August 4, 2010
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Bergen, Norway
I’d not the least notion I’d be so enthralled by the two Scandinavian countries the ship’s visited, i.e. Norway and Denmark. Alesund, Bergen, Oslo and Copenhagen were past price!
Our tour wasn’t until later in the day, so that morning I set out to explore on my own a bit. Here’s the sign that greeted me as I passed through the gate:
No matter where I looked, there wasn’t a fish marked “Bryggen.” ;^) It only took a few minutes to arrive at Bryggen, however, and was entranced both by the charming buildings and the variety of languages spoken by the visitors.
I prevailed upon a woman who didn’t speak English but fortunately had a camera and understood my request that she take my picture with a moose head; and I inadvertently caught her while snapping a photo of a roof I admired:
Wish I’d had the horns with me, as there was a man who had gotten into the spirit of the region:
Next I wandered into a residential area:
Turned out the beginning of the tour took us right back to Bryggen, which was great because the guide gave info I’d not known about the town, most of which has already been forgotten, more’s the pity. One item I do recall is that this building on the left housed the HQ of the Norwegian Resistance:
After the walking and driving tour we boarded a boat, and saw more of Norway:
The crew members on the Maasdam have had losses. The nice man who oversees our section of the dining room heard his mother died a few days ago and left on an unexpected ten-day leave. He’ll rejoin us, and our table has a sympathy card for him, made by Jean, one of the tablemates. Then “Party Planner Jackie” as she’s called, who handled things like scrapbooking and tablesetting and such, also received word a relative had died, so she’s gone too. Besides the obvious sorrow at her bereavement, it’s left the ship with a rather large gap in its entertainment schedule, as she usually gave two or three demostrations/lessons/whatever each day. Perhaps a replacement will come aboard at Dover.
