Bain de Soleil

Out and About at Bryggen

So much of this blog has been devoted to my wondering, whining about, making fun of, and waxing eloquent about the rain, that it seems natural for Mother Nature to have had enough of my blathering.  This past weekend, the huldra named Bergenette performed what I like to think of as the strip-tease, showing me the true blue that lay underneath all that drab, grey clothing.  What a glorious weekend!!!  Everyone was out and about, with perma-grins on their faces, gladly parting with hard-earned kroner for a chance to sit in any vacant seat of a sidewalk cafe sipping a beer.  There were indeed no vacancies at any of these places that had heretofore   reminded me of the abandoned gas station/cafes along I-40 between Kingman and Flagstaff.  Could "summer" be in the air?  A fellow blogger commented that she liked to think of summer as "particular days" rather than a season.  Funny, that's exactly how I think of winter back home in Vegas.  

The Navy's Clipper Ship

Private boats along the pier, with Fløyen up in the background

Shadows mean.......SUN!  Wishing I were on that boat....

Not wanting to start drinking at 12:30 pm, and really not enjoying the thought of drinking alone, I headed over to the aquarium.  I had been meaning to go there for some time, but had been putting it off thinking if I wait long enough, a perfect day will come along for me to actually walk there, enjoying the sights along the way.  The last and only time I ever visited an aquarium was in Seattle.  Apparently, that experience spoiled me because Bergen's aquarium is, well....I can only say strange, actually.  Here I am, in a nordic country and there were actually more exhibits devoted to tropical species and spiders than to creatures of the sea.  Several types of pythons, crocodiles, even a California king snake, a tarantula....what the hell?  Yet, only 2 seals?  And a handful of penguins?  However, they did have Rocky on display, the stuffed body of the oldest penguin to have lived in captivity:  29 year old, according to the Guinness WBoR.  

Handful of Penguins at Akvariet

While eavesdropping on a guide leading a group of teenagers, I discovered why there were so many exotic creatures housed here...the illegal trafficking of exotics is the third largest criminal activity in Norway.  A majority of these poor creatures were captured in raids and are now permanently sheltered here.  So, the aquarium can be considered more of the local humane society for unadoptables.  Believe me, there is nothing about an 18" diameter python that makes me want to see it adopted by some private citizen.  Thank you, Bergen aquarium, for providing a decent habitat for these less fortunate creatures to live out their lives and I suddenly feel like my $25.00 entrance fee is worth it.  And I can wipe away some of my tears....why I bring myself to view animals that should be wild but kept in captivity for our convenience, I'll never know.  My last zoo visit was in....um.....198?  Never again, I had promised myself.  

Barnehauge (Kindergarten) - the "outdoor" type

Saturday dawned perfectly clear with the sun screaming through the windows for us to get up!  get going!  get outside!  After breakfast, enjoyed amid the background of the radio telling us of Friday night's arrests of drunken revelers (I had even said, when arriving at Bjørn and Gro's house the night before that the cops would busy....people were out and about enjoying the sun like NBA fans at  an All-Star game host city), we donned the appropriate shin-high boots and set out on a 4 hour hike into the hills above Bergen.  There was not a cloud in the sky!  

We started our hike in Hjortland, (deer-land), at one of those outdoor kindergartens I had mentioned in a previous post.  Yes, children are encouraged at a young age to play outside...to stay outside as much as possible.  This is perhaps training for them, to learn how to love a life of less than ideal weather and to never consider that weather could ever be an excuse for....well.....anything really.  These particular barnehauger seem to have much in common with cemeteries in the U.S. in that they sit on some of the nicest real estate.

After about an hour of hiking up through the trees, we emerge onto a plateau-like ridge of beautiful granite, clumps of grass, moss, and lots of mud.  Hiking here is never without the sound of suction and squishing.  The mud and water never really gets deeper than the ankles if you learn where to step.  But, 9" high leather boots that can be waterproofed are a must.  It allows one to walk without constantly having to search for ways around the mud.  I can simply walk through it and enjoy the scenery instead...which is stunning:

Along the way

You can see the North Sea on a day like today

I make every effort to just take in the sights, the sounds, and the smell of the cleanest air I have experienced in a very long time.  

Making the dogs mind.  We don't want them leaping off for birds...it's a long way down!

It's STRAIGHT down to that farm!

Teresa & Shaka

Every once in awhile, when glancing down the valley, I realize that we are really just outside the city, but that's the amazing thing here...you can be really "out there" and in eyesight of the city.  Anchorage is bit like that, as well, if I recall: a place where a city actually ends and has places where you can die of exposure within eye/earshot of suburbs....

Our destination, the Vikings Hytte

Cables on the Viking Hytte

Upon our arrival at Viking Hytte, it is warm and windless, two conditions that are surely so foreign to March in Western Norway...I immediately notice the cables running from their moorings in the ground to the top of the hut, and I ask jokingly if they are really there to hold the building up...."Yes, of course!" says Gro.  "The winds are very bad here!"  I imagine years of high winds would slowly cause these huts to list after awhile.  We had been near this ridge earlier during my stay, and it was windy then.  Really windy.  I could barely stand up, even with the help of my legs knee deep in snow.  So we had turned back.   Not so today!  I actually could have been in shorts, and optimistic-me had brought a pair along with me, but they were at home.  I hadn't intended to wear them outside actually, but I could have on this day!


A quick stop and then we were off down into Hjortland, where we hike quite a bit with the dogs.  We exited a different way, though and passed by the farms, kennels, and stables along the small road that leads into the valley.  

Typical farmhouse with 1 wall being of stone

Heading down the road, a Norwegian fjord horse on the right

Nice example of a Norwegian Fjord Horse

I had been hoping to see a Norwegian Fjord horse during my stay here.  They are truly lovely, and very adept for use helping farmers till the soil on the steep slopes of the fjords.  I think this one is more for riding anymore, no doubt...They seemed well cared for, and happy to not be standing out in the rain, which had been the case each time we were here earlier during my stay.  

Bjørn, spying on us

 Back at the ranch, it was all business: sun, lounge chairs, beer, chips, salsa, conversation...and waiting for Bjørn to do a fly-by.  He had been flying on this gorgeous day, taking out relatives as well as children battling cancer.  He tipped his wing and I would have tossed a beer up to him, but I'm not that good of a throw, and drinking and flying is against the law here.  I think.  


We ended the day in proud American fashion...with a taco dinner and then lounging around the TV watching singing contests.  What is it about singing popular music that makes everyone want to make a contest out of it?  Every country seems to be obsessed with this medium, and I just don't understand it, really.  Typical for Norway, though, it is a little more gentlemanly.  On this particular elimination round, instead of pitting 2 singers against each other, one by one, they must sing a duet together with small solo parts within the duet.  The judges then choose the winner of the two, but they had the opportunity to make beautiful music together first.


Yes, I am still in Norway aren't I?  Where even the contests are designed not to hurt anyone's feelings.