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This blog is about our short visit to Oslo.  From there we took a train to Bergen where we boarded a Hurtigruten ship for a cruise of the Norwegian Fjords all the way to the North Cape, the Russian Border, and back.

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January 1 – On to Oslo

We have spent the last week two weeks cruising the Danube River (from Nuremberg, Germany to Budapest, Hungary and then spent a week in Budapest.  This trip was with a Tara Group and included Jessica, Will, Charlie and Liam.  This morning everyone was headed home except us. 

Our transfer to the Budapest airport was on time and our trip to the airport was uneventful.  We had plenty of time to relax at the airport.  The flight to Oslo was about two and a half hours. 

The sky cleared a bit as we were flying over Norway and we were able to get a few photos from the air.  It looks cold down there. 

Photos from the ride to the hotel.

January 2 – Oslo and the Opera House

It is pretty cold (for us) at about 27 degrees F (but at least not minus 27 F like it was in Finland), and it was pretty overcast so we spent most of the morning (what little of it there was…sun didn’t come up until 9:17am) inside working on photos.  The sky did turn clear and sunny around mid-day so we decided to head out for a bit of sightseeing.  By the time we got on our thermals and coats and toe warmers and boots and all the other cold weather gear the overcast skies had closed back in.  But, we headed out anyway (too much trouble to take everything back off).

We headed down to the waterfront where we visited the opera house.  It was a photographer’s dream.  The exterior was beautiful…

and the variety of textures and materials on the interior made for some great photo opportunities.

During our walk we noticed some huts along the waterfront.  Turns out they are dry sauna’s (at least that is what they looked like) and people would wander out of the huts and jump into the water or (in case of one guy) casually climb down the ladder as though he was entering a pool at a tropical resort.  A few minutes later (or, in some cases, a few seconds later) they would climb the ladder back out and go into one of the sauna huts.  We practically froze solid just watching them in the water.  Burrrrrr!

In the waters near the opera promenade we say this fascinating glass and steel sculpture.  It is called She Lies.  It rotates depending on the winds and tides…giving a constantly changing perspective.

In one of the plazas was another sculpture called the Creature from Iddefjord. 

We then headed back to the hotel where we stopped in the bar to get hot chocolate. 

We spent all afternoon watching How-to videos for our new photo processing software that we want to start using.  It is rather complicated so a lot of tutorials are called for. 

That evening we headed to the TGI Friday’s restaurant for dinner, mainly because it was directly adjacent to the hotel so we could duck over there quickly without putting on all our winter gear. 

January 3 – Day of Leisure and Work

We spent most of the in the continuing our review of video tutorials on our new photo editing software.  The current system that came with Mary's new computer is totally unacceptable.  Even the most minor edit causes the pixel to drop by 60 to 80%...totally unacceptable.  So, until we can start working with the new editing software there is no work being done to edit any photos.  It is really slowing things down.  Hopefully another day or two of this and we can start editing photos. 

After another dinner at TGI Fridays we spent the evening repacking for our trip to Bergen tomorrow. 

January 4 – Train to Bergen

We were up early for breakfast and then packed the last minute items in our suitcases.  The train station is just across the road but everything is wet and covered with snow so it was a bit of a slog to get over there. 

The train was right on time and relatively crowded.  It felt like we were on the local train instead of an express.  There were a lot of stops early on.  Them the stops became farther between.  It was about a six hour trip in total.  There was a basic café on the train so we were able to get a bit to eat. 

The trip is supposed to be very beautiful.  And what we could see was pretty.  However, it was snowing pretty steadily for most of the trip, which reduced visibility.  

And at times it was almost a whiteout…all we could see was a wall of white. 

If it weren’t for the occasional colorful yellow and red buildings one would think that the photos were all taken in black and white. 

(See the Specialty Album in the Introductions section for more photos of the train ride between Oslo and Bergen.)

We arrived in Bergen a half hour late.  We caught a taxi and were at the hotel by about 4:00pm.  Our hotel room is small but the hotel itself overlooks the harbor and is in a good location.

The sun sets about 3:45 in the afternoon so it gets dark pretty early. 

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant.  They have a very limited menu but they had very good hot chocolate and great views of the wharf across the harbor. 

Sign on the door to the patio at our hotel.  Wonder if Alfred Hitchcock stayed here?

January 5 – Walking Around Bergen

We had breakfast late, around 9:00.  The sun was just in the process of coming up so a lot of the city lights were still on.  We were able to get a few nice photos of the Bergen Wharf area with its lights still on.

Not long after breakfast we bundled up and headed out for a bit of walking around Bergen.  First order of business was to find the dock where we would be catching out cruise.  It was reported to be only about 500 meters from our hotel.  Well maybe as the crow flies…or if one doesn’t mind pulling ones luggage (in our case two pieces of luggage each totaling about 70 pounds per person) up over a rather high hill.  Not going to happen.  We will get a taxi.

Because the sun rises so late it was still not very light when we headed out to explore.  Our first stop was the waterfront.  Which is rather magical with the lights reflecting on the water. 

From the waterfront we decided to head up the hills to explore the town...

and some of the neighborhoods. The windy streets were mostly cobblestone and the houses were small but neatly kept and well cared for and many were brightly colored 

And there were many brightly colored doors.

We found St. John’s Church.

Much of the area we wandered through was near the university and we saw the Bergen University Museum up a street.

This looked to be a nursery school or elementary school…how colorful.

We found The City Park with a lovely gazebo and views of the surrounding mountains.   and

And there was an interesting round sculpture. 

We also found the Bergen Central Square...

with the Sailors Monument.

From there we made our way to the harbor with the iconic row of buildings on the opposite side.  This section of Bergen is often featured in the Norway travel posters.  And it is lovely during the day but would be better on a sunny day.

Its Snowing.

We spent the afternoon in the room although we did go down to the bar mid afternoon to get some hot chocolate. 

In the evening we went down to the waterfront for some photos at night...

and to have dinner at an Indian restaurant we found during our wanderings.  It was actually very good.

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More Bergen
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