Monday, June 22, 2015
Stalheim Hotel. Dinner last night was another Norwegian
buffet. It was mostly fish but also had a deer stew. Where would they find a
deer here? We have been amazed at the lack of wildlife other than birds in all
this remoteness. Anyway… They had chicken in gravy so I thought I was covered
as I ate my beef noodle soup. Clay came back and told me that the entire pan
was filled with nothing but drumsticks. I ate gravy and white rice along with a
side of the vegetarian option of quinoa in tomato sauce. Desserts were not a
strong suit so we ate double portions trying to get it right! Both restaurants
had a trilogy of sauces which must be a local thing. Vanilla, chocolate and a
burnt sugar style caramel. We were told that coffee and tea were included and
would be brought round to the tables when we got to dessert, but none appeared.
You would think that coffee and tea would be included here or complimentary but
they aren’t they are for sale at 30NOK in the lobby. There are no tea or coffee
making facilities in the room, not even the European obligatory kettle for
those who DIY. In a room this huge with all the extra furniture that just seems
very odd.
We slept well. As Clay pointed out since there is no in-room
Internet, no TV and only walking and dinner or breakfast and sleeping, you
better hope you sleep well. Our room faces east so we had it a little darker
than usual. It was overcast so the sun did not shine in this morning either. It
may be the first time we’ve slept a solid 8 hours in one night in weeks.
Breakfast this morning was a raucous affair. The good news
is that I guess because of our booking status or something, when we give our
room number in the restaurant that we have a reserved 4-top by the window and
it is all ours! The bad news is that last night 2 buses loaded with Asian
tourists arrived just in time for dinner. The worse news is that this morning
there were 7 visible buses and the restaurant was completely filled. We saw our
table from last night sitting empty and hoped, yes it was still our reserved
table. We had to fight the crowds though. Again, a lot of fish. There were only
4 hot dishes. What looked like strips of uncooked fat that I assume were bacon,
beans, scrambled eggs and oatmeal. I had oatmeal, and I had yogurt with
granola. I am on an all grain diet now! I went back and made an open face
sandwich of whole grain bread, brown cheese, white cheese, ham and salami. Some
protein. I don’t even know what all Clay ate. I had coffee finally. I needed have
desired it. It was the worst coffee I have ever choked down. They may not be
making it readily available out of embarrassment, though I assume profit is the
actual motive.
Checkout is 11:30am which is rather good news because our
bus won’t be by until 11:55am. Those who read yesterday’s post may have worked
out what just occurred to us. That we’ll be skipping lunch again today due to
the travel schedule and no lunch service here. I still think Try Norway should
have made accommodations for this lapse in the schedule and availability. We
should have about 45 minutes in Voss between the bus and the train and we’ll
assume we can find something to buy for lunch there or on the train between 1
and 3. We will be on the same train we were on from Oslo the other day and will
hope that the tracks between Voss and Bergen have reopened. But, we were in
Comfort Class the other day and today we’ll be in 2nd class. It
should be a much shorter ride so we’ll hope for the best. The last lapse we can
find in the Try Norway itinerary is that it looks like it is over a mile from
the train station to our Clarion hotel in Bergen and there is no transportation
arranged or suggested. Not even a marked map! Just the note to find your way
from the station to the hotel! Tonight is
our last hotel for a while. Tomorrow we board the Nordkapp for our northbound
ferry ride through the fjords.
We checked out early and left our bags in the lobby while we
wandered back up to Wilhelms Hoi. The marker stone in the historic buildings
park. Then we just sat inside and out and enjoyed the views. The bus was a
little late so we had a chance to worry. The bus ride was great today. Yesterday's driver barely spoke in reply but today's was making announcements about what we were seeing. He drove down the hairpins turn road that we walked a part of yesterday and stopped for photos. He told us about an extreme sports competition this week in Voss that explained all the skateboarders, bicyclists, kayakers, etc. we were seeing. He told us to look for the kite flyers. We saw them as we waited for the train. The train in Voss was late too, so we
got to worry some more. I guess it worked out OK though since we are here in
Bergen. We are at the Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret. I have no idea
how to say that and I hope I don’t ever have to! I used the hotel voucher to
give the cab driver the hotel name and address and now I don’t have it anymore.
I can’t find the hotel name on anything they gave us like a keycard. Tomorrow
we have a transfer included to the ferry/ship so hopefully we really won’t need
to get back here other than on our own. It is a nice waterfront location in an
old looking building in a very old part of town. Unfortunately, our view room
ended this morning. Tonight’s small room#209 has a view of a parking lot and the
windows of 3 other buildings. We arrived after 4pm since the train was running
late. We also had about a 20-minute wait for a taxi. That cost about $20. Not unreasonable
since it was just too far to walk with luggage on cobblestones. We checked
right in and our room was ready with no wait. We were informed that waffles
were being served in the dining room until 6pm. That the evening meal would be
served from 6 to 9pm. Breakfast will be served from 6:30 to 9:30am. Checkout is
12:30pm. We will probably checkout after breakfast and go sightseeing and let
them hold our luggage. Our transfer is at 4pm. Clay plans to come back for waffles
before the pickup. I am not sure we’re entitled to waffles tomorrow, but Clay
pointed out that no one was checking. We’ll see. They were weird thin waffles.
I think maybe pizzelles. They had a 2 piece waffle iron and batter and it was
DIY. We made one 2-piece batch and each ate one with fruit jam as topping. I
had a cup of coffee too. Then we set out. Clay had it in mind to find Bergen
Segways and take a tour. We walked up the harbor and visited the fish market. I
noticed the first fishcakes of the trip and somehow Clay did not. We walked on
around and down to C. Sundts gate 60 where Bergen Segway says they are located.
It was a vacant building without any signage. We arrived minutes before their
5:15pm should have been departing. They are clearly not there anymore, but
their website seems to still be taking online bookings. We’ll just avoid them
now. They had their chance with the walk down there and back for nothing. It
was well out of our way. We walked back more or less the same way to get to
Floyen to take the funicular up to the top of the mountain. It was 85NOK pp for
a return ticket. It was pretty amazing. We saw Silver Whisper sail out. Le
Boreal is docked right in front of our hotel, not that we could tell from our
parking lot window. We went back down and into a Starbucks. They had a mug but
it had a bust of Edvard Grieg on it. That won’t mean anything to me even with the
word Bergen on it, so I didn’t buy a mug. We stopped at a needlework shop on
the way back through the line of colorful old wooden buildings. We found a
cross-stitch pattern with a map of Norway, so we had to buy it for Mom to make
us a souvenir of the trip! It was less expensive than the Great Glen map of
Scotland. I know because it was about the price 445NOK of a meal in Oslo! We
wandered some more old buildings and then found a bakery selling
skillingsboller, Norwegian cinnamon buns. They didn’t look to good, but we
bought one to go. (It wasn’t very good. It was light and yeasty but not very
sweet or very cinnamon.) We got back for our included dinner. There were a
large selection of cold dishes like various salads. In hot foods, there was a
creamy vegetable soup that I liked. Clay tried the traditional Norwegian fish
cakes when I told him they had been at all the fish market stalls, but he didn’t
care for it. He mostly ate the cold foods. There was a weird vanilla
pudding/jello thing that Clay tried and told me to avoid. That was the whole
day. Clay is sleeping waiting for me to get off the Internet. Evidently, only
one person at a time can be logged in!
