Duke's Excellent Adventure!: Rainy Day in Norway (Around the city of Bergen)

July 7, 2012

Today was an example of what the weather is usually like up here. Up until now, we were blessed with perfect weather, which was awesome for Geiranger. Bergen is a bigger city however, so to have had the one rainy day end up on the day we were in Bergen is okay with me. I think buildings and rain go well together.

Be that as it may, I took a bus tour of the city and around the city, and most of our stops were outside the city, so we'll start with the one picture inside the city I took, and it's of the Concert Hall. First of all, everything musical in Norway is dedicated to their musical hero Edvard Grieg. So, here is Grieg Hall. You can learn more about Grieg Hall here: History page of the Grieg Hall website.

Grieghallen

After driving by Grieghallen, we got off our busses by a thick cluster of trees and walked deep inside to find a replica of a stave church. Bergen has burnt down and been rebuilt several times. This particular stave church survived every fire, until a few years ago when some crazy guy decided he would light in on fire. So, here you go, a replica of a stave church in Bergen. No doubt the Norwegians are a little ticked off at that guy.

A Stave Church amongst the trees

Cool architecture.

The Norwegian King Olaf brought Christianity to Norway, and henceforth has been known as St. Olaf. Christianity was easily picked up and embraced partly because they adopted images from Norse mythology and used them for Christian purposes.

Close up of a dragon protecting a stave church

One example of this is the dragon, normally thought of as a reference to the devil. In this case the early Norwegians took the image of the dragon and used it to be more of a guardian. Here we have a close up one of the dragons that protects the stave churches from demons. Most Stave churches will have dragons somewhere in their architecture.

Just outside the church

Getting around Norway: The place is so mountainous that tunnels are everywhere. Here's one of them:

One of the many tunnels of Norway

Now we move on to the waterfall! If you've been reading my blog, you know that Norway is no stranger to waterfalls. In fact everyone who visits Norway in the summer ends up taking a picture of every waterfall they see until they get exhausted. So, what makes this one special? Well, this one is pretty powerful. It also has a railed walk behind. But most importantly, it has a parking lot for the busses, and a cafe and souvenir shop that's partnered with the shore excursion company.

Ooooooooh!

The pretty flowers that grow everywhere.

Found these flowers next to the waterfall. Thought I'd grab a picture. They can be found all over the country. Lucky me because I love purple!

The backside of water!

By now it's lunch time, and everyone's hungry. The only problem is...we're in Norway. Food is expensive! Two friends of mine went out for a pizza and soft drinks and got stuck with a bill that when converted into dollars ended up being about $100. So, here are the two things that I recommend so that you avoid this problem: 1) If you're on a cruise, EAT ON THE SHIP! Or 2) Buy a shore excursion that includes lunch. Thankfully, this excursion included lunch. We went to a local hotel that had an incredible spread!

Fish Feast!

Incredible spread that is...if you like fish. (Yes, I regretted eating all of the content of this plate)

Ice Cream and Mousse!

For the non fish eaters, may I suggest to you four different flavors of mousse and three different Ice Creams? (No regrets about this plate whatesoever)

Full of fish and ice cream, I had to go for a walk. We had an hour break so I walked over the the fjord and stepped in it because, how often is that an option for you? "Oh, I think I'll go over to the fjord."

Me in the fjord. Because I can.

Right, so I went to the fjord, touched it, got my pictures, and then went back to the hotel and set some records on Mario Kart 3DS while waiting for everyone to be ready. No matter what the degree of awesome you are surrounded by, the boredom can always find you when you're waiting for people! I recommend that you always be prepared to combat the boredom. Here was my solution on that day:

People are finally back on the bus, so we head on out to the next photostop:

Suprise! It's the fjord again.

We finish our trip with a ferry across the fjord to a road that takes us back to Bergen. But just as we emerge out of a tunnel, our driver stops by some huge rocks! Our guide tells us how these huge rocks fell from the cliffs above and just barely missed the people and the huts below. My thought of course is, "So why are we stopped next to them?!"

One of the "lucky" rocks.

Like I said, we end our tour with a ferry ride. But I have to show you how cool this ferry was! The front of it opened up like a giant mouth, and then it swallowed all the cars. Then it crosses the water, opens up and spews us out on the other side!