Day trip to Oppdal

This weekend we decided to explore another city, so we drove about two hours south to a town called Oppdal.  It was really fun to drive through the country and get a feel for our surroundings.

The countryside was so beautiful and green.  It reminds me a little of Washington.  I loved seeing all the   red, mustard and blue houses and barns on these rolling green hills.

I especially love seeing the unique church buildings, they're beautiful.

We had a picnic lunch at a lake and then hiked up a muddy trail to some small waterfalls.

There was beautiful scenery and lots of cool cabins that look like they were built with lincoln logs.

We ended our hike just as a big thunder storm rolled in and it started pouring rain.

I loved this gas station we gassed up at.  They had a turf roof on the store and even over the pumps.

Around town

The city of Trondheim is beautiful and we are here at such a great time of year too.  If we just had some buddies to hang out with, I could stay here all summer.  Here's pics of some of our favorite things.

The river that runs through the city and is just a block away from our apartment.

The library, where we've checked out mostly english books, but some Norwegian too.

The cathedral, the building and grounds are so beautiful.  We spend a lot of time in the gardens and climbing trees around the church.  I also love it because the huge spire can be seen all over town and helps me find my way!

This is the park closest to us and we have spent some time here almost everyday.

They have some cool and unique play structures here

This is the university in the distance where Pete has spent a lot of time for his work.  It's also a really neat building and can be seen from all over.

Natalie taught the girls how to make flower chains while she was here-so sweet!  They are still making them after she left.

Natalie Here!

One of the biggest highlights of this trip was having my friend Natalie come to visit.  Her husband JJ is working with Pete now and they came together, with no kids, for a romantic get-away.  But during the day while our husbands were working, she was mine to hangout and explore with!

 It was so fun to have a friend here, especially one that my kids love too.  She was so great to come along with us, even if it was just around town.  

 We spent one day at the beach were Syd took this great picture of us together.  I was sad when her five days were up!

Korsvika Beach

We met a great family at church that had us over for dinner and the girls loved their kids.  The mom, Eli invited us to a day at the beach and we were excited to explore a really pretty spot.  

Here's my girls with Eliahannah-(or at least that's how it's pronounced)  This was our one real play date while we were here.

This beach was still rocky, but had big rocks the kids could climb on too.  It was a beautiful place.

Munkholmen Island

In the middle of the Fjord off Trondhiem is an island whose history reminds me of Alcatraz in San Francisco.  In the Viking age they executed people there and then put the severed heads on stakes.  People coming into the Fjord were supposed to spit on the severed heads as tribute to the king of Norway! Then Munkholmen became a monastery, prison, fort and now tourist attraction.

We took a boat out one afternoon and discovered a beach there with real sand!

 Syd and GG with Trondheim in the distance

Sverresborg Folkmuseum

Saturday we spent the afternoon at the folk museum and had a blast learning about the history and culture of Norway.  We saw lots of the traditional homes with sod roofs.  

I loved hearing about the native Sami people of Norway who made their living herding tame reindeer and also invented skiing.  Check out these dugout type "turf huts" they lived in.

We walked the ruins of Norway's first stone castle built in 1182

Pretty view out to the fjord

 Cool historic homes

 We all had to try out the stilts.

 I love the looks of concentration-this was a lot harder than it looks!

 Pete wanted to see the history of skiing exhibit.  Lots of cool carved wooden skis.  His grandfather served his mission in Norway and the legend is, he sometimes skied just to get around.

 It was a cold day and we stopped in the museum cafe to get hot cocoa and a croissant.  Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world and the food is especially pricey.  This little treat cost more than it did for all of us to get into the museum!

Real life

The second week the weather got colder and wetter, more typical Norweigian weather.  Now Pete was at the office all day and I was trying to help the girls adjust to life without preschool or playdates.  They were starting to get on each others nerves. We found two cool parks nearby and went there everyday. There's a market just around the corner and grocery shopping is part of our daily routine.  The first couple times I went into the grocery store I was so overwhelmed.  The markets, like everything in Europe, are tiny and without carts to stash the kids in, everyone was tripping over my children in the narrow isles, making it hard for me to focus on deciphering what anything was.  I didn't know the words for sorry or excuse me, I felt so rude bumbling through the store with my rowdy kids.  That first time to the grocery store on our own was a rough day for me.  I'm embarrassed to say that the next day when they forecast another full day of cold and rain, I drove the girls to the most familiar place I could think of, IKEA, and spent the better part of the day there.  The kids played on everything, we bought a few things, ate lunch there, listened to the American music playing etc.  How ethnocentric is that?!  After the IKEA day, I was able to laugh at myself for being so silly and we all had more fun.

exploring the city in the rain-glad we brought our rain jackets!

 Nutella moustache

 GG and a Norweigian troll (they are super into trolls here)

playing at the park

climbing on city landmarks

We did have an fun night that week when the Trondheim professional futbol club had a game and we got tickets. We've never been to a pro soccer game before and it was really fun to watch.  The bleacher section at this game was pretty impressive.  They not only paint their faces like devoted fans in the US, they had a guy on a bullhorn leading cheers and chants and someone on a huge drum to punctuate their cheering.  They were almost as entertaining as the players.

The girls eating traditional Norwegian sausages, called polse, at the game.