Friday 9 September 2022--I'm headed to Trondheim today. It's a much simpler transit than my last travel day, just the bus across Smøla and the 800 express ferry, and there's no rush--the bus is at 11:25. It's another lovely morning, my eleventh straight day of gorgeous weather, and Veiholmen seems idyllic in the sunshine. I suppose a lot of places would feel the same in these conditions. I'm glad I came, in any case, despite most everything being closed up. There wasn't any cute television commercial that drew me here; it was just an interesting-looking spot on the map, between Ona and Trondheim. I doubt I'll ever return, but if I did, it'd be in summer, when the restaurants are open. It can't be that every summer is as rainy as this past one was.

The bus takes an hour, the ferry another three, with several stops on the way. Trondheim lies well inland along its jagged fjord, and the modern waterfront, built on fill in the late 19th century, separates the town from the fjord, which seems a shame. I have a ten-minute walk into town to my hotel, where I check in and engage in my favorite afternoon activity.

Dinner is pizza at Habitat, a craft beer bar with 24 taps, a few blocks from my hotel. I go for a wander through Torvet, the central town square, then over Gamle Bybro, the old town bridge, which dates to 1685 (but was rebuilt in 1861). The view from the bridge of the old warehouses lining the river Nidelva is Trondheim's signature. I don't know how old these buildings are; I've seen 18th- century in one source, but some of them are clearly modern, and they've all been rehabilitated and made into condos and such. The neighborhood on the other side of the river is called Bakklandet, which Google translates as "the hinterlands". There's a charming street of restaurants, cafés, and shops in older wooden houses. It's hard to believe this area was slated to be demolished in the 1960s for a four-lane motorway. I suppose it wasn't so charming then.

I have a couple of pints in Den Gode Nabo--"the good neighbor"--in the lower level of one of the warehouses. It's the coolest pub in town, at least to my way of thinking. Then I head back toward the hotel, stopping in Macbeth, a Scottish themed pub, for a nightcap. It features a wall full of whiskies and aquavit, and I ask the bartender to help me choose a couple drams of the latter. Aquavit is rather like gin, in that it's a neutral spirit with various flavorings, primarily caraway; each producer has its own recipe. I'm curious to know if there is unaged aquavit, like a blanco tequila. He tells me there is a mandatory minimum maturation period of six months, but some producers will bottle a product that has spent the minimum in tired old casks, effectively unaged. I try Arvesølvet's Helt Klar, which is suitably clean and pleasant. Then it's a small batch matured in bourbon casks, from the venerable distillery Opland. I don't mind saying that whisky is more to my taste, but the aquavit scene has obviously exploded and become more sophisticated in recent years, like spirits everywhere. There's a lot to explore.