Author: Peg

 I truly hope that there isn’t going to be construction activities on this part of the building.  This building used to be the train station. The location is great. I was rather spoiled by my last hotel.  I was scolded for not telling them that I was leaving before breakfast this morning. The clerk called the kitchen and in less than 5 minutes a take away bag appeared. When I got on the train, I investigated it. There was a croissant, grapes, strawberries and an apple and what appeared to be a roll with smoked salmon.  I figured that one really should not eat a smoked salmon sandwich on a crowded train. Especially since the trip was over 6 hours.  When I got to my lodgings, I tore into the sandwich. It was actually a fried egg and salmon on a roll.  Sort of a Norwegian egg McMuffin. I wonder what they would have provided if I had notified them earlier about my early departure?  

That was an extraordinary hotel. 

By 4pm, I had finished my breakfast and went out for a little walk and air. The opera house, the water, the new Munch museum. All within a couple of blocks.

Notice the graceful lines of the opera house.

Then, not-matter that it was only a little after five, I was suddenly taken exhausted.  So, I headed back. Stopping to get a coffee and cup of yogurt at a 7-Eleven. $6.43. Norway isn’t cheap.  

So, here I am in my room, essentially ready of bed and it’s not 7pm yet.  Not much of a party animal these days. But still crazy.

This morning my plan was to go see the penguins at the aquarium. But, there was that mountain or large hill. The one that I was supposed to go to the top of via funicular if I was in Bergen on one of its rare sunny days.  But the funicular is out of commission. I think of Carlton who was always hiking to the top of mountains. And my friend Stephen, who rides his bicycle 100 miles just because he can. Surely I can walk up a 400 meter big hill. Google says I can do it in 49 minutes.  Well, maybe 90 minutes. Google doesn’t seem to take my age into account.

What the hell. Off I go. There are lots of people on the trail. And everyone of them pass me. That’s Ok. I stop and rest at every bench. I make it to the top. 

This is Europe, there are amenities at the top of mountains. 

Now, I must get myself ready to be at track 3 of the train station before 8:15 tomorrow morning. That involves a little packing and dinner. Lots of restaurants near by. But, I am thinking maybe room service burger and frites.

Bergen was good. Back on the train to Oslo tomorrow. Staying at the same place. Wonder what I will find to do in Oslo? Gotta get and pass a Covid test on Wednesday.  And that’s about my only plans.  I have done ZERO to prevent Covid. Haven’t even looked at a mask since I stepped off the plane in Oslo two weeks ago.

Champaign and chocolate covered strawberries just showed up.  I love this hotel.  Actually, I rather like Norway.  There is the 38% VAT on every thing that I have purchased. But, I think that is how the Norwegians finance their gracious lifestyle. Happy to pay it.

The plan was to take the funicular to the top of town. And walk back down. But, the funicular was closed for repairs and I am way to old to be climbing up mountains. Even big hills, for that matter. 

There was just a knock at my door, the hotel delivered tea and cookies to me. For no apparent reason.  It was a lovely surprise.  

Well, since the funicular was out of service, I headed to the “fortress”. The buildings were closed, this being the off season. But I walked around. 

The WW2 museum was open.  Been thinking a lot about WW2 on this trip.  Part of it is Ukraine. Part of it is walking through towns in the North that were completely destroyed by the Germans or Nazis as the Germans would have me call them. And other towns were undamaged. 

Norway had a rather checkered WW2 history.  They were officially neutral. But, they were occupied by the Nazis. My dinner mate from Switzerland said “there are neutral countries but not necessarily neutral citizens”. She was referring to Switzerland during the war. The implication being that many Swiss supported the Nazis. 

The museum made much of the resistance fighters. But also made it clear that many supported the Nazis. And, indeed those northern cities that were not damaged by the Nazis as they retreated were the cities that cooperated with the Nazis.  

The hardest part of the museum was the “facing history” part. After the war Norway sent 1,200 small children born of Norwegian mothers and German fathers to Australia.  Without their mothers. That’s harsh. Other things were mentioned, but this was the worse.

Next on tap, the Leprosy Museum.  You know I love strange museums. But alas it too is closed until April.  

So, I go in search of wall art and/or graffiti.  It is sometimes hard to tell the difference, but…

Well, it’s not really on the church, it’s on a construction fence attached to the church.

I wonder if the bee was able to fly with that load of pollen?

First challenge of the day. Get packed. My stuff expanded!  I did not buy anything. It must be the salt air. 

This is one of the “old” ferries.  There are 14 of them. 365 days a year one leaves from Bergen going north and one leaves from Kirkenes going south.  They carry passengers, cars, and freight.  The main cargo seemed to be bales of peak moss.  

I make my way off the Ferry and with Google’s assistance I find my hotel.  

 I was told that the hotel was a bank in its former life. It is fine inside. Not so grim.  I connected to the WiFi and figured out the shower.  In my experience, the more you pay for a room, the harder it is to make the shower deliver water at the desired temperature from the desired faucet/shower head. 

Haven’t a clue as to what I am going to do here in Bergen. I think that I will enjoy some downtime. Maybe I will just BE in Bergen. And enjoy not doing anything.

We agreed that we would not fret about packing or anything, we would just enjoying the last full day on the Ferry. My table mate headed off at 4:30 on a tour of a marble mine and will return at 9:15 this evening. I don’t believe that I will wait that long for dinner.

Today was glorious warm and sunny.

My morning adventure was roaming around the ferry with my GoPro. I may or may not make it into a video. This afternoon, I read, napped, drank coffee and looked out the windows.  

And then, Kristiansund begins to appear. What a lovely little city, population 25,000.  It seems to be where a lot of off shore oil and gas operations have their administrative offices.  

Only stopping for 30 minutes but I had to get off and see the town in person

The problems of the world remain, even on a marvelous warm spring day.  

The other ferries on this route run on diesel. Our runs on natural gas and electric.  As a result we are not allowed to fuel up in the in town ferry dock. We have to use a remote dock.  There is a bus that goes to and from the town dock. It was soggy and I didn’t want to hang around waiting for a bus.  So, I walked around the dock area.  BTW, it takes a couple of hours to gas up.  

There were a lot of little fishing camps. Some had electricity. Some didn’t. Or they might have had underground wiring. I have learned that red is the cheapest color of house paint. 

A lazy day today. Reading, laundry, a little walk. It was good to walk without ice under foot.  

Just about perfect. Thank you, Mother Nature and you too Father Time, for keeping me in the game. 

A lazy day. We stopped for about an hour in Hammerfest. Population 10,200.  It was a toasty 33 degrees and the sun was out.

In the morning, we were encouraged to go out on deck to admire a natural gas transfer station.

We have an hour but town is an unknown distance away. And, since it is Sunday, nothing will be open.  So, I walk around the quay.  

That works out to $9.57 per gallon.  And yes, Norway is swimming in oil. That doesn’t mean gas is cheap.  

By the time I got back to the ship, it was snowing.

And, finally…

If the clouds hold off, I have hopes of seeing the lights tonight.  

Really not the most best possible advertisement for Kirkenes, population 3,500. It was also 21 degrees. And, “town” was 2 kilometers away. Snagging one of the four magnificently comfy chairs by the fireplace seemed very appealing. But no, I bundled up and headed out.

Russia is about 5 kilometers away. Local residents from both sides cross the border freely. Norwegians enjoy the cheaper petro in Russia and Russians like the quality Norwegian stuff. 

It wasn’t too slippery since there was new snow. Trudge. 

There is a real end of the world feel to the place. 

Made it safely back to the ferry. Washed my hair, took a nap, and I now ensconced in a comfy chair by the fake fire.

Went to North Cape today. On a tour bus with the French people from the ferry. The Germans had 2 buses. Going to North Cape seems to be a “thing”. Before Covid about 200,000 people per year made the trek. Most in summer. 

Just guessing, but maybe the radar station is a bit busier than it has been for the last 20 years.  

No way I was walking up those stairs. After wandering around in the snow for an hour or so, it was back to the French bus. The French brought lunch and wine.  I noticed the Germans had the bestest gear. Then there was me. Vintage woman in a old raincoat armed with a cane and a thermos of coffee.  

There are two snow plows. They start up the road to North Cape at 9 and 10 in the morning and leave North Cape at 1230 and 1330. The only time civilians are allowed on the road is when the are following the snow plow.

 It was sunny when we left. But, the snow is back.

My cabin is the left small rectangular window in the white paint.  And, right before dinner,  the ferry stopped in Kjollefjord and I took a picture from that very window.

Tomorrow morning we will be at the turn around port. Wonder how many folks will get off. I am not optimistic about seeing the lights. Not the fault of the lights. The fault lies with the weather.  And, it’s ok if the lights don’t appear. The first half of the ferry trip has been great. Dramamine for the next 8 hours of open ocean. 

Oops, just  heard jet fighters flying over.  And I am reminded that Russia is very very near. 

Today the stop was Tromso, population 72,000. It was snowing. But not too windy or cold. Tromso is a good town. I could be happy here. It is a college town, that gives it a certain vitality. 

My daily plan is to get off the boat and walk to some attraction. Today the choice was between an aquarium and a polar museum. Since it was snowing, the polar museum won. Roald Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole and he was a local boy, so the museum was a lot about him. Much was only in Norwegian, nevertheless I learned that there are 32 kinds of seals in Norway. They are still hunted, but since nobody buys seal hides anymore the hides are stored waiting for the market to return. That’s pretty wrong. In the early 70s Norway had 23 seal hunting boats. Now they have 4. 4 too many.

So, let’s look around Tromso.

The sign says:
This is the war
Against democracy
Against Europe
Against you

The menu was hot wine, beer, hotdogs. Doing a great business. College town, remember.

While I was having breakfast this morning, we crossed into arctic land. It is remarkably warm. Yesterday afternoon we passed islands that were 100% devoted to strawberry cultivation, and others that were apricot orchards. Apparently peaches are also grown, but only by espaliering them to a black wall. This was not what I expected to find past the 60th parallel. It’s the Gulf Stream.

The stop today is Bodo. Population 47,000. The town was completely flattened in 1944 by the Germans. Not sure why. Yesterday’s town, Trondheim, was captured by the Germans early in the war and was used as a submarine base until the end of the war.

As a result, Bodo lacks charming old buildings. But, it has a great robust sturdiness about it.

I digress, we are about an hour late leaving Bodo. The excuse being, they had to take on more natural gas than anticipated and that delayed the cargo coming and going. Not that it matters one bit to me

When I got off the boat, I noticed that the town smelled like cat food. Turns out there is a big fish by product processing plant on the other side of the harbor.

On a happier note, we stopped at Omes this morning. Incredibly lovely.

On to something that really matters: clothes. Jeans and a sweater is fine for the boat. Indeed in Oslo every one was either wearing jeans or leggings as pants. Men and women.  I have yet to need my base layer. Or my hat, gloves, scarf. I will be happy if it stays this way. 

No sign of Northern Lights.