Thursday, July 2
We docked in Bergen early this morning. After an early luggage pick up time and final breakfast in the dining room, we bade farewell to the ship.
I gave my new and old friends a heads up that I am renowned for my "separation anxiety" when leaving a tour. I actually got choked up when I said goodbye to Joe, our waiter, and gave Joffrey a traditional French 2-cheek kiss (as opposed to a French kiss) on the way out. Onward!
I suppose it couldn’t have been more appropriate, but once getting off the ship in Bergen, we were greeted by a real Norwegian rain. We not only needed our raincoats, but also our umbrellas for the first time in 10 days. Once we had loaded the bus, our new local guide Magda informed us that this weather is great “for a good complexion.” I guess that’s one way of looking at it. She also said that "just because you have to be waterproof doesn’t mean you can’t be fashionable", and she shared that she has three rain jackets for three seasons. I must admit that what she was wearing was extraordinarily fashion forward—a pine green mid-length raincoat with a hood.
OK so we were really spoiled with great weather before now, but I will acknowledge here and now that if this had been the weather throughout the whole trip, I would definitely have had to do more retail therapy because I did not pack enough layers. It was chilly and wet— Norwegian travelers beware! Those who have been on our blog before know that I only do carry on; it relieves some of the stress when there’s a connection. In fact, one of the travelers in our group never received his luggage over the course of the entire trip. But if I were to rewind and repack for this trip, I would have taken not only additional layers, but additional wardrobing possibilities for the evenings.
Bergen is a very hilly city. While the population is 300,000 right now, through the 1800s this was the biggest city in Norway in terms of size. It was a huge hub for the fish trade, and fish remains a huge part of the economy today. Magda shared that money smells like fish here. So of course, our first stop was the fish market.
She went on to tell us that most of the buildings are traditionally built of wood, which resulted in many fires (sound familiar?). But then she was the first of our many tour guides to put the three common attributes of the cities and towns we have visited across Norway in perspective, together. “We are about fish, fire, and rain here. Culture and nature at your doorstep.”
Apparently, residents of Bergen are called Bergeners, and they are known for their resilience because of all the fires. Magda went on to share that it’s ironic that there are 240 days with major fires every 20 to 30 years. She added that wood is your friend here because of insulation and also that Bergen is the best preserved wooden city in all of Europe.
Other Bergen tidbits: the wharf is a UNESCO historical site built in medieval times. All roads lead to the main harbor. Norway has the second longest coastline in the world. Bergen was the capital of Norway in the 1200s as it was the gateway to the north islands. 20% of Bergeners come from elsewhere— Magda acknowledged that she and her husband moved here a few years ago because he loves Vikings.
Our first stop was Troldhaugen, the Edvard Grieg home— which we viewed from the outside because the inside is being completely renovated.
There is a small museum with photos of Edvard and his wife Marie (his first cousin) along with a lovely music room playing selections from Peer Gynt. I had severe earworms for the rest of the morning. Listen while you read the rest of this post!
Our next stop was the Fantoft Stave Church (so named from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called stafr in Old Norse and stav in modern Norwegian). There were many stave churches across Norway— built, in place of the heathen churches; many of them burned either through the commonplace fires or through arson (the anti-Christian movement as Magda described it). The original stave church in Bergen was from the 12th century. This one is a replica— showing the juxtaposition of Viking life and Christianity—and it was reconstructed in 1998. While they tried to re-create the look and feel of the original church and while this church was certainly beautiful, it simply was not the same as the real deal might have been. All that said, the stone cross is from the original church.
Since neither the Grieg house nor the stave church were alongside the street, we took 5 to 10 minute walks down gravel paths to get to each in the rain, so this gave us a good opportunity to ask about trolls. Magda shared that there are numerous magical creatures here in Norway and that "Frozen" * got it mostly wrong. Trolls do NOT help humans find love. They are evil (and apparently they eat humans), they come out at night, and they turn into rocks during the day (transitioning to rocks is the only thing that "Frozen" got right!). These are not the cutesy ones with the long colorful hair and big bellies that we have in the U.S.
Trolls are by far the kitschiest and most common Norwegian souvenir. Every shop has at least 10 shelves full of trolls in many different sizes and costumes; each one uglier than the next. So, I must admit that I did purchase one. Here is some more information on them.
At this point, it was time for lunch (probably the longest elapsed time between meals for the entire trip). We went up with the other 120 people from our trip into a beautiful lunch space that apparently used to be the stock exchange. We were joined at lunch by three new friends Georgine, Pat and Maureen with whom we’ve shared many travel stories over the past week or so.
After lunch, the mission was to proceed on a walking tour of the historical district, but it was cold and raw, and Mona and I preferred to do some retail therapy, so that’s what we did for the next hour. Next up was a funicular ride to our farewell group dinner. These trips feature lots of farewells.
I will include photos with some additional thoughts in a final post—-timing TBD.
Love,
wendy
*P. S. You may be curious. We spent 10 days in Norway and not a.peep about "Frozen" — until the forced conversation today about trolls. Alas, it’s a long story and one of my points of feedback about the trip. On Friday afternoon, when nothing was scheduled, I had a massage (remember the one with the open window for all to see?). Concurrently with that massage, Tauck had a big surprise for travelers, which was a performance from "Frozen", on an outcropping adjacent to the ship, complete with local dancers and singers. Apparently it was pretty terrific, but I wouldn't know, because I was getting a massage and the show was on the opposite side of the boat! You can get a feel for it here.
Note to TAUCK: surprises are great, but if you want to get the full bang for the buck and more positive feedback you should let people know with plenty of advance notice that a surprise is coming— especially if is pop culture related.
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