to the island Munkholmen. The ferry has a capacity of 98, and it was full heading to the island. We wandered around the island for a while, and then took the 13:20 guided tour of the tower. The guide told us all about approximately 1000 years of history of the island.

Afterwards, we lay out on towels in the fading sunlight for a while. It grew colder and windier as the afternoon wore on, and people began heading to the ferry in droves. We went down to the pier, and braved the heavy winds to try to get on the ferry at 15:20. The filled the ferry, and headed into town, with another boatload of us still standing on the pier. The ferry returned in about 30 minutes, and we were able to get onboard for that return trip.

It just began to sprinkle as we arrived at the dock at Trondheim, and by the time we stopped at a store on the way back to the house, it was pouring rain. Another 8 minutes to the house, and it was back to gentle drizzle. We had gotten off of the island, just in time.

We went to Tor and Ellen's for dinner. Ellen made reindeer and potatoes, and it was very good! After dinner we played Idiot again for a few hours. I think that I am finally beginning to get the hang of the game.

Monday July 19th

The day was overcast in the early morning hours, but it cleared nicely in the late morning. We drove downtown to pick up Kine from her father's house, and took pictures of Nidaros and the Fort and all the pretty city scenery from spots on the surrounding hills.

Later, a group of us went out to the beach at Øysand, south of town. It was nice and sunny, with a little bit of a breeze. We lay in the sun, and we swam in the Fjord. Of course I got sunburned to a crisp in the few hours we were there.

Later, we BBQ'd ribs, hotdogs and steak cutlets. They have these wonderful little one-time-use BBQ's in Norway. They are great for picnics and beach trips and such. The are a small aluminum foil pan with charcoal and starter paper, and small folding legs and a mesh grill on top. You fold the legs under, and you start the fire and in 15 minutes you have a self-contained disposable BBQ grill.

Late in the afternoon it began to cloud over a little bit, and we were just packing up to leave when it began sprinkling at 6:00PM. Once again the rain hit, but just as we were leaving.

Later that night at home, Kine gave her pet rat Trixie a bath. That was interesting to see.

Tuesday July 20th

The forecasts all claimed that it would be raining, but the previous forecasts had been as unreliable as those in the states. There was early morning overcast, backed by clouds, but it looked like it might be decent weather for a few hours. We decided to go ahead and try to do the much anticipated "drive around the Fjord" in spite of the weather forecasts. This would be our last chance.

At around 10:30 AM,we drove south of Trondheim, past the beach from Monday. The road (E39) turned East along the shoreline, following the fjord to Orkanger. There a bridge crosses into the Orkdal area. From there we followed 710 north along the western coastline to Valset, where we caught the ferry to Brekstad. Our timing was great, they were just loading the ferry as we drove up. It is about a 20 minute crossing of open water. The sun was out and it was beautiful. So much for the weather reports.

We drove a short distance to the fort at Austrat. The Germans built a fort on the hilltop above Austrat, overlooking the flats and the entrance to the Fjord. The main guns are three huge guns in a single turret from a battleship, transplanted to the hilltop fort. There were also a number of bunkers turrets and buildings. The fort and accompanying museum were just opened to the public in 1991. The skies were a little gray, but it was still very nice.

We also checked out the Austratborgen, a castle of sorts. Unfortunately, it was undergoing repairs, so it was rather dismal.

We drove up the north coast of the Stjørnfjorden past some wonderful house, towns, beaches and harbors. Eventually we turned northwest again, and drove out to some islands, stopping in Lysøysund for a while. We took all the scenic roads back through Botngård and east on 710 for a while. We stopped and ate at a rest stop along side a small lake near Elveng. The sky was beginning to turn dark, and the wind was picking up a little.

From there we turned south on 715 and drove down through Rissa to see the church and the convent at Rein. The church at Rein (Rein Kirke) was originally built some time before 1681, but was torn down in 1888, and eventually rebuilt in 1932. The grounds of the convent are intertwined with local farmlands. It was after 5:00PM and it was getting quite windy, and beginning to sprinkle.

We drove the last of the northern sections along 717 to Rørvik where we caught a ferry there back across the Fjord to Flakk, just a hand full of kilometers west of Trondheim. Again, the cars were just loading onto the ferry as we approached, so our timing was perfect.

We drove through the edge of Trondheim, and back out to the house through wind and rain.

The total trip was a little over 300 kilometers, and we only drove around possibly one third of the whole Fjord.

After we got home and unpacked the car, and settled in a bit, Tor and Ellen came over for coffee and Ellen's famous yellow cake. By that time it was 8:00PM, and the skies had mostly cleared, and the sun was shining through again.

Finally, around 10:30PM, Kine insisted that we go to McDonald's for dinner. After chow, we settled in for a well deserved rest.

Wednesday July 21st

The weather reports called for rain and thunderstorms, so of course the day dawned bright and sunny, with puffy white clouds. We drove back downtown for one last time, and went to a couple of shops along Fjordsgaten. Then we drove around the Bakklandet area, and checked out new and used cars at a Honda dealer, just for a point of comparison.

We found a nice little back road on the side of the hill, to the south of the river Nidelva, that gave a nice view of Nidaros and Marinen. There were many people out sunbathing on the grass at Marinen.

We drove out to the Obs so that I could buy a Varmekjeledress (warm jumpsuit) because it was a very good price. By then it was about 1:00PM, and the skies were beginning to cloud over.

We went to an Opel dealer to check out more new and used cars, and talked with a nice salesman named Trond. By 2:15PM, the skies were black, and the hills were ringing with loud claps of thunder. We ate Pizza, and prepared for the end of a wonderful two weeks.

We never did make it back out to Hell Station during any daylight.

Thursday July 22nd

We left the house at 7:30AM for a 9:30 flight, giving me plenty of time. Big mistake. We were able to park right out front of the main doors. I checked in, getting boarding passes for the whole way home. There was no X-ray, no baggage checks, nothing. It was still an hour before flight time. Next time, I will ignore the airline's recommendation, and I will follow Tove's advice and leave the house about 80 minutes before the flight time.

The return flights home were another long story, but I will spare you the minor details.

The high point was that I got upgraded to World Business Class for the flight from Oslo to Minneapolis. I got the red socks, the personal video, the big soft seat and LOTS of room. I ate and ate and ate. I felt a small amount of guilt other the level of service. All of the Flight Attendants were wonderful, but it felt like I had my own personal servant. It could really spoil a person.

The low point was that upon arriving in Minneapolis, I had to get off the plane, go through Immigration, get my baggage, go through Customs, re-check my bags, and go wait in line to get back onto the same Airplane. The flight back to San Francisco was uneventful, and it was a relief to be home.