Nearly all the ride from Trondheim to Oslo is through countryside with farms and forests between small towns. As we noticed on the Nordland train, Norway is rocky, like the large jagged granite in the Pacific NW Rockies and also with polished slopes of hard steep rock faces. We passed many waterfalls, creeks, and river rapids. Gently arced mountains were snow capped along the way. As we passed through the mountains, a rain shower poured down almost horizontally mixed with snow.

Surprisingly, all along the route until we reached the outskirts of Oslo’s suburbia log houses and barns were common. The corners had interlocking  logs laid one on top of the next. Sometimes the second floor would have vertical siding.

Barns have stone ramps built up to about 10 feet from the barn where a wooden ramp continues up to the second floor door. Perhaps that is so hay wagons can bring the hay up to the loft. Cows, horses, sheep and other farm animals spend the winter inside the barn for warmth. Farmers let their stock out in May, depending on the weather.

It’s lambing and foaling season, and we enjoyed the babies all along the route. Pictures of lambs, barns, log houses, and waterfalls are hard to capture from a moving train. I’ve included some pictures of the scenes out the window.

As we stepped off the #18 bus at the folkemuseum, I saw three muscular Norwegian work horses, Dølahest. This breed hasn’t changed much over the centuries, so these horses look like the ones our Kittelsen ancestors would have known as they farmed and worked in forests. The manes on these stocky animals seemed to softly stand above their backs; perhaps it was just the wind.

With 75 acres, this open air museum has a lot of buildings to see. Although few of the historical buildings were open, it was fun to walk through the separate villages they have set up to show homes and buildings from different areas and eras. I photographed nearly every structure, it seemed, but almost all are on the Nikon SLR, and I won’t be able to post those pictures until I return to Seattle.

The Old Town village has wooden buildings moved from Trondheim. Most had turf roofs and were constructed of logs joined in the corners like log cabins, except the front facing the street would have planed boards and carved trim around windows and doors.

The buildings were clustered around an open square of cobblestones. A 20-ish young man was playing chase around the square with a half dozen 4- to 5-year-olds when we arrived. The kids squealed each time he nearly caught them and laughed as they escaped.

We looked at the houses in the square and peeked in the windows. The upper floor of one house had been set up as a dentists’ office with three rooms for dentists to see their patients and a waiting room. I’m not sure if dentists actually formed joint practices in the 19th century — I couldn’t read the signs.

Traveling in a place where I cannot speak the language often leaves me with questions unanswered. But the aspect I love is that it causes me to ask people, and I learn a bit about the topic of my enquiry and usually about a related topic of interest to the one I asked. But there is never enough time for all my questions.

old skis at the Trøndelag Folkemuseum

In the Old Town square was a large building with an apothecary on the ground floor and a ski museum above. Knute Kittelsen, my great grandfather was a skilled skier who had won awards in Norway, according to family legend. He skied 18 miles (or kilometers) to work each day before leaving for America in 1901.

The ski museum told of skiing races and competitions from the 19th century and possibly earlier. In the winter if you wanted to leave the house, you skied. But apparently they also skied for fun. They have wooden skis from the 18th century and later. Many skis had decorative carvings on top and encircling the ski poles. The poles were 1 to 1.5 inches thick with sturdy 6-inch metal ice picks at the bottoms.

As we left the building with the ski museum, my mom noticed that the same kids were being chased around the courtyard, but by a different 20-ish man. The first one must have needed
to rest. The kids’ energy seemed as fresh as ever.

As we left Old Town we headed for the Haltdalen stavkirke which we both wanted to see. The church was built in the 1170’s and was remodeled last in 1704. The guide book says that the west wing of the church was “greatly expanded” in that remodeling project. It must have been very small before because now the church seemed about 12 by 20 feet, as I remember seeing it yesterday. In the medieval churches people stood and recited portions of the service, so the lack of pews means more people would fit inside. Still, it was small and plain.

The staves (posts in the corners) had carved bulbs at their bases as though the posts were sitting in round pots. The wooden roof had carved ridges creating a scaly pattern. I was surprised to see a wooden roof in such a harsh climate. Apparently, wood works. The plank walls were plain, and the doors too. This was a small town church — simple and functional.

Of course in an 800-year-old structure you’d expect some pieces to have worn out and have been replaced. In the 1880’s when they moved the church from its original home in Holtålen in Sør-Trøndelag, they replaced the portal and doors with the ones from the stave church being demolished in Ålen.

Another old church, now just up the road from the Haltdalen stavkirke, is the Lo kirke built in 1615. The museum guide says it stood at Lo in Åsen, Levanger in the county of Nord-Trøndelag. Is Lo the town name? If so, then what is Åsen, Levanger? I’ll have to find those answers another time.

The church has a long history including a period beginning in 1858 during which it became a storage house for drying fishing nets. In the centuries it served as a church, services were held 2-3 times a year for the local farming community and fishermen stopping in the fjord.

In 1183-84 King Sverre built his castle on a small rocky hilltop above what would later become the suburbs of Trondheim. Sverresborg, Norway’s first stone castle, gave King Sverre, the King of the Birkenbeiner, a stronghold during his wars to rule the country.

We walked up to the castle ruins where only some stone walls seem to remain. Apparently, the gatehouse and surrounding walls were stone but the plateau inside had wooden houses with sod roofs. They recently dug out the castle well, where they found a skeleton — or most of one, the head is missing — probably from one of the two times the castle was broached.

While the Germans occupied Norway from 1940 – 1945, they used the castle rock for fortifications.

The view from the hilltop was magnificent; the wind, blustery and icy cold.

~ Nancy Samuels

I was curious about how dark night would be in this arctic city. Fortunately, (?) I’ve had a little trouble sleeping at night so I took a picture of the sky at midnight and again at 2:00. The midnight sky was twilight, and by two it was darker, but not really dark. At 3:13 the sky suddenly brightened and I’m guessing the sun peeked above the horizon.