Arrival in Bergen.

Didn’t get to see much of Oslo apart from some of the airport. We had to collect or luggage here to then rebook it for the internal flight to Bergen. Once again we go through the security screening and an officious fellow told me off for not getting my camera out of my carry on bag, to put through the scanner. Keeping in mind this is now my fourth flight so far in this start to our holiday and therefore my fourth scanning of the exact same carry on, I had already removed the mini iPad and liquids only to have him conduct a further repeat scan of my bag to be told there had to be more liquids in the bag. What could it be, thinks me? Turns out it is the little gift pack from our flight that Shiny Bright asked me to put in my bag for her as her carry on bag was already full to the brim and inside is a small bottle of face mist spray! Mean time while I waited, and waited for the fellow to give me a final all clear on my bag, SB has floated through security and was practically tapping her foot impatiently by the time I got through security. She’s lucky I didn’t spray her with her face mist!
Anyway it was a very quick 50 minute flight to Bergen and we can now say that we have arrived! We had decided that we would take a bus from the airport to our hotel and even though I had checked out all the details on the internet before we left home, none of us could understand the ticket machine to purchase the tickets. So much for SB telling us that she was self taught fluent in Norwegian!However with some help from an attendant at the airport we were directed to where the bus would depart from and advised that we could pay the driver in cash for our tickets. Our luck was in as a Flybussen was waiting st the stop and the lovely driver got of the bus and came and helped me with a nearby ticket machine as he said it was cheaper that way than by paying in cash. How nice! Only a handful on the bus, so it was a very pleasant ride into Bergen. Went through tunnels that went for kilometres! Very impressive. Very light traffic and we are amazed at how few people were out and about of a Saturday morning. The driver helped us with our luggage from the bus and when I asked him for general directions to our hotel which we had been told was about a five minute walk, he insisted on pointing out exactly where it was. The weather as certainly cool (2 degrees) but not so cold that any of us really felt it. We had all put on coats prior to leaving the airport. There had clearly been snow overnight so we were extra careful to avoid walking on the pavement wherever we could still see that it was iced over. All four musketeers arrived safely at our hotel, the Clarion Admiral and were happily surprised that we were able to book into our rooms immediately as it was only a bit after 11 am.
Our room is very nice, although the lay out is a bit odd. Shiny Bright has taken the bed closest to a window so that she can have it open. It’s 2 degrees people, so that bloody window will not be left open all night!!! Rather than attempt a major unpacking of cases, we opt to simply shake our tail feathers and then meet up with D&G in the foyer for coffee at midday. This we did, and all agreed to head back up the way we had come from the bus to the hotel, and buy our lunch at a Subway store which we all enjoyed. Time for a visit to the Information Centre to check out possibilities for tomorrow. Many of the region’s main tourist attractions are closed from about October through to April and we’ve already seen quite a few closed shopfronts, particularly restaurants. Hopefully the weather will be fine tomorrow as we all want to go in the funicular up to Mt Floyen. There are also a couple of museums that could be interesting and perhaps a bit of shopping to do.
The skies have darkened and there is now intermittent rain, plus a light snowfall. We are not going to let any of that put us off so we wander along Bryggen which is such a delightful picture of gorgeous buildings and narrow alleyways. We pop into a couple shops that are clearly for the tourists.

Everything we look at is quite expensive so not sure they will make much money out of us. On our wanderings Captain D and I both noticed an Irish pub, Scruffy Murphy’s. Didn’t take much arm twisting to get Foggy and SB to agree to pop in for a drink. D & G had a Guinness, while SB surprised me by ordering a Norwegian beer. Actually I ordered it for her as somewhat unsurprisingly her self taught Norwegian still hadn’t kicked in!. I had a Chablis and so passed some time in this quaint little pub, enjoying the background music from the70s and 80s. We all felt like it should be about 8 o’clock at night, but it was only 4 so we wandered back to our hotel, via a little supermarket where SB and I stocked up on some tea bags and coffe, plus extra milk. Back to our respective rooms after agreeing to meet again at 6 to head out for an early dinner. SB had already started on the bag of jubes I had bought for her and we were both happy to flop on our beds and relax for a while.
D & G opted to not go out for dinner as they were worn out. SB and I both felt like having pasta so went to an Italian restaurant on the wharf we had passed earlier today called Olivia’s. It certainly isn’t cheap to eat or drink here in Norway, but needs must so we each had a glass of wine and a bowl of mushroom ravioli, which I have to admit was exceptional. Short walk in the clear night air back to our hotel and it is well and truly time for a lovely hot shower, once I mastered the controls, and time for bed. It is 8 pm and I’ve had a good start on this new holiday adventure.