This is our 3rd day in Norway and it’s raining – again! Actually I’m sure it rained (or poured) at least 6 times today and then cleared up each time in between. Today’s tour guide said that it has rained every day in June, breaking a record set in the 1950’s. She claims that Bergen has the distinction of being the rainiest city in Europe. Every day there’s an 80% chance of rain. They have 240 days of rain a year and 40 sunny days. She didn’t say what the other 85 days a year are – I guess they’re either snowing or just cloudy. They too are influenced by the Gulf Stream so their weather is very mild (although I don’t consider weather that requires a coat at the end of June too mild!), with temperatures rarely falling below the 30’s in the winter.
But we are Vikings so we soldiered on and did our touristing things.
Yes, these are those houses. They are so quaint and Norwegian. Actually they’re shops.
I liked these houses too and we can see these from our ship. Our guide said that 60 of the homes in Bergen are protected by UNESCO but I’m not sure if these are the ones.
Interesting architecture. And colors.
This little Museum boat in the harbor was really cute. Not sure what they use this boat for since it looks like there can’t be any more than 10 seats aboard.
We spotted this as we passed a pretty city park.
We visited the Fantoft Stave Church, a typical Viking-style wooden church from the 1200’s, after the originally pagan Vikings were converted to Christianity. Actually most of them are gone now; only 28 of the original 200 in Bergen remain. And the one we saw was not original. It was rebuilt on the site where one burned down in the 1990’s using original techniques and materials.
This is the outside of the church.
And here’s the inside. It’s tiny inside, only room for about 35-40 people. There was only one small window in the church, which allowed lepers and pregnant women to hear the service from the outside of the building since they were not allowed inside.
The toilets for tourists had fern roofs. Cool.
It was about a 5-minute walk from the parking lot to the church and we walked through this beautiful wooded area that looked like something out of a rain forest.
Loved the trees in here.
But the highlight of the day was a visit to the home of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Norway’s greatest composer. The complex of buildings sits down a long path through a wooded residential area on a small hill above a large lake. The site includes a museum, a small concert hall, the house, his composing house, and the graves of Edvard and his wife, Nina. Edvard loved the lake and enjoyed fishing on it with his best friend who lived across the lake.
The Griegs’ house.
Grieg’s house didn’t have plumbing. This was their outhouse.
The living room in the house.
Friends of Edvard and Nina gave them this grand piano for their 25th anniversary. Both Edvard and Nina played the piano and Nine also sang.
Nina wanted a rose window so they had this one constructed.
Edvard also had a little house down by the lake where he composed his music called the composing house.
Museum and gift shop.
Portraits of Edvard and Nina in the museum. The couple were actually cousins and both were under 5 feet tall.
This life size statue of Grieg stands in one of the gardens.
This metal memorial is hard to see (bad photo!) but brilliantly executed. To the far left can be seen Grieg’s profile (facing to the left), and to the far right is Nina’s profile (facing to the right).
This is the concert hall with the grass roof I’ve been trying to photograph.
And this is the Lupine I’ve been trying to photograph. (Ah, finally, all is well in the world.)
The concert hall is as amazing inside as it is outside.
And this is from the pianist’s perspective. This is not a video, this is actually the lake that can be seen behind the piano. We got to hear a recital of Grieg’s music given by a music professor from the Grieg Academy at the University of Bergen.
Well here we are at the end of the road. Tomorrow we fly to London where we’ll have to stay overnight due to flight scheduling problems. Then we’ll fly home on Monday. We hope you’ve enjoyed our trip as much as we’ve enjoyed having you along. See you next time.
Our Viking River Cruise 
The museum boat is so cute and the houses are so interesting…..seems like the Griegs’ were very devoted to each other and lived a melodious life in their quaint and charming house….the scenery alone would be enough inspiration to write beautiful music!……Thank you Joyce for another great blog!
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I loved the beautiful piano in the Grieg’s home. The concert hall view was very inspirational as Carol Lynn said. I feel really neglected as a child now though because our out house was not quite as glamorous as the ones with the fern roofs or the Grieg’s. lol The trim and the paint colors used on the structures are beautiful. I understand why they are protected. I loved Fantoft Stave Church – lepers I understand, but were the pregnant women deemed unclean or what was the reasoning there, did they say?
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