27 August

Unfortunately for me we had a later start today – I say unfortunate because I am now nearly set in my ways and, even when I have set the alarm in the mobile, I still wake well before it. So after being away at 0530, I finally got up at 0620 after snoozing on the alarm.
Now, dear reader, you may want to omit reading the next section.
I prepared by taking my dried washing from the bathroom into the bedroom. I pulled a sock from the rail. The rail rotated. The other sock …, well, do I need to say more than the toilet lid was up and the rails were right over the top? After washing and rinsing it again, it was, of course, wet, so had to be packed as such.
I couldn’t understand why there was a floor squeegee in the shower. However, after my shower, the floor was awash with over a centimetre of water. I had to grab everything, into the bedroom and dry off in there. Even when I squeegeed the floor, I couldn’t get in without leaving wet shoe marks on the floor of the bedroom.
I was out by 7 and down to breakfast. I FOUND A TOASTER! Breakfast was again a sumptuous affair but including Vegemite on toast this time.
I was up to finish and pack my Vegemite in the case, put it out and then cleaned my teeth. In the intervening two minutes the case went, so the tooth material had to go with me again.
I did a little look around the street we were staying in, but it wasn’t worth going for a long walk, so I looked around the hotel a little more and then it was time to get on the bus.
WE had a local tour guide so we went through the town (the town had been burjed down and was rebuilt with wider streets and no wooden houses taller than two stories), the old town (still with wooden houses because it was outside the “city”), the port (with submarine pens from WWII now being used to store other things), the old fort (with both old cannon and new ones (used for ceremonial occasions) and then a scenic view over the city, the river and the island (which had a monastery, then a prison, but is now for tourists). After, we finished up at the cathedral, where we entered the church for a guided tour (different guide).
The explanation was interesting, but in common with many others, after paying an admission fee there is no photography of any kind allowed. We did hear of the origins, the changes and the recent history of the church. Then a few of use went up the 172 steps (even though I counted 170 only) to the edge of the steeple. The path is narrow, very steep and badly lit in places, but the view at the top is worthwhile.
Then it was down to the town, a walk around, a little lunch (Burger King is here in Trondheim) and it was back to the bus by 1340. While walking around I was struck by the number (not a number) of the population with blonde hair. I also ran across a few students in kilts.
We then set off towards our evening stop at Røros. We climbed from the coast, beside a river, right up the ranges and through a few flatter areas. There were quite a few crops which had been harvested and then used for silage, as well as cows, horses and sheep. Typically the population lives in the valleys, on the coast in the fjords or on the flatter areas and plateaux.
We called into to see another stave church, but it was also closed! This wasn’t a real one, but had been created as a replica in the original style and method.
When we arrived at Røros we had over an hour to look at the old cottages, which are UNESCO listed, and other parts of the town. Within the local shopping centre man of us used up our Norwegian change as we will be in Sweden tomorrow.
We got picked up by our bus at the train station and then it was to the hotel. Our luggage had been unloaded while we were walking, so after our room allocation we were off, unpacked and got ready for tea. For me, however, it was check Internet access, then download photos from the camera and charge its batteries, process the photos (copy them into a “Raw” folder where a pristine copy is left, and into a “Day” folder where they are named and rotated before resizing them to upload to Flickr) and then off for dinner at 1900.
The meal was very good and too much for me – I had to give up defeated (perhaps rewaisted would be more apt) and then rturned to my room about 2000.
I tried the Internet access cards and couldn’t get on, so restated my browser and got on WITHOUT the card. The photos were uploaded, the sock hung up to dry, I wrote my blog and I’ll try to get to sleep early to finish throwing off this bad cold/infected throat I picked up. I had to use Repsils as there are no Strepsils in Norway, and have Fishermen’s Friends as a backup.
Now to rest (after I send my emails and post this!).