Mom, Bruce and the boys all left around 6:30am this morning...we didn't
even hear them go. We slept in and then had some breakfast. After
packing and tidying up we got on the road towards Bergen (west on the
coast). We wanted to get there early enough to walk around a little
before our flight left that evening.
The drive was beautiful but fairly uneventful. We passed lots of
watefalls, and went through countless tunnels. We might have been in
tunnels more than we were out of them. Dave and I couldn't believe the
amount of money that must have gone into this type of infrastructure.
Not only do they bore right through for highways, but they also have a
whole series of tunnels for the train system.
We had lost the gps when the Fougner car went off to Odda, so we were
navigating on our own at this stage. We had no trouble following the
signs for "Centrum" in to the heart of Bergen but as we entered the
city...the heavens opened and it started to pour. We pulled off and
found a parking spot and had a quick lunch in the car.
We had left our raincoats out, but this rain was crazy! We didn't want
to miss out on the opportunity to see this place, so we ventured out.
We strolled around and dashed in and out of shops to stay dry...to no
avail! We ended up having to buy some umbrellas to help keep us dry.
Eventually after some gruelling time fighting off hoards of tourist and
the weather, we successfully hunted down a coffee shop, Kaffemisjonen, with AMAZING coffee. We had a nice hot drink and some snacks and took some time to regroup.
When we re-emerged the rain had subsided slightly, we visited some more
shops and there was really some nice stuff. The Norwegian sweaters were
lovely and the home stores had some really neat stuff. I wish I had
more room and more money!!
We figuredit was time to start heading to the airport, we made one last quick stop and a shop (ZUMM Design) that
we had seen on the way from the car...it was a store with
handmade clothing for kids and women...she had the most
adorable children's coats and fleeces, and the women's wool coats were
stunning! We couldn't resist buying a little treat for the girls for
Fall.
We then hiked back to our car and attempted to head to the airport. Not
an easy feat with road closures and no map or gps! After many failed
attempts we did manage to get directions and get out of town and to the
airport. Unfortunately we were now cutting it a bit close. We pulled
up to the aiport just before 5:30pm and got checked in and our luggage
dropped. We didn't have time to fill the car or take it to where it
needed to go, but they seemed okay with it thank goodness!
The line for security at the aiport was extremely long...Bergen appears
to have outgrown its aiport in a major way. It was mayhem and
disorganized at every turn.
After getting through security, we had more chaos at the gate with a
very rude lady from our airline, it was so bad it was borderline
comical...she was so stressed she was being mean to everyone on our
flight! This airport has some work to do on customer service and perhaps
expansion. Did I mention that the security line was all the way down
the main stairs and across the whole lobby...luckily with children you
can bump the line! I think I did mention it...but its worth mentioning
again!
We landed in Stockholm Arlandia and took the shuttle to the our hotel at
the airport. We were flying out early the next morning so we didn't
think it would make sense to trek all the way into Stockholm and back
for one night.
We had a very late dinner in the hotel restaurant and then put the kids
to bed. Erik was nice enough to watch the girls for us so that we could
have a drink with mom and Bruce....then it was our turn to head to bed.
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