Monday, September 2, 2019

Bergen, Norway

It is hard to imagine that last week at this time we were on an international flight home, never imagining a hurricane was potentially in our forecast. As our friend Pam said, "waiting on a hurricane is akin to watching a turtle race!" No kidding. As I type, Hurricane Dorian is moving at 1 mph, stalled off the coast of Florida over the Bahamas. We wait, and we wait, hoping things will be over with soon. Anticipation is no fun. Bruce wants to keep up with the latest, whereas I am of the mind that watching the Weather Channel will do us no good. So, we compromise. One thing I will say is that this morning I took a look at the paths taken by Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Irma and Jean that hit Florida in 2004, and the one constant is that they were all unpredictable, taking paths only God could dream up!  And to think that all happened in the span of six weeks!

In the meantime I will keep blogging about our trip, and in this post we shall focus on Bergen, Norway. After spending two weeks in Europe, one thing I can say is that you are never far from something American. As we waited for our flight from Gatwick Airport, take a look at the folks down the way from us.
Yup, they were all heading this way!

Never say never, or so I learned when Matt and Tom said they were checking their bags for the flight and we followed suit. Seriously, I still can't believe it.
Flying Norwegian Air, we arrived in Bergen in no time at all. Fortunately for us, Matt sorted out the train ticket machine, and we were off in a seemingly brand new car that had unique gongs for each stop. Plus, they have a stop named Florida!
Following our leaders, we made our way to the hotel on foot, once reaching the city center, traveling past idyllic scenes. Summer seating outdoors is the way to go in Northern climates.
Actually the temperature was slightly cool, a welcome respite for these heat weary Floridians. In the two days we were there, we saw college students dressed in crazy costumes walking down the streets, singing or chanting,
apparently celebrating the beginning of the new year. (note Starbucks)
The first thing we did was head to the harbor, exploring this area which includes the old, and I mean OLD, former warehouses of the Hanseatic League.
Now I may sound like I know what I am talking about, but it took an explanation from Tom. who, as previously described, is our history guide. Much to our benefit, he knows something about everything! Should you care to know more about this fascinating area, please click on the provided link. The buildings are sinking, although there is a whole society dedicated to preserving them. Need proof that they are out of square?
Apparently coming down those crooked stairs was the hardest. Across the street we walked through their famous fish market,
making our way to the other side of the harbor.
In this are of town the streets are relatively flat, however, they do go up! Matt found a restaurant that served a variety of foods, so we made our way uphill.
Bruce was feeling adventurous that night, ordering the reindeer stew which he deemed excellent! The young folks did some more exploring and the old folks returned to the hotel fascinated by everything they saw.
Later on I joined them at the grocery store across the street. I presume there is no Norwegian word for tacos?
Before everyone got up the next day I did a little roaming around, wanting to explore the nearby park which was just lovely in the early morning light. (mountain view)
City view.
While the weather was still good, we walked to the boarding station for the funicular that would take us to the mountain top. New word for you? It was for me too. The car arrives in a tunnel, loading the passengers from steps. (I am struggling for a better explanation!)
Up it travels on one set of tracks, and when it meets the second car about halfway up, the trains change tracks, demonstrated here on our descent when I was able to sit next to the front window.
The view from the top could not get any better, allowing a birds eye view of Bergen.
We met some goats there,
and took a short walk in the woods where the landscape so reminded me of Vancouver. Turns out Southern Norway is a temperate rainforest too.
Matt took this and I'm sharing it because of the blue sweater I am wearing. Days before leaving I ordered it from Amazon, the first time I've ordered an item of clothing. The sweater was great, not only to keep me warm, but it had pockets! Then again, it was just one more place for me to misplace the cards I needed!
Did you know you can buy a hot dog most anywhere? Even on a mountaintop? Turns out they are popular in Norway too.

Once back on the ground we made our way past the Leprosy Museum, which I would have loved visiting, however they were closed that day. We did visit a Norwegian Nazi Resistance museum which was very enlightening. Another very interesting place was St. Mary's Church,
where we saw the strangest pulpit you can imagine. No photographs were allowed, but trust me on this one. Apparently they let some folks take photographs, just not tourists. Visiting these ancient places, you can't keep from wondering about all that has taken place there over the centuries.

What would a Camera Crazy post be without a bird?
After some shopping around and wandering, we parted ways, Bruce and I heading to this place,
where we ate dinner with what looked like locals to me.
Watching those ladies was fascinating because they were dressed beautifully, and all three were wearing very large pieces of jewelry and I don't mean diamonds. In other words, they were not wearing pants, jeans, or leggings.

By now it was lightly raining and we walked back through the charming streets that hurt my feet. Yup, those lovely old cobblestones are mighty hard to walk on! Sadly, the rain continued throughout the night and when we boarded the boat the next morning for our fjord cruise the sky was dismal.
And I will leave you on the boat until my next post, presuming we have power.

I remain optimistic!!

your friend,

Gail

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