Yesterday (Wednesday) was something quite rare in Bergen according to residents – a warm, sunny day. It seemed rude to come all the way to Bergen and not take account of one of the most famous locals the composer Edvard Grieg. His house (now a museum) is in Troldhaugen which was, in his day, a very rural spot and, these days, is an upmarket residential area.

The journey out was easy on the Light Rail tram that goes to the airport followed by an uphill walk for about a mile or so.

The house is, like many, made of wood and was, in fact a summer house. The location on the water’s edge was just lovely and it was so quiet & peaceful.

Edvard was quite a small chap – only 5 feet tall – and the statue was life size. Nina (his wife ) was even smaller! The tour was, necessarily given the compact house, a guided tour and 20 of us seemed a little too many. I lingered in each room until most folk had dispersed.

The house is pretty much as it would have been – Grieg himself died in 1907 but Nina lasted until 1935 and spent a lot of time at the house.

All the walls were were covered with drawings and photos of the Griegs and many of their famous (and not so famous) friends.

Outside there is a performance space with a grass roof artfully hidden in the hillside. Sadly closed for the winter season as of the day before we went so no performances.

The composing ‘hut’ where much of his writing happened is right by the lake of course. Well nigh impossible to get a decent photo but the following give a clue

All in all a very entertaining visit and a good start to them day. We returned to Bergen, took lunch in a small cafe/patisserie and returned to the apartment for a rest. In the evening we spent a good couple of hours in a bar by the harbour with my pal Mel. It has been such an unexpected treat to ‘bump into her’ in this way and we hope to meet up again this evening for our last night celebration meal.

Yesterday (as I write) was very much a day for having a good wander round Bergen. Once again we have been a bit limited due to nothing much opening on Mondays or Tuesdays. Nevertheless we had an outline (and flexible) plan.

First up was a slow wander into Bergen centre – it takes around 20 minutes at a gentle pace and is all you might expect from busy tourist focussed port. Lots of excursions, ferries and a couple of the huge cruise liners. Our aim was the funicular up to Floy – we can see the peak from our apartment so it made sense to go up there to pick out the apartment. A short queue when we arrived was delta with quickly and we were up there in no time.

Once up at the summit and after having a wander about to the small lake we decided to walk back down to Bergen. Quite steep, as you might imagine, though very zig-zag. Our aim was the Mariakirk which we knew to be open – however at the time we arrived (noon) there was a funeral in progress so closed to the public.

Since we were close to the small boat across to ‘our’ peninsula we headed back this way and decided on lunch at the nice Italian restaurant – excellent pasta too! We walked back up to the apartment, resented for a short while then headed out again.

I have no photos of the next bit – too busy! For context – I am a member of a group on Facebook relating to Interrail travel for the older crowd. It has been invaluable in planning trips like last years and is a nice friendly focussed place. I mentioned I would be in Bergen and the founder of the group said she would be here too so we planned to meet up. The really wierd bit is that Mel is a former work mate from 35+ years ago – not that I knew until last week!

So we met up – had a long chat about all sorts of stuff and no, since she is here for 2 more days, may well hook up again.

As I covered in my FB post we had a stress free journey here on Sunday and we’re safely and happily on our apartment by 2pm. The local pizza was really very good and we are keeping a return visit in reserve for later in the week.

Today was our first opportunity to get a feel for Bergen so we opted for a (mostly) random wander about after breakfast. These 2 buildings were the first aim.

One of the little joys of our location is that there is a teeny, tiny ferry (via a 12 seater electric boat) from our side of the harbour to the other. The ‘driver’ was a chatty, nice young man who told us of his recent month in Aberdeen – “what were you doing there?”, we asked – “oh driving boats” he replied, “it is always driving boats”. The pictures are of the actual boat and a shot of the quay where we boarded by the Nykirk,

A swift and short walk took us to the Rosenkrantz Tower which (a) has had a ‘very’ interesting history and (b) has that history very well presented.

The last picture there was Haakon’s Halle – we had wanted to visit but, sadly, it closed today for a private function. Shame but we may try again later in the week.

Next was a short walk to the Bryggen – the old part of Bergen and a main tourist attraction. We weren’t that impressed as it was very similar to the Royal Mile in Edinburgh – basically interesting and historical but plagues with ‘tat’ shops AND, it is fair to say, a significant number of said tourists.

After a coffee stop that was still in the busy area we detoured to back streets and found ourselves mostly alone on very quiet streets around the Cathedral – a much better idea of old Bergen.

Sadly the cathedral was closed – it seems to open for just a couple of hours every Friday so no good for us. Still an impressive building though.

We walked back up to the apartment via a really quite good coffee shop that also had sandwiches where lunch was taken and then to Vinmonopolet. All alcohol sales in Norway are via the state and this is one of the shops here in Bergen. It is fabulous – such a wide range of almost every alcoholic drink you could imagine. Prices are Norwegian (high) but reasonable in that context and we were chuffed to see a wide range of English Sparkling wine.

Back then to the apartment for a rest and to dodge the rain (again – I know!). Once it was dry we headed to the nearest reasonable supermarket but took a random walk around the immediate area and were well impressed.

So tonight we dine in with a mixed charcuterie platter of cheese & meats and a good Portuguese red. If there is a patisserie tradition in Bergen we haven’t yet found it so no pudding.

First impressions are good – ignore the obvious tourist magnets and use common sense and curiosity to find the ‘real’ Bergen. Tomorrow is an open book – the weather forecasts (I check 5 including the Norwegian one) have all been wrong about today – so we will plan as we go. The only definite is meeting one of my old pals from work back in the late 80s.