Tuesday 23 June 2015

WOYWW - Historic City & Midnight Sun

No crafting done this week but I have a very happy excuse as we spent a wonderful long weekend in the historic city of Bergen on the West Coast of Norway.

The visit was inspired by an article I read in a travel magazine a couple of years ago saying how lovely the city was - and that I had the desire to see the Midnight sun on my bucket list !

And Bergen certainly came up trumps on both those fronts !


We arrived to a damp day on Thursday - but were so lucky with the weather Friday & Saturday as every local we met was keen to tell us they had just endured 92 consecutive days of rain and everyone was beyond depressed ! So for us to have some sunshine - even if it was still quite chilly - was a blessing !

We were staying near the historic area of Bryggen with its medieval Hanseatic warehouses lining the harbour-side. These were the trading base of a thriving community of German seafaring merchants from the 12th century onwards - they had a fascinating museum where I took a tour & learnt about the rather austere life they lived !


We were able to wander around the city - the cobbled streets were rather a challenge for me pushing Much Beloved's wheelchair but we were determined not to miss anything !


We visited the Aquarium, toured the city sights on a bus with commentary, ate some wonderful seafood, drank the local Hansa beer (food & drink was breathtakingly expensive with a small glass of beer costing nearly £9 each !!!).

We took a boat trip around the extensive fjord like harbour leading into the city from the sea which was rather bracingly chilly but we loved seeing the scenery & the city from the sea as generations of seafarers would have experienced arriving in the town.

In the lower right hand picture here you can see the boat dangling from the steel structure.

This is where people who will be working on the oil rigs out in the North Sea come for there safety training and these steel structures are how the emergency escape boats are launched into the sea.




Most spectacular of all took the Floribanen funicular railway to the top of Mount Floyen (the city is built on seven mountains of which this is the highest) and just gazed for ages at the stunning views out over the city, the mountains & the fjords beyond - amazing !












 And yes I did get to go out at Midnight and it was still light - that was pretty amazing too !
It did get dusk by about half past midnight - but was getting light again by half past 2 in the morning - I have no idea why I had such a craving to see this but I am very happy to have experienced it !!

This is me out in the historic area of Bryggen at well past midnight !

Have all my photos printed ready for a scrapping session at the weekend !

Hope you have a great crafty week
Love Ali x
  

16 comments:

  1. What a wonderful trip, and some gorgeous photos - your scrapping session will be wonderful - hope you show us the results! Helen no number yet

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  2. definitely looks like a gorgeous place to visit. Look at all that rich history
    Bridget #1

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  3. Thanks for sharing your fun vacation photos..Love seeing other areas of the world. Hoping to visit some each year. Love being by the water too. Safe travels.

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  4. Looks like a great holiday!

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  5. Bergen looks so beautiful. I'm glad you had a wonderful time. I would love to visit too and to try and see the Northern Lights but I think you have to go much further north....one day!!!!!!
    Have fun scrapping all your lovely photos.
    Hugs Lisax #23

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  6. Beautiful pictures, it looks like you had a wonderful time. Happy WOYWW - Lyns #28

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  7. Gorgeous Photos. I can appreciate the wanting to see the midnight sunset - I love the light and the more we get of it the better!
    Soojay 16#

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  8. Great travel photos. Have a wonderful week. Peg R 26

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  9. Great post Ali, fabulous place to visit...I too would love to see the midnight sunset. Enjoy your hols RobynO#18

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  10. Gorgeous pics of an amazing place... on my wish list. Lovely pics on your previous post.
    sandra de @24

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  11. Oh, what a lovely time you had! And your photos are gorgeous! I would love to know how you did the collage of photos for your post Well, in a couple of weeks, I will visit my daughter and family of techs! I will ask my grandson about it. He is the one that helped me set up my Blog, Happy WOYWW! #41

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  12. I don't think I've ever heard of Bergen, but the sights are truly magnificent. I do have to say the price of the beer was exorbitant. I'm sure you'll have a blast scrapbooking the experience. Happy WOYWW! #45

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  13. You obviously had a wonderful time and I enjoyed looking at your photos. Bergen certainly does look beautiful.
    Enjoy the rest of your day. Barb #33

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  14. Gorgeous photos, looks like a great place to visit. Have a good woyww, Angela xXx30

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  15. What gorgeous photos, Ali - nice to be reminded of our visit to Bergen a few years ago! I was not a wheelchair user then, but I do sympathise with you - wheelchairs and cobbles do NOT go together well!!

    Thanks for your lovely comment and I'm so glad you liked my poor little naked wingless angel lol! I had fun with him. I'm making his big bro now and he has a proper face sculpted in needle felt which has come out quite well. Not done anything today because although I feel a lot better I'm still very low on the energy stakes.

    Shoshi

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  16. What great pics of a fab weekend :-). I've always wanted to go to Norway and your weekend certainly backs that up....I'm interested in all that sort of stuff too! Just as well I don't drink that much eh?! £9 for a beer, my dad would faint at that, lol!!
    Hugs, LLJ 9 xx

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