Munkholmen Island

Today we decided to take a trip out to Munkholmen Island (Monk's Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munkholmen) - it is only a 15 minute boat trip from down town. The boats run on the hour and we were trying to make it there by 11AM. As we approached the bus stop a but went by before we noticed and we were a little worried as it was Sunday and they do not come as frequently. So we waited a bit and we made it down town by about 10:57AM. Luckily the bus stop is near the pier and we ran over to hop on the boat just in time. It cost 170 Kroner ($25.5) for the round trip. I have honestly stop thinking about how much things cost. Here is a picture of it which is a little crooked since it was taken on the boat, sorry!


The island has been inhabited by Viking kings (995 AD - Olav Tryggvason planted a couple of severed heads here as a warning to the people of Trondheim) and Monks (early 12th century). The current fort was built in the 1600's and altered by the Germans during WWII. Here is Nic and Ethan crawling on what we thought was some sort of gun. However, after the tour we learned that it was a machine for determining the height of an airplane - used by the Germans. After exploring on the grassy area we went down to a nice little beach for a picnic and some water fun.

Here are Gwyneth & Ethan on the beach - we had it to ourselves for about the first hour. We witnessed some people crazy enough to go swimming (if you could call it that, more like a brief dip). We say a lot of sea/shore birds. For our birding friends, I think we identified a Black Guillemot (a member of the Puffin family we learned). We also saw more male common Eiders which seem to be everywhere. A group of kayakers showed up and we had fun watching a couple of them practice rolling over in the water. Crazy Norwegians! That water was cold I can tell you that. After lunch Ethan and Gwyneth wanted to do more island exploring and hit the snack bar up for an ice cream. We did both.

We made a last minute decision to take a guided tour of the inside of the fort. Luckily it was in English and Norwegian. The guide did a great job of doing double duty. He would talk in Norwegian first and send that group ahead then he stayed back to talk to us an another couple for Ireland. Then repeat. Here is Gwyneth and Ethan walking down into a dungeon of sorts. We learned of some guy who had to spend 2 months in the winter down there with no heat or light. He died shortly there after. (It was cold down there in May!) Gwyneth had been really anxious to go on the tour because Chris had told her a story of a famous prisoner (Count Peder Griffenfeld) who spent 20 years there and had spent his time walking around a table with a finger on it. He had done it so much that he had worn a groove in the table. Unfortunately the guide told us that this was just a fable created by a previous owner of the island who was trying to attract people to the fort/prison. There was an interesting room that was created as an artillery and had unbelievable acoustics due to the shape of the roof. (Unfortunately the camera had run out of batteries, otherwise I would have taken a video). There we many remnants of things left over by the Germans as well.

After the tour we waited a little to take the 3:15 boat back to Trondheim. Lucky for us it turned out that at the same time the theatre group that was practicing in the fort decided to go home too, so there was a large crowd waiting for the boat. Luckily we were somewhat near the front and pushed our way on, even getting seat. Nic said he was getting ready to be an ugly American if needed. We really didn't want to wait for another hour for the next boat. So we got the bus back and we were in for the night.

We cooked some salmon, one of the foods that we have been more successful with here. The kids got showered as the were dirt balls after the beach. We listened to the crowd at the football stadium across the street although it was not as raucous as last weeks match against Molde. The kids did some homework - Gwyneth did math and Ethan learned some letters. The adults played Bejeweled. Apparently Nic just got 165,000 - good for him. And here we are. Only 3 more full days here and then the Arctic cruise begins on Thursday!