The last leg of the Norway trip

Our last leg of this trip involves flights from Kirkenes to Tromso (1 night) to Bodo (1 night) to Trondheim (3 nights) to Alesund (2 nights) and then to London Heathrow to visit our former exchange student and her family.  Most of our internal flights were on a regional airline, Wideroe affiliated with SAS.  The flights were good and I loved looking down on the fjords, clouds and mountains.

In every city it seemed that there were classic wooden boats in the harbor.  It became a game to seek them out and take photos.

We come from Skagit county, known for their tulip festival in April.  We were impressed to see tulips in bloom throughout Norway as we moved north.  From mid-May in Oslo to late-June in Tromso.  You will notice the jackets changed as summer progressed.

The city of Tromso lies 217 miles north of the arctic circle.  The city center is on an island connected via bridges.  The population is just over 72,000.  There is a large student population.  We came to enjoy the "midnight" concert in the Arctic Cathedral.  It actually started at 11:30 pm, but with the sun up 24 hrs a day it didn't really matter.  On our return to our hotel we noticed a large white boat.  It turns out the King of Norway had arrived while we were at the cathedral.  The flag flying indicates he is on board.  He was touring the country before celebrating the 25 anniversary of becoming king.  The benediction would take place in Trondheim just after we left.
 

Bodo, just north of the arctic circle, is a town of ~50,000.  Like Tromso, Bodo was nearly completely destroyed by the Germans in WWII.  We learned a lot about the history in the Nordland Museum in a 1903 building.  One of the few to survive WWII.

Aerial view of Bodo reconstructed after WWII

Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway with nearly 170,000 people.  We spent a good part of one day visiting the Nidaros Cathedral and the Archbishop's palace and museums.  It is a lovely city with a big university population, great walking/biking paths and lots of museums.  Trondheim was occupied by the Germans in WWII, but not destroyed.  However, like many cities they experienced devastating fires in the past.  Even the Nidaros Cathedral was damaged  by fire in 1327 and again in 1531.  King Olav Haroldsson (born in 995) became king in 1015.  In 1030 he returned from exile to regain the throne, but was killed in the battle of Stikelstad.  His body was returned to Trondheim and there was talk of miracles and cures.  Shortly thereafter he was made Saint Olav and the cathedral was built over his supposed burial site.

Cathedral footprint 1031 (u.l.); 1500 (u.r.); 1531 (l. l.) after fire; today (l.r.)

Since my great aunt Alma and my friend Susan graduated from St. Olaf College in Minnesota, we sought the grave of B.J. Muus a founder of St Olaf College

Joanne at the grave of Bernt Julius Muus (1832-1900) founder of St Olaf College in Northfield, MN

Our second day in Trondheim we rented "city bikes" and toured the paths along the river.

Alesund, is a seaport town with a population of ~ 45,000.  There are lots of islands and mountains nearby.  It is somewhat reminiscent of Anacortes.  While there we visited with one of our former Russian student's cousin.  She married a Norwegian and lives nearby to Alesund.  She came in by ferry with her 2 mo. old son to show us around.  We even saw our Hertigruten boat, the Lofoten come into Alesund.

Had we done a return trip on the Hertigruten down the coast, we would have seen Alesund, but we never would have had a chance to rent a car and drive the scenic road known as Trollstigen.  The road snakes up the mountain and has the most spectacular scenery - mountains, waterfalls, farms and rivers.

The peaks, rivers, road and 7 sisters waterfall

We didn't see the King of Norway live in Trondheim, but we did see the event as it was televised.  A fitting end to our Norway adventure.

The Norwegian Royal family in Nidaros Cathedral

From Norway we fly to Heathrow, London to visit another former Russian student and her family.  We arrive on the day that the England learns the voters have chosen to leave the EU.  This could be a serious mistake by angry voters.  I hope the US voters don't make a similar mistake.

We had great fun getting to know the kids again (our last visit was 3 years ago).  They climbed trees, rode bikes and we all had a great time in a power boat on the Thames River near Windsor Castle and Ascot racecourse. 

It has been a great trip, but it is time to head home.  Thanks for joining us!