Bergen

Our arrival at Bergen closed out 12 and a half hours of travel. We took a Taxi to the Crowded House hotel and arrived just minutes before Philip, Elsa and Maija. They had come up on the passenger ferry from Stavanger that afternoon.

The long awaited reunion happened right there on the sidewalk amidst piles of luggage. There was Hootin, and Huggin, and Kissin. Ingrid would arrive from a London business trip after midnight.

The Crowded House is an older hotel on the edge of downtown. It was clean but somewhat austere. We had twin beds pushed together, one ceiling light, two night stands, one reading lamp, one amoire, three coat hangers, and a washbasin with hot and cold running water. There was a single picture of a bottle of shampoo hanging on the wall. The inscription on the picture:

Don't Expect Expensive Frills
The Crowded House

I went below to the desk clerk who also ran the Coffee House on the first floor. "Might we have a second reading lamp?" I asked.

"I think I can find one for you," he replied. Later he came to our room and presented one that was repaired with Scotch Tape to hold the ceramic base together. "This is the best I can do. It should work."

The Two Unisex showers were down the hall in one room, and the 2 toilets were also down the hall in separate closets. There was one TV in the Hotel Common Room; it had no cable channels, just three local Bergen channels.

Rating for the Crowded House */2 $$$$ (Yes, That is half a Star and a Marriott price)

That evening we did McDonalds with the girls, then returned to our rooms to crash for the night.

Next Morning Breakfast at Got Brod: A Sub Sandwich and Coffee, Kids had sweet rolls and Milk

The market is full of Berries and Plums

A Raft of Boats for Saturday in the Harbor

We toured the city in a Bi-Lingual Trolley. The back car had English commentary. Bergen is surrounded by seven Fjords and Seven Mountains. It has a San Francisco Feel... Including the fog and damp and cold weather. We took shelter several times.

The Trolley Tour

Maija, Marion, Ingrid and Ed

The tour ended with the afternoon shower, so we headed to a harbor side Pizza place for Lunch and a cold beer. It is a short walk back to the Crowded House. We went back and read books or napped for the rest of the afternoon. That evening Ingrid found a small, very reasonable, and good Chinese restaurant, The Sze Chuan House, its near the harbor on Korskirke allem. Ranking ***$$

   Sunday morning we split the party in two...

   The guys went to the Art Museum and The girls went to the Aquarium.

   Phil and I arrived at the museum at 11 AM and found that it would not open until Noon. We decided to climb the Floyen mountain for 40 minutes then come down for 20 to kill time.

Along the way we got some good shots of the city and the harbor below.

A San Francisco view

Bergen

The Museum was great... But picture taking is not allowed. We were able to keep in touch with the girls by cell phone, so we planned a rendezvous with them to take the Fliobanen Tram Railway to the top of the mountain.

The clouds had rolled in to prepare for the afternoon showers. They covered the mountain top. When we first got to the top we were in the clouds. It made for some interesting shots. A family in Fog
Park Bench	Barely Bergen Below

The Tram

The Tram is an interesting bit of engineering. It reminds me of the Peterborough Hydraulic Lock on the Trent Severn Waterway.

The Peterborough Lock has two Giant Bathtubs one at the bottom and one at the top. Gates on the ends of the bath tubs open so boats can come in and go out of the tubs. The tubs rest on top of Hydraulic rams which are connected by a valve. The tub at the top is filled with about 1 foot of extra water so it will weigh more than the tub at the bottom. Then the valve connecting the two rams is opened and the top tub goes down pushing the bottom tub up.

Analogously the Fliobanen Tram has two Railroad cars connected by a single (very strong) cable. One Car is at the top and the other is at the bottom. The weight of the top car balances the weight of the bottom car so it takes little or no energy to move the system. Just enough energy to cover the differences in the weight of the ascending and descending passenger loads. Only one track is needed most of the way but at the exact mid way point there is a small section where there are separate up and down tracks. The two cars are automatically switched to the Up and Down track segments.

Tram up and Tram Pass >>
Get ready to go down	Going down
Faster	Rain Drops

After the Tram ride the girls went to the ferry boat and the guys went to get the luggage for the Trip to Stavanger. Bergen despite the rain was a great place to visit.

On to Stavanger Back to Oslo