On August 12 Lars Helge drove us to a car rental establishment in Kristiansand, where we crammed into a tiny Fiat and headed off to meet some of Barb’s Norwegian relatives.  We drove first to Oslo, and then up toward Trondheim, stopping overnight in Oppdal, where we stayed in a nice hotel and discovered a pizza place (Peppe’s) that features some of the best pizza we have ever had.  Turns out Peppe’s is a chain that has now been absorbed by one of the giants of the fast food industry, but that began when an American couple decided to make American-style pizza available to Norway, where they are now widely sprinkled.

Next morning we partook of a Norwegian breakfast the like of which we have never seen.  Anything you have ever heard of in connection with Norwegian breakfast was available.  Massive.  When we had finished gluttonizing, we hurried on to Trondheim, where we boarded the ship “Finnmark”, built in 2002 as one of the two latest to join the Hurtigruten fleet that plies up and down the Norwegian coast.  We took the car aboard as well; Barb schlepping some of our luggage on foot, and me driving the car up onto a tiny elevator that descended with me and the car down to a lower level where the vehicles are kept.  We had free reign through much of the ship, but headquartered into seats at the bow on the seventh level, the highest possible.

But I have gotten ahead of myself again.  We had been told that finding the Hurtigruten pier would certainly be no problem:  all we had to do was follow the road signs when we got to Trondheim.  We saw no signs, so we drove around downtown Trondheim trying to stay close to the water front. Finally I found a parking place and Barb ducked into a beauty parlor, where the hairdressers had an extended debate as to where the pier was and how best to get to it.  Finally, the winner (or the most assertive) emerged with Barb and after much pointing and conversation we headed off in the indicated direction.  After several lucky guesses and a few last-minute course corrections, we finally saw an appropriate sign and were able to get to the pier, where there were no signs indicating where to queue up with the car.  But a very friendly gatekeeper — who like all young and middle-aged people in Norway, spoke very good English — told us where to park in order to wait for the boarding of ourselves and the auto.   (Lest the reader suspect that the base problem discussed in this paragraph stemmed not from lack of signs, but rather from the lack of an ability to understand Norwegian, I should add two comments:  many signs in Norway are in English and I am pretty good at reading Norwegian.)

The “Finnmark” is huge and fancy, with lots of room available for those that are spending nights aboard and with nice dining halls and passenger lounging rooms that feature spectacular viewing opportunities.  Much of our 8-hour leg of the route northward consisted of dodging among the skerries, prefaced by a very long trip out of the Trondheim Fjord, the third longest fjord in Norway, and punctuated by a few ventures out into the open sea.  Barb and I both decided that when we get rich we will take an extended Hurtigruten trip up the entire coast of Norway.  What a cruise that will be.

See our next post to learn about the fun we had with Barb’s relatives.