Unwelcome guests in the streets of Trondheim.

 “The rain fell for no particular reason, sifting from the roofs in a fine water spray. In air drafts, the rain accumulated into misty white columns which dragged from one wall to another. The rain roared through and splashed down from rusty rain-pipes. The rain spread over the pavement and flew along the watercourses that had eroded between cobblestones. The heavy black-and-gray clouds crept slowly just above the roofs. The man was an uninvited guest in the streets, and the rain showed him no welcome.”

© “The Ugly Swans” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

“The man was an uninvited guest in the streets, and the rain showed him no welcome.” – This is a spot-on description of me and my travel companion A. Sh. while in the lovely city of Trondheim, Norway.

The view from the window holds no promise whatsoever of sunny pleasure-beaches –

either by day…

…or by night.

In this sort of climate, shells end up growing on your ears. Or do ears grow on shells?

My A.Sh. decided to be a hero and take a walk along the embankment.

Trondheim – rain paradise & spa :)

Kids playing on a lawn – in the rain. Apparently, this is just normal weather here, so these are just normal children playing outdoors. Right…

Here’s some of the scenery we enjoyed as we walked.

The locals couldn’t care less about the rain. Many just walk around like this, with wet hair and soaking wet pants and shirts. That’s standard here.

Now we’ve arrived. Welcome to the Starmus festival!

This is a cool event, about which more later. The other day it featured Stephen Hawking, Buzz Aldrin with his Apollo colleagues, Oliver Stone and Larry King.

PS:

1. The ship outside the window (in the first photo) is the Costa Pacifica, twin sister of the Costa Concordia that sank with so much media hype in 2012 on Italy’s shoreline. I’m sorry the photo doesn’t show the whole ship – the port buildings were blocking the view.

2. In the evening, I met Jean-Michel Jarre. He said he’d like to give another great gig in Moscow (or elsewhere in Russia). I promised to help assistance.

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