Catching up ….

Whoops! We’ve been both lazy and busy for the past six days, and I haven’t posted anything. So, time to catch up …

The first two of those lost days were very definitely lazy. As we approached the Lofoten Islands on our way south, the weather turned grey and leaden and once again we missed seeing the islands’ distinctive dragon-toothed peaks. C’est la vie.

It didn’t improve, so we ate, slept, chatted and jacuzzi’d our way south, punctuated by several mostly rainy walks ashore in our ports of call.

Things improved briefly when we disembarked in Bergen, so we spent some time exploring the tightly-packed streets of old Bergen, built almost vertically on the slopes of Mount Floyen above Bryggen and the harbour.

The view down towards the harbour from old Bergen

Next day, the cold rain returned so we grabbed a package tour at the Visitors Centre, visiting composer Edvard Grieg’s home at Trollhaugen, on the outskirts of Bergen. Despite the seriously awful weather, it was really enjoyable, ending with a short recital of Grieg’s piano works in a lovely auditorium built in his honour.

Sue outside Edvard Grieg’s house at Troldhaugen, near Bergen

The recital room in Grieg’s house, Trollhaugen, Bergen

Ian in the lovely lounge of the Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz, Bergen, our favourite hotel of the trip

Sue writing a blog post with the generous assistance of a cup (bucket!) of tea in the Thon Rosenkrantz lounge, overlooking the Hanseatic League’s Bryggen tenements, Bergen.
Like everything in Norway, nice hotels are breathtakingly expensive, however, the Thon cleverly offsets this by providing both breakfast and a light evening meal in the tariff, saving both time and expense looking elsewhere. Very hospitable!

Afternoon revivers, Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz, Bergen

Early the next day, we were on the train to Myrdal, high on the Hardangervidda plateau, to catch the Flamsbana train down to Flam. The Flamsbana is the steepest non-cog standard-gauge railway in Europe, and immensely popular with tourists. Hard to describe, and even harder to photograph, it’s a brief (less than 1 hour) jaw-dropping experience where the train appears sometimes to hang in mid-air. In fact, at one point it does – on an artificially-constructed rail-line several hundred metres above the Flamsdalen.