Gamlehaugen and a hike on the coast

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Today started with a hilly run while Nigel biked. On his ride he discovered a quaint little bakery so after showering, we went to check it out and found some nice Norwegian pastries! Headed out later than normal and drove straight to the hike in Milde. We had trouble finding where to park so ended up parking at a nearby Botanical Garden. We walked through the lovely botanical gardens which is now owned and run by Bergen University. There were a number of special gardens within the park including a bee garden, a Japanese garden, a kitchen garden and a rhododendron garden, a cedar labyrinth and more. This garden is used to grow species from this area as well as all over the world. Some species are now rare and they are trying to keep them from becoming extinct. This was an unplanned stop but ended up being a very interesting stroll. There was even an active bee hive near the bee garden. From here, we found the trail we were looking for and walked down through the botanical gardens which continued for a few kms, and the trail let to a couple of nice little beaches. Lots of locals swimming but we didn't go in. Walked back to the car and headed to Gamlehaugen which is the King's castle and gardens. This was a very interesting looking castle perched on top of a large hill overlooking the fjord. The gardens were very nice and again, the locals were hopping in the water here too! Since we were in Bergen, we decided to head back to the AdO Arena for another dive/swim/sauna/slide. Rachel and I did some lane swim, and man, 50m is far! Turns out I am a bad swimmer but I tried. I kept expecting the lifeguard to ask me to get out and go play on the slides or something. Russell is now very comfortable with the 10m block and did it lots of times today. The kids love this place and we ended up staying till it closed, all waterlogged once again. What a great day! Oh, and the weather was beautiful AGAIN (high of 21 and sunny).

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Comments

[Elke Campbell]

Beautiful fjords and fairy tale castles...... you guys picked another great place to vacation!