We had a calm night at sea which meant I couldn't sleep. We pulled into Bergen bright and early and we lugged our tired little heads off our pillows and off to breakfast.
We disembarked and immediately found a hop on hop off bus. (yas! Free wifi) We took the entire 12 stop trip without stopping to get an overview of the sights. Alas, the second round on the bus was much much busier so we decided to get off at the Fløibannen (something like that) which is a tram line to the top of one of the seven the mountains that make up Bergen.
At the top was bitterly cold and rainy and crowded and unpleasant so we took in the view until our discomfort won over and we return to ground level.
Near the station was a coffee shop so we stopped for cappucinos and local speciality cinnamon buns. Which were delicious! I think they were called Skillebolle.
From the coffee shop we decided to walk across the town to the natural history museum through several gardens and past some churches and interesting architecture. We arrived at the museum to find it closed and under renovation so we settled for visiting the adjoining botanical gardens.
Bergen is in the throes of spring and all the bushes and trees are drooping with blossoms. I have also enjoyed seeing all the tulips and pansies flowering. On Norway they are very fond of planting flower beds of white red and blue flowers.
We walked to a beautiful fountain where there were several buskers and finally caught our bus again back to the cruise terminal.
We agreed before we left for this holiday to do our best to eat locally where possible. The likes of McDonalds and Pizza Hut was forbidden. We did agree to make an exception for Starbucks because we don't have that in Joburg (yet). From the terminal we took a walk to the Starbucks and we ordered lattes. Thus completing an experience for MrT.
On the way back we stopped off to look in all the souvenir shops. I would dearly love a Dale of Norway Merino jersey, but at R6000 a pop, I could buy just as good luxury merino at home (minus the So-Bad-Its-Good Reindeer design). We also visited a moose leather shop. Moose leather is ridiculously soft and I was sorely tempted to acquire a pair of soft leather boots.
We returned to the ship in time to apply for our tourism tax refund on all the souvenirs we had bought this trip and after an hour in the queue I rather spontaneously elected to get my refund in Norwegian Kroner currency to add to our collection of foreign notes. Daft, Yes.
Now we are relaxing in the evening sunshine (first sunshine since day 1!) on the bow of the ship as we sail away from Bergen and back to the open seas where we will be for the whole of tomorrow.
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