Bergen

After settling in yesterday, Mark snoozed Hazel unpacked ! we started exploring the ship and got very lost….

The ship seems very spacious with lots of nooks and crannies for her 980 passengers and 540 crew. Apparently there are 150 Aussies onboard, we shared a dinner table with a couple of kiwis. We were both tired after our 4am start so had an early night.

Bergen has a 4 ship capacity, as soon as one left in came another. The morning saw a Viking sister ship reversing in !

The weather was pretty miserable, but our first shore excursion carried on. The guide was pretty hopeless, a rare occurrence for Viking, and a lot of people stayed on the bus rather than walk with her to each location.

The usual Church visit was delayed by a previous group so some of us went searching for zombies in the crypt….

We DID find an Angel when allowed back…..

With the rain easing we started a stroll in the city, but soon decided to do our own thing and walk back to the ship as I had another tour booked later.

I did the next tour by myself, whilst H had a go with some sock wool we had just bought. Harold, and 2 assistants, led a Ebike tour of Bergen. This was completely different from our first, starting with instructions for complete novices….. He did his job brilliantly and then took off at a cracking pace, and seemed taken aback on stopping to find me right behind him ! It didn’t take long for the penny to drop as I called him an excellent lead out man…..you’ve ridden an ebike before I see……

Our route was up the mountain behind Bergen thru some beautiful forests. The sun came out, the air was crisp and with a lot of banter to and fro everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Eventually we had to turn back down and, via a set of steep switchbacks, found ourselves in the middle of the city ! “Just follow me Australia” said Harold, “as you drive on the wrong side of the road”……there was never more than a metre between his rear and my front tyre ! Weaving thru cars, buses and people he cut a swath with all of us ringing our bells like mad !

Onto the obligatory Church stop, then a clothing shop selling traditional dresses, and finally the Bryggen with its traditional Hansiatic warehouses.

Firehouse…now with thermal imaging cameras rather than eyeballs

This was how a tour is done, he got a resounding cheer at the end….”row, Row, ROW” like the Norwegian fans at the World Cup give, plus numerous tips.

An hour later we sailed out, under a bridge and past numerous islands with little houses scattered around on any flat spots.

During dinner, and as I write this blog, we are cruising past the most spectacular scenery. I’m having a hard time not rushing out every minute to take another 100 photos !