Norway: Day Three, Bergen to Trondheim

The most important thing to consider when travelling during the offseason is whether the things you want to see will be open or not! The stave church I had wanted to visit, in the guidebook it said it was open daily...luckily I visited its website, because while it is open daily, that's only in the summer! Which meant it is now closed until May. So that began the search for plan B...which was to visit the fish market (that is supposed to have lots of other things other than just fish) but that is also only open in the summer months. Then onto Plan C - wandering Bergen, visiting a church, and visiting a museum. 

The morning started out rainy...again...though it was only sprinkling and then it stopped, and then right when I was getting on the bus to head to the airport, the sun came out! Pretty sure it was waiting until I left to make an appearance. 

I started the day by exploring a few streets that were mentioned in the guidebook as picturesque and they totally were:

The back of the Bryggen area:

Just a pretty street:

I went over to the University of Bergen to visit the Bergen Museum de Kulturhistoriske Samlinger (Norwegian likes to smush words together and not use spaces). It was a cultural history museum and it was absolutely fantastic. I only visited two floors, because I wanted to actually spend time reading things and not be rushed, and I had to get back to the hostel to formally check out. On the way there, I popped into one of the churches, and lit a candle for Papa. 

The museum did something very different that I haven't seen before, and that is saying something because I have been to many many many museums. This one put objects in the context which they would've been used, meaning that the arrow heads were attached to arrows, ax-heads on axes, etc. I know that this is probably anathema for an archivist to say, since 'original order' is so very important, but I really liked being able to see the objects "in use." It gives a whole context that was missing when you are just looking at some stone object. 

They also had a very well done exhibit on church artwork, and the whole section created a feeling of being inside a stave church. Plus...there were old doors. And I love old doors. 

After the museum, I headed back towards the other side of Bergen, and stumbled onto the most awesome cafe. If I lived in Bergen, I would spend so much time there. It was a cafe/used bookstore all in one, and it was just so cute and atmospheric and you could just sit and read for hours. 

There was a whole English section too, and I was tempted to make a purchase, but since I'm currently in the middle of reading about five different books, I just wrote the name down to get from the library. 

Then it was time to head over to the airport. Going to the airport in Europe is completely different than going to the airport in the US in terms of how early you should arrive. Here in Norway, they ask if you have baggage to be at the airport no later than 30 minutes before you flight, but with a carryon you can be there 15 minutes before because the flight doesn't board til 10 minutes prior to flight time! So while it was ingrained in me to be there two hours before your flight, I had to force myself to arrive later than I would back at home. 

After a quick one hour flight, I landed in Trondheim! Where I was met at the airport by my friend Sveii! It was perfect having him there, because not only did he corral my luggage, he navigated the bus for me (it turns out the stop I thought was perfect for where I was staying was actually five blocks away so we got off closer) and he is just all around the best. We grabbed a quick dinner before he went to a quiz night with students from his masters class, and I went to the apartment where I rented a room. And there my wicked nice host Nima served me a second dinner and dessert!

Tomorrow the only definite plan I have is Sveii taking me on a tour of a Norwegian grocery store, so we can purchase things for our Thanksgiving dinner. This will be interesting and helpful, because the other day when I went to a grocery store in Bergen I came out with only two items: lefse and chocolate cookies, because they were among the few things I could understand. Lefse is this delicious bread with a creamy cinnamon spread between the pieces.