Ok. I’ll try not to make this post as long as the last one. If you got through it, congrats.

Right. Down to business.

I loved Bergen. It was beaut, seemed to have a lot going on, and is the rap capital of Norway. (That didn’t impact me at all. I only found out a couple of days ago. But it’s still a fun fact.)

In Bergen we stayed at ‘Citybox Bergen’. Bergen was the most expensive place we stayed, and this was one of the cheapest out of them all at £35.75 each per night, and their pictures on booking.com were a bit odd; unnecessary pictures of lamps etc http://www.booking.com/hotel/no/citybox.en-gb.html) So we didn’t have high hopes… Which was pretty lucky. It was a bit dirty (stains on pillow cases etc) and had an odd atmosphere about it. However, we had fun.

There was a bunk bed in the room, and two singles, as well as an ensuite. It was a pretty big room, and it had everything we needed. Also, it wasn’t in a bad location, and we could park fairly close by.

We arrived a little bit later than I had planned, and so sadly all of the museums etc that we wanted to visit were already shut/close to closing time. It may sound really stupid, but as the daylight hours were longer I truly expected things to be open later than 5. So, we mostly just had a walk around, went for lunch and then went up the funicular.

Bergen is most famous for its wharf, so we had a look around there, which was as lovely as it looks in the pictures and also had a meander around the lake/very large pond. Aside from the random rock band singing ‘JESUS CHRIST’ it was all very pleasant.

I’m just realising that I’m really not making this sound particularly exciting. Well, to be honest… It wasn’t. It was really… Nice.

I wasn’t there to have a crazy time, I was there to see what Norway was like and spend time with my best friends. I’m writing this in, because I don’t really know why people visit Norway. I may have completely missed out on something, but even if I did, I don’t care. I’ve never been anywhere like Norway. Where it’s that clean, with such lovely people and everywhere you look is plain stunning. Bergen was no exception to this. The view from the top of the funicular was gorgeous, with a view out over the city and the water.

Though in saying that, they’re an incredibly open minded people. We even stumbled across an advertisement for a talk entitled ‘Who Wants To Be A Porn Star?’ Sadly the date had already passed. I wish I’d been able to witness some of the Norwegian rap scene, though saying that, the aforementioned rock band were enough for me. Seriously, we were just walking through the square when suddenly death metal came blasting out at us. I know people say rock music is very popular in Norway, but out of the hundreds of people walking past, only 5 people were stood actually watching. So I feel we didn’t get to see the best of Norwegian rock. Not that I mean to ‘diss’ the band, I have no idea who they were. Also, there looked like there were quite a lot of clubs in Bergen, but as recent graduates, we had very little money so Norwegian clubs were not the kind of places we could afford to hang out in!

If I were to go back, I would definitely like to go to the leprosy and clog museum. I feel I really missed out on those. I’ll ensure my time keeping is better next time. And a club.

Saying that, I really liked Bergen. We had nice weather, though a little windy and it was quite busy, so had a nice atmosphere. We were on a pretty tight schedule, so our road trip was a bit of whistle stop tour. It was great though, having gone from knowing nothing about Norway, I now know loads. I know where I’m desperate to return to, where I’m less desperate to… And we got to see a little bit of everything. I think if I’d just gone to Oslo I would have a completely different idea of what it was like. Oslo is quite metropolitan, whereas the further North you go, the less touristy it is…

This shall be proven in the upcoming blogs… Next up, Alesund! And THE LONGEST TUNNEL IN THE WORLD. You’re excited and intrigued now, aren’t you? I can tell. Through the internet. Us bloggers, we get this sense.

SEE YOU SOON

Abi

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@abipageaustin