Trondheim, Norway - 2045 miles from London

Trondheim is Norway's third largest city but it really doesn't feel that big or that heavily populated. In a country with a population half that in London, I suppose that really isn't surprising. We arrived yesterday with hopes of staying in a cheap hostel we had read about. Unfortunately that hostel was in use as a student concert venue and so, with nowhere to stay in the city and tired from a very long ride, we decided to stay in a hotel which turned out to have free internet access. So, here I sit in the lobby of the Comfort Hotel in Trondheim writing this blog and watching the rain fall in the street outside. The city itself is pleasant enough with a picturesque harbour lined with warehouses and cathedral which apparently is Scandinavia's largest medieval building (constructed in the late 11th century). We wondered around the city today and visited Nidaros Cathedral and the archbishop's palace which houses a military museum. We spent Saturday night in a micro-brewery which served bitter which for some reason needed to settle for five minutes after pouring. After the brewery we went to a couple of other bars in town and chatted to some locals. One guy, a civil engineering student from the north, told us a very sad story about how the love of his life had left him for a midget. He was a very nice, but a rather sad bloke, who used a form of tobacco which you put under your top lip. This type of tobacco is pretty popular in Norway as smoking has been banned in public places for quite some time. Using this tobacco seems to have a rather nasty effect on the top lip of the user as it is placed the underneath the top lip to be absorded into the blood stream through the lip lining. I wonder whether this will take off in England as smoking is more widely outlawed. After a fairly late night, during which we discovered that it doesn't get dark here and that it is actually bright daylight at 2.30am, a leisurely day was definitely in order.

Early tomorrow morning we are heading north out of town. Our first stop will be the town of Hell, about 16 miles north of Trondheim. Unfortunately we will not have time to come back! With the promise of the mid-night sun, we want to try to make it into the arctic circle for 21st June, the longest day of the year.

Written by Tom