Reise til Norge - Day 6 - Bergen

It was a very beautiful morning for our arrival in Bergen and I went up on deck early to watch as much of the approach as possible. There had seemed no end to daylight. It was well after 1030pm last night when we passed ‘Marco Polo’ and I photographed her. Ships that cross in the night. This morning we passed under the Askøy Bridge but I did not see anyone who might be Tom Børslid. It was warm and sunny for the first half of the day and we had a mostly good time, self-guided, but there were disappointments. The park containing Lille Lungagårdvann suffers from litter like we saw in Stavanger. Bergen station has to be one of the dullest I have been to. Several things are in need of repair. It is based on a classic grand European trainshed and the sheer volume of infrastructure suggests to one that it can only be viably run with some sort of substantial service which there is not. The station came to life for the impending departure of an Oslo train which was evidently very popular. Walking was pleasant enough but, as in so many places, views are often cluttered. We were minded to go on the funicular Fløyenban but the queue was too long. We then stuck to the old town area and some of its shops and sights. We went in MacDonald’s so Greg could use the internet and I had a meal. It was the freshest I have had in a long while and significantly cheaper than Burger King in Stavanger. We walked to Puddefjordsbroen (bridge) from which I was able to take today’s photographs of Oceana.  Bergen is an expansive port and I was able to photograph the other two cruise ships only when we sailed. They were Hurtigruten’s Nordnorge and Holland America’s Ryndam. Cloud came over during the afternoon as forecast albeit without rain and we did not mind spending the rest of the time on board. There were substantial internet problems and I am very keen to get back to something more reliable. The evening Tex-Mex buffet was pretty incoherent. The evening show ‘Encore’, from West End shows, was excellent. We could tell from our seats that we had sailed into a storm. No long sunset this evening but the roughest seas of the cruise – which thankfully don’t bother me one bit. We should be at Southampton at 7am on Saturday and home as soon as we can collect our car.