On the way to Trondheim this morning we  were called to the deck this morning to see Monkholmen (Monk Island).  Munkholmen Island was Trondheim’s execution site in the Viking era. Benedictine monks built a monastery on the island in the early 11th century, probably one of the earliest monasteries in Scandinavia. In 1658.  They actually produced beer on the island.  People from the mainland could hear them singing in the evening and it was loud.  They stopped putting alcohol into the beer.  I believe they said that the beer is still sold.  Monkholmen was converted into a prison and fortress, and later a customs house. Its most famous inmate was the Danish Count Peder Griffenfeld, who spent 18 years as a prisoner there. Today “The Monks’ Island” is a popular recreational area, with a nice beach and a restaurant,

At 10:00 Jane, Sue, Ellen, and I went on a 2 hour hike in Trondheim with  Liv.  Marty stayed back to rest because of her cold.  Liv is the assistant to our astronomy expert.

Trondheim is the 3rd most populous municipality in Norway.  The settlement was founded in 997 as a trading post, and it served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until 1217. From 1152 to 1537, the city was the seat of the Catholic Archkiochese of Nidaros; since then, it has remained the seat of the Lutheran Diocese of Nidaros and the Nidaros Cathedra. It was incorporated in 1838.

This is the entrance to the Trondheim Clarion Hotel.  We are very lucky to have this escorted walking feature of the astronomy cruise.

Trondheim (like Bergen) has decorated manhole covers.  I think that depicted on in are a king and an Arch Bishop.

The words on this walkway tell the distance to the shopping area and say the walking is good.

told us stories as we walked.  I took a few photos.

We walked over the Nidelva River. The 30-kilometre long river travels through the municipalities of Trondheim and Klæbu. The name translates to the “River Nid” since the suffix elva or elven is the Norwegian word for “river”. I liked this wooden boat.

Liv said that Trodheim had the largest number of wooden structures.

This is the symbol of the Vinmonopolet colloquially shortened to Polet, is is the government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer and the only company allowed to sell beverages containing an alcohol content higher than 4.75% in Norway. Liv told us a story about people leaving Norway to buy alcohol. One year the people  was were told that there was a surplus of alcohol so they had to give it away free.  They told people that they had to bring their own containers.  But when they all lined up to get the alcohol, they were told it was April Fools.  Some people laughed but others were angry.

This is a famous violin player from Trondheim.  He is now about 83 years old.  He was married quite late and had 2 daughters.  He is very, very pleased with his daughters.

Today there was an open farmer’s market.  It was so much fun to wander through it.

They had samples of some of the local food specialties and we were able to do some tasting.  There were many booths.  I  only photographed a couple of them.

This is the dried cod fish (Klipfisk) we learned about in Bergen.

One of the booths had the fish cakes.  Liv purchased 3 or 4 of them for us and we each had a taste.  They were much tastier than the ones we had at the cafeteria at Edvard Griev’s home.

We walked to the Nidaros Cathedral.  It is built over the burial site of King Olav II, who became the patron saint of the nation, and is the traditional location for the consecration of new kings of Norway. This was a cemetery on the way.

This is a sculpture we saw on the way.

I took several photos but we did not have time to actually go into the Cathedral.

 

LIv took us on a different route back to the ship.  I really liked this bridge.

These are more photos I took on the way back.

The name on this place means something about the people’s house and the good neighbor.  The words above (Folk & Me) mean, People and Cattle.

This was a very small house where obviously the boats were important.

I loved the doorways – especially the red ones..

Interesting how the vines cover several the windows.

Even Liv was not sure about the exact way back to the ship so she was asking people.  We walked over this lovely bridge with flowers along the sides.

This boat is a very fast boat.  Norwegians designed it.  It works really well for transporting people from island to island; town to town.

We made it back to our ship and attended John’s lecture called, “In Search of Northern Lights.”  Before the lecture, Liv read us a story from a book about Norwegians.  John is so informative and entertaining.  We learned about Common Auroral Forms.  This is a very brief summary

• Glow: A brightening of the sky with no discernible form
• Arc: Usually like a grey-green or greenish bow stretching roughly from east to west
• Band: A ribbon like structure
• Bright spots: May develop along arcs and bands
• Rays: Vertical bundles moving along an arc or band
• Curtains and draperies: They stretch higher into the sky.

I love listening to him but cannot repeat what he as said.

We saw several sail boats on the water.   I loved this red sail.

We were called to deck 5 to see the Kjeungskjær Lighthouse which is located on a tiny island at the mouth of the Bjugnfjorden about 3.5 kilometres west of the village of Uthaug and 5 kilometres south of the village of Nes in Bjugn municipality.

Marty took a better photo than I did because she arrived on deck 5 before me.

Originally, the lighthouse was permanently manned, as rough weather made daily travel to the mainland impossible. The lighthouse keeper lived here. In some cases, a private teacher also lived in the lighthouse to educate the keeper’s children. The last permanent lighthouse keeper left Kjeungskjær in 1987, when it was automated. Since then, the Kjeungen Lighthouse Association has taken over and restored the interior of the five-story building.

After we viewed the lighthouse, they served mussels on deck 8.  They were delicious. One of the men who cooked the mussels they served told me that at one time there were 8 children living at the lighthouse.

I took several more photos today.

It was beautiful passing under this bridge and looking back into the sun.

We haven’t seen many birds but today there were gulls on this island.

Dinner was again delicious.  The menu tells information about each dish but I don’t have time to type all of the information..  We had Barley Soup, Salmon from Aukra, and Tjukkmojolk Pudding.

We met with John on Deck 5 at 9:00 to watch for the Northern Lights.  John pointed out star constellations and the milky way.  We were excited to see the glow, an arc, a couple of bands and even some rays.  With our naked eyes we could not see much color but there was some.  This was just the first night of observations so we were hoping for more..