The trip here, through Copenhagen, was short, and aside from almost missing my flight out of Dusseldorf, uneventful. The entry into the area was through rain clouds, and it has rained almost daily until today. I am told that the Bergen folk start to complain if there is more than four days of sun in a row, and think it is getting too dry. I have also heard that you only call it "rain" when the you can see the fish swimming in the air (the rest is just mist). It's a moist climate.
We were placed in a modern, new hotel; in fact, it had opened a few days before we got here. Apparently, Bergen is so popular with tourists in the summer that hotels are booked a year in advance. The city's hope was that building a hotel with another 350 rooms would solve this. But we learned that, by the time we left there yesterday, it was booked solid for the next year. And we learned why, in part: there are over 300 scheduled visits by cruise ships this summer. As you can see from the photos, it is a spectacular city for scenery.
the last picture is of the park near us, a park dedicated to the arts. Nearby are the Grieg Hall (Edvard Grieg was born here), two art galleries, the opera house, and a row of public gardens to join them all together.
and further along is the Bryggen and the Fish Market. these pictures are of streets along the way, and give you an idea of the slope of the streets and the wide spaces available for people to walk. It is hard to imagine that anyone ever gets obese in this geography.
But of course we are here to do some work on Nursing Homes. The one we are in belongs to the Red Cross, and is among the largest in Norway at 174 beds (this is medium-sized for Canada). But look at the view from the windows of this place: it's enough to make you want to move here.
One of the interesting things here is that Norway still allow for the hunting of whales. I was in a restaurant last night, and there was whale steak on the menu (they didn't have any at this time, but it's available when they have a hunt). I would be interested in tasting whale, but would prefer a ban on the hunting of whales. So my reaction was, to say the least, mixed.
We will have had two Norwegian holidays during our stay here: on May 9, they celebrate the liberation towards the end of WW2; and on May 17th there is the celebration of (this year) the 200th anniversary of independence from Denmark. So there have been marching bands going by the hotel, as well as people in silly costumes riding on bikes, tooting their horns and ringing their bells.
And, speaking of costumes, people here still wear the traditional costumes, and it is not a show for tourists. They come, with children in their traditional dress, to restaurants, and walk along the streets. It is fascinating to see these kids, in olden-days dress, walking along looking at their iPhones.
Bergen is bike-friendly, with separate bike trails going to many parts of the city. And walking is done all over, even in the rain. Our host says that he rides his bike all year to the university - he has snow tires for the bike, and it doesn't get that cold here, apparently. I've also noticed more electric cars here than I have seen anywhere else, including several Tesla sedans. Many parking areas have charging stations for cars. (And, to remind you all, this is in a country that gets much of its revenue from oil!)
An impressive place overall. We were told last night that the current government, just elected about six months ago, is pretty conservative. Why they got in when the economy is doing so well (3% unemployment, books balanced, and so on), but there they are, for another three years. Hopefully they are not as destructive as Harper has been.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Kong Oscars gate,Bergen,Norway
No comments:
Post a Comment