I arrived in Bergen, Norway on Monday April 15, 2019. It was
late afternoon. I wandered around the Vågen Bay at the center of
town a little bit before heading to my hotel and met my friend
Stephanie who arrived there the previous day. We then walked
along the Wharf area (Bryggen) on the north side of Vågen Bay.
Over the next two days we explored various areas around town
shown below. Our explorations of the Nordness peninsula and
Mt. Fløyen are in separate folders/albums.
000-DSC_2216-header: The Harbor and Waterfront
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The hotel, the Augustin, was on the southwest penisnula of the bay. I took some pictures looking across the Vågen. 000-DSC_2216: 001-DSC_2217: 002-DSC_2218: 003-DSC_2219: 004-DSC_2220: Looking across the Vågen to Bryggen (the Wharf) in Bergen. 005-DSC_2221: 006-DSC_2222: Statue of the composer Edvard Grieg, known for writing In the Hall of the Mountain King, Concertos, and more, and looking like Mark Twain without the sideburns. 007-DSC_2224: A statue to Christian Michelsen, responsible for his role in the separation of Norway and Sweden in 1905. 008-DSC_2225: The fountain at the octogonal Lille Lungegårdsvannet lake. It used to be connected to the Store Lungegårdsvannet bay by a strait, but that has been replaced by an underground culvert. 009-DSC_2226: Iconic buildings on Bryggen (the Wharf) in Bergen. 010-DSC_2228: Close ups of some of the buildings in the Bryggen area. 011-DSC_2229: 012-DSC_2230: 013-DSC_2231: 014-DSC_2232: There's a ship with tall masts in the distance. I used a tree to block out the sun. 015-DSC_2233: I liked the small-town aspect. Also, the tree in the middle is weird. 016-DSC_2234: 017-DSC_2235: More iconig views of Bergen and the Wharf. 018-DSC_2236: A Greenpeace ship docked at Bryggen. 019-DSC_2237: The top of Mt. Fløyen and the track for the funicular to get up and down it. 020-DSC_2238: A statue of a naked Norwegian woman on the side of a building. The Norwegians seem to favor those without clothes. Maybe they're on to something. 021-DSC_2239: A tall sailing ship docked at Bergen with the sun behind the mast. 022-DSC_2240: A tall sailing ship docked at Bergen with the sun peaking out behind it all artistic-like. 023-DSC_2242-header: Wandering Around Town 023-DSC_2242-headertext:
A bit of wandering around downtown Bergen,
the part that's not right by the water.
023-DSC_2242: The white building is a McDonald's. Not gaudy. Amazing!
024-DSC_2243: The Nykirken (The New Church). The white of its belltower
stood out against the blue sky. The weather was really nice and
pleasantly warm while there.
025-DSC_2333: A view down a narrow road, still on the peninsula, a bit
south of our hotel, looking towards Vågen.
026-DSC_2334: A sign in an old phone booth. The English version reads:
Small rooms for great occasions.
100 telephone boxes remain in Norway
– and this is one of them! They were protected for their cultural
importance in 2007.
At most, there were over 6000 such telephone
boxes in use all over the country, but the arrival of new technology
and communicational possibilities reduced the demand for the little
red houses.
Even if the ring tone is gone, our telephone boxes
have important stories to tell. Stories of a time when you couldn't
carry you phone around in your pocket. Stories about us.
With regards
Telenor
027-DSC_2335: The inside of the telephone phone booth.
028-DSC_2336: The outside of the "Little Red House."
029-DSC_2338: Another narrow street.
030-DSC_2339: The street was Klostergaten.
031-DSC_2340: A fountain with a sheet of water coming down the side.
032-DSC_2342: As a bicycle, it might be a bit rusty. As a planter, it's
still quite useful.
033-DSC_2343: The Bergen Katteklinikk is, in fact, a veterinary practice
for cats (cat clinic).
034-DSC_2344: I saw this sign on a fence and found it amusing.
035-DSC_2345: It follows the fence as it turns.
036-DSC_2346: And is a knotted weiner dog. I don't know why.
037-DSC_2347: The door says "ANNO 1645" on the shield carved into it
It may likely be approaching 400 years old.
038-DSC_2348: This bit of odd art in a parking lot in an industrial
area seemed out of place.
039-DSC_2349: A restaurant with a winch.
042-DSC_2353: The street sign seemed a bit out of place, even more so
than the odd art.
043-DSC_2354: It's an "insect hotel." To be honest,
that doesn't really clear things up that much for me. I thought
the shrine was going to be for a sister-city or famous resident
originally from China.
044-DSC_2355: Roughly: Welcome to the new Sydness swimming area.
045-DSC_2356: The water is clear, it's just that there's a good bit
of seaweed there.
046-DSC_2357-header: Urban Art and More
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046-DSC_2357: I liked the mural on this building. It's kind of weird and
trippy.
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049-DSC_2361: Then there was the graffiti in Norse Runes. Next to it
it translates to: "Can you hack people?" Or perhaps
"Can man hack mankind?"
050-DSC_2362: I THINK this is a Norwegian fire hydrant, but I'm not sure.
051-DSC_2363: Stephanie thought this was Kim Jong-un. I thought it
looked more like Uncle Fester or just a general person. Not sure
what the gas nozzle to the head exactly means.
052-DSC_2364: A cobblestone street. Neat, thought not fun if you're
dragging a suitcase.
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054-DSC_2367-header: Back to the Harbor
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066-DSC_2589: The top of Mt. Fløyen and the funicular track leading up to it.
067-DSC_2590: Some big ships in the bay.
068-DSC_2591: Another weird Dendrite Tree. My theory is that all the trees
there communicate with each other, forming some vast intelligence.
069-DSC_2592: Hey, a statue of a naked Norwegian. How novel! Yes, I don't
know the story behind this one.
070-DSC_2593: Saw these two drawings on the bottom of a wall. It thought
it was cute. I like how this guy is giving the stink-eye to the sergeant
in the mext picture.
071-DSC_2594: This guy has a shovel, so he must do something productive,
right?
072-DSC_2595-header: Just Desserts
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We wanted to go to a particular restaurant but it closed early because it was the day before the day before the day before the day before Easter (Wednesday). I looked around and found a restaurant around the corner from it: Naboen (Norwegian for neighbor). They were going to be closed for the next four days and they weren't crowded. The food was really good and they were very accomodating to our finnicky freakish food f...um...preferences. I had the char (fish) with "poor man's caviar" (tapioca balls marinated in soy sauce and other seasonings). It was good. The dessert menu was limited to us but they did an impressive job. Stephanie and I were both very happy with the restaurant. 072-DSC_2595: Stephanie ordered just green tea ice cream, which was a component of a dessert. They made it way fancier with some sort of crunchberries (some kind of roasted grain, not quinoa). 073-DSC_2596: I ordered ice cream and they made it quite fancy by serving it with berries on a plate that looked like it was a crime scene from berry-world. 074-DSC_2597: My plate after I added chocolate syrup. The murderberries were quite good. I left nothing, especially fingerprints. I enjoyed the look and the taste. Bottom: