That initial impression lasted; Bergen is an amazingly gorgeous city and I have spent the past three days exploring with various groups, individuals, and on my own. Below is a sampling of how I spent that time; it would take too long to include everything (and you would likely fall asleep) so these are some of the highlights. They likely won't do the past three days justice; they have been spectacular. (Advance apologies for the overuse of adjectives like beautiful, wonderful, spectacular, glorious, etc.; they are hard to avoid and accurate.)
Tuesday
The day began with an 8 AM meeting where we were briefed by a diplomat from the US Embassy on the history of Norway and some safety tips (there weren't many; Bergen is incredibly safe and it's light for almost 24 hours a day). The economy is one based on oil and Norway is a major exporter. They are investing wisely and so their economy appears to be booming. When they exhaust their oil resources they will return to the fish business. They have
socialized medicine, wonderful maternity and paternity leave policies, and attending university is free. Taxes are about 25% and included in the sticker price you see. And Norway is very, very expensive. A bottle of water or soda is about $4.00; a meal will run you about $40.00-50.00 without wine (about $20.00) or beer (about $12.00) and gas seems to run about $9.35/gallon. Desert is also about $20.00. Your "run of the mill" souvenir is about $15.00. You get the idea.
Norway chose not to participate in the EU and thus their money system consists of the Kroner. Right now, with the US economy the way it is, the exchange rate is about 5 kroner per $1.00. We quickly became quite good at rounding and dividing by five to figure out how much things cost.
I had plans to meet with LaVahn and MF Hoh later in the morning and to take a city tour at 1:00 but I was anxious to explore so I set off on my own for the next hour. I ran into Karen (Ryan) and her son and we followed the crowd into the city. Although it was cold, windy and raining the main street we encountered was beautiful. We found the ATM and explored some stores but mostly I was happy to be walking on solid ground. The odd thing is that once you get your sea legs walking on land can be a challenge. Most of us stumbled around as we still felt the ship rocking even though we were off the ship.
I headed back to the ship to meet up with LaVahn, his wife and Bill Wilkerson and we did some more walking, grabbed lunch and went to meet our tour bus. SAS has an endless list of 1/2 day trips, days trips and overnight trips. I prefer less structured activities but wanted to go on the tour to get the lay of the land so I signed up for the Bergen City/Mt. Floyen Tour. The tour bus drove us around Bergen and we got a nice history lesson on the downtown area of the city.
We saw several old buildings and churches and learned a great deal about the historic buildings located on the water.
The Kontor (a foreign trading post) in Bergen was the last of the four Hanseatic Kontors to be established and it lasted the longest. The society consisted of all males; members were not permitted to marry and returned to Germany when their term was completed. This Kontor closed in 1899 ending almost 500 years of trading between Germany and Norway. Below are the buildings where the Germans lived; they are currently under restoration as they are sinking and tilting (see the stairs in the second picture). This is the result of the building being built on top of about 7 meters of ash which is very soft; the ash is the result of hundreds of years of fires because all of the buildings are built of wood.
Our last stop was to the top of Mt. Floyen which we accessed by taking the funicular (like a tram). Despite the fact that it was raining off and on, sometimes even pouring, the view was spectacular. The three pictures below show the funicular, and two views from the top of Mount Floyen (the second one shows our ship which looked quite small next to the giant cruise ship).
By noon we were back at Torget for a great meal of smoked salmon and salad and then headed to the archaeology museum! They have a great permanent exhibit on the historic district and a temporary exhibit on witches which was nicely done and interesting though Bergen apparently only burned at the stake one woman thought to be a witch. For my fellow archaeologists below are three pictures just for you.
After a few hours at the museum we divided up and Haley and I took off on foot. We walked and walked and walked (and walked)... through the town -- the stores, the plazas, the churches, the small alleyways, the University of Bergen, and up and down almost every little street we found. We stopped for ice cream ($5.00) and a soda ($6.00).
and this is one of the main buildings at the University of Bergen...
We were originally scheduled to leave port at 5 PM but close to 30 students were stranded in various airports (Chicago, Boston and New York) due to cancelled flights so they were not on board. Due to some miraculous work by many people all 583 students made it. Unfortunately for about 31 students their luggage did not. Together, those 31 students are missing 46 pieces of luggage so they have only the clothes on their back and whatever was in their carry-on bag. Students are lending clothes to them to wear until we get to Norway where they will hopefully find their belongings.
We had to go in a circle around Devil's Island to set the compass (not sure why this needs to be done in this technological age but it does). In fact, the captain told the parents not to be alarmed when they saw him go in a circle twice (once to set the compass and once to get out of the harbor) as he really does know what he is doing.
There were lots of opportunites for photos. Laurie Casteen and Iain Campbell were celebrating their birthdays. And Rebecca and I posed for a shot as we left land.
Sailing out was nice and pretty smooth. It was odd to know we were seeing the last piece of land that we would see for 9 days.
The sea is relatively calm though we have hit some rockier water but I'm still (as of 9 PM Monday) doing okay. We heading pretty far north now so it's stay light longer and longer. Sunset tonight is listed as 9:45 PM. We lose an hour every other night so tomorrow sunset will be at almost 11 PM. I love all the light; unfortunately it's also about 45 degrees outside and the ship is also always chilly.
Tonight (Tuesday) we lose another hour and I think everyone is already feeling tired so tomorrow will be interesting. I suppose losing an hour every other night is preferable to losing 7 hours all at once. And, I suppose when we come home time will almost stand still as we gain an hour every other night.
We've been pretty steady in harbor (the New York harbor was rockier) but we have all been told that crossing the North Atlantic can be quite rocky. And the biggest mistake they made was telling us that the ship is "unsinkable." Now where did we hear that before?
Apparently the ship runs on auto-pilot much of the time. We burn 70-80 tons of fuel per day when we are at sea and about 8 tons/day in port. Fuel now costs about $560.00 per metric ton as opposed to $180.00 per metric ton a few years ago. This is not the same fuel we use in our cars... it is more like very crude diesel. (Note that I have no idea what I am talking about; I am just repeating what we were told.) The panel below is one of several which allows the crew to monitor the ship in various ways at all times. There is an elaborate fire panel which tells the captain and crew exactly where a fire is (should one break out) and allows them to close fire doors. There is an elaborate alarm/sprinkler system.
The crew runs drills all the time. Today we watched them lower the life boats while Karen Ryan tried to talk aminst various loud alarms. There are always medical drills (code blue).
I also have a private balcony with two recliners, two chairs and a small table. The crew cleans the rooms and makes the beds everyday -- I couldn't ask for more. My neighbor to the left is Karen Ryan, to the right is LaVahn Hoh and his wife. Allen Lynch is right across the hall, Gordon Braden is two doors down from me and Julian Connolly is around the corner. It's very different to walk out of your "home" and see all these people in the hallway and at meals but it's also quite nice. Everyone sits in tables of 4 to 6 and we all make room for anyone who wanders over (more on the food below). Because of this I've had the chance to meet many of the Faculty from other schools which has also been fun. We're starting to "bond" and it seems to be a fun group.
There are nine classrooms; eight are on the Deck 6 and one (mine -- Classroom 9) is on the Deck 5. There are two dining halls (on Decks 5 and 6 -- one is large and one is medium). There is also a computer lab;
and a large Faculty/Staff lounge in which students are absolutely prohibited (it's where I am writing from right now). It has numerous tables and chairs and an open bar with snacks (for pay) from 9-11. It's also wireless and has large windows all around the periphery.
