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IDEAS Homes for Vacation & Long-Term Rentals

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After leaving the Nidarosdomen, we crossed the large courtyard and walked across it to the Erkebispeg�rden (Archbishop�s Palace) (below left) which is a very beautiful museum of early life here.

A computer screen display allowed me to type our names in and it translated them into the ancient Norse cuneiform script (above right.) There were also displays of Norse poetry sticks with cuneiform lettering etched in (above right, top.) There were interesting exhibits including ancient skulls (below left) and models of the Nidaros cathedral at different times in its development (below right.)

Marcia was hungry and went for lunch while I toured the Military Museum across the courtyard. Besides the usual guns, swords and armor, there was a

whole section on the Nazi conquest of Norway including war posters and the infamous traitor Vidkun Quisling (right,) who collaborated with the Nazis during their invasion. He became the leader of Norway until after the war when the Norwegians executed him. The name "Quisling" is synonymous with traitor in Norwegian and many other languages. They have the radio he used to help collaborate with the Germans. Recently they made his home a holocaust museum of tolerance. It is interesting that they weren�t ashamed of this period in their history.

Thanks to our cell phones, Marcia directed me to where she decided to eat, the Verthuset Grenaderen (the Greenhouse) [, +47-7-351-6680] which was a really great place with outdoor tables along the river. You could see all the people sunbathing and having picnics along the riverbank (below left.)

At 2:30, she was eating Fiskesuppe hevedret (fish soup) and it looked great. She gave me a small taste and it was really very good. The sun was hot so I moved to a table in the shade and had a cappuccino while I did some Palm accounting. We left there at 4:00 and I was directed to an internet caf� called the Spacebar Caf� [, +47-] and from there sent out Diario #9. We then walked over to the old bridge, crossed it to the old town and found a great restaurant with a pier overlooking the river (photo below left.) I went inside and booked a reservation for 9 PM. The old buildings along the Nidelva river are warehouses and date from the 1700s.

They have been the focus of business and trading since the original ones were put up in earlier times. They were often ravaged by fires and were forced to be moved upriver but these (above) still remain.

Above are photos of the Trondheim Market. We drove out of town to a country suburb area called Leanger and it took several phone calls to the hotel to get us there. At 5 PM, we checked into the Leanger Hotel [Br�setvegen 26, +47-7-391-9260] and it was tough lugging the bags up two flights of stairs. It wasn�t fancy but because of the religious convention we were happy to have a room. We even had an ocean view.

At 8 PM I went for my run in the area and went up hill all the way and then back down to the Texaco station where there was a young man selling very nice looking strawberries. I got back to the room and then we drove back into town. I was worrying about Marcia having wine with dinner since we had to drive back and remember the strict rules of the 12 day mandatory jail time here for a 0.002 blood level. We got to the restaurant and to my surprise it was not the one hanging out over the river. That one was the pub next door called �pen Pub [, +47-] which I had thought meant their pub was �open.�

Instead of a pub we were in a 4 star award chef restaurant. The wine list included no bottle under $150 I made a quiet stink about this and the result was the waitress getting us some �wine in a box� which wasn�t bad. Of course, Marcia was mortified. The dinner was extraordinary. It was a multi-course extravaganza. We ate champagne cocktail, taster puff pastry with cauliflower and nuts, gazpacho with pine nuts and croutons, followed by veal with potatoes.

Marcia had white asparagus with mushrooms, wild salmon, and cheeses. I had king crab salad, two orders of scallops (I complained it was too small,) gratine of mango, and souffl� Gran Marnier. They kept refilling our glass of water and I discovered they charged us $24 for the multiple water bottles we didn�t actually order (a sizable ripoff.) After we ate we went to the pub next door and I had a Guinness and Marcia had water. There were several rooms, nooks and crannies and a ramp runs from the second floor to the pier floating in the river. It was a really a neat place but the pier was closed at this late hour. Marcia then drove (very carefully) back to the hotel and we got to bed at 1 AM.