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Published: August 13th 2011
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ALESUND
A PATCH OF BLUE You know the guy who said the best laid plans of mice and men etc. That was today’s adventure. Plan A booked and PAID FOR was ship docked at 7:00, off the ship at 7:30, taxi to RR Station and pick up tickets by 8:10, train at 8:40, bus, boat ride to FLAM, steam train to Myrdal, train back to Bergen.
Day dawned with brilliant blue sky and found out that the ship would not arrive until 8:00. OK, a bit tight but was assured that there would be plenty of taxis available. There were about 12 of us doing one or another version of the trip but we all had to catch the 8:40 train. Roy, Donna and I were first in line to disembark but …….. There were no taxis on the pier. We had to flag down cabs as they passed by and the more aggressive passengers hogged the two cabs leaving Roy, Donna and me. Roy took off to try to get to the station on his own and when 8:30 rolled around, Donna and I went on to Plan B.
We boarded the Ho Ho bus and did most of the circuit. Bergen is a charming
PAPEY ISLAND
KEEPING WATCH city with a commercial maritime tradition that goes back to the Hanseatic League. It is located between seven mountains and the buildings are cheek to jowl in the basin and climbing up the sides of the mountains. Fire was a danger here just as in Alesund and for the same reasons, wooden buildings.
In 1860 the town government decreed that all future buildings be built of stone or brick. Since that was very expensive, many houses continued to be built of wood but faced with a veneer of brick or stone. These are now called chimney houses, a real fire hazard, since when they catch on fire the façade acts as a chimney.
We road up the funicular to Mt. Floyen and had a breathtaking view of the city. Just sitting in the brilliant sunshine and people watching was a treat. We met up with Jeff and Nanette who are hikers and into Goe-Caching. This is a game that has millions of participants all over the world. Armed with a GPS and an Internet connection one can visit great out of the way places, enjoy a quest and it doesn’t cost a penny.
All around the world are caches of inexpensive stuff. The game is to locate the cache, remove one item and replace it with another and log in who you and are, when you were there and replace the cache for the next person. Today’s cache included a “travel bug”. That is a special keychain type thing that is numbered. If you take a travel bug, you must return it to another cache. This travel bug wanted to be taken to the mountains. Nanette and Jeff plan to take it to Mt. Rainier where they volunteer. This travel bug will make it from Bergen, Norway to Washington State and who knows where else. Because of the number it can be tracked on the Internet. It is a fun and challenging game and it’s free!
We stopped for lunch at a café. I had the Scandinavian tapa plate, sausage, pickle, olives, foccocia, prosciutto, fired onion rings and a local dark beer. Both were very good.
Then we went to the Hanseatic Museum that is housed in the home of a merchant from the mid 17 hundreds. There is still some wallpaper, ledgers and stained class from the period as well as furniture and artifacts from commerce from that time. A sample of the goods shipped from Bergen around 1600 include; stockfish, salted cod, cod liver oil, halibut, hides of reindeer, elk seal and wild boar, fur of ermine, squirrel, sable, wolf, lynx and badger but the most important was fish.
From there we hopped on the HOHO again and road the circuit, finally getting off at the pier around 3:30. It wasn’t the day I planned but it was a great day just the same.
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