Wednesday, 25th
We woke up at dawn, the sun was no where to be seen. The sky was a deep red just before sunrise. G wanted to capture this brilliant act of nature and went down and sat by the river. I think about an hour and nothing happened. Somewhere G fell asleep waiting and when finally the eyes opened the sun was so bright in the sky that the eyes fluttered. Alas, but I guess we lived that moment there. Waking up to nothingness, sitting idly on a raft by the river, watch a few birds and generally life coming to life.
The breakfast spread at this hostel will always be cherished because of its elaborate offering and probably the best that any of the hostels would have served. There were toasts fresh out of the toaster, eggs, ham, cheese, variety of spreads, pate, cereals, salad, coffee, I think just about everything. After many helpings later we walked back to the river and sat there for a while. The heavy breakfast and the warm sun was only tempting us to fall asleep. So like good children we slept off for a while as the train to Bergen was only in the afternoon.
We walked to the station through vast, empty streets lined with cottages and colorful flowers. The train passed through the river, the ocean, fishermen, houses, mountains set under a vast blue sky. We finally bid adieu to the once-upon-a-time fairy tale settings and entered the crowded, slushy, noisy, gray and dark Bergen.
We asked for directions to the YMCA from the policemen and walked past the Indian restaurants, tourist shops, book shops, coffee shops with awnings on cobbled streets and a rush of people. We were going in circles when we asked a person as to the directions. He literally held our hands and walked us to the gate of the hostel and then went back on his original mission.
We registered and got a discount because of our membership card with the international youth hostel association. We chose the noisy dormitory and I took the upper bunk and soon made way to discover the city and what better than walking.
Very near to our hostel was the fish market and boy was it noisy, slushy because of rain. But the mouth watering aroma of smoked, grilled salmon filled the air. We immediately had bites of grilled, marinated and smoked salmon with bread. Caviar and blueberries. Amidst all the fishmongers was a lone flower shop (no clue if the flowers smelt of fish or the fish of flowers)
We walked past the Hansiatic quarters (listed in the UNESCO world heritage sites). There are lovely wooden houses, which once were trader houses between the 14 and 16th century, are now residences of artists
We took the short 15 minute ride on the Urliksbanen funicular to reach Mount Floyen. Located at about 1000 ft above sea level, this place has a spectacular view of the city from above. It was still drizzling and bit of mist and fog enveloped us. The lush green ferns and a little forest added to the charm. From here, the sea looked serene and the city looked spectacular with the twinkling lights shining like jewels. We strolled around the dense forest which had a lake covered with wispy clouds. A group of joggers went by. we sat on benches and logs and wondered about the stillness in the air.
There was park nearby with life size statues of vikings. and a trinket shop, from where I picked up a much required nail cutter. We decided to walk down to the city and not take the funicular. As we climbed downhill, several cyclists passed by. We passed through neat houses and large playgrounds where youngsters were playing handball. We walked by the ice cream man on a cycle. The drizzle continued and the air had a rich fragrance of ferns and flowers. We hopped, skipped and jumped most of the route. But as the drizzle became rain, teeth chattered, smile disappeared, our rain soaked clothing made walking heavy and added to that the wind, nearly took my umbrella away. It was getting dark and we were feeling cold and we still had miles to go.
At a turn, we decided to stand under a shade of a tree for a while. All of a sudden there was a burst of loud music (trumpets and band) and the air was filled with a delicious aroma of hot waffles. A local newspaper was doing a promotion and were inviting the residents for a treat. Well the walk, the cold and the aroma made us very hungry, so quite hopefully we queued up and were served some hot waffles and syrup. We quickly hogged and hoped for a second round shamelessly. The rain had stopped and we started our walk again. We walked past a very large installation of a reindeer, evening walkers and cyclists. Soon we were crossing the Hansiatic quarters. G burnt a cd of all the pics that were clicked till now and we quickly checked our emails and wrote a few.
We were still hungry and we hogged on hot dogs and moved towards the hostel. It was still early evening and as G was relaxing in room, I went to the reception area to inquire a few things. I was pleasantly surprised because at the reception stood the two strange fellows who were now friends. They were also checking in the hostel and they invited us for dinner. Was it our lucky day or what!!
G was very glad at the invite and quickly changed into fresh and better clothes as we dreamt of hitting the night spots of Bergen with the new friends. We should have known, the dinner was at the cafeteria of the hostel and consisted of tuna and sardine sandwiches. So much for dressing up. But the evening turned out to be an interesting one. An editor of a German magazine along with her boyfriend joined our table. Conversations and tea followed. We exchanged notes from our travel and our next destinations, they shared theirs. Some silly jokes like what is the tomato festival in Spain called? well the tomato festival. and misinterpretations like plate full of kitten/kitchen (chicken). Finally few hours later we decided to call it a day.
We sneaked into our dormitory not without making noises of door slamming, giggles, supressed laughter and objects falling of the bed and waking up the inmates. And much later again by my snoring.
We woke up at dawn, the sun was no where to be seen. The sky was a deep red just before sunrise. G wanted to capture this brilliant act of nature and went down and sat by the river. I think about an hour and nothing happened. Somewhere G fell asleep waiting and when finally the eyes opened the sun was so bright in the sky that the eyes fluttered. Alas, but I guess we lived that moment there. Waking up to nothingness, sitting idly on a raft by the river, watch a few birds and generally life coming to life.
The breakfast spread at this hostel will always be cherished because of its elaborate offering and probably the best that any of the hostels would have served. There were toasts fresh out of the toaster, eggs, ham, cheese, variety of spreads, pate, cereals, salad, coffee, I think just about everything. After many helpings later we walked back to the river and sat there for a while. The heavy breakfast and the warm sun was only tempting us to fall asleep. So like good children we slept off for a while as the train to Bergen was only in the afternoon.
We walked to the station through vast, empty streets lined with cottages and colorful flowers. The train passed through the river, the ocean, fishermen, houses, mountains set under a vast blue sky. We finally bid adieu to the once-upon-a-time fairy tale settings and entered the crowded, slushy, noisy, gray and dark Bergen.
We asked for directions to the YMCA from the policemen and walked past the Indian restaurants, tourist shops, book shops, coffee shops with awnings on cobbled streets and a rush of people. We were going in circles when we asked a person as to the directions. He literally held our hands and walked us to the gate of the hostel and then went back on his original mission.
We registered and got a discount because of our membership card with the international youth hostel association. We chose the noisy dormitory and I took the upper bunk and soon made way to discover the city and what better than walking.
Very near to our hostel was the fish market and boy was it noisy, slushy because of rain. But the mouth watering aroma of smoked, grilled salmon filled the air. We immediately had bites of grilled, marinated and smoked salmon with bread. Caviar and blueberries. Amidst all the fishmongers was a lone flower shop (no clue if the flowers smelt of fish or the fish of flowers)
We walked past the Hansiatic quarters (listed in the UNESCO world heritage sites). There are lovely wooden houses, which once were trader houses between the 14 and 16th century, are now residences of artists
We took the short 15 minute ride on the Urliksbanen funicular to reach Mount Floyen. Located at about 1000 ft above sea level, this place has a spectacular view of the city from above. It was still drizzling and bit of mist and fog enveloped us. The lush green ferns and a little forest added to the charm. From here, the sea looked serene and the city looked spectacular with the twinkling lights shining like jewels. We strolled around the dense forest which had a lake covered with wispy clouds. A group of joggers went by. we sat on benches and logs and wondered about the stillness in the air.
There was park nearby with life size statues of vikings. and a trinket shop, from where I picked up a much required nail cutter. We decided to walk down to the city and not take the funicular. As we climbed downhill, several cyclists passed by. We passed through neat houses and large playgrounds where youngsters were playing handball. We walked by the ice cream man on a cycle. The drizzle continued and the air had a rich fragrance of ferns and flowers. We hopped, skipped and jumped most of the route. But as the drizzle became rain, teeth chattered, smile disappeared, our rain soaked clothing made walking heavy and added to that the wind, nearly took my umbrella away. It was getting dark and we were feeling cold and we still had miles to go.
At a turn, we decided to stand under a shade of a tree for a while. All of a sudden there was a burst of loud music (trumpets and band) and the air was filled with a delicious aroma of hot waffles. A local newspaper was doing a promotion and were inviting the residents for a treat. Well the walk, the cold and the aroma made us very hungry, so quite hopefully we queued up and were served some hot waffles and syrup. We quickly hogged and hoped for a second round shamelessly. The rain had stopped and we started our walk again. We walked past a very large installation of a reindeer, evening walkers and cyclists. Soon we were crossing the Hansiatic quarters. G burnt a cd of all the pics that were clicked till now and we quickly checked our emails and wrote a few.
We were still hungry and we hogged on hot dogs and moved towards the hostel. It was still early evening and as G was relaxing in room, I went to the reception area to inquire a few things. I was pleasantly surprised because at the reception stood the two strange fellows who were now friends. They were also checking in the hostel and they invited us for dinner. Was it our lucky day or what!!
G was very glad at the invite and quickly changed into fresh and better clothes as we dreamt of hitting the night spots of Bergen with the new friends. We should have known, the dinner was at the cafeteria of the hostel and consisted of tuna and sardine sandwiches. So much for dressing up. But the evening turned out to be an interesting one. An editor of a German magazine along with her boyfriend joined our table. Conversations and tea followed. We exchanged notes from our travel and our next destinations, they shared theirs. Some silly jokes like what is the tomato festival in Spain called? well the tomato festival. and misinterpretations like plate full of kitten/kitchen (chicken). Finally few hours later we decided to call it a day.
We sneaked into our dormitory not without making noises of door slamming, giggles, supressed laughter and objects falling of the bed and waking up the inmates. And much later again by my snoring.
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