Bergen, Norway Takeover: change of plans, again..but not letting that stop the adventure..there’s just more of it now!
August 22, 2023. The adventure gets even more adventuresome: So, the new plan WAS to take the 5.5 hour ferry ride to/from Flam today. That didn’t work out, as it started raining and they postponed the early morning departure. At that point I had two options: 1- Say FUCK IT, tour around Bergen for the day, and make my newest flight out of Norway to Finland tomorrow morning. 2- take a much more absurd route…plead with Finnair to change my flight departure from tomorrow morning to the morning of the 24th without incurring any additional cost, book another night in Bergen at another location as my current location is fully booked, buy the roundtrip ferry tickets for the 23rd and get out to the Fjords. What do you think I decided? Yahhh, option 2….
I secured the roundtrip tickets to the Fjords for tomorrow, 23rd, departing at 8:00AM. I booked a night in the only hostel in Bergen, happening to have one availability for tomorrow night, I spoke very charmingly with Finnair and for not a cent more, rescheduled my flight for the following day on the 24th to fly into Helsinki, Finland.
A whole, unexpected, day in Bergen was now mine. And I couldn’t be more excited about that after learning of this city, it’s culture, and seeing the beauty of the buildings along the water and hilltops. Also, there is yet again a big red bus to tour the city on. And wait for it… a fucking MAGIC ICE BAR around the corner from my hotel. Hell YES I’m experiencing that while in The Nordic!
But first, some interesting facts about Bergen:
1. You will notice many wide streets in Bergen, they are built wide purposefully to prevent fires from spreading. There is a long history of fires destroying wooden homes, churches, etc.
2. The Bergen Aquarium, established in 1960, was the latest and most modern aquarium in Northern Europe. There are over 300 species living there.
3. A large building on the corner of Nordnesbakken Road in downtown Bergen, built in 1896, houses old sailors. Shockingly, at this building, in 1876 the last human execution took place here. All capital punishment was held here actually. Also, those that participated in witchcraft, or were accused of doing so, were burned at the stake here in the following years.
4. In Bergen alone, there are 14 movie theaters within three ‘houses’. Movies are shown in their original language and subtitles are in Norwegian.
5. The country of Norway has borders with three other countries: Sweden, Finland, & Russia. Oh by the way; Norwegians do not like the Danish- this dates very far back, rivalry and all that drama.
6. Bergen sits at the same latitude as Alaska, USA. It rained 84 days in a row in 2007 in Bergen, making the record books for longest period of rain ever. There are on average 230 days a year of rain in Bergen (and I’ve been complaining about Florida weather this whole time..whooops).
THE MAGIC ICE BAR. Bergen, Norway. -12*c (for my American folks, that’s about 10*f)
This city is like a painting. I mean, there ARE paintings of it. But it’s like the painting jumped off the canvas and BOOM, everything is tangible and 3-D and ALIVE. Just take in the pictures, I stood for minutes at a time taking in the live view before even taking a photo.
