63 Degrees North - Sunshine and Showers

Trondheim is the northern most point on our trip, just one degree of latitude further south than Reykjavik.

During our drive up from Oppdal, we decided to try out Norwegian radio and chanced upon a children’s station, NRK Super, that H really enjoyed. While most songs are unknown to us, we have been able to recognise a few classics, even though they’re sung in Norwegian. This includes ‘You’re Welcome’ from Moana (Så Lite in Norwegian), ‘Kiss The Girl’ from The Little Mermaid and even Bob the Builder’s ‘Can We Fix It?’! We also had ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It’ and ‘The Alphabet Song’, although this was a bit longer than our version as there are three extra characters in the Norwegian alphabet, æ, ø and å. We had great fun singing and dancing along to the music as we went and this channel became the soundtrack to our driving around Norway.

We arrived into Trondheim about 4pm and unloaded our things into our Airbnb apartment to the north of the town. Again, it was very well appointed and proved to be a very good base.

Trondheim is pretty small and very easy to walk around. Our Airbnb host had paid for us to park the car at a multi-storey car park about 10 minutes walk from the apartment, so we drove there and walked back along the harbour front. After dinner in the apartment, we went for a drink at the nearby Hammerhead Tap Room where we played some more Monopoly Deal. We would have stayed longer, however when we realised that the two 0.3l beers that we’d bought cost £18, we decided one each was enough! They were nice though!

Before heading back to the apartment, we took a little walk to the Bakke Bru bridge, from where you could see some of the coloured warehouse buildings that Trondheim is famous for. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too favourable so we didn’t stay out for long.

Having downloaded the Too Good To Go app in Oslo, we thought we’d try our luck in Trondheim. We bought a surprise bag from a local Narvesen convenience store for 35 NOK (about £2.50). Inside were a couple of pastries, a ham and cheese roll and a beef kebab wrap… not the best choices for a couple of vegetarians!

The next morning, we ate the pastries and the roll (we didn’t want to see it go to waste), and waited for James’s parents to arrive. They were on a cruise up the Norwegian coast and were in Trondheim for one day only. It was lovely to see them, and also make the most of some free childcare!

After a quick coffee and catch up, we headed out to explore. We crossed over the Bakke Bru bridge again, this time making it to the other bank and heading down to the Old Bridge. We stopped at a playground on the side of a hill, which worked pretty well for the slide, and had some lovely views from the top. We then walked to the river and saw the colourful warehouses from a better angle than the Bakke Bru bridge.

James was keen to try out the world’s only bicycle lift, designed by an engineering student in the 1990s who couldn’t be bothered to push his bike up the hill to the University, but unfortunately it was out of operation due to roadworks at the top of the road. So instead we walked across Gamle bybro (the old bridge), which was pretty but quite crowded.

By then it was almost lunchtime, so after deciding we didn’t want to pay to go into the cathedral, and watching James successfully complete a slack line whilst being cheered on by some people on the Old Bridge, we left H with her grandparents at a pizza restaurant for lunch and we went off for a much appreciated break from parenting duty for a couple of hours!

We’d struggled to agree where to eat but eventually settled on a vegan buffet restaurant called Hagen, which turned out to be excellent. The buffet included satay cauliflower, falafel and hummus, sweet potato fries and beyond meat burgers and we both left feeling very full!

We took the opportunity of being able to walk a bit quicker than normal to look around the rest of Trondheim, including the main square with its sundial statue of Olav Tryggvason, who was King of Norway from 995 - 1000 and who founded Trondheim in 997.

We arrived back to the pizza restaurant to see H sitting on James’s dad’s lap playing board games, which was a lovely sight. We walked back through the town towards the cruise terminal to say goodbye to James’s parents just as the heavens started to open. We therefore sheltered in a nearby office complex to watch the ship leave, before going outside and waving to James’s dad on the deck. It was great to see them, even if it was just for a few hours.

When we left Hagen, we’d spotted a chocolate shop nearby so headed back there afterwards and spent an inordinate amount of money on gorgeous chocolates and pick and mix!

After a quick stop to buy postcards and food, we went to the apartment for dinner and an evening of onward planning and blogging.

The next day, for the first time in almost four weeks, we decided to do separate activities. James wanted to explore the nearby ski area and find somewhere to charge the car so he drove off for a few hours. H however was very keen to go swimming so Lou took her to the Pirbadet (swimming pool) for a couple of hours. Unfortunately the big water slides were shut for refurbishment but H still had lots of fun diving down for her sinking ring, playing in the wave pool and going down the children’s water slide, which was open. Lou enjoyed sitting in the hot tub and even dived off the 1m springboard, much to H’s delight!

Lou and H headed back to the apartment for lunch. Our experience of Trondheim’s weather was very intermittent sunshine and showers so we decided to relax in the apartment playing card games until James came back. During a brief gap in the weather we headed out again for a wander round, although had to shelter in a local shopping mall when the rain came. Luckily there was a toy shop in there with some Lego and a play area that kept H entertained. It also looked like the shopping centre had integrated some of the existing buildings into it, which was quite quaint.

We decided to try our hand again at Too Good To Go, this time selecting more of a bakery than a convenience store. We were rewarded with a more vegetarian friendly bag (except for the ham pizza wheel!), which included a carton of strawberry juice, a croissant and two chocolate brownies. Much more successful! Before we left England we’d planned our trip up to Trondheim so we spent the rest of the evening onward planning and blogging, making the most of the Wi-Fi which isn’t always guaranteed at campsites.

Trondheim was a nice stop, particularly as it coincided with seeing James’s parents. However if you’re planning a trip around Norway and are short on time, we didn’t think it was a must see.