Norway Bound: Part 3

Remember how I left you hanging in Part 2 about the weather in Bergen? That it rains 300+ days a year?  We had been following the forecast weeks before we left home and in all the days leading up to our time in Bergen, the weather looked typical: rainy and cool. Again.
Donned in our rain gear and with umbrellas and rain ponchos in the backpack, we headed out to see the city.  We planned on first taking the funicular train up to see the city from a higher vantage point.
It was spitting rain when we left our hotel, but on the walk over to the train, clouds started rolling away and there were peeks of blue behind the clouds.

The Funicular Station
Once we boarded the funicular and started the trip uphill (crowded train cars btw), we could see the skies clearing up.

By the time we reached the summit, Bergen was putting on its best show for us!
The sun was shining!
No rain!
 

There were goats at the summit, too, and I pretended to do goat yoga with one of them who could care less about this goat yoga thing.

Oh well.

We headed back down the mountain for more action.  Rick Steves recommended the
Bryggen Walking Tour and we did this 1.5 hour tour that turned into a 2+ hour tour because of our very good, engaged guide.  Nine hundred years of Bergen history included the Byrggens Museum, 
the Hanseatic Assembly Rooms, the Hanseatic Museum plus a walk through the main part of the city.  It was so informative, picturesque and worthwhile to do this tour.
St. Mary's Church dating from the 12th century.



Street-side view of the historical houses.
 
The back side view of the famous Hanseatic League houses.
Interior view of on of the merchant offices and living quarters.
I thought the leaded and painted glass window in the office was just beautiful!
Wes was very interested in the Hanseatic trading partnership as it is very connected to his
job as Dean of the NPU School of Business and Nonprofit Management. 

Leaving this beautiful city was difficult as we had such a short time here to explore before needing to catch the train back to Oslo.  However, it is as gorgeous of a train trip as we'd heard.
  In closing, I leave you with photos of the breath-taking views. These are all taken through the window of the moving train; some were cropped to block the window rim; others have splotches from gunk (or glare) on the glass of the window.





                 
  We arrived back in Oslo quite late that night.  This was one short trip that we won't soon forget!

Part 4 of Norway Bound features a day in Oslo seeing the National Gallery, City Hall and witnessing the biggest marching, singing band EVER!



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