Norway 2016 Bergen to Andalsnes

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Leaving our hotel in Oslo, Roger is letting Susie know he is on the van to the Oslo Airport.

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We left the sunny skies of Oslo and arrived in rainy Bergen. After a drive to our hotel, it was time for a quick tour of the harbor area and then on to dinner.

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Anne, the chief guide, explaining to us the regional dress of certain parts of Norway.

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I thought the reflections in the glass added a bit.

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A quick stroll over to the harbor and Bryggen. These old structures have been renovated, but are part of a World Heritage Site.

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The fish market. Some of the prepared plates you see in the center run from $30 to $50 US.

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Freshly cooked Lobsters, that run 599 kr per kilo, or about $33 per pound. My father's rule of thumb with lobsters was that, depending on size, you would get about 1/4 of the live weight out as edible meat. So figure at least $100 per pound for the meat in the lobster tail.

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This fellow was offering samples of whale meat, so I tasted it. It tasted like good beef. He did not say what species it was from, but it was probably the non-endangered Minke Whale.

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After a wonderful dinner of poached salmon, we headed back to the hotel, with Anne showing us the Floyen, to which the first part of our hike would be (white buildings on the ridge), a bit over 1000 feet above sea level.

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Since my brother-in-law Bruce loves old cars, I thought I would include this photo. Some classics, for sure.

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Next morning, we are all set to hike, finally. Everyone but "young Anna" our co-guide, is in the photo, since she must have taken the picture. OK, left to right is Linda, Jane, Mike, Eva, Anne (chief guide), Madelyn, Susie, Andy, Roger Susan, and Kathy. The hike starts from our hotel's front door.

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Through the back streets of Bergen.

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No, this is not our hiking buddies for today, but rather the queue of people wanting to take the funicular up to the buildings on Floyen. What a line. We are going to be avoiding that line by taking a steep hike the 1050 feet to the view area.

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Part of the hike is on switchback lanes.

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The next part of the hike is on a wide gravel trail.

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Up near the visitor center, Roger stops to take some photos of the city.

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A full panorama of the near city. Note the number of people on the observation deck.

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When you get to the visitor center, you are just getting started. We hiked North/Northeast, past ponds (and blessedly away from the crowds).

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This is the NW corner of Stor Tindevatnet. It seemed to have a small dam making an artificial lake.

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Ultimately, we would get to a false summit of the Rundemanen, about 1840 feet above sea level. Basically, where we had started was near sea level.

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Susan in a pensive mood. The fjord on which Bergen lies is in the distance.

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Anne is pointing something out to Madelyn. Roger (orange wind shirt) seems to be discussing something with Mike.

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Someone was always offering to take our photo together. I guess you need something for the Christmas letter.

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Roger is returning the favor for Eva and Mike.

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One of my favorite photos of the day: a young mother and 6 year old son from Switzerland. He had hiked all the way this day.

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Another group photo.

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Heading back, parts of Bergen now become visible.

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Anne agreed that we could take the funicular down, just to save our knees, so Linda and I are in line.

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On the funicular

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I included this photo, because it shows the ship we are going to get on this evening to take us up the coast to Geiranger. No, it is not the cruise ship in the far left of the photo, but rather the vastly smaller ship, that seems to have the white streak on the left of the photo, going thru it. Our vastly smaller ship actually holds about 600 passengers.