It was a beautiful day in Bergen. Not too cold, Not too hot, High thin clouds and light breezes made for a perfect day to … go for a bus ride.
After one of those great European hotel breakfasts (You name it, they’ve got it, if you can find it.) we redied ourselves for a 9:30 bus tour. Our guide was excellent – never stopped talking for 3 hours and we heard all the great stories and history of Bjørgvin (still it’s official name, though everyone calls it Bergen).
The bus took us all around the center of the city. Of course most of what we saw were buildings and houses and those really aren’t very interesting without the context so you won’t see most of them.
That said, here’s a little of what we saw.
The oldest stone house in Bergen. (Earlier houses, made out of wood, tended to burn.) 
The park adjacent to the university 
The ceremonial city gate (there never was a city wall, but still…) 
Bergen’s nod to the Bifrost Bridge 
This is a phone booth. There is a telephone inside. You deposit money and you can make a call. But you can’t get Instagram on it. 
The ‘New Church’ originally built in the 1620’s. It has been rebuilt several times after fires.
Along the way we passed the fish market, the Hanseatic warehouses, and the sailor’s monument but I talked about those yesterday so I’ll spare you.
Eventually we arrived at an outdoor museum.
As the city was being transformed from old wooden structures to stone and concrete one enterprising individual decided that he would save as many of the old building as he could. So he bought a bunch and transported them to a plot of land that he owned. After his death his children didn’t want to continue to maintain them so they turned them over to the city. Eventually the city turned them into a museum (maintained by a corps of volunteers). We spent some time wandering the ‘streets’ looking into the displays, winding up at the ‘old oak tree’ where we saw a short performance.
Here are a few pics.
Faux city gate / entrance to the grounds 
Summer House – Grieg’s actual ‘composing folly’ 
Fire hydrant 
“Main street” 
Baker’s Front Room. 
Baker’s Drawing Room 
Note the spinning wheel. 
Baker’s bedroom 
Sea Captain’s Fireplace 
Sea Captain’s pantry 
Sea Captain’s Dining Room 
Spare roof tiles 
Spiral staircase out back 
Rain Barrel out back 
Period costumes 
Perfumery 
Doctor’s office 
Dentist’s living Room 
Teeth samples for false teeth 
Dentist’s desk 
Dental surgery 
Children sampling period toys
And the play…
Then it was back on the bus and off to the next stop.
Originally there were several such baths around town, built by a doctor who identified a link between hygiene and health. With the advent of indoor plumbing they fell into disuse and all were destroyed except this first one. (It’s now a bar.)
Our last stop was the castle.
History is complicated and it’s hard to say whether this was built by the Danes or the Swedes and who added what, but it’s Norwegian now. It’s mostly not an active castle (except for the great hall) but it’s got good stories and is a fixture on the tourist route.
Towers built (and rebuilt) at different times 
Entrance to inner courtyard 
Inner courtyard 
Multiple rooms furnished for different size gatherings 
The lower level was at one point a prison. This was the ‘men’s side’ 
The women’s side housed women accused of witchcraft who were housed here ‘until the wind changed and they could be burned to death without smelling up the town.’ 
Between the two sides was a chapel. 
Thick walls 
Original stairs up to the great hall 
Doorway to the great hall. 
The great hall – rebuilt after the dynamite. 
Before the rebuilding 
The dais 
Tapestry depicting the great hall (There’s a story.)
So about the dynamite.
During World War II the Nazi’s brought a ship into the harbor for repairs.
The harbor master, being a good functionary of an occupied country, didn’t ask any questions.
So he had no idea that the ship was loaded with dynamite.
At least until there was a small fire aboard the ship.
What followed was the second largest harbor explosion in history (after the Halifax explosion in WW I).
The result was devastating to much of the harbor area.
The castle, with its thick walls was saved – except for the roof which collapsed.
There’s much more to tell, as you can imagine. But that’s a story for another time.
Leaving the castle we boarded the bus for the ride back to the hotel
Our guide suggested that if we want to ride it we should wait till after 4:00 – when all the cruise ship people are gone – and the line will be much shorter.
Back at the hotel Cheryl and I were feeling a bit peckish so we walked up the street a ways to a bakery our guide recommended for sandwiches and fresh made chocolate chunk cookies.
Then we wanted to do a little shopping.
But on the way…
Here’s a short clip of what they sound like.
Pretty cool!
It was also fortuitous because along the way on our bus tour we learned that the statue in the next section of the park is the famous Edvard Grieg statue.
Shopping accomplished we wandered thru back streets (my favorite thing to do in a medieval city).
Back at the hotel, Cheryl has a new book so she hunkered down to read and nap the afternoon away.
I grabbed my laptop and headed back to the bakery where I picked up an Americano and climbed the stairs to their roof-top enclave to do some work.
Later I returned to the room where Cheryl had just woken up from another nap and we decided dinner was in order.
In our wanderings I had identified the most promising of the Irish pubs as my choice for dinner.
It should be noted that Cheryl has no great love for seafood (Except Salmon, Shrimp, Lobster, and maybe crab) so fresh fish or dried cod at the fish market wasn’t an option. Hence my thoughts about Irish pubs.
We went back to the Asian Fusion place so she could reprise the rice bowl we shared last night. I opted for a scampi bowl (it was as good as the other) and we were both happy. As a reward she and the waitress joined forces to convince me to suffer thru the ‘Chocolate Wonderland’ for dessert.
Then the happy campers returned to the hotel to write this up, read (new book…), and have our suitcases out in the hall by 9:00 pm.
Tomorrow isn’t an early day.
We leave for the train at 10:30 so we can sleep in and linger over one more over-the-top breakfast buffets.
Till then,
R