Bergen, Norway Aug 14-15

Gary and I experienced our first long train trip, 8 hours from Oslo to Bergen Norway.  The time seemed to fly by as the scenery and altitude changed as we went along.  We started at sea level and at the town of Fines we were 6700 ft above sea level and then back to sea level in Bergen,   Some of the areas we passed thru reminded me of the Crownest Pass and then others similar to around Babbs, Montana. We passed thru farm land and some with huge barns but never really saw any farm animals except for a very few sheep. In some regions there were a lot of houses painted black, other areas the houses had grass roofs.  At the highest point the land was very rocky and desolate and thru this region there were numerous bike and hiking paths.  We saw many waterfalls. The last hour into Bergen seemed like one continuous tunnel as you were constantly in and out of them.  Trains are a pleasant way to travel, except for the tunnels.
In Bergen We are staying at a quaint B&B. The name is Skansen Pension which is easy to remember but then try the  streetaddress 29 Vetrlidsallmenningen.  The Pension is about a very steep 100 steps up and before the steps you are coming up a very steep incline for several blocks. (Sylvia, we had to count our own steps.) We had thought about pulling our luggage up from the train station but it was raining so we hired a taxi.  The taxi had problems with the narrow road and switch backs.  Even the smallest cars have to back up a couple of times to get around the corners. I would have never made it pulling the luggage.

Bergin is a great place to visit.  It seems like every turn you find some interesting site, shop or cafe.  The habour tour  provided us with a history of Bergen.  We were amazed at the size of Bergen, 250,000 people surrounded by 7 mountains (or big hills). 300 cruise ships a year come to Bergen.  A number of visitors are here for the hiking.

 Our room is the one with the balcony.