Wandering the West Coast

Ok...before I get any further behind in my blogging, I thought I should enlighten the blog-o-sphere of my weekend in Bergen. As can be seen in some pictures (they are not all up yet on Flickr) just over a week ago I went with 4 buddies of mine to Bergen, Norway's second largest city situated on the western coast of the country. It is a city with spectacular beauty known for its location among the mountains (7 mountain tops surround the city), the fjords (it is just south of Norways largest fjord, Sognefjorden), and the ocean (the North Sea). And despite getting rain almost 300 days a year, it is a wonderful old city full of surprises, and somewhere that I think everyone should visit.

In order to fully experience and appreciate the western coast, we decided to take the night train from Oslo on a Thursday night and then home again on Sunday night....by doing so we would get into Bergen early Friday morning and then have 3 full days to wander around the city and surrounding areas to see everything it had to offer.

One of the ways we decided to see the surrounding area was to go on what is called the Norway in a Nutshell tour. Basically the tour takes you through the typical Norwegian landscapes (mountains, fjords, etc) via typical Norwegian transport (train, bus, and boat). We started the tour by taking a train from Bergen to Myrdal (located at 886 meters above sea level), going through magnificent mountain filled landscapes. Upon arrival in Myrdal we had about 30 minutes to throw snowballs (much to the delight of my Australian friends) at each other before taking another train, the Flåmsbana, down the mountain to the small town of Flåm located on Sognefjorden (*note: the Flåmsbana train line is the steepest normal, or un-assisted train line in the world...). Now some of you may remember me taking about Flåm from my week long geology excursion in September. This was my second time visiting this tiny fjord-surrounded town, and I must say that it is one of my favorite places in the world. The sheer beauty leaves one in awe and searching for adjectives. After rucking around Flåm for about an hour, we hopped onto a small cruise boat and headed out into the fjord on the water. For me this was especially fun, for I had seen this part of the Sognefjorden from the ground (in Flåm) and from the adjacent mountain top (at a lookout point above the village of Aurland), but never from within. So being able to take the boat out and through the fjord was a highlight of the weekend...it was two of the most beautiful and magnificent hours one could ask for...we even saw where a rainbow came down and ended in the water (at which point we tried to convince our Irish friend to go and talk to the leprechaun that would be guarding the pot of gold found at the end of rainbows...but he wouldnt have it and thus we remain poor college students). After the boat we boarded a bus that wound back up and over the mountains to the city of Voss where we got on another train and returned to Bergen. This part of the trip was presumably beautiful too, but seeing as it was late October it was fairly dark so we couldnt see a whole lot...but I think by that point we had seen so much beauty that anymore might have caused sensory overload.

After a full day of beautiful weather and landscape on Friday, Saturday showed us a bit more of the true Bergen. From when we woke up until we went to sleep it was raining, it was cold, and it was not pleasant....but we did not travel so far to sit cooped up in a hostel all day, so we put on our rain jackets, grabbed our already broken umbrellas and headed out to wander the city. And while it was miserable weather, Bergen is a city that gets such weather frequently, so they (the city infrastructure and the citizens) are prepared. What we found as we wandered along the historic warf, was a system of small, covered, wooden alley-ways between the buildings that very effectively protected shops, residences, and people from the elements and wind that were battering the main warf. It is a system that was obviously developed back in the 18th or 19th century that was so effective, they just never bothered to change or update it. After palling around the alley-ways for quite some time with stops along the way for coffee and lunch, we headed back to the hostel for a quick nap and dinner before more wandering (this time in the pub/club/bar area of the city).

On Sunday morning we were lucky to get a bit of sunshine, which we utilized by taking a shuttle up to the top of a near-by mountain top. From the top we had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains, the fjord, and the city. Additionally there were all sorts of hiking trails and paths that wove across the mountain top...which we readily explored. While looking out over this magnificent setting however, it was easy to see why people live in Bergen....when the weather is nice it is an absolutely beautiful place. But being Bergen, it was raining by the afternoon so we headed to a local pub where we watched a bit of English Premier League football and played some billiards for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to Oslo on the night train.

As I have said, the beauty of the trip was unbelievable and awe-inspiring...but I think for me the best part of the weekend was watching my friends as they were exposed to the natural beauty of Norway's western coast. It is something that I had, luckily, seen a bit of before thanks to my geology excursion...and through various mediums I tried desperately to convey that experience to them. And while they were all respectful and impressed with my pictures and stories from before, it truly is something that words and pictures do not do justice...it is something that must be shared in person...I have mentioned before (if I havent, I am now) that the one thing I wish I could do is share my experiences with my friends and family. And while this trip and it's beauty was with only 4 of my pals, for them to experience it and for me to share in it with them, was the true highlight that no mountain or fjord or rainbow could match.