Saturday :
Since the last time I updated the blog (Saturday morning), I borrowed 2 books on the history of Trondheim and the Nidaros Cathedral. After that, I walked across the gamle bybro to get my dose of cafe latte. It was here when I decided to take a look at the Lonely Planet to see if there is any place somewhere nearby that will be interesting. I stumbled upon Røros.
Røros
It is about 2.5 hours train ride away from here and it has been added by Unesco to its World Heritage List. I decided to consult Mike who, of course, insisted that I go ahead. So my plans were to find out about the train schedule and available lodgings. I planned to leave Wednesday and come back Friday. So later that day, I got the train schedule from the tourist office. I called the 2 places that I might want to stay on Sunday. Decided to book the more expensive one coz it is located in a historical building which is part of the World Heritage site. Tried to bargain for a better rate but unsuccessful this time coz there are only a few hotels there and it is their peak season now. Then the next day, Monday, I went to buy the train t ickets to this place. Looks like everything is all set. The hotel that I am staying at will also allow me to keep my luggage in the room I am staying and they won't charge me for the days that I am gone.
Anyway, after the Saturday morning latte, I began my walk up the steep hill to the Kristiansten Festning (fort). It has a nice view of Trondheim from up there. It was also very windy that day. I sat up there to chill for a while. I saw quite a few Asian tourists that day. Hadn't seen that many after a week here.
Actually Trondheim is very different from last week. It has become busier with tourists coming from all over and most , I suspect, are here to attend the festival.
That evening, I went for the Shetland Folkdance performance. It was intersting. The troupe consisted of teenagers, adults and the elderlys. They seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the audience did. The group has 3 fiddlers, 1 guitarist and 12 dancers. The dances were from the 17th century to the 1960s. Their costumes were simple but colorful. But, where is Shetland? That is something that I have to find out.
That night after changing into my pyjamas , the fire alarm went off. It was so loud! I was wondering if I should go down. Decided to quickly get changed and headed downstairs. Turned out to be a false alarm. Apparantly, someone smoked too much in his room and that set off the alarm. I was real glad that there wasn't a real fire coz all I brought down with me were my handphone and wallet.
Sunday :
Went to the church after breakfast. The bells were chiming away and that drew me . I was glad to be there. There were many people going for the 10am service and I guessed that since that Sunday was the first Sunday since the festival started, there was a procession of priests all donned in their finest. They seemed to come from all over the place. They were all dressed differently. I managed to take a few pictures of that. I was actually thinking of attending the service but it was going to be in norwegian so I decided to give it a go. Moreover, I had no idea how long it would last.
Since it is Sunday, everything esle is pretty much closed. All shops don't open on Sundays and the cafes and restaurants will only do so at around noon. So I headed back to the hotel.
Left the hotel again at 1pm. Went over to the Arch Bishop's Palace and saw some musicians playing some strange looking instruments all dressed up in their medieval outfits.
After that, went to the usual cafe and got my latte. This time I also had the pasta salad and bought a bag of coffee bean chocolates. Everything cost me like 30 sing dollars! Was thinking of going over to Wei's place to check out more about Røros (which I did later from the public phone) but by the time he came back from the hike, it was already 4pm and the sky was threatening to rain. And it did.
Since there was nothing much going on, I decided to attend a concert. I went for the trumpet and percussion concert. The music was a wee bit too contemporary for my liking. There were altogether 6 pieces of music and all modern and weird. I was sitting right in front too. My ear drums were still hurting after I the 1.5hr concert. I am not going for another concert with modern music again.
Monday:
It was a rather lame day. The weather was gloomy and it made me moody too. I was awoken early this morning at 7-plus by some idiot asking something about Toshiba. I hung up the phone on him. But I couldn't get to sleep then.
After breakfast, I went to buy the train tickets. Then I sought refuge at a shopping centre which wasn't a very good idea. And of course I went shopping.Told myself that I am banned from shopping for the rest of the year.
After dropping off the merchandises at the hotel, I headed over to Wei's school to meet him. Then I followed him and his friends to do their grocery shopping. It was real funny to see them do grocery shopping. I didn't help them at all and they decided for themselves what to get, etc. Hahahaahhaah!
I hung out with him for a while and headed back to town in the evening. I had to attend a pipe organ concert in the catherdral. The concert was excellent. The organist played on the Wagner organ for most of the concert. It was great!
I sat beside a Norwegian man who told me that the Nidaros Cathedral is a very special one to them. It is made of entirely stone.
Yesterday was the first day of the St. Olav Festival. After updating my blog at the library, I headed over to the Arch Bishop's Palace to take a look at the stalls/ market set up to look like the medieval times. Some of the stall owners were also dressed the part too. Out of maybe about 12 stalls, I saw 3 rather interesting ones. One showed how the people of those days dyed wool with natural colorings from plants and insects, the other a blacksmith stall and the last one a soap stone craving stall. There was also a stall selling bow and arrows. The people who were dressed up , especially the ones selling the bow and arrows look like they came out of Robin Hood story. So weird.
I came across the Gamle Bybro to the Dromedar Kaffebar to have my dose of iced latte. The procession through town would be at 1pm. I was actaully thinking of climbing up the steep hill again to go see the Fort which I forgot the last time. But since it was already almost noon and I didn't want to rush, I decided that I should head back to town instead and see the fort another day (probably later today).
By the time I came, there were already a lot of people lining the streets to see the procession. All I could see were the heads and banners that they were holding. After they left, the remains left behind by the horses. Smelly, smelly. I quickly rushed over to the cathedral to see if I could squeeze in, but of course tons of people were there too. So I went via the backway and managed to get into the Arch Bishop's Palace where the procession ended without much problem. The whole area around the Cathedral and the Arch bishop's Palace became very lively. Then the opening ceremony began. But everything was in Norwegian which I don't understand. But like what they say, music is an international language. The performer especially the guy who played the trumpet took my breath away. It was so beautiful. Nothing like the irritating sounds that trumpets can sometimes make and nothing like I have ever heard before. It was mystical. I am glad that I bought ticket to one of his performances with other musicians. Maybe I will buy another ticket to go to another one where he is the main guy.
I hung around till about 3.15pm and went to take my seat at the stand for the joustling match later. The fire truck came and they wet the ground to make it less dusty I guessed. There was also an ambulance on standby. The joustling event was more of an entertainment than a real match. The whole thing was also in Norwegian with bits of comedy here and there. It started with a lady made Cecilia who rode a horse that seemed like it could dance. It was doing different feet movements to the music. A very handsome looking horse too. After that, all the 'knights' came out with their horses. They were all dressed up in their various armour. There were altogether 6 of them. The first event was for them to use the long pole to hit a board. The winner was of course the one who could hit it right on the most times. For the next event, they had to use their poles to get as many small loops on their poles as possible. Followed by an event that required them to cut a cabbage head into 2 with their swords. Then the last event was the real match where they would try to poke each other with the long wooden poles. This is probably the most dangerous event though it looked like they were just having fun. It ended after an hour at about 5pm.
I proceeded to walk up to Wei's apartment to have my dinner. I was craving for instant noodles. So I did the 45 minutes up the hill all the way and was panting like a dog when I got there. Talked with Mike over the internet . Then Wei came to town with me to spend the night. Hahahhahhaha! No need to walk back to the hotel alone. He has gone to the Cathedral for his social programme this morning. He will be going to the Monks' Island in the afternoon.
I will probably go for my latte after this and head up to the fort. And later this evening, I am going to watch the Shetland Folkdance.
After leaving the library yesterday, I went to see the Hospitalskivken. It is the first octagonal church in Norway and Sweden. It was built in 1705. It is located next to the Trondheim Hospital (founded in 1277) which has been converted into a home for elderly people.
Next, I proceeded to the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet (a museum). I saw exhibitions on the natural history (animals, insects, birds, etc). What struck me was how huge their deers can be. They look more like huge moose to me but then again, I haven't seen a real moose either. In any case, I haven't got any idea that they can be so gigantic. I also saw exhibits on the natural environment, rock and minerals and the archaeologoical exhibiton with materials from the Stone, Bronze, Iron and Viking ages. There was also a tempoary exhibition about Kryzstan. All these exhibits were in the same building.
Then I proceeded across the street to see the Mediecal exhibition. These were finds from the excavations in Central Trondheim. It also boasts a realistic reconstruction of the streets and homes of that time. I also watched an audiovisual presentation that provide a dramatised impression of life in the viking ages to around 1700. It was in this museum that I freaked myself out. There was anexhibiit where a 'lady' was covered with a black hood and she was kneeling in front of an altar. I could only see the back view. What freaked me out was the eerie music they had playing in the background with people talking,etc (trying to imitate those times). What made it worse was, I was the only one in the museum at that time. I didn't see 'her' at first, but as I was walking past , from the corner of my eyes, I saw 'her' and I got so freaked. She looked so real but since it was also dark, I couldn't see clearly either. I decided to get out of there.
After my scare, I went back to the hotel to calm my nerves. Since the weather was so good, I decided to go to Munkholmen (Monks' Island) instead. I caught the 1pm ferry and off I went. It was just a short ferry ride - 10 minutes.
Monks' Island
It was Trondheim's execution grounds in ancient times. Then in the 11th century, Benedictine monks built a monastry on the island. It was one of the first 2 monastries in Scandinavia. The monks lived there adn brewed beer for 500 years. It was burnt down to the ground during a thunderstorm after being struck by lightning. Apparantly, 2 other places got struck too on the same night. One was the Nidaros Cathedral and another a church. So strange..... Anyway, after the fire, they tried to rebulid the church but reformatory happened and Norway became a protestant country and the catholic monks had to flee. In 1658, it was converted into a prison and a fort by the Danish. There was a basement where the worst kinds of prisoners were kept. This basement was initially built as a gunpowder storage room but since it was dug too deep, water seeped in so it would be unless for that. The ground floor is where criminals of petty cromes were kept. The rich and powerful prisoners were kept in relatively big private cells with sea view! The most famous inmate was the Danich Count Peder Griffenfeld. He spent 18 years there with his own servant to serve him. He was allowed to walk all the island too. He was convicted because he wasthought to be a spy for Sweden. But no one really knew. Since the basement was bad for the gunpowder storage, they built a dome-shaped room for that purpose. The dome shape was thought to be better beacause it would cause less damage to the rest of the building if it exploded as it would do so upwards. This proved to be true. The floor in this room was also held together by wooden nails because soldiers of that time wore boots with iron in their soles and if that rubbed against the iron nails on the floor, there might be sparks that would cause the gunpowder to be ignited. This island used to have 6 cannons . They were since long gone. I can only see the foundations that suggested their positions on the island. Nowadays, this island is used for recreational purposes. People come here to sunbathe and swim in the sea. The water is quite clear and clean. Not a surprise.
After exploring the island and getting suntanned (not like I had a choice), I headed back to mainland around 3.30 with a headache. The sun was strong yesterday. Wearing a straw hat and sunglasses didn't seem to help much. I decided that it was lame to go back to to the hotel. Instead I went to walk around town.
Around 5pm. I was tired and decided to head back to the hotel. Bumped into Wei and his friends. They were on their way back to their apartments. They were trying to catch the transfer bus. I hung around with them till their bus came. Wei sms me later that night that he had instant noodles and cereals for dinner. Better than me.....all I had was potato chips (without dips coz I couldn't find any) and an ice-cream. By the way, did I mention that Sex In the City is also showing here. Thank goodness it is the season that I haven't watch. Hhaahahhhahah. My entertainment for the nights!
Before I left the library the day before, I got done to pre-book a 9-10am slot today. And I also got a library card made so that I can borrow books on St. Olav.
I proceeded to the Kuntindustrimuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts). This museum has historical and modern collections of furniture, silver, textiles, etc. Their pride has to be the tapestries of Hannah Ryggen and Synnøve Anker Aurdal. And the glass creations of Benny Motzfeldt.
Hannah Ryggen
She was born in Malmö, Sweden on 21 March 1894. She first studied to be a teacher before taking up painting. In 1923, she married a Norwegian painter Hans Ryggen and for mant years, they made their home in Ørlandet at the mouth of Trondheim Fjord. It was in Norway that she began tapestry weaving. She was self-taught. She was made the Knight of Order of St. Olav and awarded The Prince Eugen Gold Medal. She died in Trondheim on 2 February 1970.
Synnøve Anker Aurdal
She was born in Oslo in 1908. She grew up in Lillehammer. She married the painter Leon Aurdal, and later the painter Ludvig Eikass. She studied with the sisters of the Lillehammer parsonage weofing school and at the NAtional Colllege fo Art and Design in Oslo. Though her work originates from the Norwegian weofing tradition, she introduced nonfigurative designs into her tapestries. She was made Knight of Order of St. Olof and awarded The Council's Honoury Income for Artists, The Price Eugen Gold Medal and the Norwegian Arts Council's Honorary Prize. She died in 2000.
Benny Motzfeldt
She was an innovator among Norwegian glass artists. She began her career as a designer at Norway's largest glassworks - Hadeland - where she developed in new directions. She transformed imprefections in the glass-making process, the air bubbles into the basis of artistic language. For her, glass was a material just as rich in creative potentials as any other material or medium. By using materials such as metal threads and fibres within glass forms, she ceated personal, artistic objects. Shortly before her death in 1995, she donated her entire collection to the museum.
Other than these permanent exhibitons, I got to see the one on Noah's Ark. This exhibition displayed cloaks used by priests, jewels, clothings and items used by the people then. Form this exhibiton, I learnt that wedding dresses used to be the same as other dresses. The only diffirence was the accessories worn with the dress. And women used to wear white and men wear black to funerals. But that all changed later because white was considered a color of resserection.
After this this museum, I tried to find the Art Gallery which was supposed to be nearby. But I couldn't find it at all. Later in the day, I met up with Wei's housemate's sister (the German), she told me that she couldn't find that either. I will try asking the tourist office later. The other museum of comtemporary art - Trondhjems Kunstforening - I will visit it this Sunday when there is a guided tour though I am not sure if it is in English.
After my 'mini-tour' of art museums, I went over to the synagogue. But it was closed. The doors were just shut! Later I learnt that I could still enter by pressing some buttons next to the door. There should be some instructions. Will try that again.
By then, I was almost noon. Since I was going to meet up with Wei in town, I was left with not much time to go another museum or wander too far off. So I went shopping again and got Mike 2 really cool shirts for 35sing dollars. Though when Wei saw them, he told me that they were something that he would never wear. But he is a conservative dresser. Met up with Wei in the hotel room at about 1pm. He submitted most of his things for the residence permit though they don't really seem to know what to do about the heath insurance thingy. The guidelines given by the school indicated that all the foreign students have to do
is to pay a nominal fee to get it , but the international office and the police station haven't got any clue about it. Information changes all the time, depending on who's on duty i guess.
Then we proceeded to go get his hiking boots. The goretex exterior with vibram soles. We got a real good bargain too. The boots that cost 1799krs (450Sing) were on sale for 999kr (250 sing). We quickly grabbed them coz there was only a pair left for his size with the good soles. The rest were some generic soles.
I also found a nice girly dress to wear to either Peng Ann's or Jane's wedding. After that, we went to have an early dinner at the Egon restaurant. Wei had a rib eye steak with salad and a baked potato for 40sing and I ahd their pizza buffet for 25Sing. The portion for Wei's meal wasn't huge, he also 'stole' a piece of my pizza. Then we came back to the hotel as it was raining. Saw a beautiful rainbow - the third one I have seen since I came. Wei left the hotel for his apartment at 7pm. He would reach at about 8pm. I was really tired yesterday and went to be before 10pm and didn't get up till about 8am today. ZZzzzz...................................!
After breakfast yesterday morning, I walked across the street to the internet cafe only to discover that they are still closed. So I went across the street and did some shopping. Then I proceeded to update my blog after the cafe opened.
After updating the blog, I proceeded to the local library to see the church ruins under it. What happened was during excavation work on the site for this libabry, archeologists found the ruins of a church which was built in the mid-12th century. Parts of the ruins and a group of skeletions (well-preserved) from the graveyard can be seen. I also realised that the library is actually quite near my hotel and the internet here is free!!! So that's why I am here again.
Bakklandet - on the east side of the river Nid; originally the homes of the working class.
Proceeded to walk across the Gamle Bybro (Old Bridge) again. This bridge was first built on this site in 1681. During the same time, the Kristiansten Fort was being constructed. A sentry and excise house used to stand at either end of the bridge. The excise house is still standing but is now used as a kindergarten. The bridge and gates as they now stand were bulit in 1861. The huge warehouses along both sides of the River Nid have mostly been converted into apartments, cafes, restaurants, pubs. After that, I proceeded to climb the steep street where the bike lift Trampe is. However, it is out of order.This lift , developed in Trondheim, goes up the steep hill Brubakken near the Gamle Bybro. From the top of the hill, it is a short distance to the Kristiansten Fort. But I was so blur that before I even go to the fort, I went down the steep hill to the Choco cafe near the base of the hill to have an expensive latte. It was here when I realised my folly. Oh well, I will climb the hill again before I go back.
It was really hot out while I was having my latte. But I still sat outside coz it was cooler than the inside. Most places here don't have aircon. The weather suddenly became overcast and got quite cool, and it threatened to rain. I quickly finished my latte and headed back to town across the bridge.
Wei, John and a German girl came to town for their city tour as part of their Norwegian social course. There were of course other students. They were divided into different language groups - English, German, French, etc. Met up with him for a minute as they started off near my hotel. He told me that the money had arrived 'safely'........hahahhaha, get my joke?
When the rain stopped, I went to buy the tickets for the 4 events/ concerts that I want to see over the St Olav Festival Week. I did more shopping around toen and got some good stuff. I also bought fresh strawberries from the street vendors to eat. They smelt really nice and had a real sweet taste. Had a hot dog for dinner and went back to my room. I was tired. My legs especially my thighs and hamstrings were tired out by all the walking. I think I am going to lose weight here.
Today is going to be Art Museums and galleries day. And I also wanted to find out more about St Olav.
Yesterday, 21 July, Monday was Wei's first day of school and my first free day to myself. I decided to go to the Nidaros Cathedral. The church looks so majestic and cool on the exterior. Moreover it is a stone's throw away from where I am staying.
I got there at 9.15am. Bought the ticket and hung aound outside till about 9.45am before I went in. I am waiting for the English guided tour which started at 10am.
The moment I entered, I was in awe by the grandeur of the church. The ceiling was at least 3 stories high and it has beautiful high arches. There are 4 main parts in the church - the octagon, the choir, the transept and the nave. There church took several centuries to complete and it went through 5 major fires. The church has a lot of stained glass too. These stained glass is done according to the new and old testaments. They are relatively new (early 1900 to mid 1930s) coz the old ones had been destroyed. The interior is made of soap stone which is grayish in color. But some parts like the pillars have turned black due to human's touch. The oil from our hands get absorbed by the soap stone thereby turning it black.
The octagon is where they believed that St. Olav who was also a king was buried. Near the octagon, there is a fountain which used to flow healing water, but has since dried up. But a lot of people still come here and rubbed the soap stone wall next to well. This part of the wall is quite black.
Since the church took several centuries to construct, its style also varies from baroque to romanesque to gothic due to travels by the archbishop's travels all over europe.
The church has 2 large and 1 small organs. The coolest has to be the Wagner organ made by Joachim Wagner (1690-1749) in 1739 , Germany. This organ maker made only 28 organs in his life and there are only 6 left in the world now, 1 right here in this church. It is also believed that J.S Bach also played the organ made by Joachim Wagner. This organ has 30 registers with 1809 pipes. It is placed at the North Transept. It is also extremely colorful with intricate almost like a toy organ. I had the pleasure of hearing it when I came back for a short concert in the afternoon. It is very magical towards the last part when the organist presses some knobs and the 2 stars on the organ started to spin and they made a twinkling sound that made me feel as if that's the sound stars make when they fall.
The other organ is built by GF Steinmeyer , Bavaria. This organ has 127 registers and 9581 pipes. It was later split into 2 parts. The bigger one is now in the nave, the other in the chior.
The small organ is found in the Chapter House where I attended a service on Sunday.
After the short guided tour, I climbed up to the church tower. There are 172 small, spiral and steep steps. It was so narrow that they only do the ascent every half hour and each time not more than 30 people coz there is no space for one to regret and turn back. When they mean narrow, it is really narrow. If I am one half of what I am now, I probably can't go through! It was a tiring climb up coz there isn't much space....guess that's why they warn people who are claustophobic, unfit and with heart conditions to think twice. But when I reach the top, it was worthed it. The view from up there was great. I could basically see the whole Trondheim. Stayed there for about 10minutes and began my descent.
By the time I was done going through the museum at the Archbishop's Palace which is next to the church, it was almost 2pm. I was very hot and bothered by then. Went back to the hotel, got changed ane went to the shopping mall to do some shopping for cooler clothings. Thank goodness the sale is on and I managed to get some clothes for cheap. So some things are affordable after all.
Went up to Wei's apt. Of course I took a bus coz it was too hot in the afternoon. Saw him and John walking up the hill. And of course I got there earlier. Met the rest of the Singaporeans. When everyone was ready, went to get groceries. We had pasta, smoked salmon and garlic bread for dinner. Cooked at John's apt coz it is cleaner. Then they tried to cinfigure their laptop and I decided to head back to town. Took me 45 mins but I saw salomon jumping up the river. Great way to end a day!!!
After John came to town later this morning, we proceeded to explore the other side of town where the trams are supposed to run. But of course we didn't see any - maybe like most things and places, everything is either closed or not in service. This area is also where most of their locals live. After that, we cross another one of their bridge and walked towards the indoor water 'playground' (?). This place costs like 20 sing to get in but it boasts a 50m pool, a wave pool, a few kiddie pools, some amusement tunnel slides and a 10m diving pool. It is also situated beside the sea. Strangely enough, this place reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Not the congestion of Fishermen Wharves, but the view from there. They have a Monk's Island here which is Trondheim's execution ground in the ancient times which was later converted to a prison. They also have houses on hills round the other side of the bay like Sausalito.
After that, we proceeded to cross another another bridge to come to another part of town where there is just this long rows of cafes and restaurants by the river. Hung out for a while and proceeded to look for a church with English Service. But no one seemed to know where it was and we didn't bump into any africans (apparantly there is a church where 75% of the church goers were the christian Africans) In the end, we decided to attend the English service held by an anglican church next to the Nidaros Cathedral.
After failing to look for the particular church that John wanted to go, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest. It was getting too hot and most things weren't open too. Moreover Wei and John were tired. Wei wasn't feeling too good either. He was sniffing and coughing this morning.
We basically chilled out in the hotel room till 5.45 and went to attend the church service. The service lasted about 40 minutes. After that, Wei and John walked back to their apt to cook dinner. Told Wei to drink more water, take his vit C , flu medication and sleep early tonight. He still has to settle some of his other admin stuff tomorrow.
The plan for tomorrow : I have the whole morning and half of the afternoon to myself. I am probably going to sign up for the 2hr city tour after finding out the places it will go to. It is likely to be a walking tour with an English speaking guide. I also want to find out more information about the train to Oslo as well as the Oslo Pass they are talking about in the brochure. Then it will be my tuen to walk up to the student village to meet up with Wei and John. I intend to cook pasta with garlic bread for them and me. John will also bring us to the grocery store near their apts. Wei will have to get groceries and start cooking too. I hope that Wei can settle his admin things without a hitch tomoorow since half the time the admin people in his school are also a bit blur themselves and they close so early too! Let's hope he feels better too after a good night's rest.
Well, I better get going to grab some dinner before it gets too dark! Hahahahahah! Did you get my corny joke?
So after logging out yesterday, we went over to the tourist office to find out where the outdoor sports stores are. They pointed out 2 which were nearby. I wanted to take a look at the types of hiking boots they have. Both shops have almost the same few kinds of brands and models - only one is cheaper than the other. The ones that caught my eyes were goretex ones with vicrom(?- not entirely sure of the exact word) soles. They are full leather and 8-holed (i think) water proof boots but they also coem with a 'handsome' price too. After conversion, they cost alomst 400 sing dollars. Not sure if it is a reasonable deal or even a good model to get, I sms Mike and almost immediately, he called me and asked me the details like the soles that came with the boots, etc. He also advised me on how to make sure to get one that fits well. Since Wei didn't have his socks with him, I decided to put off buying them till sometime later this week. Anyway, the store isn't open today. So is almost everything from the look of things.
Anyway, we met up with Wei's friend, John, soon after we checked out the boots. He walked all the way from the student village (where Wei will also be residing) to town. From what I gathered from him, it took him 50 minutes. Thank goodness the weather is cool and air is fresh. It makes walking much more bearable than paying 6 sing dollars for each bus ride. After we met up, we walked and talked. His housemate is a French guy who has been here since April but will be going back soon coz he is just here for the summer course. He has also met an american guy who is here with his family. From what he could learn from them, the monthly bus pass isn't worthed it - it costs like 100 sing dollars a month and the bus frequency is like twice every hour. So in the end, most of them either walk to school or buy a second hand bike and cycle there. Actually the walk to school isn't bad - 15-20 minutes and from school to town - 20-25 minutes. It is only tedious when you walk all the way to town from the student village or vice versa.
We walked across one of the many bridges here to the other side of Trondheim where we found a nice cafe to have a nice iced latte along the street. This part of town is very quaint and I think there are more houses than shops here. So we spent a nice maybe 2 hours chitchatting there. I bought coffee for all of us coz like us, John is still waiting for his money to come through. But in comparison, I have more cash than him. Moreover he brought draft over - they told him it could clear by Tuesday, I am not sure about that coz from what I learn from DBS, it may take up to 3 weeks but maybe his will be faster since it is a different bank. John seemed like a nice guy and from what I learn, his results are also good - he has made it to 2nd upper already. He doesn't seemed extravagant too. I guess he has to be careful since he has only 1500 Krs left to last him till his money comes through. He is also bored coz since he has not enough money to pay for the apt deposit , he can't get internet connection. We paid the deposit already but when the student village reception office was already closed so we can only wait till Monday to give them the receipt before they connect us. (We actually tried on Friday, but there was a firewall of some sort that prevent us) Maybe life won't be so boring for him and Wei at night when everything closes.
After the kopi break, we went across the old bridge also known as Gamle Bybro. John told us that the American who has already been here 5 years told him that there are times one can see salmons migrating up this river in the summer. We didn't see any yesterday though.
On the way back we saw street vendors selling strawberries. They smelt really nice. Wei couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to buy. So we went back to the hotel to chill out coz it is getting quite hot by now. John came with us. We hung out till about 7pm in the room and decided to go downstairs and grab a cheap dinner. All of us had hot dogs. Each costs about 25 Kr (6.75Sing). After making plans to meet again the next day, John started his walk back to the student village and we went back to the hotel.
I intend to do all the sightseeing during the week when wei is in school coz most of the sights require entrance fees and Wei's school will be bringing him as part of the Norwegian Social Culture Course. So from John, we also learnt that they will have the intensive language course in the morning from 9 to 2pm then the social activities after that. So next week, I will have more time for myself to explore the place and I am thinking of going to Oslo this weekend. Will plan and decide later this week. That's all for now.
p.s we are attending a catholic mass at the Nidaros Cathedral ,which by the way is a huge and beautiful church, this evening. They have an English mass every third Saturday of the month.
Arrived yesterday safely in Trondheim without any problems. The flight was long but wasn't too bad. I managed to sleep for three-quarters of the flight from Singapore to Amsterdam. The layover in Amsterdam was 4 hours. We decided to grab a bite and a drink at the airport delifrance. It was the most expensive delifrance meal I have eaten. All we had were 2 egg sandwiches, a latte (for me), a coke (for wei) and a small bowl of onion soup - it cost us 17euros!!! That's like 34 Sing dollars!!!
Anyway after the expensive but thankfully delicious meal, we went in search of a place to lounge while waiting for the flight from Amsterdam to Trondheim. There were a lot of places and different kinds of chairs for one to relax in. We found a place we liked and sat down. I proceeded to read a novel that I had brought along with me and Wei took a short nap. He didn't sleep much on the plane.
Finally it was time and we got onto our tiny but at least jet powered and not propeller plane. I think there were only 15 or 16 max rows with 5 across in the plane. The view on the descent to Trondheim airport was excellent. There were so much green land so few houses with the ocean just in the horizon.
The airport is so small that after we got off the plane, we just walked into the luggage pickup area. After picking up the luggage, we just walked all the way through to the exit - no passport check or anything coz over in amsterdam before we got to over departure gate, we had already gone through their Europe Cusotm check. That was quite weird.
We got out of the airport and found the bus that will take us to Trondheim town centre. The trip was about half hour and we passed some really long and dark tunnels through the mountains from the aiport to town. We got off at the Hotel Royal Gardens (which, by the way, is a hotel by the river and very expensive) and took a cab to Wei's Student Village Reception. We got his room key with no problem, took a spare mattress from the office and proceeded with 2 luggages and a mattress in tow to go look for his apartment. His room was on the 4th floor and guess what - of course there was no lift. So we dragged everthing up 4 flights of stairs and Wei couldn't find his key!!! After digging for like 5 minutes, he found it in his pocket.
We opened the door and found 2 people looking at us. They were having their lunch. We introduced ourselves and from the short conversations we had, I found out that they were from Germany. The guy is studying here, the other is his sister who is visiting like me. She will be here till next Thursday. Due to the number of errands we needed to do, we didn't stay around very long to chitchat. we basically got changed into lighter clothings - it is really hot here, and left for the International Student Office to sort out Wei's class that is starting on Monday, find out where is a convenient bank to open an account and how to get his residence permit.
From what we found out, his language course seemed to be an intensive social norwegian culture course with all the visits to museums, hiking trips, city tours, etc. He got to find out more when he goes for the briefing on Monday.
Anyway, we also managed to open a bank account for him on school campus. After that, we went back to the apartment and unpack his things since we can't do anything else coz the offices were all closed by then (3pm). Then after some pondering, I decided to stay in town and not with Wei coz the mattress looks disgusting and dirty and we had only a set of clean sheets. Moreover, there is nothing to do near his apartment. The bus fare is also very expensive. It costs 5 sing dollars per person to take a bus anywhere. So Wei and me with my luggage in tow took a bus to town. I found a hotel nearby and bargained for a single room from 640 Kroners to 400 Kroners - that worked out to be abiout 100 sing dollars per night inclusive of breakfast, which is a good thing coz eating out is really expensive. I planned to make this my base as it is convenient and it is right in town. Also not very far from Wei's school but quite a distance to his apt. Wei is bunking in with me for the weekend and afterthat, he will stay st his apt when 'lessons' begin on Monday.
So after checking in and grabbing a shower, we went out to get dinner. Wei was quite tired by now, coz it is like 11pm in singapore but only 5pm here. Not wanting him to sleep, I dragged him out and go explore the town a bit and finally we settled for MacDonald's. It is the most expensive MacDonald's meal I have eaten. All we had was a Mac Chicken meal with a Mac Chicken burger and it cost me 109 kroners which is 27 sing dollars!!! The meal alone costs like 17 dollars!!! After dinner, Wei went back to the hotel while I did some shopping. I had to get a couple singlets coz it is just too hot. After that, I went back to the hotel and took another shower - I was just so hot. Soon after, Wei fell asleep on the floor with my comforter as his bedding and I continued to watch TV and read. Finally at about 9pm (3am singapore), I turned in for the night.
I think the sun doesn't really set here coz when I went to bed it was still bright and when i woke up in the middle of the night, there was still light out though not as bright. So strange!!! Mike would have loved it !!!
Woke up at 7.30am and went to grab breakfast downstairs. Breakfast was a good spread of food. Ate my fill and smuggled 2 buns for Wei. Then we were out by 9am. Went to explore a bit and came to the internet cafe. So that's all for now.