Morning
The curtains in the hotel room are impossible to close properly, so I was woken by the bright sun around 6AM. Ironically, I think it was never as sunny during the day, as it was at 6AM.
The day is cold. The weather forecast says +12C, which may feel like +14C. Definitely warm fleece and autumn coat weather. It’s the first of July.
Firstly, we went on a 45-minute guided tour of the royal residence. It was a good, educational tour. This was also the first time I learned that Noway was under Danish or Swedish rule for centuries.
There are different gulls in town, which I have never seen before. They are slightly smaller than our “big gulls” and have very dark eyes. Their spindly legs are more muted and greenish in colour. They are somewhat cuter-looking but scream a lot.
Nidaros cathedral
We got there right on time, to join a 30 minutes tour in english. Cathedral is very beautiful inside. Maybe because it’s quite new. It’s harmonious in colours and proportional in architecture. Then we bought tickets to climb the tower. When there is a tower in town, we always made an effort to climb it. This is a tradition.
The last stop of the cultural part of the day was Archibishop Palace Museum. The regalia exhibition is again educational, but the crowns are fairly new, made for order in the 19th century. There are no diamonds in them. Maybe that’s intentional humility, or maybe they wanted a “good deal” price, I don’t know. The highlight for me wasn’t crowns, but a coronation robe with ermine trimming. Probably, more than a hundred ermine fur pelts were used. These small black-tipped tails are so small and so sad to see.
Then, we examined the evolution of the Archbishop’s Palace over the centuries, on architectural models. And then we called it a day.
Lunch
We had lunch in SELLANRAA Bok & Bar. It was tasty; I had slow-cooked beef cheek on brioche with a small salad. The dish had a subtle taste of anise or liquorice.
Dinner
In the evening, we went for dinner at “To Rom og Kjøkken.” Our dinner there took us three hours, but it was lovely. My favourite dish was a scallop. It was the best scallop I ever had, and I don’t like scallops that much because usually they are raw inside. But this one was like butter inside and crispy fried outside. It was not a scallop, but a poem. Other dishes were great, too.
