Another early departure... So early that there was no time for a breakfast. But a breakfast on a day where you go travelling is hard to imagine - at least for me. The morning was grey and a bit dull as we left at around quarter to six. Pretty much a routine until Stansted: A quiet train journey and a trip with the well-known italian Terravision on which I spent most (if not all) sleeping. No queue at the check-in meant plenty of time. But that was however tricky. We finally ended up being the last boarding the plane! Why? First we strolled and spent a considerable amount of time in a Shoe-shop (Nuch was not too happy with the shoes she has taken for the journey), then we ended up in a trap called Dixons with a small laptop being the bait. The deal did not work out but instead we found ourselves running to the closing gate and the plane doors literally closing behind us.
As we approached Bergen a myriad of islets and islands appeared beneath us, sourrounded by the calm sea with its surface glistening in the sun. It was like a jigsay of water, forests and rocks. We landed on a tiny Flesland airport from which you still can see the sea. The day was so bright that it blinded the eyes.
The hills and the clean appearance reminded me of Germany - if there were not all these wooden houses that is a bit of a LEGO style.
Bergen, for a city of just around 250,000, is looking quite big. Clean and peaceful though.
I'm not sure whether I was too manipulated by postcards, but I found Bryggen, the historical waterfront of Bergen, a bit disappointing. I expected to see a vast row of wooden houses directly at the waterfront, instead I found just a half dozen of them behind a bus stop and a small car park....
As expected, the appartment in which we were supposed to stay was pretty much on a hill, and at some points the streets were so steep that I reckon cars parking there would have their brakes used up pretty fast.
I am not quite sure whether our appartment represented the archtypical Norwegian home, but despite being an average appartment, it has a kind of rustic feel, even without an Elc's head at the wall. Not really IKEA.
Windows opening to the inside as we have in Germany seems to be quite unique to Germany, because even here the flap to the outside, held with a smal iron bar like windows one would associate with farm house windows.
The area was so quiet, almost deserted. Could be a siesta scene. The local supermarket a few streets away has an appearance of a German grocery twenty years ago, inside the stock was piled on the shelves which would drive a sale-driven English market director completely nuts. Marketing charm is absolutely lost on Norway. Which I did not mind at all. But I noticed the strange mathematical equation displayed on every shop front like; 9-20 (10-16) or 9-20, 9-18,10-16. Of course, these are opening times. But a rather blunt way to say it.
(The fashionable supermarket at the corner. The big nine on the right-hand-side is the opening time).
If you miss the people in Bergen - at the Fish Market you will find them. More than enough. Because here is where the tourists swarm. Because of the tourists, you don't just find fish on the Fish Market but all sorts of kitsch: Trolls, Norway-jumpers (i almost had forgotten that they ever had existed!) and reindeer fur. The mass of tourists had obviously forced the Tourist Information Centre to introduce a ticket system where you have to pull a ticket and wait until your number is displayed on the screen.
After an extensive city walk we went for one of Bergen's major attraction: the Floibana. Floi is the city hill east to the city, 320 metres high - a small step for a Norwegian, but a big leap for someone from London, Hamburg or Bangkok!
At the top all the same: Tourists, more Trolls, more Norway jumpers. But the view is the reward - also the ascent itself. The Floibana is a funicular cable car going on rail tracks at a gradient of 15 to 26 degrees. That allows quite an impressive view.
And the view from the top is simply beautiful:
Norway means hiking (at least to me), so I could not miss the chance to hike all the way down. It was a sole venture as the other three prefer comfort - the Thai way - and got down with the funicular.
Last but not least a note about the midnight sun. We were not that far from it... The sun set at around 11 pm, and at 10 pm you still have kids playing in the streets!
Our "dinner" consisted of Sainsbury's microwave food...
And to be fair: Good norwegian bread - like a German coming-home!This picture was taken around 11 pm!
And this around midnight:
Doesn't look like a deep sleep, does it?
