Post by Grubb.
After a big-dipping cradle ride in the middle of the night that Ella slept through (took a preventative seasick pill ahead of time), and I slept through with interruptions (for me the pill activated my bladder), we docked at Trondheim around ten o’clock. Trondheim is Norway’s third largest city. Historically it is known for the Nidaros Cathedral where the bones of St. Olav were interred. (Now where dem ol’ bones are scattered is anybody’s guess.)
Trondheim is also where Liv Ullman spent her girlhood. Right off the ship I wanted to see the neighborhood (maybe the house!) where the star of “Persona” started creating her persona. But the city promoters aren’t as enamored with Liv as I am.
They prefer Olav. He spilled lots of blood, forcefully converted a lot of Christians, and performed kingly acts, like forming alliances and allotting the land he stole. He’s subsequently been seen as a nation-builder (he is the axe in the Norwegian coat of arms)and religious miracle worker. Hence the cathedral that was built over his grave and took 300 years to complete.
So right off the ship we follow other passengers who are booking it to the cathedral because we only have a couple of hours to take in its gothic magnificence and the walk to get there takes thirty minutes. And, yes, the cathedral is large and impressive enough to make one consider conversion.
I’m always struck by how the ogival arches receding heavenward minimize earthly concerns.
In contrast to the vaulted stone, a wooden altar piece carved by South Samí artist, Folke Fjällström, stole the show in Ella’s opinion.
The cathedral is also the reason for the Scandinavian equivalent to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a network of Pilgrim hiking routes from Oslo to Trondheim.
Leaving the cathedral, we got a dose of coastal Norwegian rain as we made our way to the old part of Trondheim over the Gamble Bybro, a bridge that was built in the late seventeenth century over the Nidelva River. Nice walking bridge.
By the time we were in the old city, we were separated from the rest of our fellow passengers. The rain, the empty streets, the colorful quiet houses, made our brief camino venture into Trondheim very pleasant.
I gather you didn’t get to (or find) Liv Ullman’s house.
Once Liv became a star she didn’t hang around Trondheim so it seems Trondheim banished her from their memory. In her biography she doesn’t mention street addresses. I like to image her in a yellow wooden house facing the river.