The Challenge of Bergen

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We’re falling into a pattern with a simple quick breakfast in the Lido, and we showed up in the Showroom for our fairly early departure for a fairly long tour: A seven and one-half hour driving marathon by bus, through tunnels, across fjords by ferry, where we would explore parts of the Hardanger Fjord farther from a couple of our ports of call earlier this week.

We got on our Number 4 bus and we began our journey to the Hardanger Fjord. Our guide pointed out something that I guess that we hadn’t really noticed before, about the color of many of the houses and farms and buildings in the fjord, and the reason for it. Originally, wood would be treated with tar to preserve it during the harsh winters and rainy damp weather. This naturally made dwellings built with this material black. Henry Ford would have felt right at home, having once said that people can have their cars any color that they want, so long as it is black! Well, I guess that that can get a bit dreary after a while. So then they started to add animal blood in with the tar, and this produced a darker shade of red for dwellings and barns. Next they decided to add cod liver oil to the tar, and this produced a dark amber yellow color. Finally, to really brighten things up, they began using white paint, which is made with zinc. Zinc is not available in Norway, so this became the most costly (hence desirable) paint of all, needing to be import material for the paint. Looking around, we realized, yes, almost all buildings were red, with some yellow and some white, and all being the same shade. Red was the common color, yellow for those a bit more well to do, and white for the truly wealthy.

We took a 15 minute ferry ride, with our bus, across to the other side. Our guide told us about how they predict weather here. “If you can see the other side, then it is going to rain. If you can’t see the other side, then it is raining.” We did some scenic driving along the fjord. Someone behind us said, “I can’t believe we booked a tour to spend seven and one-half hours on a bus to go have lunch.” His wife said, “Hush!” He replied, “Who booked this tour anyway?” She reminded him, “We both did!” Sharon looked at me and reminded me, “You booked ALL the tours on this trip.”

Our first stop was at one of three stave churches still standing in Norway. Originally a Viking and then Catholic Church, it was “reformed” some time ago. Our bus stopped up on the road overlooking the old wooden structure. There were a few graves in its yard. The cross was replaced during the reformation with the weather vane rooster. This was a poor church in a poor parish. Interior decorations were limited to painting on the wooden interior walls. Family’s were responsible for the upkeep of the pews that they used, and each had its own half-door, with significant family images or crests painted upon them. It was evident that some families would have one or two rows on a side (and one or two on the other). Men sat only on the right. Women sat only on the left. This is because the south facing right side of the church was thought to be the side of good and warmed by the sun filtering in through the lead glass windows. Women sat on the northern side, where trolls and other monsters might lurk. So much for Viking chivalry. This church was replaced by a newer church on up the hill, serving the Lutheran Protestants; but, Norway has become a nearly completely secular society. The average Norwegian attends church just three times in their lifetime: once to be baptized, once to get married if they get married and once prior to burial.

We arrived at or destination where lunch was being served with a Norwegian style buffet in a local hotel. Tables reserved for us were marked by a blue napkin. We sat at a table for four. First we got in the line for the center table containing the cold food, before realizing that we probably wanted the table along the wall with the hot food. I got a couple of baked drumsticks, some spaghetti, some meat sauce, some meatballs, some breaded fish, and what made Sharon’s eyes open wide with gluttony: boiled potatoes… one of her favorites. We also got some vegetables. Besides the triple helping of potatoes, Sharon tried some vegetables, the meatballs, and some spaghetti. They also had some fresh baked bread that you got to slice yourself. There was some time to take pictures before getting back on the bus.

Our next stop was a few minutes away where we visited a waterfall that you can walk behind and not get wet. There was a bit of a walk up to the waterfall, and I reminded Sharon that she didn’t want to have another “Pagoda Moment” where she begged off from the pagoda climb due to her knees. This didn’t look too demanding, and she did get up and behind the fairly wide waterfall, perhaps thirty or forty feet wide. The white foam of water mostly obscured the parking area, bridge and souvenir shop below.

On the way back to the Koningsdam we took a different route, and passed by Osteroy Island which is the largest inland island in the world, meaning it is completely surrounded by fresh water. We soon hit rush hour traffic, but going in the opposite direction from us. Some are going home after working in Bergen all day; but, others are on the journey to their mountain cottage where many spend the weekend. We arrived back promptly at the “All Aboard” time at 4:30pm, so Sharon had missed mass and I had missed Team Trivia.

We dressed for gala night and were seated at a table for eight. I enjoyed my jumbo shrimp with bourbon sauce. The four shrimp were large, fresh and tasty. I also thought that the turnip soup was quite good. I ordered the seared sea bass; but only because I knew that the seafood had been taken on board fresh that day in Bergen. There was a display of all the types of seafood that had been taken on board out by the gangplank as we boarded the ship. I probably would have been happier with the mushroom ravioli, which I normally get. Tonight’s sea bass was nothing what I had gotten the night before. This dish comprised two very thin filets that you needed to remove the skin from, not quite like the plump filets served at da Liberje. Sharon got the surf and turf; and, my surf portion was quite good. Sharon enjoyed her steak. And the flourless chocolate torte that they served has never tasted better!

Our teammates were already camped out in our spot from the night before. It wasn’t the nice forward facing spot with the two nice tables but the other side of that with these ridiculous brass mushroom like protrusions, round narrow columns too small for a real table, that we need to use write on. But the Crow’s Nest was crowded this evening. Tonight, Becka was on her own, and the questions were all hers. She started with “What airline replace all of its flagged tailfins in 1997 with various ethnic designs?” We hadn’t a clue, and our dreams of another perfect score just went poof with question number one. It was British Airways. Then a question we could have gotten right, “Where did Anne Frank die?” I was sure that it was Auschwitz. Alas, the answer was Belsen, which someone on the other side of the room had shouted out during grading. “What is Scotland’s answer to the ‘Silicon Valley’?” I’ve never seen so many stunned looks. While grading our own papers, that same voice on the other side of the room seem to know “Silicon Glen”. And a group near us cheered with laughter… it must have been a guess. We salvaged some dignity with the question “St. Petersburg was formerly known by what name through most of the twentieth century.” Some on our team argued Stalingrad, while others thought Leningrad. I eventually persuaded them that for “most” of the 20th century it must have been Leningrad. And we lucked into the question of what country has “L” for its country code placard on automobiles. In Europe the choices are Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Latvia; but, I wasn’t convinced of any of these, though I was pretty sure it was neither of the last two. Sharon wanted Liechtenstein but our scribe had settled on Luxembourg. We got the point. Becka’s only really questionable question was, “By the end of the 1980’s, what percentage of British households have two cars?” But she said she was only awarding the point to the team that got the nearest to the correct answer. We went with 15%. The answer was 20%, and another team got that one right. “What city was the first to produce the Model-T outside of the United States?” We settled on London. During the answer period that same voice across the room got it right with “Manchester”. For the final question we did manage to come up with “What is a Winston Churchill?” It’s a cigar. The bonus was, “In what year did Volkswagen sell it’s one millionth car?” I suggested 1957. But that voice across the room knew that it was 1955. W pretty much knew that we’d been humiliated and some of our team got up and left. But then it was revealed that that person who knew all of the answers wasn’t actually on a team and wasn’t playing the game. It turns out that our miserable 7 points was good enough for a tie with that team that had gotten sole credit for the “20%” question. It’s time for a tie breaker! Becka really needs to work on her tie breaker questions. “What was the name of the dog that slept in the bed with Napoleon and Josephine?” Gee, to break a tie, somebody actually must get the answer right. The answer was “Fortune”; although, suspect that it was French for fortune. Rather than award a tie (as most Trivia hosts due at this point) Becka had another question, “In what country were motorized ambulances first used?” Both teams answered “France” (which was correct) and at this point a tie was declared. We’re still dumbfounded that we were able to retain our winning ways with a score of 7, not even 50%! We had planned to go to the show, and were about to rush off when we thought that we’d lost. The tie-breaker took too much time and now we couldn’t make the 8:30PM start for the second show.

Becka did stop by to ask how she had done and if we had any recommendations. Mine was to save the “nearest to the right number or year” questions as tie-breakers, if needed. But, we agreed that her mix of subjects was good, and not too American-centric or European-centric. Joan was happy that there were not too many sports questions. Becka also mentioned that she tries to limit the number of pop-culture questions (I think she was trying to tailor the questions more to old fogeys like us).

We decided to call it a day.

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