Bergen

Due to problems with the train we arrived at Bergen nearly an hour late yesterday and arrived in the rush hour. The roads were gridlocked with workers going home and the taxi driver complained about it all the short way from the railway station to our hotel. By the time we set off from the hotel to see what we could see, the traffic had gone.

First off we walked to the station for the Funicular. This is a six minute ride to the top of Mount Floyen, and gave us great views of Bergen. When we came down from there we had a look at the old wharf area, which has a lot of old wooden buildings - some dating back to the 1700's. By the time we walked back in the direction of our hotel dusk was coming down.

Today (Tuesday 8th) we started out with a walk through an old market area, and then headed back to the town centre to book a tour. We went on a three hour tour which took in the city and then continued on to Troldhaugen (Trolls Hill) to see the home of Edward Grieg.

Robin with the life size statue of Grieg - little fellow wasn't he!

Troldhaugen, above, was built in 1885 and was where Grieg and his wife lived every summer, until his death in 1907. The winters here were too cold for them and for rest of the year they lived in Copenhagen. While we were there the weather really came down - it poured and we all got a bit wet returning to the bus. But not as wet at the people below!

By the time we were dropped at the city centre the rain was slight so we continued on to the Hanseatic Museum, the stone and wooder building that takes up the corner, below. Bergan had been the capital of Norway in the 1300's and as such was the centre of trade, especially with the Hanseatic League. The museum is in one of the old German buildings, which had been rebuilt after a fire in the 1700's which destroyed a lot of their property.

After spending a couple of hours in the museum we returned to the hotel, getting quite wet in the process. We have now dried out and will soon go out for dinner - one of the hotel restuarants probably, due to the weather. Tomorrow we leave Bergen first thing and return to Oslo for an overnight stay. Then it is goodbye Norway and hello Sweden.