24-25 July 2019
This is a town to return to!
From my hotel room, the bells of the Nidaros cathedral gave me a glorious morning!
A lovely day of strolling around, started with crossing the old town bridge.
Walking through Bakklandet on pedestrian streets among the wooden houses, looking in small shops and coffeehouses, I especially enjoyed the name of "Den gamle kramshop" ("The old hug-cottage" in Swedish. However it seemed to have nothing to do with hugs in Norwegian, rather with krimskrams, i.e. knick-knacks ..).
Autumn 2015, an old church was found in a digging. It is probably what once was Saint Olav's Clemens church. Now there is a museum and a video telling about the life of Saint Olav which was very interesting! Inside the museum there was also the remains of a house that had been demolished when the church was built. More info:
https://www.niku.no/en/prosjekter/klemenskirken/
Lunch at Trondheim's Microbrewery.
For dessert, I found a cafe just beside Trondheim's Litteraturhouse (exactly in my taste as I am very fond of Berlin's Café im Litteraturhaus. This seemed to me a place in quite the same spirit).
Walking back through a Trondheim in the golden sunlight of evening and lingering for a while around the Nidaros Cathedral, admiring the impressive architecture.
The following day, I went to the museum of the cathedral (Inside, photographing was prohibited) and to the adjacent Archbishop's Palace with different expositions. It was all very interesting, let alone the archbishops coin workshop from 15:th century that was found in the digging in the 1980's. More info at:
https://www.nidarosdomen.no/en/
23 July 2019
Speedy train, climbing, descending. Swaying.
The distant blue mountains, the green forests, the lakes and rivers along this beautiful way, are like gifts to my eyes and soul. It is just to take it all in and repose in the peace of the view...
Looking just outside the window is however less peaceful... The precipices are sometimes very steep. What if...?
Making a short stop in
and then getting down a dark tunnel, wouldn't you start to wander...what the...?
Strindfjorden a few minutes before arriving in Trondheim.
For my return trip two days later, the train was cancelled between Hell and Storlien and replaced by a bus from Stjørdal due to the hot weather. During that bus trip, I was in the good company of a young woman who told me about her studies and her family and friends. It's one of the wonders of travelling, meeting new people, learn about their lives. And then, when having different directions to take, you say good bye. And let them go; out of your life as quickly as they just entered. Letting go... It is sometimes not that difficult. Somehow they have made an impact on your life. Mysteriously, they might remain, like a footprint in your soul. Yet, when you haven't attached, there is a kind of freedom in the meeting and the letting go. That too, is, as the nature, a kind of peace.
23 July 2019
Finding I could take a quick look at Åre between two trains, me and my backpack took a walk around this ski and outdoor resort. I also had a delicious icecream and cappuccino at Åre Bageri before continuing my trip.
Having to change trains in Storlien, I couldn't help thinking of an old funny story, playing with words, that I learned as a child:
- Vart var du hela förra
- I jämtland
- Det förvånar mig
Even if I know a joke is never the same in another language, I can't help myself... Living in France years ago, I once had a French dictionnary of jokes as a birthday present (so I could start telling jokes that made sense in French). Here goes the translation of the funny story above:
- Where were you the whole last year ("År" in Swedish)
- In Jämtland
- That surprises me greatly ("Storligen" in Swedish)
20-21 July 2019
I will come back to this nice town, so close to Stockholm! This warm summer saturday of July, Uppsala seemed to whisper "Stay...!" to me. And the short walk from the station, a cappuccino in the shadow was more than enough to convince me. Before leaving the café, my hotel room was booked.
I very much like to just stroll around in a town, looking at the façades of the houses, being it houses or cathedrals. It's a part of the spirit of the town, that I breathe.
Having seen the town garden years ago, not having the time to visit it, I could finally do it today! According to the information board in the park, the reason for its name "garden" instead of "park", is probably due to the fact that there used to be a market garden here in the end of the 19:th century.
After a walk in the very hot weather, I arrived to the castle and had a light lunch. Just about to leave the café, I found a poster informing of a guided tour starting.... only one minute later!
And how lucky I was, having the possibility to follow this very much inspiring and interesting guided tour by http://skroomt.se/ making the historic persons Eric XIV and his sister Cecilia come alive.
Dining room for royalties... and for guards
A quick visit in the cathedral before leaving Uppsala.
18 July 2019
15 lots in this bowl of glass. 15 possible destinations. The chosen lot will tell me, by a look in the departure screen at the central station, what my first destination will be. North? West? or South? I am so thrilled by the feeling of adventure. Where will I go? Where will I be?
20 July 2019, 10:30
Is the identity of an interrailer the one with a backpack only? Will I maybe give up the nostalgic dream of leaving home with my backpack, (bought 1990 for that year's coming interrail trip) for pulling my suitcase? I remember talking with an interrailer in the late 80's that made his trip with two suitcases. When talking to him, he had left one of them, was it in Switzerland?, and was going back one day to fetch it...
20 July 2019, 14:20
Well... That might be a bit stressful as there may be just a few minutes to the first departing train... Or... As I saw yesterday while having a look on bookable trains, there were a lot of rows of "Fully booked". Maybe I will just get on the first train with a free place...
20 July 2019, 16:06
Yey! I did catch the very first train (departing 3 minutes after I arrived at the station and took this photo). And it also was the first train with a free place :-)
However, I am not going very far today... Unless I decide to take a night train...
First coffee to get me a brain competent enough to make a decision
