Northern Europe 2024

Let's go back to Sunday night, when we were still on the ship. Remember that Monty Python sketch where the diner points out his fork is a bit dirty and it ends up the chef comes out and commits suicide. Well, Sue mentioned to the waiter that we thought the between-course granita was not quite as good as it was 2 nights previous. He was very concerned and apologetic. Next thing, the restaurant manager came over and, once he cottoned on to the issue, was most concerned and apologetic. Then the chef came out and he was more than concerned and apologetic. He offered to make us something else. We don't know if he went off and committed suicide.
Monday morning brought disembarkation. We pushed our suitcases around to the hotel and set off exploring. We had 2 main tasks. First was to shop for raincoats. Dean found his was not up to Norwegian conditions and needed to be upgraded. Sue wanted to augment her collection. The other thing was to go to the Hanseatic Museum. Bergen was an outpost of the Hanseatic League (13-17th C's). Unfortunately, the permanent museum is closed for renovations and we were just shy of its reopening in 2027. So we had a tour of one of the associated buildings, which was more about what life was like for the Leaguers than about the history, economics, geo-politics and intrigue.
That evening, we had a very nice dish of fish - would you believe it was COD - at the modern fish markets.
Today, Tuesday, we were grateful for our raincoat purchases and trudged on to the Maritime Museum and Bergen Museum until your correspondent was officially overwhelmed.
It became clear why the Independent Tour Director (Sue) had chosen the hotel. It is a very short puddle hop to the light rail, which has taken us out to the airport for an overnight stay before an early morning flight.Lue lisää