Juleen/Joe leave and Julie/Harold see a few more Bergen sights

Juleen and Joe slept late -- very late, attempting to stock up on sleep that they don't get enough of in the US.  They then ran for a bit, had breakfast, packed, and off they went for the airport.  They fly from Bergen to Copenhagen and from Copenhagen to JFK.  They have a tight turnaround before their flight from JFK to Pittsburgh.

Harold and Julie emptied the dishwasher -- yay, the dishes were clean, and they cleaned the kitchen.  Harold also found time to walk around Bergen Art District before they packed and headed to the Hotel Admiral, their last hotel stay before they board the cruise ship.

the arts district in Bergen

Harold and Julie spent the day at the three museums associated with the Hanseatic League, the German economic group that swapped fish for wheat.   This group took over Bryggen's commerce in 1300 and continued for almost 400 years.  They were clannish (didn't mix with the locals) and secretive about how they operated so efficiently.  They were also all-male.  We visited the Hanseatic League Museum and the musuem that housed their social and educational rooms, and the kitchen.  Because of the fear of fire, no kitchens were allowed in the main areas where they lived and did their business.  Then we trekked over to the Maritime Museum and Julie learned that cod liver oil comes from the liver of cod.  Who knew?  A highlight was taking a shuttle boat back to the main wharf area in Bergen.

After that, Harold went to see more of the Hanseatic League Museum, and Julie did a little shopping.

After an unsuccessful attempt to eat at a great little restaurant Joe found for us, we ate at the Fish Market for the second time today.  All was good and a fitting end to our final full day in Bergen.

One last thing -- Bergen gets about 60 sunny days a year, with rain being predominant.  We were lucky enough to be here during four consecutive beautiful days, two of them with full sun, and none of them with rain.  Our server at the restaurant said it had rained for about 2 weeks straight previously, so the natives were thrilled to see the sun -- and so were we.

Bergen -- oh, what a place

Today was spent savoring this beautiful city.  

We mostly split up and did our own things.

Joe went for a long run and shared some of the sights he saw.  Then the two of them (Juleen and Joe) walked around the Fortress and went to the Bryggen Hus Museum which tells about the fortress.  They also partook in a "Resistance to the Nazis" exhibit that was housed there.  They had lunch on a little wooden bench, and in the afternoon, they bought some gifts, shopped, viewed the city from the funicular, and wandered.

The Fortress in Bergen

heading up in the funicular

the view of Bergen from the top of the funicular

Julie and Harold met Randall and Olive at the funicular and up they went.  Bergen is a grand city to see from on high.  Previous to that ride, Randall and Olive wandered around the city.  The four of them had lunch at the Bergen fish market, but they were not together at this point.  Unfortunately, Julie got a touch of food poisoning from her lunch (which was delicious. . . . ), and that bout cut short the afternoon activities for her and Harold, but they did have time to wander through the little alleyways too.

Is it salmon or trout?

Randall purchased some salmon for our evening dinner, and he told a funny story about being at the fish market.  He looks like a native Norwegian, and when he stepped up to the counter, the clerk spoke to him in Norwegian.  Randall smiled and asked him if he spoke English.  Yes, he did, but seemed quite surprised that Randall wasn't Norwegian.  Then Randall pointed to a fish and asked for the salmon.  The clerk sort of sniffed and said, "That's trout."  Let's just say that the clerk wasn't all that impressed with "Norwegian" Randall, but in the end, we did get a huge amount of wonderful, fresh salmon (or was it trout?).  Yes, it is better than what you can get in the US!

Julie and her new beau -- Troll.

We all chilled late afternoon when the major activity was finding a post office in the grocery story we have been using, so Olive, Juleen, and Julie put their reindeer pelts in plastic bags and we headed over to the PO to see if we could mail them to the US.  Sure enough. They had three large boxes big enough for one pelt each, and we boxed them, taped them, paid for them (about $100 total) and away they went.  They should arrive within a week.

We had planned ahead for our final dinner at the apartment.  Randall had bought the salmon/trout at the fish market; Julie and Harold bought the fruit for dessert ($40 worth -- yes, food IS expensive in Norway); Juleen and Joe bought the ingredients for side dishes, and they were responsible for cooking.  We had a superb meal of baked salmon, rice (Julie put butter on hers just to be like a real Norwegian), broccoli, and the fruit for dessert.  We feasted and reminisced about the week.

Then Randall and Olive packed and left about 7:00.  Sigh. They arrived at their airport hotel easily after taking the light rail.

The other four of us at the apartment attempted to get the loaded dishwasher started and eventually succeeded. We are hoping the dishes will be clean in the morning, although Julie wasn't certain what kind of soap she put in the dispenser of the dish washer.  Indeed, it may not even have been soap!

Julie got ambitious and put a load of clothes in the washer and in the dryer.  Again, she wasn't sure which soap was for the clothes, and ended up using a powder soap that was probably for baby clothes. Oh well, it worked, and the clothes washed and dried.

We all went to bed thinking wonderful thoughts about our Norway trip which is almost over for 2/3 of us.

Leaving Maristuen and the "snow road"

the view of Maristuen from our cottage: the middle red building is the old hotel/now museum.  To the left is where guests check in.  Sara's apartment is upstairs.  To the right is the swimming pool and recreation center (currently closed).

We had a busy morning at our cottage at Maristuen.  We packed and cleaned up the place before we loaded our suitcases and the six of us into the car and headed over to the main office.  Julie paid, and quite happily, Knut and Anders came over with a vehicle filled with reindeer skins.  They had one for sale at the hotel, but we wanted two, so they brought a bunch back for us to choose from.  Juleen and I each picked out our favorites, and Knut and Anders gave us an extra, so we have three.  Happily again, we were able to get them in the loaded car.  We sat on them and put them on our laps and away we went.

one last look from Knut as we drove away

one of our reindeer pelts with its Maristuen "markings":
their reindeer skins have spots which are unusual markings

We drove through Laerdal on E16 and then veered off onto what the locals call the "snow road" which Knut had recommended we take in lieu of doing the Flom Railway -- same spectacular views without all the tourists, and lord knows, we want to avoid tourists :-).

We did, however, take the time to stop at the Dale of Norway store in Dale, Norway.  We gave ourselves 10 minutes of power shopping time, and we did indeed get out of there in 12 minutes -- not bad, but none of us found anything worthy of the cost of the items.

"Is he alive?"

This snow road was aptly named.  It weaved around higher and higher until we got above the tree line and continued up past crystal clear lakes, streams, rapids, and waterfalls, and yes, indeed, there was also snow.  We were in awe of the beauty, oblivious to the fact that the best was yet to come.

But that "best" was post lunch.  We decided we didn't have time to stop for something "real" to eat, so we got out the bag of left-over food from our stay at Maristuen:  bread, a little lettuce, a pack of proscuitto, cheese, flatbread, 6 bison sticks, and some candy.  No apple juice though -- the bottom of the cardboard container broke and a large amount of it was in the bottom of the sack.  We drove and ate, and all of us marvelled at how good our lunch was, even sans apple juice!

Then came the "best."  We reached a stopping vista view point with a lot of cars, so we stopped, got out of the car, and walked across the road.  Wow -- we were at a high precipice overlooking a finger of the Sogn Fjord called the Aurland Fjord, which some say is the most beautiful fjord in Norway.  We can't speak to the comparison, but it was indeed stunning.  The cliffs rose high and straight into the air, and those cliffs dove straight down into the water.  The views were complemented by a group of Peruvian bikers who had just made the trek up the mountain on their bikes.  One of them (Julie speculates she was a professional photographer because of the camera she had around her neck) took a picture of all of us with her iphone, and it is without a doubt, the best picture of the trip thus far.

the beautiful Aurland Fjord

Eventually, we felt we had to leave the splendour and continue our trek to Bergen where we had to drop off the car by 3:00 and check into our "penthouse" at 3:00. All was going well until we got close to Bergen and tried to find a gas station.  Our time was slipping away.  We did find a gas station, but decided we didn't have time to actually be dropped off by the penthouse, so driver Joe dropped us off at a street corner (4 of us) with 6 suitcases and 3 huge reindeer pelts, along with three of four shoulder strapbags.  What a sight we must have been.  We had less than 10 minutes to get to our penthouse and we didn't really know where we were going.  Stress.  Fortunately, we made the right turns and finally a local woman took pity on us and asked if we needed helped.  Fortunately again, we were just a couple of blocks from our place.  She laughed and said no wonder we were having trouble.  Our "penthouse" was on the narrowest and shortest street in Bergen -- no cars and only two blocks long.  We arrived a few minutes late, but the owner was still there, and we were happy with the place.

Joe and Olive arrived at the car dealership to return the rental car at 3:15, but Olive put 3:08 down on the "return" info, which was the exact time we had checked out the car.  Quick thinking on her part.  Joe and Olive also found the apartment, and we all chilled a bit.

We wandered around the beautiful streets of Bergen going in and out of the little alleys looking at the shops and then headed to our restaurant. Olive had made us reservations at a good local restaurant -- Bryggeloftet & Stuene where we again feasted on wonderful Norwegian foods. Julie had whale carpaccio, and she is still alive.  Juleen had reindeer filet, Randall had dried cod (bacalao), and many of us had a fish soup which Julie thought was superb and the others so-so.  It was basically in a cream and butter sauce.

Post lunch, and after a bit of wandering around the city some more, we headed back to our place -- quite nice with three bedrooms and an okay view which was one of the selling points of the "penthouse."  It was, however, up a flight of stairs to the main living area, and another flight of stairs to the bedrooms.  One bathroom, on the main floor.  Overall, though, it was a good location and a good place for us all, especially since no one fell down the stairs going to the bathroom in the middle of the night!