http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Norway , Vestlandet , Bergen en-us Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:19:53 BST Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:19:53 BST Tuesday 2nd SeptemberRemind me not to be smug about the weather in future it absolutely chucked it down today. Anyway loaded up the bike and set off for Ulvik via the old fjord road after nambying my way out of Bergen. Cobblestones may look nice but they are fcking slippery when wet and the Norwegians seem to have found a super slippy white paint for them which is nice. Anyway once out of Be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-319092.html Monday 1st SeptemberBergen may be the wettest city in Europe but not today or yesterday for that matter. Had a bit of a wander round the city and it is a lovely city as the pictures will illustrate. But cities are for couples families or mates so having seen as much as I wanted I decided to go for a spin. Looking at the map I reckoned a good loop would be around the Osterfjorden from Bergeng http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-318710.html Sunday 31st AugustSlept like a baby on the ship last night an apt analogy the continual rocking of the ship akin to a rocking cradle. I like ships you can poke flying and the misery of airports boats are the way to go. Sea is quite calm this morning no more than 1 metre swell and it is a fair day. Sunnies are a necessity on deck which is where I am sat writing this. To be fair it wasn't http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-318373.html I've made it safely to Norway Wednesday night I flew to Copenhagen Denmark and had to spend the night sleeping in the airport....that was interesting. Eight hours and I was basically the only soul there except for the cleaning crew. It actually wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I used my day pack as a pillow and brought a blanket with me curled up across some seats and slept o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-317547.html I arrived back in Bergen Friday morning at 7am. I headed back to my dorm to pack and check out of my room. I had two more mountains to climb. After turning my keys in and leaving my stuff in Stephie's room she and I headed to climb them. It was late afternoon when we started and it took about two hours to climb Lyderhorn. When we reached the bottom we were both exhausted and it was starting t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-308724.html Oslo to BergenOslo was spent catching up on the sleep I had sacrificed whilst enjoying the Gothenburg nightlife. I did however reacquaint myself with the joys of a double bed. Even us small people like a little bit of roomI managed to get from the hotel to the Airport Express train without any hassle and arrived at the airport in next to no time. I was really surprised how efficiently run the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-303680.html HelloWelcome to our first blog on our tour. We attempted to say farewell to the UK from a place of less than outstanding natural beauty by leaving on a ferry from Newcastle. Unfortunately even South Shields was looking lovely in the sun and a small tear was shed at the last sight slipping over the horizon there maybe a touch of artistic licence there.After a night on board during which we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-300973.html GothenburgI arrived in Gothenburg in one piece and decided to set myself a whole new challenge...let's see if the K can find her way to the hotel without the aid of a taxi So immediately after getting off the train I made my way to the main entrance and reviewed the town map with vigourous scrutiny. Now if only I can actually follow directions. Only one small wrong turn and 10 minutes later I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-300742.html Still no pirates. Bummer.Anyways I'm in Norway now. It's amazing. There are these tall woody things growing out of the ground with branches and green leafy things that they call 'trees'. I thought such things were only a legendBergen is a really cool city. There's ocean on one side and then a bunch of steep mountains on the other. The city itself a metropolis at 200000odd people fills http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-300565.html My parents arrived Friday night. After meeting them in the city around 10pm we walked up the hill to my dorm. Nothing like a 30 minute hike after over 24hours of flying. After catching up and unpacking a bit we decided to go to bed early. There was only one problem three people and one twin bed. Our resolution my parents slept head to foot in my twin sized bed and I slept of a 7 pool mattr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-299794.html Irsquom officially done with my research this summer. On Wednesday I gave a final presentation of my study. As most everyone in the office is already on holiday there were only five people there. It was good practice for a larger presentation that I will give when I arrive back in Tucson. I have learned a great deal this summer while researching. Nothing really ever goes as planned and you http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-298384.html Summer has finally arrived in Bergen. Monday was our last day of rain and 50 degree weather. Two days later the sun was shining and the temperature had jumped to 79 degrees. I have been taking advantage of the nice weather walking into the city almost every day. On Wednesday I bought some Norwegian strawberries at the fish market. The strawberries are full of flavor. Irsquove never tasted http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-295674.html This weekend was my second to last weekend in Bergen before traveling. Time has gone by quickly. On Saturday the sun was shining. Stephi and I decided to hike Lvstakken mountain number five for me. Stephi had climbed it during the seven mountain tour and figured she could find the trail head. However we ended up on a much smaller path up the mountain. Sometimes the trail was nonexistent. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-293515.html Itrsquos been extremely rainy for about two weeks now. However yesterday we got a break in the weather. I took advantage of the weather and traveled with my professor out to one of the islands outside of Bergen. While he worked on a research thesis with another professor I walked down the road across a few bridges to another island about 4km away. The weather was beautiful for walking. The http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-291938.html Last night we celebrated the Summer Solstice. It was not an official celebration but we made one. Stephi and I headed over to Larsrsquos house around 730pm for a Lasagna dinner. We watched the football match between Germany and Russia. Sadly for Stephi Germany lost. The three of us went out to Garage one of the local barclubs around 1130pm. It was not as crowded as it had been a few http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-290386.html I arrived in Bergen last night after 2 and half days of cycling from Stavanger in a huge downpour. The final 10km or so into the city was all downhill and more like riding down a river. A kindly norwegian helped me to the central hostel as she saw me struggling with my map that was fast turning into liquid and straight into a warm shower I made some friends in the hostel and ventured out later to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-289202.html I went with Stephi to work today. She is doing biology research specifically about how tourist fishing affects the fish supply. This means that several times a week she heads out to popular tourist fishing spots and weighs and measures the fish. She invited me to go with her today because it was the last time that she was going to one of the islands this summer and thought I might like the scen http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-287699.html Today was the Friday wine raffle again. As the winner of last week I was in charge of picking out the wine for this week. I went down to the store in town yesterday and bought two bottles of California red wine. I didnrsquot have much selection from the United States but figured I should represent my country. I entered the raffle again this week for fun. Guess Irsquom on a bit of a luck http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-286861.html Den siste mneden har gtt veldig fort Bilen ble heldigvis solgt det var den siste av de store hinder vi flte vi mtte over. De siste dagene har vi flyttet og vasket ut av leiligheten. Vi har flyttet opp p Skinst til foreldrene til Jane som for tiden er p sommerferie p Kypros. Her har vi tilgang til bil noe som har vrt svrt nyttig n de siste tiden fr vi reiser.Jane hadde sin siste a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-286545.html I think the light is finally getting to me. The past few days I have been having trouble going to bed and falling asleep. Irsquove been getting only 56hours of sleep which is definitely not enough for me. Hopefully I will be able to fall asleep better soon. This week has mainly consisted of work. Other than that I climbed Ulriken again and have been reading outside in the sun. It has war http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-284346.html When trying new foods my family uses a rating scale to determine if we will prepare a meal again. It is as followshellipFood ScaleExcellent Canrsquot wait to make it againGood Would enjoy eating it againFair Would eat it again but not oftenPoor Would prefer not to put it back in my mouthGROSS Wouldnrsquot touch it with a 10 ft. poleIrsquom going to use this scale to assess som http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-282235.html So I left Aalborg via train heading up to Hirtshals where the ferry to Norway left from. I arrived with plenty of time to spare so I grabbed a bite to eat. It was only later that I remembered that the class I had booked on the ferry ldquoCatch Me If You Canrdquo was a restaurant not just a deck. Oh well I still managed to fit in a nice dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream while on board. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-282228.html Last night I was invited by Stephy to a BBQ on Flyen. Ten of us spent the evening playing games and grilling food in a park on the mountain. We played Frisbee Botchee Ball and a bit of football soccer. Lars brought juggling balls and was giving me lessons. I saw about five different people juggle throughout the night and decided that Norwegians must be born with natural juggling skills. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-281709.html Today we had our alarms set for 900 since we had to be out of our hostel by 1030. When we woke up our middleaged lady roommate from England immediately offered to make us tea with the kettle she had brought with her. She excitedly offered her room service which we couldn't turn down even if we had wanted to and she served us tea in bed.We got ready got our bags on and walked to Jens' ap http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-280812.html 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 ldquogradual inclinerdquo 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. Yesterd http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-280257.html 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 be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-279314.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-278600.html 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 Flyen. Sandviksfjellet and Flyen are two more of Bergen's seven peaks. I have now climbed 37 in about three day http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-278421.html Jupp d skal eg p tur igjen. Ein mnad til Tanzania der East Africa Cup og CHRISC arbeid. S nokre veker i Komorene. Det blir flott. Gr det litt etter planen kjem det oppdateringar her etterkvart som turen skrid fram. Arbeidet med CHRISC og East Africa Cup skal eg gjere saman med eit fantastisk team i fr StudentKRIK Bergen. Teamet har denne bloggen www.tz08.blogspot.com http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-278202.html 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. Itrsquos 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 ha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-277977.html