MORE BEAUTIFUL BERGEN

Apparently, Bergen is the wettest city in Europe.... it even beats Ireland for rainfall, which I personally find very hard to comprehend!  Nevertheless, statistics say that 300 out of the 365 days allotted to us each year, Bergen has rain.
They didn't today!
The weather couldn't have been more perfect for taking the Floibanen funicular up Mt Floyen for the most spectacular view over the city... as well as coffee & a cinnamon bun! We'd had a rough night, with a fire alarm going off in our building at 3am & a rather tardy response from those responsible to sort it out, so we were jaded.  This more than made up for it.

The plan was that we would walk down from the lofty heights, but which direction to go?????

So at each junction we made a decision, never quite sure where we'd end up, but knowing that it was generally down.

Aside from seeing a fantastic looking playground, and a group of children picking berries, we came across some rather interesting characters.
Trolls have not really featured in either of our story-landscape, with the exception of brief appearances in The Hobbit, Harry Potter & of course the cutest role in Disney's 'Frozen'. In the wooded wonderland that we walked through on the way to civilization, we came across a few & they didn't seem so bad.

 This walk gave us an opportunity to see the houses more closely, and aside from enjoying various external colour choices that we wouldn't find at home, we were also drawn to the very glossy roof tiles, especially the black ones.  Having seen the newly tarred Stave Church a few days ago, our first thought was "is it tar?", but of course that would be highly flammable & one would hope with the housing so closely clustered together, that there would be some rules about that. Closer inspection revealed that they were glazed tiles with a very high gloss.

 It was truly magnificent walking down amidst the trees & then houses & then trees with knitting on them next to houses!  Yarn bombing has been here, and clearly for quite a while, as some of the trees were starting to grow through their winter woollies!

Bergen has a lot of museums & art galleries, which means that if it is raining, there is plenty to see.  However, we did not want to be stuck indoors for too long today.  It was way too lovely to be out, so we went to one museum, which focussed on Bergen during the middle ages.  We learnt so much in a small selection of rooms & enjoyed the displays of archaeological finds very much.  For example, back in the day, to be a comb maker was an actual job!! Bergen has had a number of finds with runic inscriptions & ownership marks on them.
At first glance, this looked like a runic inscription, but it is actually an artist's sketch of boats.  It is no wonder that the museum has adopted this as their logo graphic.

Another display introduced us to a charming character....Snorri the Seal! In 1941 a beautiful Children's book hit the shelves here in Norway.  Written by Frithjof Saelen, the adventures of Snorri the Seal as he fought for survival, was an instant hit & almost completely sold out the first print run. However, a month after it was published, the occupying German forces banned it, as they'd become aware of it's political symbolism. The remaining books went from selling for 3.5 Norwegian Kroner at the outset of sales, to 500 Norwegian Kroner on the black market after it was banned!!
Of course we bought a copy..... of a more recent reprint! The illustrations are delightful & we had such a good time looking at displays about Snorri, and other characters that Saelen had created.

 Just around the corner was the oldest existing building in Bergen, St Mary's. It was built in the 1100's, & has endured a few fires, but it has remained in continuous use since the middle ages.

 Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos of the incredible interior.  There are a few remnants of frescoes on the walls. But the real star of the show is the pulpit.  I have never seen so many buxom women & over the top decoration on a podium where a sermon is preached, in my life.  It was gloriously extraordinary! No wonder it is described as an 'enigma' in Norwegian art history!
The alter Reredos screen was also something splendid. Aglow with gold, red & blue, it lit up the rather dull church.
Outside, I was very happy to find some remnants of Romanesque sculptural features.

 All that walking & absorbing of information had made us hungry, so we went to the fish market.  It was very hard to make a decision, so much choice was on offer!  In the end we opted for salmon burgers.
All I can say is......YUMMMMMMMMM!

Throughout the day we have had a consistent background of music.  Namely brass band music.  There is a festival in town & in street squares bands have set up their music stands & been entertaining the masses.  This particular band had a singer with a fabulous voice, and an enthusiastic conductor who was a delight to watch. We stopped for a while, then went on to explore the Bergenhus Castle area. This is a fortified section at the tip of the port. Our visit was short lived as they closed at 4pm.
There was nothing for it... we returned to our apartment, opened a local pear cider & sat out on the deck to enjoy the view. What another amazing day!