Well that's the way it started, then a front
moved in and we could hardly stand up in the wind and rain. Thank goodness we
had our emergency ponchos with us...phew....they saved the day!
We had been on a three hour bus trip and museum
visit from 11am which was just delightful. The museum was for the famous
composer & pianist Edvard Greig who was born & live in Bergen and was
very interesting touring his home, seeing his little hut by the edge of the fjord
where he composed his music. Apparently his wife loved to entertain & he
needed to escape the constant chatter to work undisturbed. I think there are
many Aussie men who do this today, except they call it 'the shed' unfortunately
nothing of any real note is created in most sheds.
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| Life-sized statue of Evard Greig - what a difference in height |
We passed castles, current royal residences,
original rope making sheds (the best example is over 300 metres long as the
strongest rope is made in one full length rather than joined) which catered for
the fishing industry & new apartment blocks made to look old. The king
decreed back in the 1700's that wooden houses were too dangerous as they burnt
down (Bergen has been levelled a number of times from fires & that ship
full of dynamite and nitro that exploded during WW2) but the people didn't want
the expense of brick so they simply plastered/rendered over the timber on the
front facade to avoid the tax.
After the bus tour we went to the fish markets
which run along the edge of the old harbour and tucked into a really nice fish
burger and chips under the shelter of an awning. The lady in the shop told me
it would rain later today but she didn't say it was going to be so
yuck......out came the ponchos and we struggled along the wharf saying to each
other, this won't last, it will blow over, you know all the motivational things
we say when we fear the worst. The worst arrived, howling wind (Grant reckons
it is a force 10 gale) & not heavy rain but constant & drenching. We
made it back to our hostel thankful for the shelter & a chance to dry our
clothes. I think the underfloor heating in the bathroom will come in really
handy tonight to dry our shoes & coats, it is very cosy in there.
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| Sheltering from the wind behind a building on the wharf, opposite the 'chocolate box' houses |
On our way to our room in the
lift a young American lass told Grant that there are only two things you needed
to bring to Bergen, warm clothes & good wet weather gear, apparently it
rains 260+ days a year.
The Norwegians have a saying 'there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing', that just about sums it up for today.
You wouldn't credit it, after I had written the first part of this blog, the cloud broke up and the sun shone through. Grant & I opted for a walk round the area as we had spotted a large church with spire quite close to our hostel. Lovely walk, rained again but we took shelter in the church vestry 'til to blew over then high-tailed it home, mind you it was after 9pm.
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| The evening light and the stillness made this shot possible |
Monday morning the weather
prediction was for snow flurries (thankfully they didn't arrive) with heavy
rain in the afternoon. Decision made, quick shower, hit the road, as we wanted
to get to the top of Mount Floyen on the funicular railway and we knew it was
now or never. I don't think I am going to have enough adjectives to describe
Scandinavia, the view was absolutely breathtaking and so was the wind but that
didn't matter. We took some lovely photos, walked the tracks a bit, checkout
the souvenier shop, had coffee & shared a cinnamon bun of some description
at the cafe then headed downhill to make the most of the conditions while they
were still fine.
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| View from the top of Mount Floyen |
This visit we were able to spend
a little time in the beautiful shops along the waterfront. We really rushed
past them yesterday in the horrible weather and today we went into the World
Heritage area, into the shops, watched a man making leather goods from reindeer
hides, a lady stitching hardanger embroidery (a tradition craft here named
after the Hardanger Fjord), saw loads of interesting knitwear, furs etc. They
really know how to dress for the conditions here, not an inch of skin would be
left unprotected, there were even bracklet type fur things to cover the gap
between your coat & your gloves, how handy would they be in the winter!
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| Finally some sunshine on the wooden 'chocolate box' buildings in the World Heritage area along the waterfront in Bergen |
