British Isles: Farewell to Bergen, Jupiter and Good Friends
The alarm goes off too early, the bags outside our door are gone and we quickly dress and head to the lounge for departure. It is raining! This is the only real rain we saw the entire trip, and our guide says “Welcome to the REAL Bergen!” We had the special-day sunny Bergen for our previous day, and were doubly thankful for it.
Our route back takes us to Copenhagen, then Atlanta, then Pensacola, and all flights departed and arrived as scheduled. The flight out of Bergen, however, was hilarious. There were 32 rows on the flight. The first 18 rows were Business Class. The last 14 rows were economy. They were labeled. They looked exactly the same. Business class boarded and debarked through the front. Economy boarded and debarked through the rear of the plane. I’ve never seen this before!
I would have liked more time in Copenhagen, but it was a rush through the facial recognition machines, a rush to customs and baggage searches, and a walk to our gate, where we were soon boarded.
The SAS flight into Atlanta was delightful. Good movies, a little off the beaten track, and good meals. We had cheerful, polite service with a genuine feeling of goodwill.
It’s good to be home, to have our family and sweet kitties all together. And our brains are scrambled. There are so many cities, my brain can’t always keep it straight. I keep confusing the Orkney Island experiences with the Shetland experiences, and confuse the capitals as well. I am thankful I kept the journal, but even the journal is confused from time to time. And the missing photos jarred my thinking, and my confidence.
Thank you to my life long partner, AdventureMan, in adventure and marriage, for sharing these great times, for reading and correcting my mistakes and for contributing so many great photos of Scara Brae to fill in where I had deleted my photos. And thank you, readers, for going along on this great long cruise with us and being patient with my endless photos.
British Isles: Sunny Bergen and a Delightful End
Bergen was a treat. We docked earlier than expected, and I wasn’t even awake. We ate a leisurely breakfast, a light breakfast because we were meeting up with friends at an old Bergen restaurant where we had reservations for lunch.
The trip is ending, and we are not ready. We decide to forego packing and head into Bergen (we are docked in the city) to explore a little before lunch. It is a bright sunny day, and a warm day in Bergen. It is still early, so not yet crowded as we walk into the downtown area to explore the fish market and surrounds, and take some documentary photos.
Strange experience with Starbucks restroom. Had coffee, saw signs for restrooms – through the next door empty bar, and up two flights of stairs. A man coming out held the door for me, and I found the restroom flooded and needing repair. Back downstairs, AdventureMan asked how I had gotten in when I didn’t have “the code” and I said I hadn’t needed one, and then remembered the man who had held the door open a I headed up. I had not realized there was a code, and I hadn’t needed it. Others were flummoxed at having climbed all those stairs only to realize they needed to ask for the code before heading up.
Our friends caught up with us at Starbucks and we headed over to the restaurant. There was a long line! All Chinese! They were shown upstairs. We said we had reservations and they showed us upstairs, too, where we were seated next to the large group.
We think this might be the best trip ever because of all the conversations with our good friends:
We ordered drinks and appetizers, and the group next to us was served soup, and lavish shrimp open-faced sandwiches, and then dessert, and we never saw our original waitress again. Finally we had waited politely long enough, AdventureMan stopped another waitress and asked where the rest of our meals were – it had been about 40 minutes. Evidently there had been a communication problem among the staff, but once it was brought to their attention that were waiting for the rest of our order, it showed up almost immediately.
AdventureMan had the fish soup and a huge platter of crab claws, and I had the venison in wine sauce. There was so much I needed the others to help me out. They didn’t mind – it was really delicious.
We walked slowly back to the ship. It was time to pack and we didn’t want to pack. Our suitcases had to be organized, packed, and outside in the hall for pick-up to get us to the airport early the next morning. They warn us to clean out our safes, keep aside medications, and pack travel clothes separately in our carryon bags. We laughed, but we also imagined that these are things that have caused problems in the past. Packing wasn’t that hard, and we head for one last visit to the spa.
Meeting up with our friends for dinner, we work some on the problems of the world, and then on our more immediate problems – family, travel plans, things we have to deal with in the real world. It’s still light outside after our long (also light) dinner, so AdventureMan and I take a last walk into downtown Bergen and back to settle ourselves. We actually sleep well.
Sun setting over Bergen:
Wake of the Vikings: The Fantoft Stave Church
People are irrational, or anyway I know I am irrational. I think I am logical and make decisions using my mind, but I know that I often make decisions based on an emotional tug, and I rationalize my decision to make it seem logical. Such is the Fantoft Stave Church just outside of Bergen.
I really wanted to see this church. I found a way to take a bus there, but it was a long way out and it was a Sunday and I wasn’t sure about buses running on Sunday. I signed us up for a tour.
I really like churches.
I really like being alone in a church, or being with other church-y people, people who respect churches as a place where people do their best to communicate with a God they can’t figure out.
This was not that kind of visit.
One group out, another group in. I never had a moment alone in this lovely church, built entirely of pegged wood. Imagine, putting an entire church together without a nail. Pretty amazing. The church is beautiful and unique. I just wish I had had time there to get to know it better.
The roof is stunning. They used the same technology they used to build Viking boats.
The tour was also listed as “moderate” walking, but several people were on the tour who had wheelchairs or walkers. The second part of the tour, visiting Grieg’s house, museum, studio, grave site, etc required hiking up and down rock paths and leaf strewn paths in wet, rainy conditions. There were places I just didn’t go; I didn’t want to take a chance on a slip-and-fall that could hold me up the rest of the trip. I did fine, but I felt really sorry for those who had signed on thinking it was ‘moderate’ walking and it was really some fairly dangerous turn for those with mobility impairments.
Back on the ship, we went straight to the safety muster, where we gather to be shown how to put on a life-jacket and to go to our life boat, when and if needed.
Best part of the day was Sunday church services held in the Torshavn Bar. It’s a light interdenominational service with inspirational readings, but it soothes my grumpy soul and sets me right for the week to come.
Wake of the Vikings: An Evening in Bergen
We arrive in Bergen around seven in the evening, and we don’t even bother unpacking our bags. They will be picked up the next morning to be transferred to the ship, the Viking Sky, while we are touring Bergen. Meanwhile, we are in the most wonderful location, in Bryggen, the old commercial center of Burgen, full of beautiful colored, crooked houses, and areas full of white houses, and all kinds of places which we can reach by walking, which we love to do.
Except that AdventureMan has a terrible cold, and my throat is sore. He is apologizing profusely, but who knows if I caught it from him, or from touching a chair somewhere? Sore throats happen, but we can treat the symptoms, and I saw just the place as we came into town.
Our hotel, the Radisson Blu, is wonderfully located. We walk a short distance and find an ATM where we can purchase Norwegian kroner, then, just past the fish market, we find the China Palace.
As we are going, we hear singing. Across the street, a group of men on bicycles are singing! They are three abreast on their bikes, holding hands, dressed in suits and ties, and singing. It is dusk and it is magical.
We have no idea what it was about. Is this a fraternity thing? Is this a gay group thing? We have no idea, we only know it was delightful.
The China Palace was nearly full, but they found a table for us. We ordered soup and egg rolls; even if the food was really good, we were too sick to enjoy it much. When it came, it was perfect for us, Pekingsuppe and large egg rolls. Exactly right, comfort food. We felt much better.
On our way back to the hotel, the light was that wonderful light just before dark fully falls. The streets are crowded with young people and old meeting up for an evening of visiting and drinking.
And here is what I really love, the Viking Sky is nearby, so near we can walk there, which we do, often, the next day. That’s the Sky in the background.
Wake of the Vikings: Bergenbahn from Oslo
Seven hours of the most beautiful train ride in the world!
The Bergenbahn is very comfortable, and we have nice seats. We are given vouchers so we can eat what we choose from the train restaurant, and AdventureMan braves the line and brings back a lovely smoked salmon salad, which exactly hits the spot.
AdventureMan slept. I took photos. Lucky you, I’ve edited out most of them. The following thousand or so photos (LOL) is the ones I chose to share with you.
The trip starts off rural, with lots of white houses and red barns, lots of fat wooly sheep and green pastures, and then gives way to mountain scenery. In seven short hours (the scenery is not unlike crossing the mountains in Washington State except for the lack of these deep red barns, every single barn is the same shade of red. How do they know what to paint their barns? Is there a rule? We are told Norway has a lot of rules for the good of the community, but I didn’t think to ask about the barn color.
The train car
Norwegian Wood 🙂
(I once had a girl, or should I say she once had me . . . . )
This is the traditional type of tiles used on the roofs, reminiscent of fish scales
A local train stop; most of them were this mustard color, but some were the red-brick color
“Norwegians love quiet, and to be alone, ” the guide said. AdventureMan started looking at me oddly, and as people who have been married a long, long time do, I knew what he was thinking. He thinks I am Norwegian.
It might be hard to see, but the house in the center of the photo has a traditional roof with grass growing on it. I’ve seen this in Seattle; all things old become new again 🙂
Before leaving us in Bergen, our guide, Kathryn, donned her own precious traditional garb to show us. Everyone loved her for it, and took many many photos. With her intelligent commentary, and faithfulness in sharing all kinds of insights and lore, she was a great ambassador for her country.
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