Brekkestranda Fjord Hotel Trondheim

... boats, North Sea bound structures, rock formations, diverse architecture and most interesting cloud formations.

As we have been heading north an initial stop on Day 2 was a Torvik. It is a 'fly on the wall' type of place, seemingly out in nowhere but closely tied into the mainland. The Nordkapp or Coastal Express as it is called stopped for 30 minutes, just enough time to leap onto land, check out the local sights, take some photos and climb back ...

... earlier). Nidaros Cathedral, built from 1070-1300ish, is the highlight of the town now, although there is also an excellent military museum next door as well.

The rest of the day was spent in the Panorama lounge, watching the scenery go by.

The next morning we were up early to be on deck as we crossed the Artic Circle. The globe ...

... s airport is quite out of town at Vaernes, which is just across a river from Hell. We were given a nice parallel with a Norwegian Airlines 737 on approach to the airport, descending over the fjord as we neared Hell. From Hell our train branched off onto the Meråkerbanen for the trip up the Stjørdalen valley, climbing to the Swedish border. Interestingly from the border, not the border station at Storlien, the line features overhead wiring, making our diesel unit only ...

... SOOOO expensive! we needed to find our hostel to leave our stuff for the night, we had no idea where it was at. So when all us fails ask the tourist information. We found the Center of town where you can find anything there. In the direct center of town was the founder of Trondheim in 900 something. Our hostel was located a 15 minute walk outside of town and as we discoverd on a tall hill. We were not excited about hiking up the hill for our stay, but once we got to the top, we could see an ...

... Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum. This outdoor museum sprawls over 40 or so acres of preserved land, and contains many old buildings from Trondheim as well as the Trøndelag countryside. The buildings are arranged so that as you walk around and through them you can see as well as feel what this area looked like in the early 17th century (the earliest buildings) through the late 19th century. We had a beautiful ...

... We are overwhelmed. Coffee at the restaurant car costs $5 a cup so this upgrade pays for itself. On the Trondheim - Oslo train the lady serving asked if I wanted a large or small cup? I wanted to know the price. She brought out two cups....one small and one large and explained the one was large and the other was small. I was not going to get into a discussion earthly matters such as cost in Norway. For two more ounces of hot water I paid 50 cents ...

... set up was that all the seats were faced forward towards the direction the train was taking you, except for the four most front seats that face the other way. Britt Inga and I sat in the last set of seats facing forward and were pleased to find that nobody sat in the seats facing us so we could stretch out and put our feet up. It wasn't fantastic, but it was much better than what others on the train had so we were very happy.

... verschiedene Abschnitte die man überwinden musste. Es sieht immer so einfach aus, aber wenn man da oben rumturnt, kommt man ganz schön ins schwitzen. Aber es war einfach genial, also solltet ihr die Möglichkeit haben, sowas zu machen, auf jeden Fall machen. Zum Abschluss gab es noch das obligatorische Barbecue - ohne Regen, aber mit Pölser und Fiskekaker. Es wird nicht mein norwegisches Lieblingsessen werden ;)

... surreal dancing like a prat in a little cabin at 3am with a bunch of snow crazy, hyperactive Nordic types - life is a wonderful thing! We crawled out of bed on Saturday and in true Viking tradition headed into the forest for a walk - it was sunny after all! It's like nothing I have ever seen before, and because its spring here every thing was lovely and green - including carpets of spongy moss covering everything! I was being a showoff and hurling myself of the sides ...

... do. Not too crazy like you see often in America, but they do tend to create a warm atmosphere in their houses. Especially because it's constantly freezing outside... The decoration here is the very standard: a tree with lights and balls, candles and a lot of red. The symbolism in all that is almost scary. But I'm not a real party pooper. I did go to church, I did contribute to Christmas Eve by buying some pie and I did attend a Christmas party. How was your Christmas?