Part 36: Beautiful Blustery Bergen July 15-16, 2012

On the morning of the 15^th we headed to the Oslo train station to catch the train to Bergen.  Unfortunately, the railroad is undergoing a lot of construction so you have to catch a bus to a different station outside of Oslo before catching the train.  The guy directing the masses to the correct bus line gave instructions to the people in front of us in English and then gave them to me in Norwegian.  Apparently I looked like a native. 

The bus took us to a small town train station that was not equipped to handle this much traffic.  The line for the bathroom filled the small waiting room inside the station.  S and I decided we could wait.  The train arrived a little later and we found our seats.  S was at the front of the car and I was at the very back.  On the up side, I did not have a seat partner, so I could spread out. 

The Bergen railway is “the world’s best train ride” according to the Norwegian tourism website.  Of course, they’re biased but I have to agree.  I spent most of the train ride staring out the window in amazement completely jealous of the fact that some people get to live there.  It was unbelievably beautiful.  S got to sit by an English professor and her husband who described it as “The Lord of the Rings with phone lines.”  Personally, I think Norway has Middle Earth beat. 

After about 7 hours we arrived in Bergen.  Luckily, Bergen is smaller and makes more sense on a map than Oslo.  Plus, our hostel was merely 5 minutes from the train station.  No extra directions necessary.  After dropping our stuff off in the 50 person dorm (we were travelling on a budget) we headed down to explore the city.  We walked downtown past many old churches and buildings from the 1700’s.  We reached the main square and looked at all the Norwegian tourist junk such as sweaters, moose key chains, and slippers.  Just on from there, right on the wharf, is the fish market.  It is big and it smells like, well, fish. 

One side of the wharf is named Bryggen.  It consists of several wooden buildings that were built by the Hanseatic Trade League from between the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 13th–17th centuries).  The wooden buildings are in great shape for as old as they are.  Most of the buildings on Bergen’s wharf are from the 17^th century, but that’s still 400 years old!  

We then walked past Bryggen and on to Bergenhus fortress.  This fortress was once the seat of the king and the currently buildings date from the 13^th century.  S had to see Rosenkrantz tower since Rosenkrantz is a character in Hamlet and S is an English teacher.  I don’t think it’s the same Rosenkrantz, since Hamelt takes place in Denmark, but it’s still a good picture for an English teacher’s wall. 

The fortress continues at a higher elevation that gives a good view of the city (or it would have if it hadn’t been raining while we were there).  On our way up we walked around by the water and then up through the narrow old streets of Bergen past cute wooden Norwegian houses.  On our way back down, we passed through Bryggen and looked in the narrow hallways between the buildings before stoping at Subway for dinner (a $9 sandwich, yikes!).  We then meandered up towards a nice brick church and back through the university museums and park.  Finally we went back to our hostel to read, check our email, and sleep. 

The next day, we decided to visit Fantoft Stave Church.  The original Stave Church was a traiditonal wooden church dating from 1150.  It survived for over 800 years and was even moved to Bergen from its original site only to be destroyed by arson in 1992.  However, they rebuilt an exact copy and while it’s not old, it is cool.  The church shows how early Norwegian Christians used tree logs as pillars and it had carvings that reminded me of what I’d seen at the Viking ship museum in Oslo.  The church was far from the center of town, so we took the tram there and back.

When we arrived back in town, it we decided to take the Fløibanen funicular up Fløyen, a mountain plateau that rises over Bergen.  However, we timed it so we showed up with the bus/cruise ship tours.  Not wanting to stand in a huge line in the rain, we stopped into a café for some $6 coffee and hot chocolate and waited out the line and the rain.  It worked out very nicely and after we came back out we waited only a few minutes before we were on our way up the mountain.  It would have been a better view if it hadn’t started raining again, but it was still amazing. 

When we got off, we tried to take some pictures, but the rain was brutal, so we stood in the long line for the women’s bathroom (it’s an international problem) that was at least covered and then we checked out the tourist shop and waited for it to stop raining.  We took some pictures, but they still weren’t very good, so we decided to hike to a lake.  We got to the lake and saw a sign pointing us to another destination that I didn’t actually note the name of.  We decided, on a whim, to take it. 

We walked along a squishy moss-covered trail (that, yes, I slipped and fell on once) through a fern covered forest.  It was really different from other woods that I’ve walked through.  Rocks, ferns, and moss.  The floor wasn’t covered in leaves and underbrush.  It was beautiful.  We ended up climbing to the top of a mountain that overlooked Bergen on one side and a small mountain lake on the other.  It was awesome. 

We also successfully made it back down and I managed to avoid most of the mud, which Norway has copious amounts of.  I really have a thing about mud.  I hate it.  Luckily, I have gortex lined shoes and I’m willing to do just about anything to avoid mud, so I was ok and my socks remained dry.  S, was not so lucky in her Nike tennis shoes.  By the end of our trip, she was seriously considering some new shoes. 

We went back to the overlook by the funicular and took some good pictures since it had finally cleared off a little and then we started walking back down the mountain.  And once again, it started to rain.  We were pretty much done at this point and just went back to the hostel to dry off and eat free waffles. 

Bergen was pretty relaxed and I really enjoyed it.  The next morning, we were off to the bus station to catch the bus to Stavanger.