It was a bit of a shock to my system to
wake up in the dark this morning despite the fact that the alarm was not set
for an outrageously early time, and perhaps more of a surprise that it really
wasn’t properly light until about 9.30am, by which time we were already half an
hour into our informative tour of the city of Bergen
We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who
pointed out all the buildings of note and gave us lots of information about
famous people who lived in Bergen, who include the composer
Greig, the writer Ibsen and the fascinating violinist Ole Bull (a Justin Bieber of his time perhaps) who apparently was so gorgeously handsome
that many of his female fans got themselves in such a tizzy that they commonly
fainted during his performances! I have made a note to self to look on line for
images of this chap, to see if he really was as gorgeous as the story suggests,
or whether Norwegian women were simply easily pleased!
After the tour (and a subsequent ‘fishy’
lunch in the fish market) we took a walk around the shops and appreciated the
architecture all over again. To walk around the Hanseatic Wharf buildings –
which I had admired from afar last night – was a real treat and like taking a
step back in time. Standing in the narrow, wooden clad streets it was easy to
imagine the traders and the fishermen discussing their bargains and bartering
their prices, swapping fish for grain and visa versa. I took a walk around the
back streets falling in love with all the wooden clad houses, painted in a
wonderful palette of chalky blues, ochres, pinks and reds, alongside white and
olivy green. By the time I was walking back to the hotel, the sun came out and
changed all the colours all over again, making us do a mad dash out onto the
deck to grab a picture of the mountain side bathed in sunshine.
This evening we have boarded the ship MS
Midnatsol and are about to set sail on our trip along the Norwegian coast. I’m
so excited I’m not sure there will be much sleep in me tonight, but need to have
my wits about me for the knitters in the morning…