The old city bridge over the river Nid

I got a comment that reminded me of the Norwegian song about the river Nid, which includes references to the calm river itself, and to the old city bridge.

The old city bridge was built in 1861, and it is said that if you kiss a loved one while standing between its gates, you will be happy ever after.

Our relationship with the old bridge started with first finding it, then being completely taken in by the floating restaurant below. Our first beer of the day had us looking up at the old bridge, feeling a teeny bit of movement in the river, and generally enjoying being outdoors, in the shade, enjoying a cold brew. This floating section was connected to a much larger, dark and rustic indoor pub. Trondheim is a college town so they have no trouble filling huge pubs.

The portals of the old bridge, looking towards the city proper.

Nidaros Cathedral as seen from the old bridge.

All of southern Norway was sweltering in hot sun, the thermometer teasing us with anything from 23C/73F to 31C/88F in the shade. Normally, I'd just vegetate in such heat, but as a tourist, you have to get out and look. So we found the shady sides of the streets, enjoyed all the trees planted in the city, and ducked for cover where possible. (It says something about how hot it is when you duck into a huge stone cathedral and feel no chill! Usually those buildings are refrigerators.) The advantage to such glorious heat and clear skies is that it makes evening strolls absolutely wonderful.

We ventured out again after dinner, originally to find a cup of coffee somewhere, but by now, all the pubs and restaurants were crowded. We wandered back to the old bridge, where I took these sunset photos (with my cell phone), up river and down.

When you're this far north, this is what you see at 10 pm in the evening.

Trondheim has a unique wharf area with old, wooden original buildings. Where the buildings cannot be saved or are destroyed by fire (a too frequent event in old Trondheim), they rebuild the wharf buildings as exact copies, but out of stucco instead.

On evenings like the one we had, Trondheim truly lives up to its name: The home (heim) where things flourish (trond, also a boy's name).