Day By Day

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Our Nordic Expedition, Part 4 -- Troldhaugen

After the rain stopped "She" and I went out walking again, to the park and along the main harbor. Here's a bit of what we saw:


A statue of Bergen's most famous son -- the composer, Edvard Grieg. More about him later.


Bowsprit decoration on the Bounty.


Bergen's famous Bryggen Street. The buildings along this row date from the fourteenth century when Bergen was part of the Hanseatic League. Obviously these are not the original structures, but over the centuries as renovations took place they have hewed to the original plan. Today Bryggen stands as a living monument to the city's glorious past.

Returning to the Hotel we joined the rest of the group and boarded a bus for a trip to Troldhaugen.


On the way we passed this, the summer residence of the King of Norway. Ordinarily we could go in to see it up close but because the royal family was in residence we had to stand along a highway and snap pictures from a distance. 


This is the entrance to Troldhaugen, the estate of Edvard Grieg. This modernist statue stands at the entrance. It supposedly incorporates profile views of Grieg and his wife. OK, if you say so....


The Grieg museum containing relics of the composer's life.


The main house of the estate.


A view from the estate across the lake.


Looking across the lake from another perspective.


Outbuildings with turfed roofs, a not uncommon sight in Norway.
 

Bergen is a lot like the Pacific Northwest in America -- lots of precipitation produces a rain forest where almost everything is covered with moss. 


Inside the living room of the estate hangs a romantic picture of a pathway through a dark, spooky wood. Grieg liked the scene so much that he had the road leading to the estate planted to resemble the painting.

Then it was back to the bus and down to the harbor where we boarded our ship and made ready to leave Bergen for the far north.


 As we approached the harbor we passed another local landmark, Hakkon's Hall, built in the Thirteenth Century.


And part of the same complex [the Bergenshus Fortress], the Rozenkrantz Tower, complete with dungeons, which dates from the Sixteenth Century. 


A final view of the Vagen harbor before we retired to our cabins and rested up for the coming cruise.


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