Day 19. Wandering round Fredrikstad.
Distance 0.
On the Wednesday we walked across the large bridge built in 1957 across the river Glomma, (after having discovered that the old tourist information building at the foot of the bridge had moved).
The bridge is the highest spot in the area and gave a good view over the town. I managed to catch both of the ferries moving at the same time. This bridge is equipped with very high mesh sides more than 2 metres high which is something we would have loved to have had earlier in the trip. We then walked down to the new town side via the station to check train times to Oslo for Friday.
Whilst wandering round the station we noticed two things that were different for us. One was the ramp in the underpass that seemed to be suitable not only for bikes but prams as well. In the Netherlands there is generally a concrete groove on one or both sides of the stairways which is difficult to use if your bike has panniers on it.
The second was the relatively few bikes parked round the station, and the minimalist nature of bike locks on the bikes. Most town bikes in Utrecht seem to have at least two locks on them one of which locks the bike to something solid.
We then went to look at the library which although relatively modern had beautiful wood panelling in the interior. We came across a small monument to the sacrifices of the Second World War, near to the cathedral (which was sadly closed).
I stopped to take a photo of a building project in the shopping area. I thought it was cool to see the amount of stone that had been hacked away for the new building. Just after I had finished taking the second photo two men (who I had seen earlier and take to be traffic wardens) accosted me and started speaking to me in American.
Turns out that they were a couple of friendly American Mormons. I found the discussion interesting and invigorating having spend most of last two weeks with no greater intellectual challenge than map reading. After 20 minutes they decided to finish our delightful conversation and went on their way, having failed to get me to accept their literature ;)