Roros and Trondheim

July 3-4  Roros and Trondheim

Up at 6:00 for early bags out and a train to Hamar, Roros and then Trondheim.  Early Sunday morning the streets are totally quiet in Oslo.  No one out at all.

We rode a lovely train to the small town of Hamar where we needed to change for Roros, and ate our box lunch in the little square opposite the rail station:

From Hamar we boarded the Roros Railway and traveled north along the Glomma River Valley which was quite beautiful.  We passed farmhouses with traditional grass roofs:

  

In the mid-afternoon we arrived at the World Heritage town of Roros, one of the oldest wooden towns in Europe, with many buildings dating to the 17^th century.  The town was built to support the nearby copper mines, and the main street became narrower in the distance to give a greater sense of length when viewed from the home of the mine manager who occasionally needed to impress people.  I thought artificial perspective was limited to visual arts, but not used in urban architecture:

The logo of the mine is crossed hammers with a female symbol which, apparently, also represents copper for some reason.  It is everywhere in town, including on the church spire:

  

We had a guided walking tour of the town and we were able to see the interior courtyards which contained doors leading to the animal quarters below with a hayloft above, right in the town and adjacent to the homes:

In the barn our guide found a kicksled, a vehicle still used today in this hilly town, which she demonstrated; one stands on the runners and kicks it down hills.  The seat in front of the driver is for anyone suicidal enough to be willing to sit on it.  The town is really quite hilly and she told us there are a number of accidents each winter as people can’t stop and run into houses or other stationary objects.

 On the edge of the town, the slag heap from the adjacent refinery impinges on the last home on this street:

The beautiful 1780 church dominates the town and has three levels of seating, assigned according to your status in the community:

 We had dinner in Roros and then got back on the train for the trip to Trondheim, arriving at 10 PM, and to our hotel at about 10:30.  We were tired.  But much to do, so after an early breakfast we had a great lecture from David Silverberg on the geologic history and modern-day geography of Norway including the formation of the fjords.  He is an outstanding teacher and is clearly energized by teaching and answering questions.  He is a pleasure to have as our expert!

After his talk we began touring Trondheim, the third largest city in Norway (180,000) and a university town which was at one time the capitol of the country.  Trondheim is also the city from which Leif Erikson set sail when he explored the northwestern Atlantic, including the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador in about 1000, or about 500 years before Columbus.  Currently there are 30,000 students here, many of whom are international, studying at all levels mostly in English!  The university is free for Norwegians and for foreigners!

The city is compact and very walkable.  We began at the cathedral.  Yes, the medieval cathedral.  It turns out that Trondheim was founded as a religious center which, of course, must have a cathedral.  Begun in the year 1070 when the city population was 3000, it took 250 years to complete.  It is built on the grave of Olaf which resulted in his being sainted.  Or the other way around?  It is quite beautiful:

  

 The façade has wonderful carvings, statues of saints, kings, virtues, prophets, and other important people, including King Olaf with his ax and scepter standing on a monster turtle with a King Olaf head (I don’t get it):

And here’s Sigurd with his three decapitated nephews’ heads (a story I need to research):

Inside there are examples of syncretism with old Norse gods and symbols being cleverly worked into the Catholic motifs.  Unfortunately, there are no photos allowed inside.  Anyway, in 1537 the Cathedral was transformed at the Reformation and is now Lutheran.

  

Following the visit to the Cathedral we went to the Ringve Music Museum, a somewhat disappointing small and very limited depiction of a narrow era (1740-1815) in Norwegian music and music instrumentation.  We did, however, after seeing the displays, have a 30” recital of some of Grieg’s piano music by a music student at the University here.  She was very good.  Lunch was at a local, small, and very lovely local restaurant where we ate reindeer stew and toasted the USA’s birthday, and the rest of the afternoon we wandered the city.  A river snakes through the city, and the view from one of the bridges is very pretty:

  

Our final stop was at the synagogue and Jewish museum:

 A lovely young woman spent about 45 minutes taking us through the synagogue and the small museum and relating the story of the Trondheim Jewish community and Norway’s Jewish community before and after WW II.  As might be expected, the largest population of Jews in Norway is in Oslo, but the total number in the country is small (under 2000) and in Trondheim only 165 people keep the community going.  It is an unhappy story, but the population may be growing slightly and the Sunday school is active.

Up early again tomorrow as we will travel the Rauma Railway and the Troll’s Footpath.