Did you hear about the Norwegian who...

With Danelle coming all the way from South Africa to visit here in Scandinavia again, it was time to explore other parts of the country. One such idea was to visit Norway's 3rd biggest city, Trondheim, which is roughly 30 miles from here (Those not from Sweden, 30 Swedish miles is roughly 300 kms)

Car rented, accommodation sorted, food made and ideas in mind, we left on a sunday for a 24 hour jaunt into the Norwegian country.

True to Swedish standards, we rented a station wagon car (yes yes, old mans car but it was cool). Never before have I been impressed with a Kia, but this diesel engined rental was filled with enough driving gadgets to make sure I didnt get bored with the 80km/h speed limit the whole way around Norway.

Kia rental, ja well no fine, least its a station wagon...

Once more, taking after Swedish traditions learned from family here and a recent expedition from the 232's; the drive there and back deemed necessary to stop at a scenic spots to have a fika, (thermo's coffee, sarmies, kaviar etc etc). Seemed a waterfall was a good place to stop, blew Danelle's mind that a place with so much water can freeze over, solidly in winter time. It puts it into perspective how bl***ie cold it gets here.

Once in Norway, the scenery changes and the road becomes narrower, winds around the country side and slows down to a meagre 80km/h. Makes for a good speed to see the beautiful country side.

Nearing Trondheim, make sure you stop in a place called: "Hell". Yip, a village called Hell. At this point, feel free to make all the jokes you can about Hell freezing over, been to Hell an back blah blah blah. No idea how they get that name, but I guess its all part of the oddness of Norway.

Trondheim itself is a scenic city, built on a fjörd, shaped by nature but dominated by man, it makes for interesting sight seeing, old and new architecture, harbours and commerce. It seems to have developed on a society of juxtaposition. Worth going to see just to say you have seen it. Go see Nideros Catherdral (the most northerly Cathedral in Europe and have to pay to go inside). The fort offers the best views of the city and dont park anywhere you cant afford.

This being said, its the most expensive place in  the world to go to, money oozes out this place. Makes sense now why the Norwegians come to spend money in Sweden, the Swedes go to Germany, The Germans go to the Czech and heaven help anyone from Czech going to Norway...

Despite dying from the cost, it made for an interesting drive and an interesting place to really get a feel for the oddness of Norway.

Still was great seeing a proper ocean again...