From Oslo to Bergen

Since Madrid, I have been to Bristol to see the Banksy exhibit (a great exhibit if only I hadn't had to wait 4 hours in a queue outside, luckily it was clear and not too hot, then having to race through the exhibit before closing time) and Luxembourg (the most beautiful, boring place on Earth - it didn't help that I was ill most of the time I was there).
3 weeks ago, Eppie arrived from Toronto. We went to high tea at The Connaught with Taffy and Lily, Linda, Eppie's friend's sister. It was divine. I had Japanese rice tea, sandwiches, scones, cakes and pastries. I got to a chocolate mousse macaroon and it stopped me completely. I have never had such an experience where I haven't been able to fit anything else in!
Eppie and I then flew off to Norway for a week. We started in Oslo, which was mostly sunny. It is quite small for a capital city and all the sights are within walking distance.
The royal palace is quite a plain building but beautifully situated in gardens with a long sweeping drive down to the main street of the city. The city itself has a 'European' look and feel to it with old buildings mixed with a few newer ones, pedestrian malls and a big train station. We visited the Akerhus Fortress, one of a handful scattered around Norway. The Opera House, which is a big white & glass modern structure is just near the fortress. I think that if they can keep it white, bright and clean, will stay current for a long time. I contrast it to the yellowing tiles on the Sydney Opera House, which looks good from a distance but is awful up close.
Frogner Park is the most bizarre garden. It is filled with sculptures of people at various stages of life. There are bronze and marble statues, small and large. Eppie really liked it but I was more interested in the school groups on excursion. They all had high-viz vests on and were paired up with buddies. So cute!
Oslo to Bergen
We took the train from Oslo to Bergen, which took all day. We likened it to going to work for the day. The scenery was green and sunny for 3/4 of the way and then within minutes, changed dramatically to dark, cloudy, bleak and cold. It started to rain and this continued on and off for the rest of our trip.
Bergen
Bergen is home to another of the fortresses, Bergenhus. In it, is Haakon Hall, named after a king, Haakon Haakonson, whose name had me in stitches for ages. Tradition is one thing but naming every generation the same as the last is just ridiculous. It is like the Dannish King Christian/Frederick/Christian alternating name tradition. A bit of variety never hurt anyone.
We were about to take the cable car up one of the mountains but the bus driver told us not to waste our money as the fog was so thick and low that we wouldn't be able to see anything. He said that if we could see the top of the funicular, we could try that. Well, we could see it when we were at the bottom but by the time we got to the top, the fog was rolling in and in seconds, the visibility was reduced to almost zero. What a waste of money.
Bergen has the feel of an old fishing village. The Fish Market is quite small but has lots of fresh (and live) seafood as well as smoked fish. We were lucky enough to try quite a few different things there, included hot and cold smoked salmon and smoked whale meat. Eppie had been quite reluctant to try it (I put it down to years of indoctrination in Australia), but eventually gave it a go. It is very dark, looks almost like beef, very little fat, quite chewy and has a fishy aftertaste. It is not something that I would hurry to eat again, not sure why it is considered a delicacy.
We had been warned about the cost of food in Norway and had decided beforehand that we would have to make the most out of the breakfasts, which were included in the hotel costs. We had dinner one night in a restaurant called the Unicorn, which specialises in seafood. One entree, two mains and one beer cost us 900NOK (£100, AUD200), which is just outrageous.
Norway in a Nutshell
We went on a trip called Norway in a Nutshell, which purports to showcase the best of Norway. It starts in Bergen with a train trip to Myrdal. This connects to the Flam Railway, which is a lovely, scenic and windy trip through the mountains down to Flam. Because the track is so steep, they developed a train that had 5 braking systems to handle the trip. In Flam, we had time to walk to a waterfall before boarding the ferry for a cruise down the Sognefjord. The arm of the fjord we were in was actually called Naeroyfjord and is UNESCO Heritage Listed. The cruise ended at Gudvangen, where we boarded a bus that took us down the oldest road in Norway, which is incredibly steep and narrow. It gives you such great views all the way down. At Voss, we then took a train back to Bergen.
Glacier trip
Because the nutshell trip was so good, we decided to go on a trip to a glacier on the Sunday. We had been told by the tour company that we could buy tickets on the day from the boat but when we got there, they said that we could only buy tickets for their part of the journey. The high speed ferry took us up the west coast and into the Sognefjord to Balestrand. It rained all the way and we could barely see the mountains on either side of the fjord. At Balestrand, we were to take another ferry to Fjaerland. We arrived at 11.50am and waited for the 12.00 ferry, which never came! At 12.00, a boat sailed past from another part of the harbour, where it had been docked amongst a whole bunch of other boats. We are almost 100% sure that this was the boat we should have taken but for some reason, the captain decided that he wasn't going to stop at the pier. As there was no boat till 5pm and, being Sunday, the whole of Balestrand was closed, we looked for another way to get back to Bergen. There was a bus at 1.10pm. When the bus driver heard that we wanted to go to Bergen, he raised his eyebrows and asked Bergen? He then said, 'but I'm going into the fjord, you want to go out of the fjord...' This was the only bus so we took the bus to Sogndal, changed bus to Haabakken and then changed again to Bergen. We got back at 7.15pm.
On our last day, I wanted to go see the Edvard Grieg museum. It is in his villa where he spent the last 22 summers of his life. He was actually born in Bergen but spent most of his life all over Europe. The most surprising thing about him was that he was actually really small, only 152cm tall. I felt quite tall! :) There is a Steinway grand in his house, a gift for his silver wedding anniversary (married to his cousin!) and a cabin where he did all his composing, away from the house and nosy tourists (he was already very famous during his lifetime and people heard that he lived in the region).
All in all, I think I like the fjords in New Zealand better. I thought for a long time why this was the case as the Norwegian fjords are much larger and grander but I think because we went in autumn, the yellow and orange leaves gave a lighter background, which is less appealing than the dark greens of the evergreens of Millford Sound.