Category: Bergen

Bergen

Place 16 – May 14 2022 to May 17 2022: Bergen – 17th May Celebrations!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 1

We had to get to the airport early in the morning but we didn’t mind as we were travelling to probably our favourite place, Bergen!

When we arrived, we met our great friends Espen & Marcus at the airport and they drove us to Espen’s apartment. We hung out with them at the apartment as well as meeting Espen’s girlfriend, Rikke, who is a wonderful person also!

Rikke made us some lunch, which was delicious, and we sat and had a conversation for a while.


We wanted to visit the city, as did our friends, so we all took the bus to the city and had a walk around.


Marcus’ dad owns a nightclub/bar in Bergen and he was working, whilst the FA Cup game was on, so we went to watch that with Espen (he’s a Liverpool fan) and we had some drinks and food.


We went back home and we watched Eurovision for the first time! We had a great time watching it actually, and it’s a big deal in Scandinavia. We had some homemade pizza whilst we watched that and then it was time to sleep.

Day 12:

We had some nice homemade breakfast lovingly made by Rikke & Espen.

We had a relaxed morning and watch the GB Vs Norway hockey game. We then got ourselves ready and headed into the city on the bus again.

We lazily walked around the city and tried to buy few things and look around some shops as well.

We went out in the afternoon/evening to watch Rikke in a cheerleading performance! It was super cool to see lots of different ages doing a similar thing but at different levels.

Day 13

We went out for brunch in city with our friends which was really nice! We had some good food and some amazing weather, so much so we were getting burnt from the sun.


We rented a car, so we went to pick that up. They told us there were no issues with it but it was quite scratched up, so we did a full walk around of that and then we set off! We drove to the city and parked up before going to get MANY cinnamon buns and coffee, as is the rule in Norway.

We went for a BBQ at Rikke’s parents’ place which was a really nice place, great food and they were really lovely people as well.


In the late evening, we went to meet another friend, Tony, for some drinks and a chat. The weather was so nice we were able to sit outside comfortably, too!

Day 14

This day was the national day for Norway and we were excited to celebrate!

We got all dressed up for breakfast, Curtis and Espen wore suits, Kim had a nice skirt on and Rikke had a Bunad on, the national outfit of Norway. The table looked all fancy and we had a really nice, big breakfast!

Espen & Rikke!


We took the (very busy) bus to the city to join the celebrations.


There was a parade and we were able to get a table outside to watch the parade and have some drinks! The weather was perfect again so we caught some sun, as well.


After the parade, we went out to Rilke’s aunt’s house for some food and chatting! Everyone was Norwegian so it was a good time to practice some as well. We tried some Rømmegrøt, which is basically ‘sour cream porridge’. When adding a lot of cinnamon sugar, it’s pretty good actually.

We went back to the apartment to get changed into comfortable clothes and relax after a long busy, but fun, day!


We ate homemade cheesecake and strawberries whilst we relaxed and we were all super tired.


Marcus and his girlfriend, Stine, arrived and we got to meet her for the first time. We all sat and chatted and had a really fun time. This was when Curtis finally got the confidence to chat in Norwegian and surprised everyone with how much he has improved, too!

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Bergen

Place 16 – Day 32: Bergen – And Then There Were Two

Kim & Curtis Hale

We needed to be out of the apartment by 11:00 today, so we made sure we were up for about 09:00 to get everything done!

We then had to be outside for 12 hours, so Kim made sure that she made some sandwiches to keep us going.

We walked around, had a few coffees and some cinnamon buns and hung out with Espen. 

Tom & Maggie needed to leave to the airport at 15:00, so we walked them to the tram terminal and, with both Kim & their tears, they left to the airport and we went back into Bergen.

Tom & Maggie saying their goodbyes before hopping on the tram

We hung out with Espen for a couple of hours, just wandering around and window shopping before Espen had to go home to prepare for work tomorrow. 

This left just us two, alone again! Though this is odd and kind of sad, it is also nice to be able to spend time together.

Espen embracing Curtis during goodbyes

We continued to walk around aimlessly and then decided we would attempt one last hike before leaving Bergen…This failed.

We didn’t even get halfway up before we bailed on the idea…We just couldn’t be bothered! We sat around on benches on the mountain for a bit, people watching, before we headed to Burger King for a cheap ice cream and WiFi!

Lovely photo of us two from the mountain

Cool looking street…We thought!

Final mountain view from Bergen

We are currently still sat in Burger King and we have a few hours to kill. We will need to head to the train station at about 22:15 to grab our bags from the lockers and ensure we are in the correct place to catch our night train, which takes us to one place, which we then have to take another bus to the place we are staying! All the travel!

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 31: Bergen – Fjell Festning Museum

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up a little later today after our late night last night! The weather has gone downhill now and has been raining on and off, but it’s still been fairly warm.

Espen picked us up at 14:30 to head out to Fjell Festning, as we did in Thursday, but this time we drove up to the top. 

We entered the museum and had a couple of coffees before heading underground to the museum.

We had a wonderful Norwegian guide, who only spoke Norwegian and didnt like English people, but luckily we had Espen & Marcus to translate for us.

It went quite far underground and we went into a plethora of rooms from bathrooms to laundry rooms to bedrooms! 

Kitchen

Awesome Hallway

Sea Mine

We had a great time wandering around there and then we came home and had some pizza with Espen and Marcus whilst watching Harry Potter.

Now we are watching Brann vs Vålerenga football on TV whilst relaxing.

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 30: Bergen – Fløien Hiking & All-You-Can-Eat Brasilian BBQ

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up at 10:30 to be ready to get down town for 13:00 to meet Espen. We were prepared for our day of hiking! The plan was going up Fløien mountain and then over to Ulriken mountain. 

We took the 1 hour walk up Fløien, which was nice and easy as the weather was overcast and the perfect temperature. 

We stopped at the top of Fløien for a coffee and a Cinnamon bun! 

The view from Fløien

We also found some goats!

We then walked a little bit more and came to a stop again a little bit up the track for a spot of lunch! Kim had made sandwiches for lunch so we sat and had those on the side of the mountain.

Waterfall near where we ate lunch!

Espen then decided that we would be going down another way, rather than continue the 10km to Ulriken!

We walked down another mountain, which was beautiful but also not the easiest…

Espen looking majestic

Once we eventually got the bottom, in one piece, we came back to the apartment for a bit of a relax before heading out to a Brasilian BBQ restaurant with Espen, Tony & Marcus!

The food was beautiful and the company was great! We had a brilliant time and a good laugh.

Beautiful Brasilian BBQ

We stayed at the BBQ for a few hours, after our 5.5 hours of hiking!

We are all now very full but also very happy!

Tomorrow is a relax day, but we are going to head up to Fjell Festning again for a guided tour around the underground museum!

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 29: Bergen – Full Bergen Experience

Kim & Curtis Hale

Today, we spent the morning sat up on the terrace, on top of the roof, with a coffee and met some of the neighbours from the same building. The temperatures were 18°C at 08:00 when Curtis woke up with a nose bleed, which was a hoot!

 We spent a lot of time chilling in the apartment this mprning just relaxing and getting Tom and Maggie some energy back! 

We headed into to and went to the Dromedar Kaffe for a coffee and then we met with Espen at the ‘blue stone’. 

We took a walk into the centre of Bergen, to the fish market and then to Bryggen after stopping for an ice cream!

We then walked to Bergenhus Festning (fortress) and looked around the old fort! Unfortunately, the museum was closed so we were unable to enter, though Curtis & Kim have been before (twice)!

We the headed back into town and went to Nordnesparken. This is a big park which also has an outdoor swimming pool and diving board into the sea!

Beautiful view from Nordnesparken!

We then headed back to Espen’s car and towards IKEA!

We had some meatballs, of course, and got very full before walking around the shop floor, because it’s the most fun part time!

We headed back and continued with flight booking for our onward travels and we now have some flights booked, but who knows where to?! 

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 28: Bergen – Kim’s Family Reunion & Fjell Festning

Kim & Curtis Hale

We started the day with Kim being very excited to see her parents again! After breakfast, Espen picked up Kim to go to the airport to pick up her parents! Once we got back we were able to relax and have a cup of tea!

We then went for a drive to Fjell Festning, which is an old WW2 fortress made by the Nazis in just 2 weeks! It was well preserved and Good fun!

We finished there after looking at the wonderful view and then we headed back for some wonderful food! We had ‘Taco Thursday’ with Tom, Maggie, Espen, Tony and Marcus! 

It’s been a pretty fun evening with many more fun days to come in the next few days. 

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 27: Bergen – An Evening With The Boys

Kim & Curtis Hale

We spent today inside, despite the good weather, trying to decide where we are heading next. It may be that we head to somewhere in mainland Europe on Monday as getting to Finland and flying from there is an absolute mission! It’s very expensive..We would love to visit Finland, but it seems it may not happen on this trip. 

Espen and Marcus came over for dinner and to discuss what the plans are for the rest of the week!

It was an awesome evening with some laughs and just a bit of fun and plenty of Norwegian insults, of course!

They’ve both gone home and we’re still thinking about where to go!! Let’s see where it takes us, shall we! 

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 26: Bergen – The Centre

Kim & Curtis Hale

Today, we went for a walk into the centre of Bergen. 

We woke up pretty late and had some pancakes (made by Kim) for breakfast. We relaxed and watched some TV for a bit, had showers and then headed off to the centre of Bergen. 

We are pretty lucky as this is a few steps from our door! 

Just a few steps away… beautiful!

We took a walk across the bridge and got to the centre where it was surprisingly warm! We had some things we needed to buy, but we also stopped for a ice cream! 

Kim had some fun sat in the massage chair and had the added bonus of a foot massager..all good fun when you find a random shop with these in! Kim spent far too long there…

Kim in the massage chair

We plan to go for an evening walk tonight, after we have our dinner, not that we know what we will have! 

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 25: Bergen – Another New Home

Kim & Curtis Hale

We have now moved to a new home!

We have left our incredible HelpX family behind in Askøy and are now near the centre of Bergen (about 30 minute walk).

We are anticipating the arrival of Kim’s parents, who will be joining us on Thursday for a few days and then we have absolutely nothing planned after that!

We were planning to get to the bus stop for a bus leaving at 13:23 and we were able to get the wood pile completed before hand, which was a huge help to the family and also nice to see completed for us.

Øyvind and Simen were heading out before we were leaving so we said our goodbyes but then they popped back as they forgot something and so we were able to hitch a ride with them at 13:00 to get down to Kleppestø where we could catch the boat back from Askøy to Bergen centre.

Once we got to the centre, we had to pickup the key for the apartment from a 7-Eleven shop before heading to the bus station to find the bus we needed to get to the apartment!

We got to the apartment and were shocked at how lovely it was inside! We have a lot of room and a large balcony as well as a terrace outside on the roof which we can used, which is awesome.

We have just been to the shop where we did a large shop for the week, with the plan for Taco Friday (which is on Thursday for us!)

Plan for tonight is to have some Spaghetti Bolognese and then just relax in front of the TV!

Ha Det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Bergen

Place 16 – Day 24: Bergen – A True Norwegian Experience

Kim & Curtis Hale

So, today we have to say goodbye as it’s our last day before we go into the city centre and leave this family.

We have had an amazing time, both learning new skills and hanging out with the family!

We went for a hike today on a mountain close to the city centre. We were with Øyvind’s family and they were lovely!

We walked up the mountain whilst it was absolutely chucking down with rain, but it was still great fun! Most of it was flat floor but we did do some climbing/hiking. 

We got to a cabin and we all bundled into it! We sat and ate sandwiches, got a fire going and drank some coffee. It felt like a true Norwegian experience, just getting to sit in a cabin in the woods in Norway after climbing a mountain was awesome!

Once we got back we were very, very wet! We had a quick shower to warm up and then we sat down and ate a wonderful pork dinner.

We finished the dinner and then we went for a boat ride as well as some fishing. The weather was quite nice whilst we were out on the boat, which was nice but unfortunately we didn’t catch any fish.

It’s a shame we are leaving already, but it was a wonderful time we had here. We are now moving on to central bergen, where Kim’s parents are coming in to see us! 

Ha det!

– Mr & Mrs Hale