Background Info:
It is the second largest city in Norway with a population of 400,000. Located on the west coast of Norway but we had to sail into a fjord to get to it. Bergen is known as the city of seven mountains because it is surrounded by them. The city was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre as a trading center with its principal export being dried cod. Today, it is an international center for aquaculture, shipping, offshore petroleum industry, and subsea technology. It is also a Norwegian center for higher education, tourism, and finance. The Royal Norwegian Navy has its main base here also. The heliport, located at the international airport, is where thousands of offshore workers commute to their work places on board oil and gas rigs and platforms in the North Sea.
The city has the dubious distinction of being destroyed numerous times by fire (but then so had Oslo and Kristiansand). Because of the Gulf Stream, Bergen has the warmest winters of all cities in Norway with average winter highs of around 40F. Summer high temperatures average mid 60’s. Today's temperature 80F. We are again very fortunate to have a beautiful, sunny day. It rains in Bergen over 250 days of the year. Tourism is an important source of income for the city. Bergen is recognized and marketed as the gateway city to the world famous fjords of Norway and for that reason has become Norway’s largest cruise ship ports of call. That’s why we are here!!
Today:
Our tour for today met at 9:00 in the theater as that is the usual place. It was called "Troldhagen & Fantoff Stave Church" and lasted 3 hours. Once again our guide was terrible. She was Japanese and I could not understand half of what she said due to her accent. She was also very soft spoken and that does not work well with old, half deaf people like most of Regent's clientele. Apparently the tour companies in Norway hire college students to be guides during the summer months. Before I get on the next tour bus I will have a conversation with the guide to see if I will be happy with them.
The tour started and ended with a thorough drive through the downtown area of Berger and all the important buildings and landmarks were pointed out. Then we headed out of town for the village of Troldhagen to visit the home where the famous Norwegian pianist and composer, Edvard Grieg, lived. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers and lived from 1843 to 1907. The old photos of him reminds me of Einstein. From there we drove to a place where an old Stave church had been relocated to. The original church burnt down and was rebuilt from 1992 to 1998. The Stave churches were built in the 1100's and numbered over 800 back then but now there are only 28 left in Norway. They constructed these churches much like the way they built wooden ships back then and that is what makes them unique. The church is very small so as the population grew the newer churches were constructed as most buildings were and the Stave churches died out. When the rebuilt the church we visited today they used pine from trees that were over 350 years old. You will notice in my photos of the church that there are "dragons" on the roof. The Vikings had dragons on the bow of their ships so they put them on their churches too. This was to ward off evil spirits. Back to Bergen for another drive around downtown to see more sights. The main attraction is the fish market right downtown. You can buy all kinds of fish, shell fish, and caviar to take home and cook or there are places that cook it there. It all looked wonderful. The very colorful area surrounding the fish market is only a 10 minute walk from our ship. Again Regent provided a shuttle bus however. Jane and I got off our tour bus near the fish market as we wanted to take some photos. Rebecca and Charlotte went on back to the ship and had lunch.
Ok, let me now backtrack to last night. After cocktails in the Horizon Lounge we had dinner again in the Compass Rose dining room. We ask Gami, the Maitre 'd, to seat us with the same waiter we had the first night which he did. We all ordered the prime rib and a lobster tail on the side. The waiter insisted we have the lobster tail as and appetizer so we did. Rebecca and I like our beef cooked medium rare and ordered it that way. It showed up well done so everyone but Jane sent it back. She said she was hungry! The second time it came out it was again well done so we did not eat it. The head waiter came by and wanted to bring us something else on the menu but it was 9:30 by now and time for the show. We didn't even have dessert. The show had started by the time we got there. It was a production show featuring the Jean Ann Ryan singers and dancers and was called, "Cirque L'Amour". The cast was very talented and we loved the show.
This evening at 6:15 is Regent's traditional "block party". The ship's bell is rung and everyone brings the wine glasses from their suites and goes into the hallway to meet their neighbors. The suite stewards serve wine and cheese. In the mean time the Captain, General Manager, and Cruise Director race through all the hallways saying hi to everyone. It really is a neat thing. At 7:30 we have a reservation in Prime 7 (the steakhouse) for dinner. Bet we get medium rare tonight!!!
Stave church from 1100's
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