June 5 Bergen

Started the day with a very yummy brekky – the best scrambled eggs I have ever had – some ‘warm Norwegian Pate’ made with mushrooms and onion?? maybe but delicious. 

Off to the information centre to find out how and where to get the bus so we could go on the cable car to Mt. Ulriken.  We bought return bus tickets (seniors – was slightly unhappy we weren’t asked to verify we were aged but any way).  It wasn’t till we got on the bus that the driver told us that with return tickets you have to use them in 90 minutes.  He was so nice – no worries – he just left the bus idling away while he delved around looking for a biro that worked and then on a scrap of paper he could write a note on to explain to our return ‘chauffer’ (as he said) that we could use the tickets.  Everyone on the bus seemed to be quite content with this delay in their bus trip.  It was a really friendly way to start our trip.

From the bus we walked up a very steep street.  Finally we were there and managed to control our breathing to walk up another flight of stairs to reach the cable car.  We shared the cable car with a lady who lives in Oslo who had come to Bergen to visit with her daughter – the daughter was walking up the mountain but she chose to meet her at the top via the cable car.  There is a huge University in Bergen and students come from all around Norway to attend it.  We met up with this lady so many times she must have thought she was being stalked by two Australians.

The view from the cable car was great but even better views awaited us.  You could see for miles and miles.  It was sunny, no wind and so we felt very lucky to be there enjoying such fabulous scenery. 

We went into have a coffee but instead I ordered us “café mocca” a chocolate and coffee concoction that was delicious and just what we needed after our long walk up the streets and all around the mountain top.

We headed back down, found the bus stop, showed the driver our note from the previous driver – she just smiled and waved us in – and so back down into Bergen.  We wandered around some of the modern city.  It has beautifully kept parks and gardens.  The rhododendrons and tulips are out in flower everywhere – just beautiful.

We found a nice place for a pizza for a late lunch, then back home to charge our batteries and that of my camera as well.