A Day in Bergen

People who have never been to our town of Aalesund, think Bergen is the most beautiful city in Norway. It’s a very nice city, but nothing is like Aalesund. But the good thing about Bergen is, it’s a LOT bigger than Aalesund (or I guess that could be the BAD thing about Bergen, too.) It’s Norway’s second largest city, after Oslo, with a population exceeding 250,000. (Prior to the early 1800s, it actually was the largest city in Norway.) There are more places to explore, more stores to shop in and more ground to cover. We covered plenty of it today and my feet are now crying for mercy. But we couldn’t have had better weather so the day was as perfect as days get.

The most famous part of Bergen is Bryggen, the buildings along the waterfront seen in this photo. That area of town was built in the 1200s and incredibly, those buildings are still standing (although a little off kilter), but they serve their purpose. German merchants lived in that part of town (away from the locals), for over 400 years. They came mostly to buy and sell the dried cod from Northern Norway, so that area is quite historic and special as it’s now on the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sights. In the 1950s the town wanted to tear those buildings down, but the locals protested and formed “The Friends of Bryggen” group and raised the money to put the buildings back into action. They are now just full of tourist shops, but they are still quite charming. We walked around them this morning before anything was open and I took a few photos while Kory checked out their construction. Kaleb could have cared less about any of it.

Bryggen sits next to an old fort built of stone, which we also walked around and took photos of this morning in the fog - which only added to the ambiance. Once the fog cleared up we took a tram up to the top of the nearest mountain and enjoyed the view from on high. They have redone the viewing platform up on top since we were here in the year 2001. It’s quite impressive and I so wish Aalesund would do something like that on top of its little mountain. Nothing like getting the bird’s eye view of things. And while we were up there we decided to go with a little Easter tradition and walk around a bit in the woods. We didn’t wander too far, but enough to see what the forest looks like. The ground has no underbrush, it’s just a carpet of moss – very elegant looking, actually. And signs of spring are popping up all over the place as crocuses and daffodils are now in their prime.

We took the tram back down the mountain and had lunch at the fish market next to the harbor. Kaleb wanted to go the aquarium so we went for a long walk to the end of the peninsula to get there. We took him there when he was two years old, but not surprisingly, he didn’t remember it, so he wanted to go again (he actually DOES remember several things from when he was two, however.) The penguins were pretty cute and the goldfish pond gave Kaleb a thrill as the fish all came and nibbled his finger when he put it in the water. We walked around the park in front of the Aquarium afterwards and discovered a NW Native American Totem pole – a gift to the City of Bergen from their sister city, Seattle. That was a nice surprise.

After we walked back to the heart of town, Kory and Kaleb went swimming in the pool at the hotel while I did a little shopping. I didn’t find anything I was looking for, but it was fun to look anyway. Kaleb needs a new pair of tennis shoes and I’m used to buying them at Wal-Mart for $15, so it’s pretty hard to cough up a hundred dollars for a pair of shoes that will barely last six months. I just can’t bring myself to spend that kind of money on one item like that. Uff da. That’s why I stay out of the stores. Most things that cost $5 back home, will easily cost $20 here. Norwegians drop a hundred dollars on something like Americans drop $20. We “dropped” over $250 today just on the aquarium entrance, the tram to the top of the mountain, lunch and dinner. Vacationing in Norway can never be done on a budget.

We got a call tonight from cousin Turid to say that Tante Kari fell and broke her hip today! Of all the three sisters, she’s the most spry, so it was a bit of a shock to hear that one. She is 80, but you’d never know it. She was checking on the progress of her grandson’s new house, which coincidentally, Kory is helping to build via his job, and she tripped over some construction material. She will be having surgery tonight to put a pin in her hip. That sure put a damper on an otherwise wonderful day.