Thursday July 9, 2015 - Trondheim, Norway

We got up early and had a light breakfast upstairs at the buffet.

We went to the theatre and got our tickets for the City Tour.  We had a ride through the city and our guide pointed out various landmarks.  Our first stop was at the Cathedral which was of gothic design.  This is the cathedral where the kings (and queens in the future) are crowned.  It was surprisingly gorgeous.  We went inside and I joked with one of the docents, “Play the organ for us”.  She advised us to come back at 1 pm for a free organ concert and our pass would get us back in.  We met Marilyn on this tour (from Naples) and she wants to go with us.

The beautiful Trondheim Cathedral where all of the Norwegian kings have been crowned

Selfie in front of the Trondheim Cathedral

A better picture in front of the Trondheim Cathedral

Beautiful statues all over the front - there is a story for each one

Middle on the bottom - the bishop with a basket with human heads in it!!!!  They were Vikings!

We saw the wooden bridge and many colorful buildings along the waterfront.  There were lots of cafes.

We went to a museum of old buildings that were moved here to show how they used to live.  We went through 2 with docents describing the way of life in the past.  The museum also had a village with shops that had been moved from downtown Trondheim.

Roof with grass on top for insulation - line with popular bark under the grass

An old home where a family would have lived

Our guide at the houses

This was the "celebration home" with a colorful ceiling in bright colors

The bedroom - and living room - and kitchen - they basically lived in one room

The fireplace used for heating and cooking

Dining room

The blacksmith shop

Group of houses

Multi-purpose room

Another interesting structure with a grass roof

The "village" with shops of all kinds

The chemist and general store

The hat shop

We then drove to a lookout point that had beautiful views of the city.

Trondheim, Norway

The fjord

The Trondheim Cathedral

Selfie at the lookout point over Trondheim - getting colder each day - and more hours of daylight!

We returned to the ship. We started walking back to the cathedral but I hailed a taxi to make sure we got there on time.  We got front row seats for the organ concert.  It was an excellent 20 minute concert and the organist opened up all of the stops on a couple of the pieces.  He played the smaller but older of the 2 large organs.

Back to the Trondheim Cathedral for the organ concert

The wooden bridge

Colorful houses and structure line the waterfront

Beautiful waterfront and canals in Trondheim

More colorful building with the cathedral in the background

Very clean city - but very cold - and mostly cloudy all day

We walked back through the city to the ship.  Tim lost his sun glasses on our tour so he went on board to see if they had been turned in.  I waited on the dock for our “Rib Boat Adventure”.   We changed into waterproof suits with hoods and goggles and loaded onto the two rib boats and took off into the fjord.  Fast and furious!  High speed over the waves with lots of bumps.  They told us to lift up to take the bumps with the legs not the back which was easier said than done many times.  We drove to the other side of the fjord and saw some beautiful villages and farms with very green pastures.  It was a bit smoother over there, but then we started back across the fjord – bumpy again.

It was a one hour ride and fun.  I was sore in my quads the next day.  Lynn and Tom from St Louis were pretty beat up.  Lynn had a huge bruise on her leg from the bumping.

Suiting up in cold weather gear for our rib boat ride on the fjord

The rib boats waiting for us to go on an adventure in the fjord

All suited up and ready to go - it was still cold though!

Hoods and goggles too!

And off we went . . .

We survived!

We got a tour of the Trondheim canals at the end

Interesting perspective from the water

Lots of old sailing vessels in the harbor

The Voyager at dock in Trondheim

And off we went again - view from our aft balcony of the North Sea

We returned back to the ship.  There was a show in the theatre before we left port so the dancers could dance without the ship swaying.  Gemma and Alex are meeting us for dinner after the show.  So they met us in Observation about 8, we had a quick drink and then we had dinner in Compass Rose.  We went to Observation for one last drink then to bed.  We saw Freddie there and arranged to have dinner with Freddie and Franz tomorrow night.

Alex, Tim, Larry, and Gemma