Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than Stockholm and Copenhagen, we fell in love with Trondheim!!
Background: I love family genealogy. I have been working on the Skoog/Anderson/Rajala family history for many years. When we decided to join Drew in Scandinavia for his last leg of his 100 days of backpacking through Europe, I had every intention of working on family history while in Finland and Sweden. However, as time got nearer, Paul's side of the family became more of a mystery. We dug through some of his family's papers and found out that his great grandfather, Ole Ellingson, came from Stordalen near Trondheim. His great grandfather emigrated to Rosolt South Dakota where he was one of the original parishioners and builders of the the Trondheim Lutheran Church. This church was a replica of his family's church in Trondheim. So in search we went....
Today we started our four day trek: Trondheim by train, Bergen by voyage on the Hurtigruten and Songefjord by boat.
The train to Trondheim was beautiful. We went through the mountains and they reminded me a lot of Colorado, however, there were farms and fields on the side of the mountains. We also saw the dreaded snow!! Ufda, thought we let that behind in Minnesota!! The 6 hour train ride was restful and fun! We had sandwiches and played cards...taught Nate to play 500 last night and the boys taught me how to play euchre today. Lots of laughs and cheat'n...haha, just kidding.
When we arrived in Trondheim, it was a short trek to the hotel. We threw our bags in the room and started exploring the city immediately!! It is darling! People are fresh and lovely!! Paul was excited to be in the city where his ancestors had walked and so was I!! Drew loved it and with his red hair, fit right in!! He bought a Norwegian sweater today and the sales clerk said he looked very Norwegian! He loved it!! The lutheran church we visited was 12th century. It was a huge lutheran church and gorgeous!! The buildings in Trondheim are colorful and the feel of the town is very artsy!!
Tonight we had a fabulous dinner, ranked as the 4th best place to eat in Trondheim by Trip Advisor, called Folk & Fe. Trip Advisor guided the boys to some pretty fine eateries, so we followed suit. We started with asparagus soup followed up by dried fish with Jerusalem artichokes and grilled cod, parsnips and potatoes. Unbelievable!! And very tasteful!! The boys tried the Trondheim beer and I had Aquavit. Perfect day and loving Trondheim!! Again, a brisk game of cards kept us laughing before a wonderful sleep! It doesn't get dark here until 11:30 p.m., so we played cards way past our bedtime not realizing that the sun barely goes down here!!
Love that Norwegian sweater Drew!
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