A DAY IN BERGEN

 A DAY IN BERGEN:



 

 

 

We have a day to runabout Bergen and the plan is to visit a couple new museums and a new chocolate shop. 

We are up at 0530 getting our act sorta together and will soon go the breakfast. The Clarion Hotel Admiral has an amazing breakfast.

After our breakfast we gathered ourselves and struck out for a day of unknown discovery. 

Our first thoughts were, WOW Bergen is sure busy in the summer time. We kept saying where did all these people come from. 

                                     Looks interesting.


As we walked around one of the harbor areas to Bryggen, we noticed several older Motor Vessels docked. We learned these were ships built in Bergen and had sailed the Norwegian coastal waters. 

                                                         LOOK A SWEATER SHOP

 

One ship stood out, the Royal Yacht Norge was a gift from the people of Norway to King Haakon VII in 1947, purchased in the wake a nationwide collection effort. The ship is owned by His Majesty The King, but is manned and maintained by the Royal Norwegian Navy. The Royal Standard is flown from the aftermost mast when the King is on board the Royal Yacht.

The Norwegian Royal Yacht Norge is one of the world’s two remaining royal yachts. The other is the Danish Royal Yacht Dannebrog, since the British Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997.

Originally named the Philante, she was built in England in 1937 for the British aircraft manufacturer Thomas Sopwith. (Think Snoopy) At the time it was one of the largest vessels of its kind. Sopwith used the yacht as a base when competing in regattas. In fact, the Philante first entered Norwegian waters in 1938 in connection with a regatta at Hankø in Eastern Norway.

With the outbreak of WWII the British Royal Navy requisitioned the Philante. First used as an escort vessel for convoys crossing the Atlantic, it was put into service as a school ship for training convoy escorts in 1942. The ship was returned to Thomas Sopwith in 1946 and sold to Norway the following year.

I did enjoy seeing this bit of history. We had a nice chat with a Norwegian soldier who was assigned to the yacht. We had just missed seeing this ship in Longyearbyen earlier this year. He has been in the army for less than a year and I though he was rather lucky to have such duty. 


Our next stop was the Troll Museum. This is the largest museum in Norway dedicated to trolls and fairy tales and Norse mythology.  

This is a very well done museum and they make excellent use of modern technology. I enjoyed the Norse mythology of the creation of earth. To me amazingly there were many similarities to other creation mythological legends. 

There are not just Trolls, but there are many different kinds of trolls. For example forest trolls, sea trolls, mountain trolls etc. I have a special liking to Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” as it is one of the first piano pieces I learn for a recital. 

This museum is well worth a visit. While the suggested visit time is one hour we spent almost two. 

                                                  This was very interesting to me 

We then headed towards the Bryggen area and made a quick peek inside St Mary’s Church, it has always been closed during our other visits. 

Then we walked the narrow walkways of Bryggen. If you have seen any photos of Bergen, it was probably the Bryggen area. Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, is a reminder of the town’s importance as part of the Hanseatic League’s trading empire from the 14th to the mid-16th century. Many fires, the last in 1955, have ravaged the characteristic wooden houses of Bryggen. Its rebuilding has traditionally followed old patterns and methods, thus leaving its main structure preserved, which is a relic of an ancient wooden urban structure once common in Northern Europe. Today, some 62 buildings remain of this former townscape.

Many of these building now house souvenir shops and OH LOOK SWEATERS!!! I did not fall victim to the rubber tomahawk shops (my name for souvenir shops). 

Oh Look, a place to get a sausage. I know, no surprise to many of you. Trekroneren is the place to get a reindeer hot dog and they are best when dressed with lingonberry sauce and crispy onions and mustard. Trekroneren has been open for more than 75 years, and you can choose from 25 different hot dogs. Trust me, stick with the reindeer. 

Fortified with a reindeer sausage we started our trek to the University Gardens. Passing the City Lake there was a Thai Food festival going on. We did not stop any of their offerings but all looked very good. 

Up the hill is the university and the gardens. Here we took a break and enjoyed the great weather. It is rare for the sun to be shinning in Bergen. 

At the University one finds the Natural History Museum. Sadly, as today is Monday it was closed. We have visited it on previous trip and I highly recommend a visit. Also close to this area is the Maritime Museum and it is also excellent. 

We then wove our way back to the hotel to prepare for our sailing tomorrow. We did make a stop at a bakery for some bread togo with our soup this evening. The a stop at 7-11 for some drinks. FYI,   in Norway there seems to be a. 7-11 on every corner or on every block. 

There will be a Hurtigruten rep here at the hotel later this evening. This probably for passenger who have arranged transfers or pre stay activities with them. We will check with them anyway and maybe get our luggage tags. 


We did make a grand effort to locate the new chocolate shop but failed in this quest.