Saturday 18 August 2007

Norge I: Uppsala to Trondheim

So here I was in Uppsala, my semester there was over and most of my friends had already left. It was the beginning of summer and after spending the winter there I decided that I deserved to spend some time in the awesome Scandinavian summer. The ostentatious motive was to use the excellent university library housed in the beautiful Carlolina Redviva building and work on my master thesis. However I found myself stricken by a twin attack of writer's block and wanderlust. Not many have survived that. I was no exception. That is how I found myself Norway bound.
The plan was to catch a train to Trondheim to meet a friend. She had a car, which we were to use to drive south on the amazing Route 55 to the village Sogndal on the banks of Sognefjorden, the second largest fjord in the world. The largest is somewhere in Greenland. Thereafter I was on my own, and had to somehow find my way to Oslo and then return to Uppsala via Stockholm. I hadn't quite decided how I would do that.

For the first leg of my journey I caught a train to Sundsvall, in central Sweden, a city with a habit of burning down regularly. Apparently it has been rebuilt four times already. I had a couple of hours there before I caught a connection to Trondheim via Östersund. I spent that walking around the city centre. I was quite amused to find various sculptures of what appeared to be a flying dragon scattered all along the city centre. Apparently the work of some local artist. (See http://maxmagnusnorman.com/artist_blog/art_day_338.shtml ) I later learnt that their basketball team is called the Sundsvall Dragons, don't know if there is a connection!

The journey from Sundsvall to Trondheim literally takes you through hell. Well, that's what a railway station in Norway is called - Hell! The views though remind you of paradise. Especially as you near Trondheim and get your first glimpse of the fjords. Breathtaking! I reached Trondheim in the evening, but it was still bright. I had to remind myself that I was in the heart of the land of the midnight sun. My friend was there to receive me at the station and looked approvingly at my small backpack. I realised why when I saw the car she was driving, it was one of those miniature electric 'smartcars'! We would use a bigger car for the road trip she assured me.

Trondheim is a beautiful city in central Norway. My friend lived across the old town bridge on a small hill overlooking the city. This hill also has the distinction of having the only bicycle lift in the world! Known as the Trampe (tramp) bicycle lift, it can be operated by a keycard to go uphill with your bicycle. You have to stay mounted on your bike, keep your left foot on the pedal and your right foot rests on a footplate at the start point. The footplate moves along a railing and as a result pushes you and your bike up the hill. It took me a couple of attempts to master the art of hanging on when I tried it out. Keycards can be rented by tourists like me to get a feel of how the students commute in Trondheim. It costs about a 100 kroners.

The imposing Nidaros Cathedral dominates the city. Built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles it is considered the most important cathedral in Norway. I was particularly impressed by the church organs there. One can see the thousands of pipes housed in the high reaches of the cathedral. Luckily for us there was an organ concert on when we visited the cathedral and the acoustics were just spellbinding.

Spent two days walking around in Trondheim, which my friend informed me was more than enough. I managed to visit a brewpub called the Trondhjem Mikrobryggeri (Trondheim Microbrewery) where I tried out their seven different brews served in 100ml sampling glasses. Yum! Missed going into another great pub called the Den Gode Nabo (The Good Neighbour), though it was actually very close to my friends place near the old town bridge. Apparently they stock the Nøgne Ø, which I would go crazy searching for in Oslo. But that is another story...

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