Norway 2016 (1/9). Trondheim: preliminary remarks

I had wanted to go to Trondheim for a long, long time. When I visited the city, all I could think of was: it was high time I’d done this.

 

I’d been yearning for Trondheim since I’d taken my very first Norwegian train back in 2011. My Mum and I were just boarding the earliest Oslo-Dombås train when I noticed that its final destination was Trondheim. I’d never heard this name before. In fact, I had only spent my first 36 hours in Oslo, and that’s what my knowledge of Norway amounted to back then.

Lillehammer train station

Somehow, though, the word ‘Trondheim’ stuck with me as I reached my seat, and throughout the (short) train journey to Dombas I kept glancing upwards at the overhead luggage compartment, where lay the massive backpacks of to two young men travelling to Trondheim. (Ok yes, I happened to overhear their conversation: they were speaking Norwegian, so I couldn’t understand a word, but I did hear the word ‘Trondheim’ very clearly.)

Norwegian forest

Dangling from one backpack was a tiny wooden cup. I took a photo of it, since I found it very nice. ‘What’s that for, though?’, I couldn’t help wondering. Only later did I learn that it was a ‘Kuksa’, the traditional Sami wooden cup. Only later did I learn that it’s a fairly common piece of equipment when one goes camping or hiking in the mountains.

Train to Trondheim

I still don’t own my own Kuksa, but five years on from that train journey, I have been to Trondheim, and can quite positively say: it was high time I’d gone.

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