If it's Thursday, this must be Bergen

Thursday 26^th July

We are in Bergen!  It’s a wonderful city architecturally and so lively and buzzy at this time of year.  Even Paul Simon is here to play a concert tonight.  Bergen is squeezed up tight to granite mountains, along a fjord/lake, opening to the ocean.  It’s a bit reminiscent to the Yosemite National Park region though nowhere near in height.

We wasted no time in Stavangar Airport until we reached the Hertz desk.  The perplexed clerk couldn’t make our voucher (woucher) make sense in her computer, nor could any of the other people in Hertz, Europcar or the other booths.  Finally, after phoning a company supervisor we were issued with the keys to a recently returned but un cleaned Toyota Yaris and sent over to the airport car park.  We’d asked if she could help guide us to our hotel which I remembered was near the airport and the young lass spent a bit of time on her computer but could only come up with an approximation of “drive somewhere near the beach” and maybe ask further instructions.  As we walked through the car park I nearly had a fit of laughter as I looked through the open walled spaces at the Rica Airport Hotel not 200m away.  The trick would be how to get over there.  Another trick would be how to get our reasonably sized packs into the postage sized boot (trunk) of the Yaris which of course wasn’t parked in the row it was meant to be and there ensued a bit of a comic act to find it.  We would fit with both the back seats folded down.  I pulled a stunt to get over to the hotel drive but then we couldn’t figure where the entrance nor, it’s car park were and as we were in the staff park behind the hotel asked a staffer before she could enter for work. 

Our hotel was another where you would want to spend more time to lap up the luxury and we only had a short night!  So, showers, a nap for H then down to the restaurant where we had the conversation about expensively priced food and wine and our diminishing budget but I talked him into a glass anyway and the lovely staffer from the back door, brought over a bottle of the cheapest French Blanc, asked if I would like to taste it first then poured the rest of the half bottle out for us.  Dinner was also nice as we only ordered one starter to share and then “snack size” starters for mains which were more than enough – counted ourselves lucky to have been able to finish the plates.  Had a little laugh in the lift going back to our room as it was near full with about 6 package deal seniors and their bags and they clearly didn’t want to share, one woman particularly grumpy, then some had to move out of our way because the lift doors at the other end opened to the hotel rooms.  Breakfast was an eye opener.  Never have I seen so many options available on a breakfast buffet.  Even managed a plate of fruit and avoided the sweat pastries though they smelled so appealing. 

Driving out was so easy, the streets so clearly marked we were on the road to Bergen straight away.  In fact the road signage here, in contrast to the Faroes, where eye level direction signs most often appeared 20m or so on the roads which we were meant to turn into – causing us huge consternation and sometimes grumbles about where to turn around – is brilliant and fool proof (so far).  At no time on the drive up here were we in any doubt about where to go.  The few traffic lights appeared to be for pedestrian crossings and all the intersections were well laid out roundabouts.  Only when we entered Bergen did we falter and then arrived at our destination, the railway terminal, by sheer luck and accident.  Found a security parkering station and had help getting in – impossible to figure out in Norwegian signage, though ther are the occasional signs in English. 

The drive up here did have me swallow my heart a few times as the lanes are often narrow with no breakdown lanes.  No locals obey speed direction signs except where there are speed cameras, but no-one particularly hassled.  We paid at least 5 tolls, some very long and spooky tunnels (also tolls), spooky because they are steep, both down and up.  Adding to the fun, the car’s dash lights decided to go off in a tunnel and I had no idea what speed we were doing but soon enough figured out to turn the main headlights on and that did the trick.  And two ferry rides, the second we were rushed onto so that they could close up and sail, but it wasn’t a free ride (heavy fines for avoidance), Howard found a ticket booth upstairs. 

And so we are here in our sparse budget hotel room which cost as much per night as the Rica.  It’s already after 11.00pm, we have an early start tomorrow and Saturday because Howard has booked us onto a fjord cruise tomorrow and train.  We have shopped, bought fresh food, ice to keep it that way and taken a test walk into town (with jackets off) to make sure we get to the boat on time, while getting some much wanted exercise.  No photos yet, I’ll include them next time.  G