Polar night and polar bear island - a Norwegian winter adventure

[Justinf]

Next was the Bryggen area with the historical buildings.
I posted some pics of these yesterday but we went through some alleyways and the history behind them was interesting. Google is your friend.

 

[Justinf]

Next we went up to a residential area that was very quaint.
I’m not going to go into all the history stuff because I simply cannot be bothered.
Suffice to say a lot of the places are worth a fortune .

 

[Justinf]

We got to a vantage point.
Again, do this as a first thing you do in Bergen.
After going up the mountain yesterday I had seen it much better there.

 

[Justinf]

It was warmer today probably plus 1 or 2 and sunny.
I didn’t take many photos as I felt I had taken plenty of the same spots already.
It was worth it to hear the history behind everything, though and for $37, it was very cheap.
We wandered more and were told about past and modern day history including the many fires that have gutted the town - the 1702 one in particular- and a massive explosion in 1944.
The second pic is an artwork called Resonance. by Magne Furuholmen.
Never heard of him?
Me neither.
Until it was explained that he is the keyboardist from the band A-ha. You know - Take on Me…take on me, take me on, take me on, I’ll be gone, in a day or twwwwwwwwwo.

 

[Justinf]

The tour finished and I was hungry so I grabbed a reindeer hotdog from Trekroneren, which is a bit of an institution here.
It cost $14.24 and hit the spot nicely.

 

[Justinf]

I wasn’t ready to head back to the apartment so I decided to check out the train station for my 8.08am train to Oslo tomorrow.
Just so I knew what to expect etc.
I hate the unknown if I can control it.
And then I walked around some more.

 

[Justinf]

After I got back to the room I realised I had lost my gloves although they are probably there somewhere
Went out and stumbled across a budget shop and picked what I think is a decent pair for $12.
I’ll need them for Oslo but I also didn’t want to lash out and buy expensive ones.
Then to the pub for two beers and back to the room.
Not sure what will grab for dinner but not overly hungry so it just be something very simple.
The pub I went to last night (and tonight) has really cheap beer by Norwegian standards. A pint of the local Kansa is $14 and it’s very drinkable.
Early morning tomorrow.
I can’t believe I have only four sleeps left until I go home.

 

[Justinf]

The forecast keeps changing.
I checked a few hours ago and Oslo was meant to be -3 tomorrow (train gets in around 3pm) and then -1 for the last two days of my trip.
Now it’s changed to -6, -4 and -2.
And that’s from the official Norway weather site yr.no/en
My gloves are fleeced lined but I have running gloves that are thin that I can use as an underlayer if needed.
Not looking forward to an early start tomorrow, but very much looking forward to the train trip

 

[Justinf]

Forgot to post this one.
It’s a statue of Christian Michelsen who was prime minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907.

 

[pks]

Great TR Justin and brings back good memories of trips to Bergen in 2018 and Svalbard in June 2022 when it was a lot warmer (low single Cs) and 24hr light!

 

[Wello]

It has been great reading about your adventure as I am going to be in both Tromso and Bergen later this month. Seeing your photos has got me excited to see the sights in person.

 

[Justinf]

It has been great reading about your adventure as I am going to be in both Tromso and Bergen later this month. Seeing your photos has got me excited to see the sights in person.

I’m excited for you. You’ll love it.

 

[Justinf]

Was awake very early at around 5am, which gave me enough time to clean the AirB&B to a standard that wasn’t a pig sty. Also had time for coffee.
I left the room just after 7am and it took less than 10 minutes to walk to the station.
A few pods of early morning people going about their day. And of people already queuing up for the train as if they aren’t going to get on with their prepaid selected seats. I’ve never understood that.

 

[Justinf]

Eventually boarding proceeded and the hoards were moving through.
I just sat there and watched until I could just waltz up and get on.
I was in carriage 1 in comfort-plus in seat 4, right at the back. It looked like I will have a spare seat next to me, which is a huge bonus, but there are a few stops along the way where people will get on.
All you get for the extra money is more room and free tea and coffee.
It was also stifling onboard, so I whipped out my trusty portable fan. I would be lost without it.

 

[Justinf]

We pulled out at 8.08am on the dot and I reckon for the first hour the left side of the train is prime position.
That’s where you’ll see the fjords and the water as you leave the city.
I was on the right-hand side but got up to take some pics.
Just be warned that a lot of pics I simply had to delete as taking them on my phone just didn’t work. I could not believe they left the carriage internal lights on once it got light. The reflections made it VERY difficult to take pictures.

 

[Justinf]

One of things I was very surprised about was that nobody was taking pictures or even watching.
At least not in my carriage.
One guy was reading a book. A woman was playing solitaire on her phone.
Meanwhile I’m darting around trying to get the best views.
It was strange.
I have done the Alaska railroad from Anchorage to Fairbanks, which was 12 hours and I was hoping this would be as majestic.
As we stopped and ventured past Voss, we headed into the mountains.
There were a lot of tunnels and the views were quite obstructed by trees and stuff.
Once again, the pics are not great.

 

[Justinf]

Not that I particularly wanted to stay connected online but I soon worked out that the back of the train - me, where I paid more - didn’t have wifi, but the front - where they paid less - didn’t.
I have data roaming but it cut in and out due to the tunnels etc. again, not that I really cared.
There was no filling up water bottles either. I had to make the 20km trek to the front carriage to the kaffe carriage to buy two 600ml bottles of water for $18.
Purely a money grabbing exercise..
Anyway, the scenery was amazing.

 

[Justinf]

I’ll keep apologising for the poor quality pics because those damn internal lights were totally unnecessary unless it’s s safety thing?
Still nobody was wandering around and looking. I went for another walk down the length of the train and ai was gobsmacked at how little people were paying attention.
One of the things I noticed compared to the Alaska Railroad was just how many houses and telephone lines etc were around.
Taking a pic or just seeing nature without human interference was quite difficult at times.
I sounds like I am whining, but I was really enjoying it.

 

[Justinf]

We pulled into Myrdal and there were quite a few stops in succession that were ski resort towns that people were going to.
I just assumed everyone was going to Oslo and they were there for the same reasons as me.

 

[Justinf]

I imagine this trip would be much nicer in spring where there is green and the waterfalls are flowing.
I was still enjoying it though.