Even so, I saw enough of Trondheim to believe I could live there quite happily. I felt completely comfortable there as soon as we arrived. We were met by a rainbow outside our hotel window, which at this point I realize is more a testament to these rainy countries I am visiting than to any special magic, but they still make me smile and expect something surprising and wonderful from the day. Our hotel is right next to Flower bridge, and pedestrian bridge bordered with boxes full of petunias. They are a bit faded from when we first say Trondheim about 10 days ago, but they still push some summer color into the fall cool.
We are also a short walk from the Nideros Cathedral, which has spectacular stained glass windows and impressive architecture. There were few people in the Cathedral when Ann and I visited, which allowed us free movement within, though I mostly just sat and listened to the hushed voices and gazed at the light coming through the glass. The guides in the Cathedral are all blond women in long scarlet robes, which I'm afraid adds a whole Handmaid's Tale creepiness to the experience that I could not shake. We had lafsa and coffee in the cafe adjacent to the Cathedral before heading back to our hotel for a nap before dinner with Pauline, who was also spending a couple of days in Trondheim before heading off to her adventure in the south of France.
Dinner was great. Between coughing spells, I laughed and laughed and drank too much. Our waiters were more of these adorable skinny Norwegian hippy hunks we have been seeing everywhere, though our main waiter was also very sardonic, which made me chuckle even more. After dinner, I stood on the bridge and could hear dancing music coming from a bar across the water, but I just didn't have the lung capacity to venture over.
Day two in Trondheim, Ann went looking for Malvik church, and I was on my own to walk around Liv's hometown. I found a paper store and bought a nice notebook. On the way out, I mentioned fountain pens, and the woman said she had some, but generally people were not interested so she didn't have them out. Turns out they were nothing special, some Lamys, but I liked her, liked the shop, and liked the idea of having a pen and notebook from Norway so I bought a red Safari. It is actually a great writer, I may send it off to Richard for customizing when I get home.
After securing a good notebook and a new pen, I decided to head back to the cafe by the Cathedral to flirt with the waitress, and as I walked up I met Pauline, so we went to the cafe together and had a good talk. I stayed on to write after Pauline left, but I let the flirting go. Hard to be charming when you are coughing up a lung. By the time I got to the hotel, I was done for the night, and slept through dinner while Ann and Pauline went out for Thai food.
I suppose I was set up to love Trondheim knowing it is where Liv Ullmann grew up. At 16 I wrote her a letter addressed only "Liv Ullmann/Trondheim, Norway" and the letter reached her--I got a response about 6 months later. Still have that letter from her. But everyone I met was so friendly and looked so relaxed that I really felt welcomed there. Of course, there was still that element of young professional dressed for success stylishness that I find so alien in the cities of this country, but the town also felt alive and easy. Bergen had a depth and richness that I think really won Ann over, but Trondheim had that in-betweenness that I love in American college towns. Not urban, but not without space to be anonymous either.
Oslo has a completely different vibe. I rode the train with Pauline here from Trondheim, and the snowy landscape between the two cities was as beautiful as anything else I have seen on this trip. We went by a lake that went on for miles, ringed by ski slopes and green villages, farms a bit larger than what I have seen before, and gorgeous fall trees still peeking up from the snow.
We parted yesterday with a plan to get together this morning for a walk around the Oslo Opera and a bit of lunch before Pauline's plane leaves. I met her at her hotel and we spent about an hour or more exploring the spectacular Oslo Opera House. There is a dance festival going on now, and some dancers were rehearsing on one of the long slopes of the building. I would have loved to have seem some of Kim's choreography here, as the piece these folks were doing did not really take advantage of that spectacular space, unfortunately. Still, it was a pleasure to see the place alive.
After lunch Pauline wanted to buy me a glass of wine--turns out she wanted to have a talk with me. Before we parted, I knew fully that I had met someone the memory of whom would be a touchstone for me for a very long time, and whom I probably would not see again. I don't do well with letting go and letting things be what they are in their own place and time. I am getting some good practice with this here in Norway.
On the way back to the hotel I came across some protestors gathering outside the legislature as part of a worldwide set of events in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protest. I talked with a woman of about 65 who translated some of the signs for me and with whom we expressed a common hope that we are seeing the beginnings of a new movement. "Actually a continuation of one" she reminded me.
Oslo is very much a hip, high achieving city. People are dressed to the nines, whether dashing off to drinks with friends or to shop at one of the many pricey clothes shops here. Heels and boots everywhere. Everyone has some fresh geometric haircut, without a hair out of place. I have also run into some carefully gender ambiguous people here--what I mean is, I have seen several people who have clearly dressed and styled themselves to make their gender indeterminate. Oddly, it reads like a fashion, not an identity statement. And yes, I know the two are intertwined, but I'm saying there was a clear feeling of performing gender ambiguity, not of expressing some inner state, not a kind of naturalization of a border consciousness.
After a nap and a great bowl of spicy Tom Yum soup, my cough and I are going to retire for the night, in spite of the ticket I bought for Woyzeck at the Opera House today. I'm afraid I am missing Oslo, but if I don't rest, I am going to miss Bath and London too.
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