Scenes from Bergen, Norway – Part 1

This week I was in Oslo for SQLSaturday #667 – I gave a pre-con on Friday, then two regular sessions and a vendor spotlight on Saturday. I posted my regular session slide decks and demos here.

It was my first time to Oslo – I had a lot of fun with friends, both new and old; I also managed to get away to do some of my own sightseeing. One of my first ideas was to go to Helsinki, but I am glad I chose to come to Bergen instead. I hopped on a quick 50-minute flight from Oslo this morning.

Flying into Bergen reminded me of flying into Seattle, except all those hills and islands were bare and green instead of peppered with houses over every square inch. There is no practical way to get to all of those islands during a short stay, but I was still invigorated when I arrived.

The rock formation outside the little airport poses a rather bold, 12,000pt question. I felt like it was asking me if I was sure I was in the right place.

Nonetheless, I continued. And in a little more than half a day I have walked around endless centuries-old alleys, gone up both the Fløibanen funicular and the cable cars at Mount Ulriken, and stared at the Bryggen in various levels of light. These buildings are so unbelievably stoic, and their listing is hypnotic – it makes them look as though they might all topple over, like dominoes. Here’s a panorama:

I also re-discovered that Bergen is one of the real places that inspired the fictional backdrop of the Disney movie Frozen. If you have kids, I think you can picture exactly what this town is like. Here’s one, close up:

Walking around in search of my hotel, I came across Mariakirken (St. Mary’s Church), which dates back to the mid 12th century:

I took a couple more pictures of some old buildings…

…then I dumped my backpack at the hotel and headed up the Fløibanen funicular up to Mount Fløyen (320 meters):

Above right is a plaque of Bishop Johan Nordahl Brun, from my next stop, Mount Ulriken, which has cable cars to reach its 643 meter peak (Brun wrote Bergen’s city song, “Sing to Bergen”).

Next I headed back toward the center of town, taking an indirect way back toward Bryggen. First I came across the Sailor’s Monument:

Then I’m not sure if this is just an ad or if it is the office building for the Bergens Tidende, Norway’s largest newspaper outside of Oslo:

And then this status of Ludvig Holberg near the center:

Which brought me right back to the Bryggen strip:

At the end of the day, I had a fantastic meal at a nice little restaurant called Bryggeloftet & Stuene. Here is the local reindeer and beets:

And here is the fresh rhubarb with strawberries:

(Not pictured: the delicious smoked salmon starter.)

Funny story about dinner, but background first. In my Saturday morning session, I chatted with the very first person to sit down. He asked where are you from? (Maybe he detected my accent?) I said Canada. What part? 3 hours north of Toronto. WHERE 3 hours north of Toronto? Turns out he’s from Ottawa.

Now at dinner, there’s an older woman beside me, from Calgary, and we chatted for a bit. Then a couple sat down on the other side of me, and they were from Hamilton. At this point I’m sure I’m getting punk’d by some pathetic “let’s see what happens when we put Canadians together in foreign places, eh!?” reality show. 

Part 2 will feature some more of Bergen, and then I will post photos from the 7+ hour train ride back to Oslo tomorrow, which is supposed to be gorgeous. Sad that I won’t make it to Flåm or any of the real fjords, but I guess that just means we’ll have to come back!