After our hearty breakfast, we walked down to the pier to catch the Kystekspressen to Trondheim. The walk took about 20 minutes so we just sat around and watched the crowds arrive. The boat arrived at 7.55 and we were off at 8.00! I'd heard the view from express boats wasn't very good. But not so in this case - there was plenty of room to move around - lots of vacant seats too. Once again the Seniors card halved our fare - 546 NOK ($101.99 on the Visa card) for both of us. There was free Wi-Fi on board and we used it to catch up on some phone calls and post on Facebook. This express boat is like a bus or a train - lots of locals using it to move between towns. It stopped at a few places - I remember stopping at Edoy and Sandstad. Kristiansund to Trondheim took us 3 hours and 35 minutes. The weather was a bit dismal, but that just added to the atmosphere. I was pleased we'd added an express boat to our itinerary too. And how boring if it was sunny all the time!
Trying to find our way from the boat terminal to the town of Trondheim was NOT easy! No signs at all
. First off we headed into the building thinking it was the terminal 'office' - but no, it was a hotel! Oops - backtrack fast (I think they must've been used to it, as there was no reaction from staff). Then headed off down the only street - then a T junction but with a new park type area straight ahead, so we thought that looked promising. Nothing on the other side; nothing to the left, so we went right through the mud and the road works.... Right decision - came across a bridge over the railway lines to the railway station! Eventually found the lockers (the girl on information was new - she got to know us by the end of the day!); deposited our bags in said lockers; found out we couldn't reserve a seat on the train to Ostersund; got a map - then over the bridge crossing the Nid River and hit the town. And what an enjoyable town to walk around (after that bad start).
Once we got into the main area there were a lot of signs. Onward to Olaf Tryggvason's Gate, then we turned left to the old docks - Bryggene - with it's carefully preserved 18th- and 19th-century warehouses
. Just like Bergen, but I liked Trondheim better as a city. As we walked along we passed some guys in singlets sawing logs - I think it was at the square opposite the end of Kongen's Gate. It's not marked on the map as a tourist attraction. They were on the river, alongside an older building - it seemed a bit rude to take a photo, but now I can't remember much about i!. It seemed like some sort of historic 're-enactment' - or renovations by an historical society?
We followed Kjopmannsgatta around a green belt near the river and saw men doing gardening duties - some of which would never be allowed in Australia due to Workplace Health & Safety issues! See the guy with the huge heavy mower in the photo.
Next was Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge) re-built of wood in 1861. It was first built in 1681, at the same time as Kristiansten Fort was under construction. A sentry and excise house stood at either end of the bridge. The excise house on the west side is still standing and is in use as a kindergarten
. Instead of following the road, we took a path around the 'point'. It rather reminded me of the Marina in Gladstone (but with a bit of a hill and much,much older buildings). More men gaedening. Along the banks of the Nidelva (Nid River), under the bridge, past St Olav's kirk and a bunch of school children on an excursion, and then back towards the Nidaros Cathedral. The Cathedral took around 250 years to complete and is the most important landmark in Trondheim - apparently. We wandered around past it to the right and in through a gateway to Erkebispegarden (Archbishop's Palace) - an enclosed square with several museums. In one "museum" a group of school children were enjoying being artisans. We watched for a bit, then moved on to the next museum - Rustkammeret.
Rustkammeret (The Armoury) was free to get into and it was very, very interesting. We spent an hour there I reckon. It's an army museum as well as a resistance museum, emphasizing Trøndelag's military history. The museum shows military history from Viking times, through the Middle Ages and the union with Denmark and later Sweden
. The resistance during WWII section was also attention grabbing. I'd forgotten that the term quisling came from Vidkun Quisling, who assisted the Nazis as they conquered his own country so that he could rule the collaborationist Norwegian government himself.
Next point of interest was Vår Frue Kirke (Our Lady's Church) - the smaller of the town's two medieval churches. It was built in 1150 and enlarged twice (in 1686 and again, with the bell tower, in 1739). The Tourist Information Office was next door and there was a souvenir shop - was very busy, but very spacious and they had free toilets!
Heading back to the station, we went past Stiftsgarden (the Royal Residence). It was built in 1778 as the home of the (then-Danish) king, and has 140 rooms that cover almost 4,000 sq. m (13,123 sq. ft.) of floor space. This makes it the largest secular all-wooden building in northern
Europe. We walked around the back and into the garden - loved the wooden building. Somewhere, we walked through a market square and went into an arty place
. Then we got to Ravnkloa Fiskehaller the fish market. Didn't smell fishy - and there was an interesting statue dedicated to the Last Viking. We were getting tired - so back to the station and sat on the platform in the sun and watched the cement workers. (There was a lot of work going on around, and in, the station.)
Left Trondheim on a regional train at 16.50 - due to arrive at Ostersund at 20.43. I didn't expect any marvelous scenery, so was going through some of the literature we'd collected - then half an hour into the trip, we went through Hell. lol. Over an hour later, we went through the border town of Storlien with all its ski lifts. [During World War II Storlien was used by the military and was a restricted destination. In 1940, top-secret military negotiations between Sweden and Nazi Germany were held there in a railway carriage.]
Coming into the ski town of Are just before 7.30pm there were lots of young people on the platform
. I thought they must've had a party and were going home. More at the next station - and why were so many wearing sailor hats? We tried to keep our distance - but it was impossible. So we gave in with good grace and had 3 of them sharing the two spare seats beside us! One of the girls told us that they were celebrating the end of school - the ones with the caps had just finished and the others, like her, were helping them celebrate. Ah - schoolies!! They were great fun - mainly. Our carriage got severely overcrowded after someone vomited (a lot) in the other carriage. The other problem with the guy sicking up was that everyone had to pay their fare! Apparently you get put off the train in Sweden if you're intoxicated - so they were all anticipating getting put off (without having to pay). Had some interesting conversations - they learned about Australia and we learned about Sweden.
We arrived at Ostersund C about 20.43 - just before the cafe closed. So we got something to eat (latte and some sort of cake/pastry which cost 56 SEK, $9
.26, for both of us - good value!) and ate on the bench in the 'waiting room'. I guess we read our books, as we didn't leave until 22.45 - and there wasn't anything else to do. The "caps" that wandered in and out weren't from our train - what a shame. Took a photo of a map to show where Bräcke was .Bräcke doesn't show up on the Eurail map, or many other maps, and I was totally confused by the Swedish online train timetable for quite a while!
The journey to Bräcke was rather eerie. It took 48 minutes - 22.45 to 23.33. So it was still light at that latitude - but not full light. Then we had a 38 minute wait - there were about a dozen people. This was just so strange. It was still light. And such a small place - but it had hoons on bikes! (probably the local schoolies!) Bräcke is a locality and the seat of Bracke Municipality in Jamtland County, Sweden with 1,651 inhabitants in 2010.
At 11 minutes past midnight we got on the train from Stockholm to Boden/Lulea. I'd paid for our sleeper (with own shower and toilet) before we left Australia. It cost 900 SEK ($A142) and included breakfast. Just fell into bed and went to sleep! Had a shower in the morning. This was a rather cute system. The water operated on a timer - press and get 60 seconds - you know. So the water came out as a spray - so a spray over the basin if you were just washing your hands, or a spray over the shower area. I actually washed my hair and it all worked fine - water stayed hot. I was impressed!
Kystekspressen to Trondheim then train to Sweden
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Trondheim, Trondelag, Norway
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