Lovely, lovely Bergen

The view from the train.

So, I left on the early morning train for Bergen from Oslo. Just as a note for those who ever go to Norway. Norway is a land of rivers and fjords. What does this mean for a traveller? Lovely landscapes? Yes. Scenic vistas? Yes. Difficulty in getting from Point A to Point B? Yes. But, not quite yet. Here is old, downtown Bergen, a UNESCO world heritage site. At the top of the photo, you can just see where the scenic vista from Mount Fløyen is and the funicular.

Here is one of the quaint buildings.

Eventually, I rode up the funicular to look down on Bergen. They asked me when I purchased my ticket whether I wanted a round trip ticket or was I going to walk down? So, I asked how long it would take to walk down and they said about 45 minutes. Of course, if you ask a Norwegian, those are 45 Norwegian minutes. So, I figured, no problem, I would walk down even though it was about 7 ish pm in the evening.

Looking down at Bergen from one of the trails on Mount Fløyen.

It was quite a lovely walk down. Very wooded and peaceful, although I passed lots of people walking and running down, or rather, they passed me.

This pergola was quite lovely. This was taken about 10 pm in the evening. Due to the midnight sun, the days are long in the summer, and it doesn't really quite get dark at night. I could so live in Norway. In the summer.

A Change of Plans

While I wrote the previous post with over a month to go on my vacation, two days ago, I changed my mind and decided not to spend my entire vacation in Norway. With all of the uber planning I did, it just didn't feel right and I didn't seem happy to go on vacation with the plans I made. Other than it seems almost impossible from here to figure out how to get around by bus without a previous knowledge of the schedule (which I worked around by emailing the local tourist information boards) or that the summer weather in Norway looks a lot like the winter weather here (and God knows that will be here soon enough), I had a vacation meltdown and cancelled the last two weeks of my trip and will head south to Berlin, Prague and Vienna before heading into Italy and flying home from Paris.

For having been to Italy twice, I have never been to Venice. I've never had an overwhelming desire to see Venice even after reading the book, A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi. However, the visual connection can be a powerful mover of mind and thought and I have been staring all year at the magnets I made of an old appointment calendar with photos of Venice...

I don't have a railpass (too late to get one by express) or any hotel reservations. Just my Rick Steves travel guide. I pulled the winter shirts, long underwear and food supplies from out of my suitcase. And, rather than stressing about all of this, the most important thing I seem to be worried about is getting all the right music on my ipod. (I love, love the soundtrack to the new Pride and Prejudice movie by Italian composer Dario Marianelli

So, as I step onto the plane on Sunday, I throw myself upon the mercy of the travel gods and hope that the winds of good fortune are with me.

The Countdown Begins

Soon, I will be leaving on a jet plane. No, not to Italy. I'm taking a break from Italy. I've also taken a break from London, another one of the most wonderful place on the planet. It isn't for any protest or political reason. It is just that I really thought that with the recent spate of movies on Italy, a TV series and even TV commercials for tours of Italy, that 1) it was going to be even more crowded than it has been and 2) as I'm not eating bread and pasta (for the most part), I would have no resistance to homemade ravioli, cream-filled cornetti or a host of other Italian food. And, as I have now lost 36 pounds and still have a bit more to go, I don't want to get off track. So, I chose another country. A country not known for its cuisine nor food that I like. Norway. A beautiful country full of fjords. A country obsessed with outdoor sports. So, not only will I be not tempted by food, I will be out and about in the outdoors, hiking, kayaking and glacier walking. An exercise vacation! Oh, and in marked difference to other vacations I have planned, I also have checked out local gyms where I can work out!

I've got my reading material picked out, Kristin Lavransdatter by Nobel Prize winning Norwegian author Sigrid Undset (Tina Nunnally translation) and plan to read a few novels by Karin Fossum before I go. I checked out a couple of Norwegain quilting blogs and stores and have a list of quilt stores in Norway, in case of a rainy day. And, yesterday, I went out and scouted fabric stores in my area (I don't want to buy something there that I could have bought here, although, I'm sure a lot of fabrics there are made in China, with better quality fabrics from Korea and Japan, I'm hoping for a Norwegian design influence). I've always wanted to do a a quilt in browns and I'm thinking that I will do one with medieval influences. So, I can't wait to see the cultural and historical museums in Oslo and Trondheim will have.