Christy Anderson Brekken

On Friday, we hung around the house all day then took the bus down to the river for a picnic and walk for dinner. We at the park next to the river just below the cathedral, where the kids played on the playground and in the open space, and Nora threw rocks in the river, as Nora loves to do.

We continued our walk along the river to the Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge). I’ve been waiting to get Anders and his fancy camera to the Gamle Bybro, so here you have many iconic shots of Trondheim with fancy camera effects.

Continuing over the Gamle Bybro we come to the Bakklandet neighborhood, and old and beautiful street along the river. There we played a bit with the only bike lift in the world! It’s free, you push a button to get it going. A small metal plate comes out of the track to rest your foot on. As long as there is pressure on the plate, it continues up the hill. If you take your foot off, the plate retracts. Anders and some college students played with balancing on it, and we saw one person take it up. Here’s a little video of how it works.

We enjoyed the bike scene and stopped for hot chocolate and apple cake at an iconic cafe. Then took the path back down this side of the river back to get on the bus home. A beautiful evening.

Bonus track: Ted and I found an all-weather outdoor ping pong table in our neighborhood! There are different paths all over, so taking a small path through some trees brought us to another side of some open space that has a soccer field and tennis court, hiding this little gem. We just need some paddles and a ball!

Trondheim’s 17. mai. These are general pictures, most by Ted with the fancy camera. We tried to capture the beautiful bunads, both women’s and men’s, the number and breadth of people celebrating, and the civil spirit.

I appreciate a country that celebrates its Constitution Day, celebrating the society that they formed and continue together, like a wedding anniversary. There is also something special about a holiday where people dress in their best and bring their best selves to celebrate their common good. The buses were crammed full of people, the streets and cafes overflowing, with good cheer and smiles.

There are small rests throughout the day and socializing with different parts of your community: the school, the civic clubs, your family and friends. There is a national pride, but not an exclusionary one. Everyone is invited and included. It’s hygge og hjemme, cozy and home, on a national scale.

We will do this one as a gallery, in no particular order, just click a picture to click through them full size. Then enjoy the details.

Pictures from Steindal School’s 17. Mai events. The Steindal Skolekorps and barnetoget, with the other 7th graders bearing the flags and banners high. The band marched around the neighborhood at 6:45 am (not past our house), then played and marched again as the kids went from the school to the buses, then downtown in the big barnetoget (children’s parade), then again at the school and around the neighborhood before the party in the afternoon! They weren’t going to let all of that practice go to waste.

See a video of the band playing and the kids parading: https://youtu.be/W1bT6j5YpNQ

Steindal school banners in the downtown parade–you can see Nora there on the edge in her blue bunad, right behind the little flag.

Anders friend, Jonas, carrying a flag (1st pic above). The 7th graders were leading the school kids. His friend Gard is in the suit and red tie (2nd pic above). His friend Robin is in the dark suit and tie (3rd pic) and all of the girls are in his class.

In the afternoon, the school threw a party. The band marched and played again. There was food for sale–ice cream, hot dogs, cakes, coffee, soda, popcorn. And Viking-skill party games for kids like fishing, holding heavy buckets, hammering nails, walking on stilts (for scaling walls, I presume), and lottery games. Nora had fun with all of the games, Anders hung out with his friends, and Ted and I chatted with the other parents who have befriended us. It has been a good community.

Anders and his school buddies–he took off the band uniform, but kept the tie.

Gratulerer med dagen! Hip hip hurra for 17. Mai! We celebrated Norway’s Constitution Day, the biggest national holiday of the year! Here are some pictures from our day. It is set up as a gallery, so click the first picture in a larger format and you can click through to see them all.

The sun was up at 4:05am, Anders’ alarm went off at 5:00am. He had to get ready to meet the band at 6:45am for the first march of the day through the neighborhood, which sounds like a fine way to wake up. Then the band went to the school to eat a 2nd breakfast together. Nora got dressed up and went to the school at 8:20. Then they lined all of the kids up outside and marched them to the waiting buses to take them downtown. Ted and I were on our way to the city buses and were lucky to see their short parade from the school to the buses.

Ted and I took the city bus downtown to see the kids in the big parade–the buses were jam packed with everyone all dressed up. We found a spot near the beginning of the parade to see the kids–their school was number 40 out of over 50 schools in the parade. After they came by, we hustled through the crowds over to another parade viewing spot at the end of the route to see them again and meet at the pick-up spot.

We went for lunch at a konditori, a kind of old fashion cafeteria-style restaurant. Then we stopped for ice cream, because we hear that there is one rule on 17. mai: parents cannot say no when kids ask for ice cream. We meandered through downtown to get on a jam-packed bus back home. Nora sat on my lap in one seat while another mom and girl sat in the seat next to us. We had a little time at home to take some pictures of all of us looking fine and rest a bit before the afternoon party at the school–more pictures of that in the next post!

Anders’ ipod says that he walked almost 21,000 steps, 7+ miles, and the rest of us weren’t too far behind that. But it was a nicely paced day, and he even had energy to play catch with Ted in the afternoon. More to come on the school’s festivities and the general scene in Trondheim!

Nora and I had a downtown shopping date, a beautiful day for getting some summer clothes. It was in the 70s for a few days and felt like summer!

Nora is committed to gathering “russkort.” The graduating students spend the month of May as “russ,” with different colors for different types of high schools. They wear norsk-themed overalls with their russ color and make up silly business cards that little kids collect. They also party a lot–that’s kind of the whole point. Fun tradition, and motivates Nora to speak some norsk!

Norway’s Amusement Park! Tor took us to Tusenfryd on Friday, but it was closed to the public–only open for a private group from Oslo. It felt so wrong, but it was probably perfect. The kids got to see the park and get themselves both excited and prepared for the big rides. I got to see the park, but got to stay home on Saturday with Kristine. Everyone wins!

There were some big rides, Nora was big enough for all of them but didn’t choose to go on all of the biggest fastest ones. It also has an all-wood roller coaster, which they went on and said was really loud! But no pictures.

There were some water rides, mostly they didn’t get too wet but Anders took a splash.

Ragnarok! Look out Odin! The World Serpent is behind you!

Anders rode the Speed Monster, and the commemorative key chain was priceless! This was actually the 2nd time he rode it. The acceleration was fast!

The Steampunk Hunters ride had a virtual reality aspect, but Nora didn’t wear the headset. She decided that reality was enough.

Bumper cars are always a hit.

Nora loved the big swing! She is there with her arms out. Everyone came home happy, no one puked, which seems a bit of a miracle. What a treat!

While they were at the amusement park, Kristine and I took a long walk from their house, through some woods and farmland, the long way on trails to downtown Ås. Luna came with us, it was a long walk for her. We had lunch at the cafe where Kristine’s daughter works, and the Ås international women’s group was there having their regular Saturday coffee, so we sat and chatted with them for a bit. Then we had a bit of shopping–found some clothes and came across a yarn store going out a business and got some great deals! We took the bus back home and actually did some work on an article that Kristine was working on.

We ended the day by watching the grand finale of the Eurovision contest! Norway’s entry was fun, but not our favorite and didn’t win.

The kids had school off on Thursday and Friday for Kristi himmelfartsdag, the funniest-sounding Norwegian holiday to the English speaker, which is Ascension day. Although Norwegians are not a religious people now, the Church of Norway has been a state-sanctioned church for so long that they took religious holidays as public holidays. Once those public holidays are out, it’s pretty tough to call them off. Pentecost is a day off that is coming up too.

We took the 4-day weekend to travel to Ås, a bit south of Oslo, a 7 hour train trip. Our first evening, we took a tour of Ås and the NMBU university campus, all beautiful in the springtime glory. Then we got a sudden downpour and thunder! We got back home, but our Oregonian kids danced in the rain for a bit 🙂

The kids set up the trampoline and played, dinner was made and enjoyed.

On Saturday, Kristine and Tor gathered up enough bikes for all of us to take a tour over rivers and highways, through fields and woods, all the way to the sea at Drøbak. It was about an hour or more, with a mix of mountain biking, bike trails, and through towns. But even in the towns you ride on bike trails or sidewalks, no street biking necessary. It was the first time we had been on bikes since being here, which felt great. The kids did a fantastic job.

At Drøbak, we admired the fjord while Kristine and the kids had their “Norwegian baptism” in the water! It was cold, but they did it! The day was warm, so they laid out in the sun and dried off quickly. Then we went off for dinner at a fantastic restaurant, Kumlegården. It was quite upscale, but they let us come in our casual clothes and put a bike in back because we didn’t have enough locks for everyone. Kristine and I had fish, Ted and Tor had lamb, and the kids had a fish soup. Afterward, we got coffee and ice cream at a Narvesen convenience store because the gelato shop that we saw on the way was closed–on a Friday night!

Nora really enjoyed visiting with Luna, their 12 year old collie, who is getting quite slow and old. But she really likes cuddles and slow walks, so Nora is the perfect friend.

On Saturday we set off on a 6-mile hike from our house to Estenstadhytta in Strindamarka and back again. It starts off on the same route that I take to work, then off into the woods. Most of the way was quite nice, but they were doing some construction work on part of the path so some of it was muddy and rocky, and a lot of climbing. We could have taken a longer route through the woods with a more gentle incline, but we weren’t sure that the kids would tolerate much more! Anytime you get up high enough around Trondheim you can see the fjord in the distance.

The reward at the end of the trail is Estenstadhytta, one of the staffed cabins in the woods that serves simple cafeteria-like foods–cold sandwiches, waffles, baked goods, coffee and other drinks. There are many places to sit and relax, lots of other families with kids and people of all ages, and many people who biked up to the top. It’s a very well-used system, a local treasure. On Thursdays they have taco buffet! So we will have to hike back up on a Thursday. There is another natural site nearby that we didn’t visit this time, Burmaklippen, a kind of rocky outcropping that you can stand on and looks dramatic.

We were tired out after our multi-hour adventure. We stopped at Bunnpris on the way home to get groceries because stores are closed on Sundays, so we have to make sure that we have everything we need on Saturdays to make it through to packing lunches for school on Monday! We all slept well.

On Sunday we spent the day at home. We invited a family over for coffee and cake in the morning–takk for sist Rikart og Lisa! Their boy is in Anders class and their daughter is in Nora’s class and they have are good friends. The kids played a game and went outside, so the grown ups got some quiet talking time. We learned more about soccer.

Their son stayed for lunch and a game, then he and Anders picked up another friend and took the bus downtown on their own to see the Avengers movie. I told them the time they had to get on the bus, and they were off. When they got home Anders said that I told them the wrong bus time–but they took the wrong bus! We have 2 buses that come nearby, one of them goes straight to the movie theater and the other stops farther away. They can navigate the buses on their own, so they hopped off and ran across downtown (safely) to get to the movie on time. Then are back again successfully. Good life skills.

Nora was so into the face paint at Rockheim that Ted suggested using her water colors to do some face painting at home. It worked surprisingly well! We also had some time to do some quiet activities on our own while Anders was at the movie. I adjusted his band uniform by hand, a bit on the waist and letting down the hem. Ted worked on learning an AI algorithm and Nora wrote some Harry Potter fan fiction.

Ted and I are still working on our Pandemic Legacy game, we had to play 2 games to meet the month’s objective this time. We did it in our face paint characters this time too.

Then dinner of veggies, salmon, and flatbread.

And Nora’s dumpster diving finds–the housing association put some spring-cleaning dumpsters outside, but they should have just had a swap meet. Now we have some chairs on the balcony, a handbag, and scale. We can just store the chairs in the storage closet for the next people who live here. Reuse!

It’s been in the 50s lately, with some rainy days and some sunny days. The sun is up now around 4:30 am, although it gets light before 4, and sets around 10:00pm, although it stays light until around 11. The long days are upon us! When the weather is nice, Ted and Anders have been out to play catch at the schoolyard. Nothing says “I’m American” like strapping some cowhide to your hand and throwing a small hard ball at each other. What yankees. But it turns out that there is a club baseball team at NTNU, and another for the city, which also welcomes anyone to practices. They list about 18 club teams around the country, and they play games here occasionally. Anders would like to go to a practice sometime, and maybe we can take some of his friends to see a game.

Nora and her gaggle of friends have been meeting and running around outside, clearly plotting something. There was a large dumpster outside for about a week, a spring cleaning opportunity provided by the housing association (these are condos). The girls found all kinds of “treasures” out there.

Today we visited Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkemuseum in Trondheim with Trond, Sylvi, and their kids. We were just in time for a guided “tour” with a delightful aristocrat from 18th century Trondheim who first showed us the home of a local import merchant. After shouting loudly for Hans and getting no response, he took liberty to tell us that Hans was quite rich because he imports spices, wine, and other fancy things, then sells them in Trondheim. He pointed out that a rich man has fancy paint like this, and imported furniture. I got into the groove and understood most of what he was saying, and Anders was right with it.

Then he took us to his own home, the first one to be made out of concrete in Trondheim. It was also lavishly decorated. He asked us all to go into the dining room and treated us to a preview of the party he would hold later in the day. We smelled the spices, listened to his story about the party, and got to “skål” to everyone he could think of while we drained the glasses of sparkly apple juice (he drained 2!) He asked “who should we skål to first?” and no one answered, so I said “deg?” (you?). He thought that was pretty funny! Nope, first the king, then the queen, then the crown prince, then the bishop…on down the line including his wife, and finally him! Skål!

We saw the rest of the sights in the old town, this is the main street with various stores and homes. Some of them were open, others we could see in through the windows.

Next we went to the “nightman’s” house. There was a long recording (thankfully one in English too) about the one person in Trondheim back in the old days who did his work at night: emptying everyone’s outhouses, collecting the corpses of the executed or suicides, sometimes required to put a head on a stake. This person and his family were shunned by the rest of society, no one would have anything to do with them if possible. It passed from father to son, or if one died and they needed a new one, they would force a prisoner into the job. Sad stories. This was the very house that the nightman lived in, now we can honor them.

Dentist office from 1918. Oi! The whole top floor of one of the old town houses was devoted to dentistry over the last century, with equipment from 1928 and 1958 on display as well. Be thankful for what we have now.

Yikes! One looks too happy, one looks in distress, one looks away.

After the dentist office, we stepped into the candy shop, also a toy store (and real gift shop). We didn’t get anything 🙂 We did go to the main museum cafe and gift shop later.

Then we climbed up to the top of the bluff where the ruins of King Sverre’s castle are preserved. Built by King Sverre, completed in 1183 and defended by the Birkebeiners, loyalists to the king against invaders and the church that wanted to assert power. As recently as 2014 and 2016 they have done excavation work and found archeological remains that match some of the sagas written from 1180s-90s.

Only the foundation of the castle still stands now. There were stories of the attacks that killed a lot of the Birkebeiner defenders and a fire in the underground rooms. The attackers threw a dead body and the contents of the outhouse into the well to contaminate it, so that the King and defenders could not stay there. They found the skeleton of a man in the well in 2014, dated back to the 1190s. Anders is blown away that we are standing in places where people build castles almost 1,000 years ago.

From the top, looking out toward the city of Trondheim (above) and fjord with the island Munkholmen in the distance (below).

Looking down at the old farm houses below the castle ruins, with Trond, Sylvi, and Julia down there! Sylvi and I marveled at what life was like in those small farm houses, in the cold and dark winters. All about survival. There are no “good” old days, we have it pretty good in our warm places with refrigerators full of food now.

On our way out we went past the Stave Church from Haltdalen, originally built around 1170 and reconstructed here, the only one remaining in Trøndelag. It wasn’t open today.