Thursday, 23.01., Bergen

The train journey the next morning was the most beautiful of my whole trip. It is generally recommended, but for me it was even more special because it was light the whole time, which was definitely a distinguishing feature compared to my other trips. The journey was quite confusing climatically: we started in beautiful Oslo, crossed deep snowy mountains, and arrived in rainy Bergen.

But the tight schedule showed no mercy. Let's be honest: what comes to mind first when thinking of Bergen? The colorful Hanseatic merchant houses at the harbor. So, I went there first and checked it off. It was something, even more than the photos suggest. Especially the smell of old wood mixed with rain appealed to me. As a reward, I treated myself to a cocoa and a piece of carrot cake. The price of 12€ also served as a wake-up call.

Afterwards, the funicular railway to the mountain Fløyen lured me. Although the ticket seller had warned me about the lack of visibility due to fog, fate was on my side, so that just like in a cheesy movie, a gap in the fog appeared when I stepped onto the viewing platform.

On the mountain, a path that disappeared into the foggy forest looked very inviting to embark on new adventures, but I saved that for a possible visit in summer. The remaining attractions of Bergen for me were the cathedral, in which a cannonball is lodged, the fortress of Bergen, many other smaller, nice buildings, and the harbor.

During dinner, I was surprised to hear two men suddenly starting to discuss German verb conjugation. A few minutes later, another man at the neighboring table started using an app to learn German, so I was afraid I had been struck by lightning. But apparently, Norwegians are simply motivated learners and German is an attractive language.

Until the departure of my train, there were still a few hours to kill, I had already seen quite a lot and it was raining again in a very unpleasant way. So, I had the brilliant idea to try out the Norwegian cinema. I had always wanted to go to the cinema alone anyway. Fortunately, “Doolittle” was even running in English at the perfect time, so I had the expensive pleasure of enjoying an entertaining film in cinema seats that move/vibrate according to the action. After a last detour through the city, I could finally relax and board the night train back to Oslo. But more about the odyssey that was my return journey in the next post.