On Saturday Kristine and I climbed Rundemannen, the second tallest peak in Bergen, and fjell nummer fire (mountain number four) for me. It was a “gradual incline” to the top of the peak, but a bit grueling, as it is a continual upward slope. It sprinkled a bit on the top, which was surprisingly the only rain we have had since Monday, extremely out of the ordinary for Bergen. Yesterday was the infamous seven peak hike. Every May, hundreds of people gather to hike all seven of Bergen’s mountains. Some do it as few as 4 hours! I didn’t feel I [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday Kristine and I walked into town. It was a beautiful walk and the weather was really nice. We grabbed dinner at one of her favorite Italian places. Traditional food is hard to find. We walked by Bryggen a part of the town that contains a few of Bergen's oldest houses. Kristine treated me to a cider beer at an outside bar near Bryggen. While we looked out over the water and drank our beers, Kristine taught me a bit of Norwegian. I can now count to 10 and ask what time it is. I even learned a few sentences [View Full Entry]

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Just a note on the hike I talked about yesterday. Their are about 668 "official" stairs up Stoltzekleiven. However, there may be over 700 depending on how you count them!! Looks like I will just have to count them myself. I may need a bit of rest first, as I am still sore from yesterday. Farvel, Allison [View Full Entry]

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Today I discovered why Norwegians are in such great shape. It's called the stairmaster of Mount Sandviksfjellet (Stoltzekleiven the area we hiked). Kristine and I went hiking this afternoon after her last Exam. We climbed up Stoltzekleiven and then hiked across the ridge and down Fløyen. Sandviksfjellet and Fløyen are two more of Bergen's seven peaks. I have now climbed 3/7 in about three days. Not bad. The hike took about 3.5 hours. Stoltzekleiven was an uphill battle. The entire hike up was rock stairs and took about 45minutes to an hour. It was unbelievable! Not to mention the a [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I walked from my dorm down to the town center for a little sight seeing. The walk only took about 35 minutes and it was beautiful out. I met Arve near the fish market and we headed to the Rosenkrantz Tower. It’s a large castle tower that was built near the water in the 1560s for King Frederik II. It was damaged in 1944 when a German ammunition ship exploded in the harbor, but has been mostly restored. The winding passageways were narrow and even I had to duck through most of the doorways. The view from the top was [View Full Entry]

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I have arrived in Bergen, Norway! At 11pm last night the sky outside my window still looked like dusk and it didn't become black until well after midnight. The sun rose shortly after. Looks like I will be becoming friently with the eye covers I was given on my Delta flight. The trip has been eventful so far. I was bumped off my flight out of Phoenix Thursday night, given a Delta travel voucher, was able to sleep in my own bed, and had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta, instead of the original 12 hour one. I then flew from [View Full Entry]

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