Shamrock Report # 16

Yesterday, in Bergen, we took the excursion, "Troldhaugen & Mount Floyen & Funicular." We awoke to clear skies again and temperatures in the 60s. I guess compared with temperatures nearing 100 in DC, this sounds pretty good to us.

We headed directly from the pier to the funicular station with the guide pointing out various sights along the way. When we arrived there were already significant queues. I don't think the excursion or the guide handled things very well. Instead of telling us to get in line while he went to get tickets, we just stood in a group watching the line lengthen. By the time he returned, it probably added 30 minutes to our wait for the 8-minute ride up Mount Floyen.

The mountain rises about 1,000 feet over Bergen and the views were pretty spectacular, given the unusually clear skies. We stayed up there about 15 minutes, but again the instructions were confusing and, as a result when we reached the bottom, no bus or familiar faces could be seen--we thought we were only 3 minutes late. Turns out our guide was still at the top, and we didn't leave for almost another half hour.

Then we toured the city some more from the coach and headed to the south toward Troldhaugen, the former home of composer Edvard Grieg, where he composed many of his most famous works. He is also buried there with his wife Nina, in a cave down some very steep steps close to the fjord. At the site is not only is his villa, but there is now a modern museum and concert hall. We had plenty of time to tour the complete area, including the garden. The weather remained very accommodating.

So much time had elapsed that we headed straight back to the pier where we enjoyed lunch on the pool deck. I finally tasted one of the ship's salmon burgers, which was very tasty. There was a bike race in the old town that was supposed to commence at 1 PM, so perhaps that is why we didn't go through that area. In addition, we are departing relatively early today for our cruise down to Oslo.

Yesterday, Trivia was pretty tough. We were particularly ashamed that we couldn't come up with 3 of the 10 songs that the Beatles recorded having the word "love" in the title. We ended up with a total of 9 points (out of 15); the winners had 11 (2 teams).

For dinner, three of us had special ordered ris de veau with a sauce that was slightly different than sauce that I requested, but it was good nevertheless. We enjoyed dinner, stopped by the end of the "La Cirque" show (which we had seen already), and then went up to the Observation Lounge where Ngaire and Ken were actually alone. We sat with them for a little while and Bert and Mitch joined us. But we were not in a partying mood and all retired to their cabins reasonably early.

Some Bergen photos:

The Funicular Station


The visibility was great up on Mt. Floyen


A beautiful tall ship down below


The fountain in the lake below


Gail and Eugene


Church close-up