One of Bergen's claims to fame is weather related. They have about 240 bad weather days each year. I say bad weather, but apparently, in Bergen, they say that there is no such thing as bad weather--just bad clothing. We were lucky. While we had some drizzle on our first day there, we had good weather for the rest of our short stay. It was chilly, though, only reaching the low 60s at the highest, but given that Cincinnati is in the midst of a terrible heat wave, I'll take it.
Bergen is the gateway to Norway's western Fjords, and that was the reason for our visit. We had a day and a half in Bergen before boarding a train for the start of a day-long fjord excursion. First, the lowdown on our time in Bergen. On day one, we visited more art museums and more Munch paintings. The Bergen Art Museum is made up of several galleries in different buildings. I made my way to the Lysverket Art Collection first, and I spent my time looking at their collection of modernist art. I loved it: all of those Picassos, Klees, and Munches. There were supposed to be some Miros there, too, but I couldn't find them. Next, I visited the Rasmus Meyers Art Collection to see their sizable collection of paintings by Munch: wonderful and troubling. I need to find out more about Edvard Munch. He seems like a pretty tortured soul. I have to admit that I was feeling a little tortured that day, too--really exhausted and really sore. Two days of biking in Sweden, combined with knee, hip, and back problems equals a painful day. I do really well when I'm just walking, but the start and stop walking required in a museum is hard on everyone, I think. It's hard on me, anyway.
Okay, this is Henrik Ibsen, but this is a little how I was feeling.
I went back to our adorable hotel, the Klosterhagen, and just relaxed in my room with a glass of wine from the bottle I bought in the duty free shop at the airport. Alcohol is incredibly expensive in Norway, so my eight dollar bottle of wine was a real bargain. My hotel room was small, bit really nice. The hotel is pretty interesting. This is from their website: "Klosterhagen Hotel is set up primarily to offer work training and work clarification for people in need of assistance on their way back to an ordinary work life. We exist both for those who are interested in working at a hotel in the future, and for those who see the hotel as an opportunity for general work training on their way towards jobs in other businesses." All that and a fabulous breakfast buffet, featuring homemade bread and yogurt, a variety of cheeses, meats, and fish (including whale!), and great coffee. Plus, in the evening, they baked these delicious little cinnamon and sugar butter cookies for their guests. I'm all about the food!
I got a second wind that evening, so Cindy and I went out wandering. We headed down to Bryygen--Norwegian for wharf--the oldest part of the city. This area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Bryggen played an important part in the Hanseatic League’s trading empire from the 14th to the mid-16th century, or so I've read. There were lots of fires in this area over the years, so lots of the old wooden buildings have been lost, but as they do in many places in Europe, they've rebuilt the new buildings to look just like the old ones. Today, only 62 original buildings remain in Bryggen.
Cindy and I ate fish and chips at the fish market area near the wharf and wandered through the shops there. At one point, I looked at my watch and realized that it was 10:30pm, but the sun was still shining. This is the land of the midnight sun, and I have to say that it freaked me out a bit. It was light very late in Copenhagen and Stockholm, too, but this was the first time I really saw the sun shining at a time when it would be fully dark at home. In fact, I'm not convinced that it ever got fully dark in Bergen. At midnight, when I went to bed, it was like twilight. I kept thinking of what it must be like there in the winter. In the northernmost parts of the country, the sun never even rises in the winter. Now, that could give a girl a mean case of seasonal affective disorder. Both of the following photos were taken between 10:30 and 11pm!
By day two in Bergen, I was hurting. All the healing that I thought had happened where my hips and knees were concerned during my time in England and France was undone, and I needed to rest. Of course, I frequently fail to listen to myself on these matters, so instead, Paul and I set off for the town's funicular and the promised stunning views of the city from the top of the mountain. It was stunning, too! This shot even has a couple of birds on the wing in it!
We walked one of the many paths on the top of the mountain, around a lovely little lake and through the woods, and by then, I was exhausted.
Back down the mountain for lunch and a rest before we parted company for the afternoon.
I spent some time at the Leprosy Museum--that's right! Bergen was a real leprosy center between 1850 and 1900, with three leprosy hospitals and the largest population of patients in Europe at the time.The city’s oldest leprosy hospital, St. George’s Hospital, is now a museum that tells the story of both the disease and the stigma that resulted in terrible human tragedy. Today, leprosy is known as Hansen’s Disease, and it is named after the Norwegian physician Armauer Hansen who discovered the leprosy bacillus in Bergen in 1873.
I spent the evening just resting--something I really needed to do. That about sums up my stay in beautiful Bergen. next stop: the Fjords!
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