Flåm to Bergen and the people you meet along the way

The ferry journey on the fjord was beautiful. Now and again there’d be a little settlement on the shore and at other times just a solo house.  Here is one and I can’t help but wonder who lives there, what is their story? Maybe Rosemary Pryor will tell me?

We arrived into Gudvangen and caught the bus to Voss and train to Bergen. We passed lakes thawing and streams with icy edges. Really beautiful. 

Jackie and Terrence from Ireland were to blame completely for the raucous laughter coming from our part of the train.They are from Wicklow, don’t believe in moving statues and are now excited about the art of Una Watters. We exchanged WhatsApp details.  The reply to my “boo” was “hoo”. 😂. Maybe you had to be there…

This was my view over a late dinner in Bergen. So pretty. Mathias from Spain was entertaining over dinner, blasting through any formality on our first exchange. “Could I have some ice please?” “For your wine?” “Yes” look of horror crosses his face “No”. 😂  he returned with the ice and photos of the northern lights that reached Bergen for the first time in all the years he has lived there. Maybe I will see the lights afterall. His photos were from about 3 weeks ago. 

The lying mirror in the bathroom 

 Mel pocket dialled me so I called her back.

I slept a few hours despite the huge super soft pillow… horrible. I like a small firm pillow like the one at Mary Morrissy’s house in Cork. Now that is a great pillow.  My pillow complaints were conveyed during the usual Wordle exchange: Bronwyn thought this hotel pillow sounded superb. Jill said she like medium firmness. And there you have insight into the quality of conversation we engage in over our morning Wordle. 

 

Scrubbed up and ready to Walk with a Witch from Bergen. A self guided audio tour Rosemary put me onto.  Diane V would approve.

But knee pain led me to ditch the witch but not before I had time to love it and walk around the port and historic area. The witch was very informative about 16th Century Bergen but I was glad to leave before she met her gruesome ending.

I walked to the KODE galleries and was so glad to be there! The art was fabulous and unexpected. I visited KODE 2 and KODE 3, took 100 photos and left drained but very happy. They feature the artworks of various Norwegians but also paintings and sculptures from all over the place, mainly from the donated collection of Rolf Stenersen.

This portrait of the generous Rolf was painted by Edvard Munch

And then it was time to board the Hurtigruten for the next adventure…