Wedneday morning, April 17, Stephanie and I hiked up Mt. Fløyen.
It was a series of roads that had switchbacks. The individual
trails weren't too steep.
The hike started by some parks. One had a fountain. Another
had a playground. Then we walked through a wooded, forest area
with lots of mossy rocks, at least on some parts of the path.
Eventually we got to the top. There were a lot of people around
there, including a lot of kids. We had lunch at the restaurant
there, then explored the top area, which had goats there to help
eat the grass and find any extra sleep that might be might be missing.
As a bonus, I saw Martin, the guy who took our picture the previous
night when we were riding the funicular up here. Yes, I met a total
of 1 person in Norway and then run into him the next day.
After that, we hiked back down taking a slightly different route,
passing through some neighborhoods and eventually reaching the bottom
(and a bathroom). We headed towards the Bergenhus Fortress east of
the peninsula where we were yesterday, but that's the next folder/album.
000-DSC_2425-header: The Hike Begins
000-DSC_2425-headertext:
The Skansen Brannstasjon, which is the old firestation, was the first place we reached. There's a main building and a shallow but fairly wide fountain. 000-DSC_2425: The old fire station (Skansen Brannstasjon) and fountain. 001-DSC_2426: The old firestation (Skansen Brannstasjon). 002-DSC_2427: 003-DSC_2428: A few of Skansen Brannstasjon as we started up the Mt. Fløyen trail. 004-DSC_2431: A bit of silliness with my wide angle lens, the remote shutter control, and an odd wire mesh sort of bin. 005-DSC_2432-header: Super Fun Happy Slide 005-DSC_2432-headertext:
We next passed a children's playground. There was a long silver tube that snaked its way downhill and stairs next to it to get to the top. It was a pretty long slide. Stephanie gave it a try, and had fun without injury, so I did the same. Then she did it one more time for good measure. There are some spots where there are panels to let light in, so you're not going through it completely in the dark. And yes, the title of this section is a Simpsons reference. 005-DSC_2432: The slide! 006-DSC_2433: Stephanie emerging from the slide. 007-DSC_2434: Frank heading up the stairs to get to the top of the slide. 008-DSC_2435: Frank waiting in the distance at the top. I wanted to make sure it was clear of any kids before I barreled my way through it. 009-DSC_2436: The exit-mouth of the slide. 011-DSC_2439: Fire torpedo tube 2! 012-DSC_2440: Frank makes his arrival. 013-DSC_2441: Frank is having fun. 014-DSC_2442: We have launch of Frank-1. 015-DSC_2443: Stephanie at maximum muzzle velocity. 016-DSC_2444: Stephanie emerges from the slide-tube. 017-DSC_2445: Just beyond the slide was a statue of a reindeer. Stephanie loaned her hat to it. 018-DSC_2446: Bronze reindeer statue with Stephanie's hat. 019-DSC_2447-header: Forest Area 019-DSC_2447-headertext:
As we wandered further up the hill, we entered a more foresty area with tall trees and moss-covered rocks. It had a very different feel to the place, some of it seemed almost tundra-like. Some of the shapes and colorings of the rocks and trees put one in the mind of Scandenavian trolls. The giant ones, not the sexy ones. 019-DSC_2447: Looking down the hill to the bay and southern peninsula of Bergen. 020-DSC_2449: There were tall trees and some steep rock faces. I guess everything is tall in Norway. 021-DSC_2450: The path winds through the trees going up to Mt. Fløyen. 023-DSC_2453: Looking out towards Sandviken from Mt. Fløyen. 024-DSC_2456: Roses are red, violets are blue, moss is green, with a slightly yellow hue. 025-DSC_2457: A tree grows out of a rock. 026-DSC_2459: Looking up at the base of a tree and a rock with a tree growing up from its top. 027-DSC_2460: More rocky moss or mossy rocks! 028-DSC_2461: This one kind of reminds me of the Swamp Thing. I wanted to see if I could get a fairly sharp shot with the wide angle lens. This one is OK but not super-sharp. 029-DSC_2462: It was surprising how green things became. There was a little water run in the middle. 030-DSC_2467: One more of Sandviken as we're' pretty high up the mountain. 031-DSC_2468: A telephoto shot of Sandviken (I think). 032-DSC_2469: A zoom-in of the port at Sandviken next to Bergen. 033-DSC_2470: Bergenhus Festning in the center with a large cruise ship docked to the right, and the southern peninsula with Nordness at the tip, across the water from it. 034-DSC_2471: The trees are tall and thin. But not blonde. 035-DSC_2473-header: Reaching the Top 035-DSC_2473-headertext:
We got to the top. Not more to say. 035-DSC_2473: Stephanie posed by a weather- vane that looked like a harpoon. Add Photoshop and ... 035-stephanie-spear: With her Spear and Magic Helmet! 036-DSC_2474: Bjørn! There was a small teddy bear in a tree. I assume it's a Viking thing... 037-mt.floyen_day_Panorama: A panoramic view of eastern Bergen from Mt. Fløyen. 040-DSC_2479-header: Facilities at the Top 040-DSC_2479-headertext:
The top of the mountain is 320 meters above sea level (about 1050 feet, just 50 feet below Ithaca's altitude). We had lunch at the Fløien Folkerestaurant, 040-DSC_2479: There was some odd caterpillar thing on a playground so I posed riding it. I didn't see the small viking child walking up behind me. 041-DSC_2480: The viking child seems to think that me riding the caterpillar is an extraordinary event that all should take notice. Perhaps I have exceeded the local quota for silliness. 042-DSC_2483: Now where was I...? Or where do I want to go from here? 043-DSC_2484: Note that everwhere except the Smoking Area is in thousands of kilometers. 044-DSC_2485: Stephanie's lunch at the Fløien Folkerestaurant. Some kind of vegetarian meatloaf and other stuff. 045-DSC_2486: Frank's at the Fløien Folkerestaurant, a traditional Norwegian poke bowl. Stephanie helped eliminate the hated avocado. 046-DSC_2487: The interior of the Fløien Folkerestaurant on top of Mt. Fløyen. 047-DSC_2488: There were cool little egg-like-things hanging from a vine-like-thing. I figured it was connected to Easter being 5 days away. 048-DSC_2489: Looking into the dining room from the entry hallway. 049-DSC_2490: Um...no witching around here? 050-DSC_2491: Stephanie is breaking the law. 051-DSC_2492: I wanted to witch up these pictures a bit, but didn't have time. 052-DSC_2493: A view sort of to the east end of Bergen and beyond. 053-DSC_2494-header: Goats! 053-DSC_2494-headertext:
At the top of Mt. Fløyen there was a sign that mentioned how
there were a herd of goats there to help keep the grass short.
The goats have high tech collars that "fence" them
in to certain areas. It gives them a little warning buzz or
a warning shock if they stray from the area. I think it gives
up after a zap. They quickly learn and usually it doesn't take
more than a buzz, and they'll move to a different area. They
seem to be pretty mellow goats and don't mind people or being
petted and seemed to mostly enjoy taking naps.
While here, I ran into Martin from the visit to the mountain
top the previous night. He was here with his wife and child.
He had told me he lived nearby and that the funicular was part
of his commute. I didn't take any pictures of him, it felt
like it'd be rude. But I was amused that I ran into the one
person I met in the country. It also made me feel like this
place was worth going to twice, day and night, if a local does
the same.
053-DSC_2494: Side view of a goat hanging out on top of Mt. Fløyen in Bergen.
054-DSC_2495: Front view of a goat.
055-DSC_2496: Stephanie makes a new goat-friend.
056-DSC_2497: A black goat and a white goat, hanging out together.
057-DSC_2498: A goat hanging out in the shade.
058-DSC_2499: People sitting in front of the Conceptual Telescope
enjoying the view of Bergen.
059-DSC_2500: A plaque that describes the wooden lens-like artwork.
060-DSC_2501: The disc is a "conceptual telescope" that was
a gift to Bergen.
061-DSC_2502: A goat on Mt. Fløyen just sitting around and goating it up.
062-DSC_2503-header: Heading Down
062-DSC_2503-headertext:
After spending a couple hours at the top of the mountain (including lunch and goats), we headed back down. 062-DSC_2503: A telephoto shot of the top of Mt. Ulriken and the cable-car tower. 063-DSC_2505: 064-DSC_2506: A longer shot of Mt. Ulriken. 065-DSC_2508: The path back down the mountain. 066-DSC_2509: The view of Store Lungegårdsvannet, a bay on the east side of Bergen that connects to the Byfjorden via Puddefjordene. 067-DSC_2514: We took a slightly different way down and wound up at the Skansemyren Sports Field (Skansemyren Idrettsplass). 067-track_Panorama: A panoramic picture of the track and field at the Skansemyren Idrettsplass. 068-DSC_2515-header: Residential Areas 068-DSC_2515-headertext:
At some point Stephanie needed to make a pit stop. Early on we couldn't find any restrooms, and even though there were woods, they were fairly sparse and there were a lot of people on the paths. And some of them might be Vikings. We thought the Sports Field might have a bathroom but while the track was open the buildings were not. We continued and got into a residential neighborhood. There were some houses with nice views, but that didn't help much. Eventually we got back down and found a little bar and restaurant that fit the bill. Since I was waiting around, I took some pictures of flowers. For reference, the street was Nordre Skansemyren which is between the sports field and the last station before the top on the funicular. 068-DSC_2515: Houses with nice views of Bergen. 069-DSC_2516: With great views come great responsibiilty, and a great many steps. 070-DSC_2517: This house on the hill had a sort of bridge to connect it to the road. 072-DSC_2519: This might be one of the funicular stations. 074-DSC_2521: More or less back in town in a residential area. 075-DSC_2522: Some magnolias against a very blue sky. 076-DSC_2523: Flowers with a restaurant (that had a bathroom) in the background. 077-DSC_2524: Someone saw me taking pictures. He said something to me in Norwegian and after getting a blank stare, he switched to English and pointed me towards other flowers. So I took some pictures (they are quite pretty). As he was leaving he made some comment about the flowers (I don't remember if he called them poppies or something else) are the Brexit flower. I don't know if he was expressing a view for it, thought I was for it, or was just making a joke. I assume he thought I was English. 078-DSC_2525: I was here. And gate ("gah-teh") is the Norwegian word for street. Bottom: