Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 12 - Trondheim 2

Three days ago I was on Facebook and on the JourneyWoman group someone had posted about going to Norway and asked for advice about the Hurtigruten cruise. I was on it right then!! Anyway, one lady, Brenda (name changed for privacy) replied that she was in Trondheim and could help. I wrote to her that I would be there and would love to get her advice on what to see. She said she could meet. I did not expect that. So we messaged and within two days decided to meet today, Friday, in Trondheim. So....today is the day! I have nothing planned today as I have seen the major places, so now I will see what Brenda has planned and go from there.

But first, breakfast - it was great! Roasted vegetables and potatoes (my first breakfast potatoes in 11 days!!), pancakes, fried eggs...the spread at Thon is just amazing. I would need to stay here 3 days to try all the things they had here. I ate my fill today. Did not do much till 12 pm since Brenda is coming then.

Went downstairs to wait for her in the lobby. She was prompt, recognized me right away. I had not bothered to check anything about her (I should have!) but sometimes surprises are good, and she definitely was a surprise. Let me just start by saying that my day did not go at all as I was thinking...it was sooo much better. 

We talked a bit and then ventured out towards the cathedral. We went inside a church near the square, I had seen it yesterday but did not go in myself. This church was open for charity services, it provided meals and a place for the homeless and poor. Really what I think any religious place should do with pubic money. We sat there for a while. The next stop was the summer palace and then we went for a coffee to the Pilgrims place, which is a rest stop for pilgrims on their walk. It is the pilgrimage walk of St. Olav. The place was very nice, comfortable and had a cafe that sold food and coffee. We both had cake can coffee and talked for about one hour. She is so easy to get along with. She is also a fellow traveler, maybe that helps.

The royal palace

The pilgrimage place

She asked me here what kind of food I eat, and I mentioned to her that I was a vegetarian. She made a call to her husband to make sure they had vegetarian soup for the evening. I did not realize I was going to go to her house for dinner! OMG...I have not met anyone like her before. 

She told me a lot of things about Trondheim and the places we were at that I would never known myself. It really does matter to know someone in that place. 

From there we went to get on the bus (#22) to go to the Tyholt tower, which is actually a radio tower. She paid for my bus ticket, I could not help it because she had the app for it. After 20 mins of waiting the bus came. The funny thing is we were on the wrong direction bus, I think she had not realize that. But for me it was interesting, because I got to see quite a lot of the city. We finally looped back to where we had begun and went in the direction of the tower. On reaching there, I did not know we were going to go up, but we did. There is a revolving restaurant up there! I did not see any of this in any tour guide. Up the tower gave us great views of the city. I would have never seen this place if it wasn't for Brenda. We went round the restaurant to see all views and she called her husband to pick us up, which he did quite quickly.

We drove to her apartment. She did not let me do anything while she warmed the soup, set the table etc. Chris, her husband was as nice as her. Amazing couple. I am blessed to meet such wonderful people. We all talked as if we were old friends. Soup was great. They served Norwegian flat bread, which was like our papad, and finally ice cream. All just perfect. We sat for some more time and soon I requested to take their leave, and they dropped me to my hotel. 

I am writing my day, but I my feelings of gratitude and love and friendship may not be easy to write. It has been such a memorable day for me. Just yesterday I was thinking what the heck I am going to do all day Friday, and God said, you just wait! I am going to make it the best day in Norway for you. I enjoyed the day and the company and can easily say it was a perfect day.

I finished it off by going to the Turkey eatery to pack a falafel for tomorrow's train journey. And they were very nice there and packed the sauce and falafel separate so things don't get soggy. Just nice!

What a great day.