NORWAY Friday, June 12, 2009

My birthday. We landed in Bergen at 7:10 pm under sunny skies. Our seats were the very last in the tail of the plane, with our view obscured by the engine, but at least we were not still waiting in the Copenhagen airport. It was raining sideways in Copenhagen and they were only operating one runway, so out plane from Manchester was late, causing us to miss our original connecting flight to Bergen. There were many others in the same fix, including several who were booked to board the Hurtigruten ship which leaves Bergen promptly at 8 pm. We were staying in Bergen and boarding the same ferry on Saturday.

As we were awaiting our luggage, we heard a page for us to come to the information desk. Our checked luggage had not arrived, but would be sent as soon as possible to our hotel. Thus unencumbered, we rode the airport bus into town, then took the city bus to what the information center identified on the map as our hotel. Nope, it was 2 km further on.

Another bus ride got us to the right place. Fortunately, there was a supermarket around the corner, so we purchased deli sandwiches, fruit, and cookies for dinner, and toothbrushes. I slept well that night, but awoke very early making mental lists of what I might have to purchase on a quick, expensive shopping expedition in Bergen to prepare for weather well above the Arctic circle. A trip to the hotel lobby brought a huge sigh of relief – our bags had arrived in
the middle of the night.

Bergen on a sunny day in June has the sun setting at 11:30 pm and dusk lasting well past one in the morning. Before retiring for the night we had strolled around the harbor front near our hotel. It was really strange to see the sun shining brightly at 10 pm. It rises again ~ 1:30 am. Tom is a light sleeper, so he also saw the sunrise several days in a row.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
We packed and shared a taxi to downtown Bergen. The Thon Hotel chain has 4 hotels in Bergen and allowed us to store our luggage at one of their closer in hotels. We walked around Bergen and visited the old town which has wooden buildings which were either built without plumb lines, or have succumbed to gravity and age. There are all kinds of shops located in them selling everything from artwork to sweaters to pewter.

The Hanseatic Museum is a re-creation of one of the German merchant's houses and business offices. Customarily, they occupied the same building- business downstairs and lodging upstairs. I had no idea of how far back the Norwegian industry and the trading went. The Norwegian fishing industry has records going back to the mid 12th century, and the Hanseatic league came in in the 1300's. The fishermen did most of their work in small boats in Alesund, which lies 60 degrees North, between January and March. That way, they could dry the fish without worrying about flies. There is a photograph in the museum of the Alesund fisherman in winter around 1850. There were more than 100 small open boats in the water, with 2 men to a boat, and snow on the shore. Since they didn't have any of the modern high tech clothing or gear, they must have been made of much sterner stuff than we are.

After the German traders arrived, the dried fish was packed in barrels and shipped all the way south to the Mediterranean, and points in between. The dried fish resembles a fish shaped board, and looks very much like the lutefisk that I remember my grandfather carrying under his arm into the house. He soaked it in lye water for at least 24 hours, then it was baked and served in drawn butter as a Christmas treat. Yum!

After the museum, we went to the Fish Market on the waterfront. All manner of fresh, smoked and pickled seafood is sold here as well as whale meat. We had a delicious seafood cocktail for lunch, and many free samples of various kinds of smoked salmon and lox. I thought I knew about every way there was to prepare fish, but on this trip we've tried about twenty more varieties and methods of preparation of fish than I had dreamed of. Most of the fish salespeople were from Portugal.

Additionally there were stalls selling more knit goods, both hand and machine knit, more cheesy trolls, plaques, REAL cheeses in every variety, bland to stinky, and jams made from cloudberries, which look very much like our wild salmonberries . They also had booths selling all kinds of furs – reindeer, wolf, fox, and sealskin. The Viking ethic is alive and well.

The weather was sunny and cool, and crowds of people: old, young, families, respectable and svart metal were out enjoying the sun. The harbor has fingers of water reaching into the town and you can stroll along enjoying the boat traffic, the sun, and many shops and eateries. Or you can just sit down, order a beer or a latte and people watch. Such a tough life.

We retrieved our luggage, hired a taxi, and boarded the Kong Harald at about 5 pm. After settling in, we had a wonderful buffet dinner, a lecture on emergency procedures (no lifeboat drills), and whiled away the rest of the evening looking at scenery from various locations on the ship. Since our daily routine is much the same, I'll try to outline it in the next post and include highlights of each day's passage and shore excursions.