British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 19: Saturday, April 25, 2026 - Bergen, Norway

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather: mid 50s, overcast
👟 Steps: Linda 9,009; Steve 11,258

Today we disembark for the last time on this trip. Eventually. 😢
As we had to be out of the room by 8:00, we finished packing and had everything out on time before we headed to breakfast in the World Café.
I made a couple observations on the ship, and had two more on this last day.
First, the toasting salamander needs to be lowered, or the glass raised as getting the bread on the salamander is extremely difficult - and I have long arms. Second, the little cups that are at the Pool Grill should also be at the jelly and jam station so people can take their spread back to the table and not have to return to apply it after they put butter or margarine on their toast.

We took our time with breakfast, and then headed to the Atrium to hang out until we had to gather in front of The Chef's Table at 11:15.
Linda chatted with Josephine, who knew Dora that we met on the Vesta cruise. Josephine was transferring to the Vesta later this year too.

Our final disembarkation, then we boarded the bus with our luggage as we were transferring to the Norge Scandic Hotel for one night as the last night of our regularly scheduled cruise. But we were going to participate in an excursion - The Best Of Norway - before we did transfer.
It was a short ride as we were heading to the old fortress and palace that was just a couple blocks away.

Part of the problem was that the Bergen Marathon was taking place. And the finish line was about two blocks away from where we were going.

But it was even more complicated because the bus had to park elsewhere - and our driver Ilshot did a fantastic job not hitting any pedestrians while navigating the bus to a pull-over. Our guide, Cleveland, did the best he could wrangling us together and getting us to the palace without the use of a VOX. This was rather unusual and one of the only times we've done an excursion without a VOX.
We aren't fans...
We debussed and started our walk to the palace.






Cleveland brought us inside, and after acquiring the tickets, took us to a relief map of the city (photo below).
We moved on to an original room, with the original stonework visible.


This same room had another map. This one showed the aftermath of the gun powder ship explosion we heard about from Maria yesterday. Since Cleveland told us the same story, it was either accurate, or they were both incorrectly trained.

Upstairs was a large ballroom - that is still in use today. Not today, but to this day.



Some tapestries were on display.



There were two historical photos on display as well.


We passed the old-time relief map of the city on the way out.

The marathon was still... going on? Or perhaps everyone was just hanging around for some reason.

We moved on to our next stop, the Bryggens (Bergen) Museum. It was built over the remains of the old city. In fact, there was plexiglass and walkways over some of the remains so visitors could walk over the actual ruins.


Cleveland took us to another relief map, this one with a video projection overlay, showing the different fires.




On display were a number of artifacts that were unearthed on sight, some dating as far back as 1198.









A video was playing with an animation showing how a beam fit into the structure of an old Viking ship.
(There was a display behind me and I couldn't get back any further to get the entire screen.)


Some more artifacts.





Around the back of the museum was St. Mary's Church - the church that Cleveland attends. He suggested we briefly visit inside. However, the doors were locked and we were unable to. So we all headed to the bus at the end of the block.


I wanted to ask what these roofs were made of because though they had the same shape as terra cotta, terra cotta is usually a matte-orange color, not a glossy black. But I didn't get a chance to.
However, we later found out that the shiny black terra cotta tiles, especially made in The Netherlands, are designed for the rugged Norwegian climate, and the surface helps snow fall off it easier.

We had another meandering route around the city, seeing various highlights.
As we rode around, Cleveland told us about composer Grieg too, like Maria did yesterday. Though Maria mentioned Peer Gynt, Cleveland specifically mentioned Morning Mood and Hall of the Mountain King, both from Peer Gynt.











When we passed this sign, Cleveland let us know that this site sill soon be obsolete. Norway is striving to make all car sales electric by 2030 because they accurately believe car emissions are contributing to climate change. Last year, 98% of all new car sales were electric - so they are well on their way to achieving their goal.
Currently, their case is about $7.57 per gallon at the time of this writing ($1 = 10.0 NOK).

Near the hotel we saw a group of students - among others - dressed in traditional barb. As the school year was coming to an end, we don't know if this was for a special occasion - like "prom" (if they have that over there), or graduation - or if this is how they typically dress.

The group debussed and made our way inside the hotel.
Right inside the revolving door was a restaurant, bar, lobby. It looked like there was a wedding reception taking place.

We passed through the area to the escalator to go up to the second floor to meet our Viking hotel host.
As we gathered in the reception area, we learned that the country was experiencing a hospitality workers strike - which impacts hotels. Including ours. It was taking a little longer to get the rooms ready than usual (part of the reason why they go on strike...).
Rather than just sit around and wait, we decided to head out and track down some lunch, and maybe also dinner.
We happen to be at a hotel we literally walked past when we were doing our walking tour with Maria yesterday - we were a half-block from the park with the gazebo.
So we paid the gazebo a visit, and saw a number of "traditionally dressed" people in the area.

According to the Google Machine, down the street in the direction away from the hotel, was a Kiwi - a local market. So that's where we headed - it was less than three blocks away. Off we went.
About two blocks down, we started hearing music. Marching band music (as opposed to something from a car stereo). When we got to the big intersection, we saw them coming at us from the right.




I was able to translate the bottom half of the red flag to be "unity makes strong".
And I was able to grab (from the video below) a Frame Export from the last group with a dark blue flag that read "Nygaards Bataljon" or "Nygaard's Batalion".
We later found that it was a historic youth brigade, locally known as Buekorps (translated to "Archery"). Every spring, youth march in the streets simulating the adult militia. The organization is run by the youth too.
After scurrying across the street before the bands arrived, I took a video (though it is audibly windy - and visually when based on the flag unfurling).
The band stops and plays in the middle of a pride-colored painted crosswalk. <gasp!> Oslo is woke!</sarcasm>

After the bands passed - we were probably the ONLY Viking travelers that saw the procession - we headed to Kiwi.

I grabbed a couple prices, including these "farm eggs" which are 51.90 NOK per 10 (ten, not a dozen). That would be about $6.29 per dozen.

The cereal selection is really small. And that Mega-size box of Corn Flakes is $2.92.

Not just cream cheese, but Philadelphia Cream Cheese... at about $3.64 per package.

The cost was 113.10 NOK - $11.42 - for a large salad, a package of cheese, 4 rolls, and a package of chocolate chip cookies. That would cover lunch and a dinner snack.
The market doesn't sell wine (but they do have beer), much like most of the rest of Europe. We were told that the government was trying to curb some of the drinking in the country, so wine and liquor can only be bought in government-run liquor stores. That close at 4:00 on Saturdays. And it was too far away to easily make it today, so we'll just stop by one when we were out and about tomorrow.
Right outside the Kiwi was this pillar sort of thing.

By the time we returned to the hotel, it was about 3:00, and we were pretty hungry.
We had a salad that we shared while we were still waiting for our room keys (we both swear I took a picture of it but it can't seem to be located).
Eventually we got our room key and made our way upstairs.

The first oddity was that the room door opened OUT. The second oddity was this suspended chair in the corner. The third oddity was a portal that was a window into the bathroom from the sleeping area that can be "closed" from inside the bathroom.


Hmm.. what should I... have... for breakfast?

After some relaxing, we had our snack of bread, cheese, and cookies.
We also did some research and, ultimately, purchased two tickets to the Kobe Museum for tomorrow. There were a number of museums in the collection / foundation, and one ticket gives access to all of them.
While surfing the limited channel selection for some background noise, I came across the TV show Bluey®. I tried to post a brief clip of it, but YouTube blocked it due to Copyright issues.

It was late - after 10:00 - and the sun had finally set.

Time for bed.

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