Blogs from Bergen, Western Norway, Norway, Europe - page 8

Bergen, Norway It is hard to make time for daily jouraling while very busy exploring and having fun. It is long past, but I’ll update on the rest of our time in Norway. We arrived in Bergen by bus instead of train, since the rail line was washed out. Our hotel was closer to the bus station than the train station anyway. We had not thoroughly checked the location of the hotel so stopped at the info desk in the station to ask. The agent did not know the hotel and pointed us to the wrong one, but it was in the direction we needed. Fortunately we saw it a block behind us. It turned out to be right across the street (actually a major highway) from the bus station. Bergen is the ancient capital of ... read more

Sadly this is my last day in Norway but I have one more fjord cruise before I leave; this one taking me from Bergen along the Osterfjord all the way to Maostraumen and back. Unfortunately the Bergen proclivity for rain has not let me down and I am yet again faced with jumping puddles and poking out eyes of unsuspecting passers by with the wayward spokes of my brolly. Before I came to Norway I'd booked quite a few activities in advance as I realise how quickly these tours book up and don't like to miss out just because of bad planning. This tactic obviously backfires when the weather isn't so great as I have to go on the trip regardless how rubbish it might be as a result of pouring rain. I join people standing ... read more

So the YMCA turned out to be 'non eventful' rather than 'fun' to stay at, but as this doesn't span very well and doesn't fit the chorus line I pretend it was fun after all and all is well in the world of cheesy Village People land. I'd found myself sharing a 6 bed mixed dorm with a group of 5 Spanish friends, older than the usual youth hostel demographic, probably due to the horrendously high cost of literally EVERYTHING in Norway making hostels an accommodation choice that some wouldn't otherwise pick! They didn't speak much English, which since I speak about 3 words of Spanish I found pretty impressive. They were really apologetic in advance about the early time they'd be leaving in the morning and hoped they wouldn't disturb me too much. As it ... read more

HI. We have been very relaxed, but busy so far in Bergen. Taking the kids to school and kindy, celebrating Lilly's 9th birthday, watching Stella at swimming lessons, spending a day in town with Stella, a couple of ventures fishing with limited success {no salmon } and attending a community party at a park celebrating mid summer night. Of course with the evenings being so long you can enjoy outdoor actives until midnight if you wish. The community party was great with a huge bonfire and everyone having a picnic dinner. Also kids games, throw the horse shoe, walking on stilts etc. Lilly's birthday was celebrated with the first party being for all her 17 female class mates, a traditional way of doing it. Also a get together with others and then family dinner at TGI's ... read more

The ferry to take us back to Lauvikk was ready and waiting when we reached Oanes and it was short of 4pm.This would when we would usually be reaching our destination for the day and not leaving the one we had just been at. Ahead of us is just over 200kms of road and 2 ferry crossings to get to our next apartment near Bergen. Gina, the GPS, was telling us we wouldn’t be arriving until 10.30pm which in itself sounded horrendous but then again it will still be light. We had also figured out that Gina had calculated the time including waiting times for a ferry which might or might not be necessary depending if we arrive just in time to drive straight onboard. Once we were on the other side of the fjord it ... read more