After leaving the library yesterday, I went to see the Hospitalskivken. It is the first octagonal church in Norway and Sweden. It was built in 1705. It is located next to the Trondheim Hospital (founded in 1277) which has been converted into a home for elderly people.
Next, I proceeded to the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet (a museum). I saw exhibitions on the natural history (animals, insects, birds, etc). What struck me was how huge their deers can be. They look more like huge moose to me but then again, I haven't seen a real moose either. In any case, I haven't got any idea that they can be so gigantic. I also saw exhibits on the natural environment, rock and minerals and the archaeologoical exhibiton with materials from the Stone, Bronze, Iron and Viking ages. There was also a tempoary exhibition about Kryzstan. All these exhibits were in the same building.
Then I proceeded across the street to see the Mediecal exhibition. These were finds from the excavations in Central Trondheim. It also boasts a realistic reconstruction of the streets and homes of that time. I also watched an audiovisual presentation that provide a dramatised impression of life in the viking ages to around 1700. It was in this museum that I freaked myself out. There was anexhibiit where a 'lady' was covered with a black hood and she was kneeling in front of an altar. I could only see the back view. What freaked me out was the eerie music they had playing in the background with people talking,etc (trying to imitate those times). What made it worse was, I was the only one in the museum at that time. I didn't see 'her' at first, but as I was walking past , from the corner of my eyes, I saw 'her' and I got so freaked. She looked so real but since it was also dark, I couldn't see clearly either. I decided to get out of there.
After my scare, I went back to the hotel to calm my nerves. Since the weather was so good, I decided to go to Munkholmen (Monks' Island) instead. I caught the 1pm ferry and off I went. It was just a short ferry ride - 10 minutes.
Monks' Island
It was Trondheim's execution grounds in ancient times. Then in the 11th century, Benedictine monks built a monastry on the island. It was one of the first 2 monastries in Scandinavia. The monks lived there adn brewed beer for 500 years. It was burnt down to the ground during a thunderstorm after being struck by lightning. Apparantly, 2 other places got struck too on the same night. One was the Nidaros Cathedral and another a church. So strange..... Anyway, after the fire, they tried to rebulid the church but reformatory happened and Norway became a protestant country and the catholic monks had to flee. In 1658, it was converted into a prison and a fort by the Danish. There was a basement where the worst kinds of prisoners were kept. This basement was initially built as a gunpowder storage room but since it was dug too deep, water seeped in so it would be unless for that. The ground floor is where criminals of petty cromes were kept. The rich and powerful prisoners were kept in relatively big private cells with sea view! The most famous inmate was the Danich Count Peder Griffenfeld. He spent 18 years there with his own servant to serve him. He was allowed to walk all the island too. He was convicted because he wasthought to be a spy for Sweden. But no one really knew. Since the basement was bad for the gunpowder storage, they built a dome-shaped room for that purpose. The dome shape was thought to be better beacause it would cause less damage to the rest of the building if it exploded as it would do so upwards. This proved to be true. The floor in this room was also held together by wooden nails because soldiers of that time wore boots with iron in their soles and if that rubbed against the iron nails on the floor, there might be sparks that would cause the gunpowder to be ignited. This island used to have 6 cannons . They were since long gone. I can only see the foundations that suggested their positions on the island. Nowadays, this island is used for recreational purposes. People come here to sunbathe and swim in the sea. The water is quite clear and clean. Not a surprise.
After exploring the island and getting suntanned (not like I had a choice), I headed back to mainland around 3.30 with a headache. The sun was strong yesterday. Wearing a straw hat and sunglasses didn't seem to help much. I decided that it was lame to go back to to the hotel. Instead I went to walk around town.
Around 5pm. I was tired and decided to head back to the hotel. Bumped into Wei and his friends. They were on their way back to their apartments. They were trying to catch the transfer bus. I hung around with them till their bus came. Wei sms me later that night that he had instant noodles and cereals for dinner. Better than me.....all I had was potato chips (without dips coz I couldn't find any) and an ice-cream. By the way, did I mention that Sex In the City is also showing here. Thank goodness it is the season that I haven't watch. Hhaahahhhahah. My entertainment for the nights!
Posted by Tien-Ling at July 25, 2003 08:53 AM | TrackBack