INSTALLMENT
#3
[Day 6 & 7 - Thursday, June 29, and Friday
June 30, 2000]
Peg & Keith
Wheeler's Norway trip report, Summer 2000
See Photo Albums
#6,
#7, #8 & #9 for photos related to this Installment.
Leaving
Balestrand, Out Songnefjord & down coast to Bergen, Bryggen, Edvard Grieg's Home, Museum of
Fisheries, Rosenkrantz Tower, Mt.
Fløyen
Somewhere
around 4:30 we coined a new quote: "Jet
lag is a terrible thing to waste." After two sleepless hours we
decided to give up and get up. Then we
remembered the hot tub in the basement of the hotel. When we had checked it out the previous night, we noted that no
one was there. Sure enough, at 4:30
nobody was still there. We enjoyed a
very brief dip because we had forgotten Keith’s need to not get his circulation
rearranged. AND he was getting rose
colored.
Again
we were struck with the fact that it doesn’t get dark at night here at this
time of the year. This was as far north
as we would come on this trip. The
sunshine was noticeable after 11 pm, the darkest of the night was what we might
call dusk (you could read in this light), and then we noticed sunshine again
before 4:30 am. Something else that was
quite noticeable was the quiet here.
During the day there was the noise of a few vehicles, the occasional
ferry, and of course, the tourists. In
the evening there is little to no traffic.
By listening carefully for awhile you can hear a dog or two barking in
the distance. Other than that there is
the calling of the few seagulls that live in the area. Maybe the reason there are so few seagulls
here is that we are over 100 kilometers from the ocean…?
We
took another walk to the English church before returning to the hotel for our
last meal in complete and utter luxury with the view of the fjord. It was a mostly clear morning. We checked out of the hotel and rolled our
suitcases down the hill to meet the 7:55 express
boat to Bergen. It was windy on deck so we
stayed inside for the trip. Here we met
newly retired teachers from Mass. We
sat behind a Norwegian who was traveling with a friendly Burmese mountain
dog. This was another modern catamaran
express boat which made several but not too many stops. This boat had the same
feature we enjoyed on our SAS flight; a computer generated map showing the boat's
changing location during the cruise was displayed on monitors positioned around
the interior of the cabin. Again, Keith
was enjoying this feature as he plotted the boats progress on his map.
This
cruise began in the high snow-capped mountains of the middle Songnefjord. As we
cruised toward the coast, the fjord gradually widened and the mountains became
somewhat lower and as we were coming closer to the coast there was little snow
visible. After 4 stops, the terrain
definitely changed. It seemed more
rocky and the sparser vegetation made it seem comparatively barren. As we came close to the entrance of the
fjord, the influence of the open sea could be felt by ocean swells. After one more stop, we continued down the
western coast of Norway, sheltered most of the time by a few islands to the
west. At times it seemed like we out
at sea and then shortly, we would be cruising through narrow breaks in these
rocky islands. How many times and ways
can you say, "It was beautiful?"
It was beautiful!!
Just
before noon, it was exciting to see the big and picturesque city of Bergen come
into view.
Stepping off the boat
in Bergen, we were surrounded by other tourists.
This is, after all, a major tourist city with many tourists having this
as their destination and many boat and bus tours begin and/or end here. After some difficulty, we finally found our
hotel. We were on the opposite side of the harbor than we had anticipated and
we had to walk clear around the quay and through the bustling fish market to
the SAS Royal. This fairly new hotel has architecture that blends in well with
old buildings along the waterfront.
Here we had a nice room with a lousy view. Out our one window we saw a red brick wall of a museum next
door. If our windows were open, we
heard noise of tourists below.
Venturing
out, we did a little shopping and looking at sweaters, silver, etc. The throngs
of tourists were substantial and we milled about in this old part of the
city. This is the most famous part of
the city and is called Bryggen. It one
of the most charming walkways in Europe (so says the guidebook) and is a
collection of 14th century wooden buildings facing the harbor. This
area was built up originally by the German Hunsa merchants. This is the picture you see when you see
Bergen and it IS special. These days it
is a fascinating honeycomb of shops and artists studios where painters,
jewelers and textile workers produce original items. It also boasts the oldest pub (tavern) in Norway. It was here in the Bryggen Tracteursted that
Keith broke his medical restriction on alcohol intake and shared a locally
brewed Hansa beer with Peg at an outside table. Besides being an excellent Norwegian beer, this brought back fond
memories of the 1955 Oslo beer gardens for Keith.
< Keith, on right,
down one of the lanes of Bryggen
In
one of the nicer tourist oriented sweater shops, we bumped into a couple we had
met a couple of days previously at Balestrand.
They both teach at a college in West Virginia. Here, in the middle of the store, we traded travel experiences
and recommendations of places to go as well as books to read. While in this store we noticed that they
would be having a Grieg concert there that evening. Deciding to come back later for the concert, we walked over to
the central part of Bergen and checked out its plaza with statues of Ibsen and
Ole Bull (the famous Norwegian concert violinist). In this area we found an Italian restaurant for dinner. The light summer salad was quite good (and
healthy for Keith), the atmosphere was definitely continental, the service was
mediocre. After some more looking
around we went to the tourist information center to learn how to get to Grieg’s
home Troldhaugen the next day. We then went to the sweater store for the
concert. Now this was a strange
experience. A couple of serious
pianists played Grieg pieces, first solo and then together. The piano was placed near the entrance of
the store and about a dozen of us sat in chairs tucked in various spots in the
store while other customers came and went, a few stopping to listen while most
didn't let the music interfere with their shopping activities.
Now
it was time to return to the hotel to try out the new high tech internet
connection we were supposed to have in our room. In this hotel each room had a wireless keyboard with instruction
on how to push the correct buttons to turn the TV on and into a monitor for the
internet. We were able to get to the
stage where the screen required a choice of access for 15, 30 or 45 minutes, of
course for a fee. Thinking we could
spend some time communicating with folks back home we chose the maximum. Then the problems began. The little button on the keyboard that was
supposed to act like a mouse didn't.
Minute after frustrating minute passed and we could almost get close to
accessing our e-mail accounts.
Eventually our time was up and nothing but frustration was
accomplished. So it goes in the high
tech world. (Actually we explained this problem when we checked out of the
hotel and they admitted that this was a very new system and they were having a
great deal of difficulty with it. They
removed the charges.)
What
a day this had been, and a long one too.
By evening we were very tired.
We had started out the day in the peaceful solitude of remote Balestrand
and had ended up frustrated with a keyboard in bustling busy Bergen. Both places were beautiful in very different
ways.
Day 7 -
Friday, June 30
Bergen,
while busy and touristy, is still a very nice place to be. As we left the hotel, the morning drizzle
had stopped and it was a cool with scattered clouds. We took the local bus from outside our hotel to travel over 8 km
south of Bergen to the home where
Norway's most famous composer Edvard Grieg lived. After getting off the bus, we had to walk another 15 to 20
minutes to Troldhaugen ("Hill of the Trolls"). This meant we could tour the facilities at
our pace rather that being on a tour bus' schedule plus we got the exercise and
a nice look at the residential area.
Built in 1885, Grieg's beautiful old home still overlooks a picturesque
lake. Hidden in the trees below there
is a small garden hut by the lake shore where he did most of his
composing. Around the hill, down
another path from the house is a grotto like place where Grieg and his wife are
buried in a cliff hewn tomb. New
buildings on the grounds include a museum building, a cafeteria, and a
multi-media room where we watched a brief video on Grieg's life and work. There is also a new sod-roofed concert
hall.
Retracing
our steps and another bus ride, and we were back in Bergen. We now had time to check out the Museum
of Fisheries where we were impressed with a model of a sloop and probably
the most extensive collection of model boats ever, along with some interesting
models of the trawlers and their nets.
After
that, we walked toward our hotel and on the way decided to check out an old
stone structure that turned out to be the
Rosenkrantz Tower. What a great place! Just FULL of history. Part of this much modified structure dates
back to 1260 if you can imagine that. It was a keep and ceremonial hall. More
of it dates from the 1560's as a residence and fortification. The walls were massive stone and the narrow
winding corridors and staircases were believably real in their dark
coolness. The restoration and
documentation process was interesting to learn about. It seems the tower suffered some severe damage at the end of WW
II when a munitions ship blew up in the harbor. This explosion figures prominently in another experience we had
later in Stavanger.
Nearby
was the famous Håkon's Hall. This large
imposing stone structure was part of the royal residence in the 13th
century when Bergen was the capitol of Norway.
While this was an intriguing building, we had become rather tired of
walking, so we returned to our hotel to rest and refresh.
Our
next foray was in the other direction of town toward the art museums, stopping
to buy some silver "Tundra" jewelry for Peg. When we got to the museums it was after 4:00
and they closed at 5:00. Opting not to
be rushed, we decided to return the next morning. Then we wandered around the various statues and fountains of the
plaza in central Bergen until it was time to take the Fløibanen Funicular,
which is a short tram-like railway line, up a very steep (26 degrees) incline
to Mt. Fløyen 
overlooking all of Bergen. In 8 short minutes we were at the top.
Here
was a restaurant, cafeteria, souvenir shop and playground complete with a giant
troll. We had shrimp sandwiches and
berry tarts and a FINE cup of coffee while gazing at the incredible view of all
of Bergen, the ocean beyond and an approaching storm. We could see it raining in the distance. We had tickets for the 8:00 Fløten
Konsertene which was at the concert room adjacent to the restaurant. These concerts are given regularly during
the summer and the music this evening was presented by a Spanish violinist and
a Norwegian pianist with selections that included works of Grieg and Ole Bull
among others.
View of north Bergen from Mount Fløyen.
We
had planned to walk the paths down to Bergen, but by then, we were tired enough
to opt for the ride back down to Bergen street level on the Funicular. There was bungie jumping at the
quayside. A large crane was moved in
for the purpose. This is the same area
where the open air fish markets are in the morning. The stalls and all the fish
are closed and put away by 4:00 pm. Peg
was curious about where they go after that.
Another wonderful day and time to head to the hotel.
For
more photos from these days, check out our Photo
Albums #6,
#7, #8 & #9.
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