… and the kindness of strangers
Mr. T passed a kidney stone during the train ride from Oslo to Bergen. The train conductor demonstrated great kindness. He cleared the car at the Mydral station to give Mr. T privacy as he curled up on the seats to writhe in pain. The train made an unscheduled stop in a small hillside village to meet the ambulance which took him to the hospital in Voss. All is well now.
We spent the night in Voss. The next morning the train took us to our VRBO in the historically preserved central district of Bergen.
The description of the 2-bedroom apartment left out an important detail. The front door on the third floor could only be reached by climbing an extremely steep and very narrow spiral staircase. The ancient staircase was a dangerous climb up or down. Don’t ask how we got the luggage up to the flat.
To our surprise we discovered the instructions for the thermostat, oven, range, washer and dryer were in Norwegian! I never did find a way to make toast.
The day we arrived in Bergen proved to be the exception to the 220 days of drizzle and rain that falls on the city. The sun was out and we joined the crowds of sunburned Norwegians under cloudless blue skies. The sun abandoned us the next morning. Typical wet weather prevailed for the rest of our stay. We wanted cooler weather and the ever present drizzle suited us just fine.
We criss-crossed the city center on foot to enjoy Bergenhus Fortress, Haakon’s Hall, Bryggen Wharf, Kode Art Museums with their beautiful lake and byparken, Bergen University Gardens, the red tents of the outdoor fish markets along the harbour, and the Blue Stone sculpture.
The food scene in Oslo and Bergen is first class. We chickened out and did not to try Lutefisk. Instead we filled up on glorious fish soup, sushi and baked fresh fish. We have included a few photographs of the dishes below. Here are some links to our favorite places, The Grand Hotel in Oslo https://grand.no/en/restaurant-and-bar ; Bien Basar https://www.bienbar.no/en/basar#meny , Colonialen Sann https://www.colonialen.no/en/sann , Bark Mat https://barkrestaurant.no/ ; Bergen Brunsj https://bergenbergen.no/bergen-brunsj and for those of us who love wonderful pastries and good coffee Godt Brod https://www.godtbrod.no/ Fingers crossed our meals will continue to delight our taste buds.
We are looking forward to renting the car and driving into the north.