Blogs from Bergen, Western Norway, Norway, Europe - page 6

SASin lento Trondheimista Bergeniin lähti klo 12. Heräsin jo tosin viideltä enkä saanut enää unta. Isännän näin lyhyesti seitsemältä kun hän lähti töihin. Lähdin asunnolta klo 9.25, jotta ehdin klo 9.47 kentälle lähtevään bussiin. Lentokentällä oli taas reilusti aikaa. Otin pullakahvit ja täytin vesipullon. Otin lentokoneessa punaviiniä kun sen sai siellä halvemmalla kuin maissa. Olin päättänyt ostaa Bergen-kortin. Ennakkotiedoista poiketen sitä ei ollutkaan myynnissä lentokentällä. Mutta kun sen lunasti netissä, sen saikin sitten lentokentällä neuvonnasta. Ajoin pikaratikalla puoleenväliin ja pysähdyin katselemaan pysäkin tienoota. Pikaratikka kulki omalla väylällään, ja monella pysäkillä oli taloja rakenteilla. Kyyti ei ollut sen nopeampaa kuin bussissa, mutta se oli tasaisempaa ja siksi miellyttävää. Majoituin Citybox-hotelliin. Automaatilla hoitui sisään kirjautuminen ja maksam... read more

The races have been amazing. We are so glad we came to Norway for the races. Both the elite women's and men's races were exceptional with huge and huger crowds .. and the Dutch fans finally showed up. Saturday was enjoyable with two races that day - ending with a decisive victory for Chantal Blaak from the Netherlands. Sunday was the men's elite race - and the crowds were enormous. We started the day out watching on TV as the race started 40kms or so from Bergen. It was a long race, so we had time to go and watch the circuit from several spots. We had intended on watching the closing laps from the park or the main square - but there were so many people you could hardly see or move ... so we ... read more

Today is an off day for cycling, so we decided to take the Norway in a Nutshell tour. It takes you by train to Voss, where you change to a bus and drive up and down the steepest road in Norway, down to Gudvangen and onto a ferry that takes you through the narrowest fjord around to another fjord, on to Flam, and then on a mountain road up to the top of a mountain, before you get on a train back to Bergen - all in a day. It was a scenic day, and today's pictures will tell the story of what we saw. A few highlights though. Norway in a Nutshell is an unguided tour that is really just a sequence of tickets ... We had a good Rick Steves book that helped us ... read more

Today’s blog title says it all. In preparation for the Men’s Elite Individual Time Trail tomorrow – and because I never knew what a funicular was until we came to Norway – we decided to preview the end of the course. We had read that the four time world champion. Tony Martin (aka the Panzer Wagon) was upset that the end of the time trial was uphill. Let me tell you – it’s not uphill – it’s up mountain. The last 3.5km is about a 9 percent grade. The funicular goes from near downtown up to the top. But, instead of taking motorized transportation, we walked it … slowly, thinking all the time .. I would not want to ride up this. But we did see people riding it – some enthusiastic leisure riders --- and ... read more

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 ... read more