Honeymoon Installment #2

Second stop: Bergen, Norway

Bergen, Norway. The Frozen Land of Loveliness!

Hei! (Hey! in Norwegian)

Welcome to the cutest city in the world! It is definitely in my top 5 favorite cities in the world anyway. Would you like a fun fact? I thought so! Arandale in Disney’s Frozen was set in a town modeled after Bergen! Norway was sunny and bright when we arrived around 5:00ish that evening. After Denmark’s overcast skies, we were excited for some sun! Bergen (and, as we found, most all of Norway) is breath-takingly beautiful! The trees were so green, there were flowers of every kind, everywhere we looked, the water was blue, the old buildings and homes were adorable and brightly painted.

But best of all, our hotel looked like it was plucked right out of Frozen! Everything was purple and/or silver, or some color scheme that went with that. Even the décor and the Norwegian-style symbols on the carpet looked like they’d just come out of the movie! Luckily, the temperatures in the hotel and in Bergen were above “frozen.” ;)

Since we got there later than anticipated, we didn’t get out to do much exploring. But we did wake up early enough to go for an exploratory morning run the next day! We ran along the waterline, up a hill, around the fish market, past a couple of churches and a couple of castles, and saw some very beautiful things! Steve runs faster and farther than I, but he was sweet enough to stay with me for a while. =)

We met up back at the hotel, showered, and headed down for a real Norwegian breakfast buffet! Yes, there were almost as many types of fish we there were cheeses! Smoked salmon comes at each and every meal, and pickled herring is delicious in several types of sauces! They also put out brownies and carrot cake, fruit (including passionfruit, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, and muskmelon), crepes, cook-it-yourself eggs, hard and soft-boiled eggs, juices or many sorts, and I’m sure some more things I’m forgetting! It was a true smörgåsbord!

After a thorough fueling, we were ready to take on Norway! First stop of the day: the Funicular, or Fløibanen! Up, up, and away! The mountain, Fløyen, is 320 meters (1,050 feet) above sea level, and the views on the way up and at the top are breath-taking! The funicular was built between 1914 and 1918 to help people who worked up the mountain to get to work. It’s engineered with German parts, and as it happened, the contract was made just before the German Mark lost a lot of value, so by the time they had to actually pay for it, the Norwegians ended up paying almost nothing for it! The system has been in continuous operation ever since, and it’s the #1 attraction in Bergen! We walked around a bit up there, seeing the city from various vantage points, and got a great shot together:

We also discovered there is a witch up the mountain. We didn’t see her. We’ll have to go back!

And now for something that was completely my idea: a museum about Bergen in the 1600s! I was blown away at the items they had on display—chairs, beds, chests, tools, maps, lamps, paintings—all from the 17^th century and all just right out there in the open! Many of the things are similar to what we have at Gunston Hall, the 18^th century Colonial home where I’m a docent. Even thousands of miles apart, people used the same technology even back then!

Onward we go. I looked at getting a sweater—because that’s what you get in Scandinavia, right? But I just couldn’t do it. I could NOT make myself pay hundreds of dollars for any item of clothing, even something really cool and authentically Scandinavian! What we did find fascinating, however, is that all the shops on the Bryggen wharf are extremely slanted! Click on the link at the bottom for pictures! I guess they’ve been standing for close to 400 years, so they should be sturdy, but wow!

And speaking of Bryggen Wharf, that happens to be where the cruise ships, sailing ships, and other seafaring vessels like to dock. It was quite the lovely sight to behold, for certain! We passed by several very large ships on our walk to the castle—again, so we can go to the highest point in town! What is not widely advertised, however, is the fact that it’s actually only open on Sundays during the winter, which is mid-may, and we were there in early May. Bummer! The castle was pretty, though. We saw some beautiful birds and some gorgeous flowers. Even in late “winter,” these Scandinavian countries have the most beautiful flowers!

Steve always wants to see EVERYTHING, everywhere he goes, and since we only had the one day to see all of Bergen, we needed to get a move on! Onward we walked, all the way across town. Scandinavians enjoy their statues. And we know this because we saw lots of them in each country we visited. We saw a lovely pedestrian street (if only we liked shopping!), the outsides of a few museums (who has time to go in when you must see EVERYTHING?), a lovely lake with birds of many sorts, found where the train station is, and looked at a couple of very old churches. But my favorite thing we saw? That would be the gardens outside the Natural History Museum! You know how I love my tulips! 

By the time we got back to the hotel, my little feet were tired! I'm sure Steve's were even more tired because he ran farther than I had that morning. I have to say, even though we spent fewer than 48 hours in the little town, it was my favorite place we visited! The little row houses and shops along the oldest part of the city looked very old Western to me, which makes sense, because many Scandinavians ended up settling the West! 

We knew we needed our sleep that night because we'd be making our way to the train station at 8:00 to catch our train--we are now headed all the way across Norway by train, bus, boat, train, and train again for Norway in a Nutshell! Please join us (on Steve's and my Mom's birthday!) on our trek across the country! We'll wake in Bergen and snooze in Oslo! 

In the meantime, please see our pictures! 

BERGEN