Robert and Judy Visit

We had a lovely time with Robert and Judy.  They arrived on July 3 and stayed for 10 days. They brought lots of treats for us (and the dogs) from the US which is always exciting.  We even got Fourth of July decorations which was very welcomed!  We showed them around Trondheim and relaxed around the house a good bit.  We took them downtown to see the historical parts of the city, to the local fort and the outdoor cultural museum.  

Overlooking the Trondheim Fjord

We also planned a 2 day trip to Bergen which is a larger city south of us which is famous for it's beauty.  So we hoped on a plane and took the hour flight down since it would have taken over 12 hours to drive there.  The first day we wandered the city and saw the famous sights including the water front fish market where we got to try smoked whale.  There are only two countries in the world where you can buy and eat whale - we live in one of them.  We were surprised that we actually liked the whale.  Bergen has a large cruise ship port so the fish market is not only a tourist attraction in it's own right but caters largely to tourists- you can get all kinds of speciality meats and fish along with various pelts - including reindeer, seal, fox and wolf.

Fish Market

Then we moved on to the Bryggen which is on the Unesco World Heritage list.  It was once a major commercial center of Europe and is basically long rows of old wooden building that now house tourist shops (surprise!).  The Bryggen has burned down several times over the years and in 1944 a munitions ship exploded in harbor blowing off the roofs of the building and shifting the foundations to the left so every building "leans".  

The Bryggen

Next we had a nice pizza lunch then took in a few more historic sights such as Hakon's Hall, Rosenkratz Tower and a few churches.  Then we headed to the Floibanen which is a funicular railway that takes you to the top of Mt. Floyen for an beautiful city view.  We took in the view and had a great ice cream then headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner (TGI Fridays!) and our fjord adventure tomorrow!

View from Mt. Floyen