Salmon fishing in the...Melhus

About 30 people from my department quit work early and headed in convoy to a river just outside of Melhus, approximately 30 minutes drive from Trondheim. When we arrived some of the keenos (including the big boss) had already set up and started fishing- there was an enormous, bleeding salmon hanging from a make shift teepee. It was impressive and revolting all at the same time. I was really surprised they had red blood for some reason. I'm still not sure whether it was actually caught or bought and strung to provide hope as they didn't catch any last year.

One of two fish caught. The other was 6.2kg!

There were waders, wellies and rods galore. I had a mortifying exchange with one man. He gave some lame excuse for not catching a fish and I said sarcastically "oh yehhhh, you didn't catch a fish because the water is too deep" he laughed and gave one in return and then bam...I knew it was bad as I was saying it but couldn't stop myself "and your rod's not long enough!" This is one time I really hope the language barrier wasn't overcome.

Downstream. Imagine this with men spaced 10m apart all the way down. They were eating when I took this.

We had BBQ fish (purchased, the supply from such a group is not dependable!)- everyone took a piece of aluminium foil, put a piece of fish in with whatever vegetables and seasonings you wanted, you sealed it up- a bit like a french poisson en papillotte and then watched it like a hawk on the BBQ to avoid picking up one of the other 30 identical packages 17 minutes later. It was delicious with some sour cream.

The 6,2kg catch! And my ride home is holding it. Unfortunately this made him very enthusiastic and the evening stretched much longer than what I would consider optimum "standing in the cold, watching men fish" time.

I chose the wrong car to go in though- suddenly everyone was gone and it was just me and some serious fisherman. Everyone evaporated- otherwise i would have bagged a lift back earlier, as it was I didn't get home till 20:30.

All in all a great Norwegian experience!

Mulkholmen (M)adventure

Munkholmen is a small island a short boat ride from Trondheim harbour- it is a former prison, fort and monastery. When I told my colleagues over lunch that I was going at the weekend- they competed to be the person who had lived here longest and not been. It didn't exactly set it up to be a brilliant day out...

The view of Trondheim from the boat

However, it was quite a surprise. We did a little tour of the tower there, which was way bigger than I expected. It was a jigsaw of rooms built to accommodate the islands various uses. The cellar was initially used as a gunpowder storage room- but it was too wet for this, so it became a mass cell. Only prisoners that it was never intended would leave the island alive were ever sent down there. An English doctor was one of them- he got sick of listening to his maid whinge so he cut off her head.

All the seats and gears etc. are still inside...I imagine the crucial parts are safely removed.

It was lovely and sunny, but pretty windy- the garden of the cafe/restaurant was walled though so it was a great sun trap for ice-creams and wine.

A mish mash group of visitors, summer students, employees and Alice and I.

We headed back to the mainland as no one fancied the "Pølser"  It's on the list of "must trys", but I think I'll spread them out. Reallllly far apart. We picniced by the river.

The boys are their bankrupting Burger King.

Later we had the same gang around for drinks and the football- it was 5 Frenchies/French speakers to three non-french so there was a good atmosphere.

As an aside, Alice who has diligently been looking for a second hand bike on the online second hand market everyday found one and bought it- and it turns out they had another perfect for me. Jammy or what, no searching required. It is a pile of junk but it will do for the few weeks pre first salary. I am borrowing our mystery occupants helmet- (his/her stuff is everywhere in the flat, but we have decided we haven't broken into someones apartment, however it was an edgy few minutes coming to that decision when we first moved in!). My pile of rust is bright red, and will not be stolen. Bonus!

xox

Arrived in Trondheim!

The view from the "Gamle Bybru"- the old city bridge!

We have arrived! Our apartment is in the building on the right hand side, it's the yellow one just past the middle. It's a huge apartment, 3 bedrooms, a total of 30 chairs (we counted them all!) a big TV and an xbox included. There is other peoples stuff randomly distributed about the place...economics textbooks etc. It's an excellent location, that photo is the classic Trondheim postcard.

Our living room. Note our duty free on the bottom right, we spent way too long choosing and re-purposing a piece of furniture to keep it in.

Went to get supplies from the supermarket and that's a laugh on it's own. Classic Norwegian delights of brown cheese, rotfiske and aquavit all await me- for the moment, we bought loads of fish. My favorite thing was the prawn freezer- you just scoop up as many as you want. Meat is too expensive, but salmon is great value! And potatoes- they're the only vegetable you can't import because it's pretty much the only thing they grow here and they're fiercely protective and proud of them!

The prawns were my favourite until it came time to prepare them...they're covered in eggs and the faff to flavour ratio is way off.

So far so good!

"Farvel" for now!

xox