Karl cooking up the eggs on the stove in the kitchen. A look into the backyard at the dining table and the greenhouse. Fruit trees, vegetable plants, and flowers fill the yard...
I slept in 90 minute chunks last night, finally getting up for good at 8:45am. Karl and Mariann made some basil and chive scrambled eggs and waffles, to go along with more "brown cheese" and bread for breakfast outside. The weather was ideally pleasant, with no wind.
Karl cooking up the eggs on the stove in the kitchen. A look into the backyard at the dining table and the greenhouse. Fruit trees, vegetable plants, and flowers fill the yard...
Breakfast outdoors was delightful. Fresh, oven-warmed, multi-grain bread, with various spreads, is a common breakfast (or snack) in Norway...
After breakfast, we took the train into town, and visited the famous 11th century church, admiring the carved statues on the outer facade, and briefly visited a free armory museum nearby. We bought some camp stove fuel at a sports store, and then walked to a fish market, where we ate several types of fish cakes, including whale (more like hamburger than fish). A scenic walk along the canal, followed by an ice cream stop, brought us to Avis, where we picked up our rental cars. There was a mistake in Karl's rental, and he was given a tiny, but trendy Fiat 500, unsuitable for his dog cage, so we officially swapped our larger 4 seater with him.
The train stop had an TV that displayed when the next train would be arriving. We stopped at the library, which had been built on an ancient burial site, and obverved the excavation...
We walked in town towards Nidaros Cathedral in the distance. The large steeple could be seen all over town...
We decided not to bother paying to go inside, since we've been in many ornate churches in Italy before, and the most impressive decorations are on the outside. Lots of sculptures and gargoyles lined the front of the building...
Karl ordered us up some fish cakes, a popular hamburger-like fish patty, which would become a favorite food over our trip. After lunch we walked along the decorative canal...
A wide look at the flowery pedestrian bridge...
Lots of multi-colored flowers planted along the railings...
Wendy, on the other side of the bridge...
Super cool and colorful look up a canal, after buying some ice cream. Trondheim has some beautiful buildings built along the water...
We then drove to Norway's Walmart equivalent (Co-op Mega), and loaded up on food for our trip. It was fascinating to see the unique items on shelves, and checking out the prices. In general, food was a lot less expensive than I had anticipated for most items (just a little higher than retail US prices), even for most fruits and veggies. Hoever, milk was $8/gallon, and was only sold in small liter containers. In the beer aisle I noticed that the 24-32NOK ($4-5) price for a 6 pack was cheaper than the US, even for Guiness! Then Karl pointed out that the price was for only 1 bottle! Alcohol is taxed 100% in Norway. Karl and Mariann have started making their own beer to combat the costs...
Mmm... Bacon in a tube... Actually, these are squirtable cheeses flavored with ham, bacon, pepperoni, or shrimp. I felt compelled to try some, so I bought the shrimp flavor to bring along on the trip.
After purchasing our food, we returned to the house, and began prepping the car for the trip. The Fiat is small, with just over an 8 gallon tank, but supposedly it gets ~50 miles/gallon. It's only got a 1.2 cyl, 69HP engine, though, so hopefully it can handle a hill, fully loaded with supplies...
Here it is, my wheels for the next 2 weeks. Sure has a lot of style points. The stick shift was elevated higher than I'm used to. Complete with a CD/MP3 player...
Karl cooked up a great BBQ dinner of salmon, steak, and veggies (potatoes,peppers,zuchini), which we enjoyed outside. We had the last 3 bottles of their first home made beer during the meal, and followed dinner by bottling the next batch of beer. It was a busy process where all 4 of us lent a hand. We'll be able to try out the beer in 2 weeks when we return, after the carbonation kicks in.
Karl is the master of funny faces for pictures. He is in fine form grilling up salmon, steaks, and veggies. I rigged a tripod on a tree branch for this group dinner pic. Plenty of basil growing in the pots...
A look at the green house, from the dinner table. Awesome weather this evening. Later, we all helped bottle K & M's latest batch of brew. I put on the bottle caps (I did have one minor accident involving a crushed bottle top)...
Time for last minute preparations for our trip tomorrow morning. I have a minute to type up this journal while K & M pack (W & I already did the hard part of packing before arriving to Norway). Won't be bringing my laptop, so will have to write on paper going forward...