[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-norway-visit-2016-24-hours-in-bergen":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I've always wanted to visit the Norwegian city of \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen\">Bergen\u003C/a>, and when I got asked to do school visits in Norway by two different groups, bLEST Festival and Karmøy council, I begged for a chance to pop over there in between the two visits. So Stuart and I took the \u003Ca href=\"http://kystbussen.no/start.aspx?lang=en\">coastal bus\u003C/a> up from \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haugesund\">Haugesund\u003C/a>, which turned out to be part bus, part ferry ride. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_stuart_ferry_zpsfdqsg4p6-f581f1d768.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe got to see porpoises jumping alongside the boat, it was all rather dramatic. (\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/762340.html\">Click here\u003C/a> if you want to see photos from the Haugesund segment of our trip. Mostly I'm posting them here just so I don't forget anything!) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_ferry_sky_zpsexp3mgt9-0c769ec887.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe arrived in Bergen after dusk and headed down to the old Hansa warehouses. I vaguely remembered reading something about the \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League\">Hanseatic League\u003C/a> in school, and it's a pretty amazing historical defensive alliance, go look it up if you're interested. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_bryggenfront_nt_zpsdgea8wx6-ae7d24647b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nThen it started to rain. (Apparently it always rains in Bergen, and we never saw anything to convince us otherwise.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_pink_rain_zpspjnml7e9-1d3057b918.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSome little peeks up the pretty alleyways:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_alley2_zps72phwxmg-6d6e333af8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_buildings_nt_zpspjdnxfwd-74499bd5e1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_alley1_zpsf0tyaghz-c781d82c66.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe had a hard time finding affordable food - everything costs twice what it does in London - but we found a popular Thai place, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.siamratree.no/\">Siam Ratree\u003C/a>, that was pretty reasonable. Here's Stuart back at the hotel, eating his favourite Norwegian supermarket sweeties:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_risbrod_zpsdjam9j97-7a3247ab63.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd the next morning at breakfast. (Spot the amazing Norwegian jumper which I actually got for him in a second-hand shop in south London.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_stu_tea_zpsnmigm3iz-4d1dd11d39.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThen we went out to see the Bryggen waterfront in all its glory. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_bryggen_day_zps3wtnylj6-2f3d2c45cf.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_day_whitehouses_stu_zpsdvbouylb-12672f23cf.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_sarahalley_zpsoakbq2mp-d4159c2623.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_restaurants_zpskd1lpwa0-56c775f33b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe one thing Stuart DEFINITELY wanted to do was go up the mountain on the funicular railway, the \u003Ca href=\"http://floyen.no/en/\">fløibanan\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_stu_funicular1_zpsqavocjg9-bb49fc0217.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHe was super-excited.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_stu_funicular2_zpsquolsb7m-bd564f8587.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's the view! (It was still raining, but the goats on the top of the mountain didn't seem to mind. I didn't take a photos of the goats. Why do you want to see goats.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_vista_zpsmbhpnhrs-c8ec82dd62.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOkay, goats would be more fun to look at than a selfie but never mind. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_sarahstu_zpsknxducpv-ada4eb509f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter that we played in the snow. Well, painted snow. Here's a huge painting by Vincent St. Lerche from 1873 called \u003Ci>Guests\u003C/i>, at the \u003Ca href=\"http://kodebergen.no/en\">KODE Museum\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_kode_stuartsnow_zpsnpeeebrm-cae82650b0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nActually, KODE is several museums, four buildings in a line, and they're pretty amazing. I think these were in Museum No.3. Check out the lady with the huge glacier in her back garden. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_koda_glacier1_zpsh6fwkesm-8936d7b5bb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThat's \u003Ci>Nigard Glacier\u003C/i> by Johan Christian Dahl, from 1844. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_koda_glacier2_zpsi9irx7xt-6a1378a6e8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nShe seems totally comfortable with a frozen tsunami of ice hanging above her. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_koda_glacier3_zps3jyzjuru-aed50cd284.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhen we climbed up to the top of Museum No.4, it had the most amazing round tower on top. The place opened in 1938 as an administration building for the electrical powerplant company and was restored and opened as a museum in 2003. It looks a bit like a TARDIS.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_kode_stuart_zpsx5k6qdmt-8d0ef08b15.jpg\"> \\r\n\\r\nSo distinguished.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_kode_stuartportrait_zps9gjekft6-c3cd903f87.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe even managed to race over to the old Rosenkrantz Tower, which had some cool grotesques.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_gargoyle_zpseoyl9ctn-1ad269b493.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nStuart had to get to the airport to catch his plane back to London, so we raced back to the hotel to get his stuff, then I saw him off on the tram. After that, the rain started falling harder and things felt a bit bleak. I only had an hour left in Bergen. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_kunsthall_zpsgkzhcin4-99b885a4fe.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd then I caught a southbound coast bus, which took me back on the same ferry, where I tried some local salty licorice fish sweets. I posted this photo on Instagram and someone commented that they look like little cat poos. To be honest, they didn't taste that much better. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergen_ferry_herringsweets_zpsuywn5qfo-7e276b895c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThree and something hours later, when I got to Håvik (which I mispronounced terribly, much to the lady bus driver's loud amusement), I was much cheered to see my old friend John Rullestad waiting for me. And he drove me the dark eastern coastal road to my cosy little apartment in Skudeneshavn, the same one where I stayed last year, and I curled up with brown cheese and knekkebrød crackers and felt very much at home. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/skudenes_flat_zpsthwteow3-11293cad98.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n(Stay tuned for the next blog post, about school visits on the island of Karmøy.)","2016-11-16T23:05:00.000Z","norway-visit-2016-24-hours-in-bergen",[],"norway visit 2016: 24 hours in bergen",1776628728707]