I really am terrible about taking pictures when I travel, mostly because I’m too busy either having fun or running to catch a train. This time–on a trip to Trondheim, Norway, for a conference and a follow-up trip to Stockholm, Sweden, to visit friends-of-friends–I was fortunate enough to travel with some folks who are much better at remembering to take pictures.
These two pics were taken by my friend Katie at Credo, a wonderful restaurant in Trondheim that helped pioneer the whole Nordic forage-to-table movement. On the left is my favorite of the 18 (!) courses in the tasting menu–langoustine tail with brown-butter emulsion and dark bouillon; on the right are two of the many portraits of the “ladies,” the dairy cows that produce the milk for all the dairy products made at the restaurant.
I took these two pics in the 2-hour window the sun appeared during our 4 days in Trondheim. I probably could have lined them up to make a nice panorama…but at any rate, this is the old bridge between the old town and Bakklandet, a cute waterfront neighborhood where we stayed in a nice Airbnb. Not pictured: the super-hygge café, Bakklandet Skydsstation, where I ate reindeer stew with lingonberries. Other Trondheim highlights: a cold plunge in the ocean chased with a cod liver oil shot and a warm-up in the hot sauna; Habitat for great flatbread pizzas and local Monkey Brew beer; Lanullva, which makes cozy, sporty garments from merino wool; St. Nidaros, a really impressive gothic cathedral built in the 11th century over the burial site of St. Olav (the guy who brought Christianity to Norway, largely at sword-point) that became the top pilgrimmage destination for all of Europe in the Middle Ages; and the Saga jewelry line from NC Christopherson that replicates surprisingly modern-looking designs from Viking hoards.
I really did not do a good job taking pictures in Stockholm…. It might have been because it was sleeting or snowing the entire time we were there. But we still enjoyed the Science Fiction bookstore in Gamla Stan and the boho neighborhood of Södermalm with its impossibly romantic cafés, like Tårtan, and chic galleries and art boutiques, like Konsthandverkarna. I’m going to do a whole other post on Stockholm’s ceramics scene….
The Rookery 