We had a really early start as the boat docked at 6:30 but they started getting ready for coming into port a lot earlier, however, we had already decided that we would get off the boat soon after it pulled into port so that we didn’t have to worry about fighting our way off the ship with all the people trying to explore Trondheim for the couple of hours they have in port. We had checked out last night so all we had to do was get up and head round to the hotel. We are staying at the Hotel Bakeriet which was originally a small business that sold groceries and ice cream but became a bakery and biscuit factory and actually became very successful. They produced 4,000 loaves of bread and 15,000 cakes each day and employed 100 people who all lived on-site and were fed by Mrs Halseth the wife of the owner, as well as these staff they had 12 horses and a railway that went to the store room under the hotel. We had booked the room for last night so we went up to the room and had a shower then came down for breakfast before setting off and exploring Trondheim for the second time. We had a walk worked out that would take us around most of the town so armed with our map we set off. Our first stop was tourist information to try and get some more info on opening times but as all they did was look at the same websites we had checked we decided that we would just head round to the places we wanted to visit and see if they were open! The first one was Stiftsgarden or the Royal Residence, this was built by Lady Cecille Christine Scholler between 1774 and 1778. Lady Scholler travelled abroad travelled a lot and didn’t really use the palace herself, because of financial problems it was sold to the state in 1800, it was then used by the County Governor of the region and as a Royal residence when the Royal family visited Trondheim. During the 19th century the building also houses several other public institutions but from 1906 it became the official Royal Residence in Trondheim and has been used exclusively by the Royal family since then. It has been the setting for the coronations and benedictions as well as other celebrations such as weddings. It has 140 rooms and is possibly the largest wooden building in Northern Europe. You can visit part of the residence as long as you join a guided tour and luckily one in English was just stating so we went round the rooms that are open to the public. The royal family still use this three or four times a year although some of it does look a little worse for ware, unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos inside so we took a couple of photos outside then continued our walk. Our next stop was Nidaros Cathedral which is said to be the burial site of “Norways eternal king” King Olaf II. The Cathedral and the old Archbishops Palace are located side by side in the middle of the city. There has been a cathedral on this site since 1070 although over the years it has changed quite a lot. Like a lot of businesses in Norway because it was made of wood it had caught fire a number of times even as recently as 1983. The west front of the cathedral is really impressive as it is full of sculptures and a magnificent rose window, the sculptures were replaced in the early 1900s and depict apostles, saints bishops and angles. This is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world and one of Norways most popular tourist attractions with around 400,000 visitors each year. Next to the Cathedral is the Archbishops Palace which is where the Crown Jewels are housed but unfortunately although we had a look around some of the items we couldn’t see the crown jewels as the room was closed. We then went round the museum and watched a really interesting video about the building and restoration of the cathedral after this is was past lunch time so we walked back to the town square to find something to eat. After lunch we continued with the walk and crossed over the old town bridge that we had walked across last time we were here, this time we went for a walk around Trondheims Old Town which is called Bakklandet where there are a number of old wooden houses from the 1600 and 1700s as well as narrow cobbled streets and access to the river Nidelva, apparently there are 18 bridges that cross the river, some like the ones we used this morning over what look like dry dock areas but the majority are for transport or pedestrians or both. We walked back to where we had started this morning and although we had thought we might go into the maritime museum we were flagging so decided to head back to the hotel for a relax before we decide what we are going to do later.
