Trondheim

We woke this morning to bright sunshine as we approached our next port, Trondheim, where we had time before lunch to explore the main historic sites. First stop on our walk was Stiftsgården, a large wooden building home to King Harald V and his wife Queen Sonja when they visit the city.
Next we came to a square where a statue of Trondheim's founder, the Viking king Olav Tryggvason, stands on an 18m high obelisk.
Nidaros Cathedral was our next stop for a photo. We didn't have time for a tour, instead we carried on across the old town bridge, Bybro, nicknamed Lykkens Portal (Gate of Happiness) and the neighbourhood Bakklandet, which is full of colourful wooden houses and cafés.
At the port is a statue of Leiv Eiriksson, famous for being the first European to land in North America in the year 1000, before Columbus made it. He set off from Trondheim to Iceland but was blown off course, landing in Newfoundland, naming it Vinland
Back in time for lunch as the ship departed for our next stop tomorrow.
After a post-lunch g&t in our cabin, we tried to stay awake during a rather eccentric, haphazard presentation about the history of Norway taking us from the Ice Age, the Vikings etc to present day, all in about 40 mins!
The landscape is becoming more interesting now as we travel north. We passed a unique lighthouse situated on a rock, occupied by the lighthouse keeper and his family, plus a teacher for their children as they are unable to travel to school from there.
We then played Phase 10 card game over a beer (A&S) and cocktail (K&J) - have you spotted a theme here? Syd won this game in spite of our efforts to play the Skip card against him.
The ship by now was passing through an interesting landscape of small islands off the main coast with narrow channels to navigate. Taking photos from the deck was tricky in the cold strong wind.
Tomorrow morning we will be crossing into the Arctic Circle and on to our next port, Bodø.Read more