Day 14: Bergen - Bryygens, Lyric Pieces, and Fjords

I was hoping against hope that the overnight train would be a comfortable experience, and that the seat next to mine would be unoccupied. The train was not quite empty although it wasn't full, but I got lucky and no one else sat besides me for the entire trip. The seat was however not too comfy, even though it was much better than an economy seat on a plane. I could barely manage 3 hours of sleep, chiefly because I fail to understand why NSB would not switch off the cabin lights or at least dim the lights. People need to sleep! However, in all fairness, NSB did provide each passenger with a blanket, a pillow, and an eye-mask. Unfortunately I hate wearing eye-masks so it was pretty useless to me.

Briefs from a vending machine - spotted at the train station!

I have heard and read tons of times that the Oslo-Bergen route is very scenic, and was also hoping against hope that light would break early enough for me to catch some parts of the scenic route before reaching Bergen. Alas, I mis-calculated this and even though I could make out the majestically awesome views from about 5am onwards, light was too low and the train was moving too fast for any decent pictures.On hindsight, I should have just took the day train and spend one extra night in Bergen.

The train pulled in at Bergen on time at 6.51am. I had booked the night at City Apartment Hotel, but reception did not open until 10am. It was a good thing there were lockers at the train station and I left my luggage there.  The air was fresh and light was soft. I put on my headphones, plugged it to my iPod and prepared myself for some solitary walking. I decided to head first to Bryygens, which is an UNESCO world heritage site.

I grabbed a copy of the local map at the station and navigated past Radisson Blu Hotel Norge through the Tourist Information Center before hitting Bryygens. There is also a 'Fish Market' next to the Tourist Information centre which looked interesting but there didn't seem to be alot going on when I was there.

Bryygens is composed of some 61 wooden buildings from pre- and Hanseatic periods. Some of these buildings are as old as 300 years old!

Just as I thought we could only admire and gawk at the buildings lining the harbour, I discovered by chance that you could actually step in through a gate and see the inner side of the buildings. Clearly, they were warehouses designed for moving and storing goods.

As it was already close to 10am by then, I headed to the Hotel to check at the reception whether it was possible for an early check-in. The receptionist readily agreed, which was a nice surprise. I had booked a bus trip to Troldhaugen a day before and the bus will leave promptly from the Tourist Information Centre at 11.30am.  Hence, I headed back to the train station to collect my luggage. As there is no lift at the hotel, I had to manage the luggage up 4 flights of stairs, which left me a little drained when I was done.

I hurried back to the Tourist Information Centre, and was just in time for the bus to Troldhaugen - Edward Grieg's home and now museum. I was surprised to find that the bus was quite full! The ride itself took only 20 minutes, and when we reached the place, I was disappointed to find that the beautiful house was undergoing maintenance and repairs to its exterior facade! There goes my photo moment. But the house was of course still open to visitors.

Grieg's house was indeed pretty and cozy. He composed music in the little hut a short walk from his house, and he lived here from 1885 until his death. His hut overlooks the Nordas Lake, and the views are simply breath-taking. When I retire, can I also live in recluse like this?!

The bus tour also included a 30 minute piano recital at the Troldsalen within the Troldhaugen grounds. The programme consisted of a selection of Grieg's lyric pieces and other works. The pianist played beautifully, and I never knew Grieg wrote such poetic works. I should start on some lyric pieces when I get back home!

A small rather funny episode happened during the recital. Seasoned concert goers would of course know only to clap after the performer is done with the presentation of 1 item on his or her programme. In this case, the pianist had tastefully chosen a selection of 3 lyric pieces and presented them as 1 set on her programme. And I had to sit next to an over-zealous middle aged lady who insisted on clapping immediately after the pianist was done with just 1 of the lyric pieces. The rest of the audience followed suit. When this first happened, the pianist looked a little perturbed but did not get off the chair and smiled and nodded a thank you to the audience.

However, when it happened a second time, the pianist decided to get up from her chair and gave a short vocal introduction to the pieces that she was playing and specifically mentioned the selection of some lyric pieces as a single set in her programme.

Subsequently, it happened a third time and the pianist tried to ignore it. She seemed to have a plan: at the next conclusion of a lyric piece, she tried to start the next piece with only about 2 seconds pause. Alas! The cute middle age woman sitting next to me decided that an applause is an applause is an appreciation, and so, it was clap clap clap all over again before she could start the next piece.

I was just amused, but I don't blame the audience since this recital was included as part of the bus tour and not everyone who visited Troldhaugen is a concert goer.

With only 20 minutes left before the bus depart for Bergen, I grabbed quite a number of things from the museum shop and they were not exactly on sale! I kind of regret my impulse purchases now. Alas, when the bus reached Bergen, it started raining. I took shelter back at the hotel and rested for a bit. Fortunately, the rain didn't last long and soon I was out again and headed straight for the Floibanen furnicular ride up to the look-out point at the top of Mt. Floien. The views from above was wonderful - I can understand why Norway's fjords are so famous now!

The hike down back to the city was easy but still it took me nearly an hour. I had an early night at the hotel as I was extremely tired out by then. My body needed to recover from the long uncomfortable overnight train ride and the long hike down the mountain.