A Beautiful Day in Bergen

This blog is going to be a bit long but it will be almost a week or maybe a little longer until we are able to write another.

Today, we were showed around Bergen by our great hosts Margunn and Gunnleiv. We were also accompanied by Ingfrid, Gunnleiv's sister.

To start off the day we were treated to a proper Norwegian breakfast which consists of various bread and/or crackers with many different toppings: sliced meats, jams, cheeses, etc. served open on the bread. Juice, and tea were offered drinks too. To top it off there was the most delicious mayonnaise that comes in a container like a tube of toothpaste here, yum!

We all headed to the Edvard Grieg Museum where we saw his home in it's original form (perfectly maintained of course) and his grave site as well (which instead of being dug down was cut into a 15 meter cliff side). There was also an amazing small concert hall we were able to go into. This nicely designed building included green roofs and what seemed at eye's glace to be a great acoustical space.

From the Museum, we drove then walked up to fantoft stavkyrkjen, an authentic Norwegian church. The church was originally build in 1150 but burned down in 1992. By 1997 the church was replicated in its original footprint to as-close-to exact originality. It was a beautiful church that really gave me an insight to historic Norwegian architecture.

Next stop, we picked up Ingfrid. From her apartment we could see all of Bergen from above. It was a magnificent view.

After the pick up, we began our tour of the Bergen central. We first took a lightrail up a steep mountain to a famous lookout where we could see all of Bergen from an aerial view. Almost 180 degrees of clear line of site was possible. Lunch next: RudolfSuppe (Reindeer Soup) for me and a chicken soup for Heather. We shot a few pictures of Johanneskerken (a gothic like church in town). We passed the fish market and looked at a new ship docked in Bergen worth a grand total of $300 million (currently the 6th most expensive yatch in the world). A gorgeous three masted yatch caught my attention as well. A stroll by Bryggen took us way back to year 1770 when we saw the leaning houses lining the street. Next to these is a fortress (Rosenkrantz and Håkenshallen) with several old buildings in it. The wall was very cool, it still had the old cannon openings that have a small hole for the barrels of the cannon. Apparently there is still a building in Bergen that has a cannonball in one of its walls from during the war.

That concluded our day tour of Bergen. Once we got back to Gunnliev's home, Margunn gave a very cute cake for our getting married. It was adorable and very tasty with a white cake and fruit cream filling in between.