25 Aug 2010 – Down Town
Trondheim was named Kaupangen/market place or trading place by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997. It came to be called Nidaros later, used as the seat of the king and was capital of Norway until 1217. Now it is a city and municipality in South Trøndelag, a center of education, technical and medical research. As of 2009 the Trondhiem Region, a statistical metropolitan area has a pop of 260,364 in an area of 587 sq km/226.6 sq mi. SIN, a pop of nearly 5mill is in an area of 274.2 sq mi… that explains why I am hardly there 🙂
A statue of Olav Tryggvason, the founder of Trondheim is located in the city’s central plaza mounted on top of an obelisk. The statue base is also a sun-dial but it is calibrated to UTC+1 so that the reading is inaccurate by one hour in the summer. It is in this area that one can find the most beautiful man-hole!
Random buildings on the main street, Munkegate: view from a tower at Nidaros Cathedral (downloaded from Wikipedia), interior of Trondheim Torg (a new mall), Court House/Tinghus, lawyer office, goldsmith, tourist info, City Hall/Rådhus
Stiftsgården is the royal residence, originally constructed in 1774 by Cecilie Christine Schøller. At 140 rooms constituting 4,000 sqm/43,055.64 sq ft /43000 sq ft, it is possibly the largest wooden building in Northern Europe, and has been used by royals and their guests since 1800.
Norway’s national sanctuary built over the grave of St Olav, Nidaros Cathedral and the Archbishop’s Palace are located side by side in the middle of the city centre. The cathedral built from 1070 on, is the most important Gothic monument in Norway and was an important Christian pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages. It is now the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world. During the Middle Ages and again after independence/1814, it was restored. This is the coronation church of the Norwegian kings. Trondheim’s ancient charm certainly adds personality to one of my favourite Norwegian towns to visit!
Trondheim boasts the world’s only bicycle lift, Trampe and the northernmost tramway line in the world: Gråkalbanen, the last remaining bit of the Trondheim Tramway is an 8.8 km/5.5 mi route. Mostly single-track outside the inner most parts of the city, except the stretch between Breidablikk and Nordre Hoem, one stop away from Anne & Roar’s station. Takes app 15mins to get into town from Hoemehøgda. Anne STENSETH sr lives app 20mins drive from Anne & Roar, an impressive 93yrs lady who after 30yrs still remembers me and the names of my children!
Discipline is remembering what you want – David Campbell