Norway: Bergen. A study in many kinds of rain. Tasty food. Sauna on the ocean.

Recall: What we did (to try to take it a bit easier than a rapid sprint across the country): 

• Day 1: Oslo (walked around in the sun, had tasty falafel, bought supplies for the trip) (sleep)
• Day 2: Train Oslo to Geilo, which is a ski resort that also supports hiking in the summer. 4ish hrs from Oslo by a really pretty train ride.
• Day 3: Train, Train, Ferry. This is the core of the trip.
• Train Geilo to Myrdal.  
• Flåmsbana from Myrdal to Flåm.  
• Fjord Cruise-Ferry from Flåm to Gudvangen (sleep) 
• Day 4: Gudvangen Viking Village, then bus to Voss. Voss cable car up the rainy mountain.
• Day 5: Train Voss to Bergen. Bergen, the rainiest city in Europe. 

Day 1 & 2 here

Day 3 : the core of the trip 

Day 4

Day 5: Bergen

While Bergen is not the wettest place in Europe (which I think means greatest total volume of water falling from the sky), it is the rainiest city in Europe based on sheer number of days where rain occurs. I'd been to Bergen before, and hadn't been as well-prepared. 

We left Voss by train, involving an interaction that to me was what I expected from Norwegians (like a slightly more talkative Finn): K and I disagreed on the anticipated direction of travel of the train. The train driver walked by and I stopped him and asked if he could let us know the direction of travel. He had a bit of a frustrated look and said something like  "I drive the train. From here (pointing to where he was walking to). We're going to Bergen".  Technically not answering the question, but answering it if you'd just apply two seconds of logic.

[Weather]

Bergen was clearly much more a city than Gudvangen and Voss. Makes sense, I think it is the second largest after Oslo. It was much colder than Oslo. In the full day we had there, I could label 3 or 4 levels of precipitation, which it cycled through twice. 

• light rain (not mist!), 
• a kind of lasting rain that slowly soaked into your bones and shoes and generally wore down your will to live
• raining cats and dogs (find cover, even if you're wearing "waterproof" clothing) and 
• HAIL/Slush.

Video of the crazy precipitation: 

Despite it raining literally the entire trip, it was only in Bergen where my shoes got rained through. They have a light amount of goretex and are getting on in years. I was wishing I'd brought some kind of travel galoshes. 

[Hanseatic Wharf and lunch] 

We stored our luggage at the hotel and re-packed a bit before heading out to walk around what sights there are to see. Largely the old Hanseatic fishing village. 

We came back and had lunch at the fish market, I had whale steak and K had soup, a fish frikadelle and a salad.

[Floyen/Floien] 

There was a brief 2 ish hour period of 'clear' weather where we managed to go up the funicular to Floyen, the "Hausberg" (as Germans would call it), the closest hill/mountain. I could tell the paths were used (when snow was there, which the locals said is maybe 1 week in the winter) for cross-country skiing as well. There was a  nice lake and some carved trolls, as well as very friendly and very very soft goats. 

We ducked in to a free museum after, then I went to the hotel to rest and K went to another museum.  

Being the last day of the trip, we splurged on a restaurant meal (at Frk. Schmidt) and after on Sauna (the collage's middle picture was the view from the sauna). Also had a little alcohol. I had some cider, some norwegian Labskaus, which unlike hamburg, is not a gross basically-raw pork  and beet juice dish with potatoes and a fried egg, but instead a hearty lamb stew. Followed by amazing brown-cheese mousse. 

[Sauna! On the ocean]

We also went out to have a wood-fire Sauna on the water (here). 

Little video of the adjacent electric sauna, to get a feel. 

That was really great. Norwegians in a Sauna are friendly, talkative people. We chatted about Finnish vs Norwegian Sauna culture. Learned that a couple there (also from the US) was a guy who had a Physics degree but travels around the world coaching Olympic Beach Volleyball, and his wife (tiny and speaking in that kind of high pitched baby voice i assume is an affect but maybe I'm wrong) is an ultramarathoner and a high powered consultant/NGO person who had a project example where she went to Svalbard to get seeds to take to somewhere in Africa to replace in the local diet something that people relied on but had developed a really bad allergy to. 

[Leaving Bergen and Norway]

K used points to book us a nice hotel with a good breakfast. The most amazing scrambled eggs -- I asked the cook and he said 200g butter and 50 eggs, scrambled in the oven in a casserole dish (think Le Creuset). This buffet was so fancy, they had whole avocadoes for you to take. Lots of kinds of fish. Brown cheese of course! 

After breakfast, we went to wait for the bus, and it somehow missed us. 

We ended up going back to the hotel and getting the guy behind the desk to call us a taxi. He also told us how much the fare should be. Despite the missing-the-bus stress, we got to the Airport with enough time. My fancy refundable ticket let me into the 1st class lounge in Oslo on my way back to Frankfurt. K. was returning to Oslo to go to a conference, and then home a few days later. 

Last thoughts: 

Norway is a beautiful place. I could totally see living there --- just not Bergen. Otherwise, I think 1/3 my salary would be rent and 1/3 would be Sauna just to fight the blues. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad though...? :)