Day 13-14: At Sea / Final Cruise Stop - A Snapshot of Bergen
- BUT.....not the end of the adventure!
Late Monday we were informed that our stop in the Shetland Islands would be bypassed as a huge storm was on it's way, so we left the Highlands of Scotland and headed directly across the North Sea for our final port, Bergen Norway. We enjoyed the laid-back "at sea" day despite the high winds and rocky seas. By 3pm we'd arrived in the first of the fjords of Norway and the weather calmed significantly. Docked and spent the night.
Today was the final day of the cruise and our excursion into Bergen wasn't until after lunch. So we had a leisurely first part of the day which included packing our bags for our disembarkation early tomorrow morning - we depart the ship at 5:15am. BUT......we packed our bags considering we would be spending the next two days in Oslo, Norway before heading home. And clearly the highlight of this post-extension will be the nearly 7-hour scenic train ride tomorrow through Norway which has been called "The Most Scenic Train Ride In The World!" Anxious for the photo ops tomorrow. But first, today's adventure. Those that had early excursions this morning got absolutely soaked with the rain. Not unusual here as it rains over 270 days out of the year. OH MY. But by 1:30pm when we left we had a few light showers during the four hours, but nothing that disrupted the day. And for us Florida kids, we were loving the 47 degree weather (knowing it was a feels-like 108 at home!). We had a short bus ride to the Brygen area, a UNESCO Heritage protected area as this area goes back to the early 1500's where the major industry - run by German merchants - was cod fish. These multi-color buildings are what you'll see if you Google "Bergen." What's unique about them is that EACH opens into a "longhouse" of shops and buildings that housed nearly 100 merchants - IN EACH of them. And everything was made of wood. All of Bergen - ALL of it has burned down at one point or another since nearly everything was built with wood. Today fire is still a problem, and the leading cause of fires today - you'll never guess......frozen pizzas! College kids go drinking, come back and are hungry - put a frozen pizza in the oven and fall asleep :) After touring this area we got on the bus for about 40 minutes to the outskirts of town, took a short hike into the woods and visited one of the very few original "Stave Churches" left in the world. All wood - very unique. Back on the bus to the city center where we boarded a funicular that took us up 1500 feet to the top of the mountain. The views were spectacular. Hat a cup of hot chocolate - that was outstanding - and took the funicular back down to the bus and back to the ship. Had about 15 minutes to change for our farewell dinner. Hated to say good-bye to our favorite waitress, Manuka, and most especially to our great friends Bob & Pam who head for home tomorrow. But Gary & Claudia are joining us on the post to Oslo!
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