Saturday :
Since the last time I updated the blog (Saturday morning), I borrowed 2 books on the history of Trondheim and the Nidaros Cathedral. After that, I walked across the gamle bybro to get my dose of cafe latte. It was here when I decided to take a look at the Lonely Planet to see if there is any place somewhere nearby that will be interesting. I stumbled upon Røros.
Røros
It is about 2.5 hours train ride away from here and it has been added by Unesco to its World Heritage List. I decided to consult Mike who, of course, insisted that I go ahead. So my plans were to find out about the train schedule and available lodgings. I planned to leave Wednesday and come back Friday. So later that day, I got the train schedule from the tourist office. I called the 2 places that I might want to stay on Sunday. Decided to book the more expensive one coz it is located in a historical building which is part of the World Heritage site. Tried to bargain for a better rate but unsuccessful this time coz there are only a few hotels there and it is their peak season now. Then the next day, Monday, I went to buy the train t ickets to this place. Looks like everything is all set. The hotel that I am staying at will also allow me to keep my luggage in the room I am staying and they won't charge me for the days that I am gone.
Anyway, after the Saturday morning latte, I began my walk up the steep hill to the Kristiansten Festning (fort). It has a nice view of Trondheim from up there. It was also very windy that day. I sat up there to chill for a while. I saw quite a few Asian tourists that day. Hadn't seen that many after a week here.
Actually Trondheim is very different from last week. It has become busier with tourists coming from all over and most , I suspect, are here to attend the festival.
That evening, I went for the Shetland Folkdance performance. It was intersting. The troupe consisted of teenagers, adults and the elderlys. They seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the audience did. The group has 3 fiddlers, 1 guitarist and 12 dancers. The dances were from the 17th century to the 1960s. Their costumes were simple but colorful. But, where is Shetland? That is something that I have to find out.
That night after changing into my pyjamas , the fire alarm went off. It was so loud! I was wondering if I should go down. Decided to quickly get changed and headed downstairs. Turned out to be a false alarm. Apparantly, someone smoked too much in his room and that set off the alarm. I was real glad that there wasn't a real fire coz all I brought down with me were my handphone and wallet.
Sunday :
Went to the church after breakfast. The bells were chiming away and that drew me . I was glad to be there. There were many people going for the 10am service and I guessed that since that Sunday was the first Sunday since the festival started, there was a procession of priests all donned in their finest. They seemed to come from all over the place. They were all dressed differently. I managed to take a few pictures of that. I was actually thinking of attending the service but it was going to be in norwegian so I decided to give it a go. Moreover, I had no idea how long it would last.
Since it is Sunday, everything esle is pretty much closed. All shops don't open on Sundays and the cafes and restaurants will only do so at around noon. So I headed back to the hotel.
Left the hotel again at 1pm. Went over to the Arch Bishop's Palace and saw some musicians playing some strange looking instruments all dressed up in their medieval outfits.
After that, went to the usual cafe and got my latte. This time I also had the pasta salad and bought a bag of coffee bean chocolates. Everything cost me like 30 sing dollars! Was thinking of going over to Wei's place to check out more about Røros (which I did later from the public phone) but by the time he came back from the hike, it was already 4pm and the sky was threatening to rain. And it did.
Since there was nothing much going on, I decided to attend a concert. I went for the trumpet and percussion concert. The music was a wee bit too contemporary for my liking. There were altogether 6 pieces of music and all modern and weird. I was sitting right in front too. My ear drums were still hurting after I the 1.5hr concert. I am not going for another concert with modern music again.
Monday:
It was a rather lame day. The weather was gloomy and it made me moody too. I was awoken early this morning at 7-plus by some idiot asking something about Toshiba. I hung up the phone on him. But I couldn't get to sleep then.
After breakfast, I went to buy the train tickets. Then I sought refuge at a shopping centre which wasn't a very good idea. And of course I went shopping.Told myself that I am banned from shopping for the rest of the year.
After dropping off the merchandises at the hotel, I headed over to Wei's school to meet him. Then I followed him and his friends to do their grocery shopping. It was real funny to see them do grocery shopping. I didn't help them at all and they decided for themselves what to get, etc. Hahahaahhaah!
I hung out with him for a while and headed back to town in the evening. I had to attend a pipe organ concert in the catherdral. The concert was excellent. The organist played on the Wagner organ for most of the concert. It was great!
I sat beside a Norwegian man who told me that the Nidaros Cathedral is a very special one to them. It is made of entirely stone.
Posted by Tien-Ling at July 29, 2003 09:02 AM | TrackBack