Bergen -> Oslo

Hi everyone,
Here am I with one of my final post on this blog. As planed on my calendar (but not on my train ticket :( dated for the 11.04.2010 ) I travelled back from Bergen to Oslo.

The Norwegian train company is really nice, I did not have to take another ticket, paying the full price!

I had a nice journey across the Norwegian mountains and country side, sunny weather, making you jealous not being outside the train!

Otherwise nothing, special... I had some "Zimt Schnake" and "Lakritze" sweets nicely offered by Karoline, the lovely German women I met in the youth hostel in bergen...

Tomorrow, got my plane at 9:45 back to Zurich, it's the end of a trip :(
Take care

Bergen, city of the hanse

Bergen city center is simply great, especially by good weather condition, which was not the case the afternoon I arrived, it was raining :(

In the meantime I reached the Bergen youth hostel, where could meet interesting people from USA, Canada, Denmark, South Korea and Germany ;0)

I also have to say that the hostel is lying in the best part of the city, really central place! A big thanks to the Belgian receptionist, who even I arrived too late (she was already closing the reception...) made it possible and organized me a room for the 2 nights of my stay.

The Friday some clouds in the morning, but still a nice view over Bergen from the "little" mountain (300m hill for swiss measure).

Another pleasure of Bergen, is to follow the tight little street, between the older houses of the city, it was feeling like play hide and seek ;)
The good thing is that there are not all located on the same place, made it really interesting discovery occupying most of my afternoon.

Finally waiting for good light over Bryggen old constructions (part of the UNESCO sites over the world)

Here are some more shots by night...

Tomorrow, I will be on the train from Bergen to Oslo (7h04) but with good company ;)

Oslo I am coming!

Lofoten

Lofoten, Lofoten, I heard quite a lot about these islands before even starting my Hurtigruten trip...

So here is my verdict: impressive!

I have to admit that all the atmosphere makes you beg for more! First we navigated through the 26 km qualified the most beautiful part of the trip, well it probably is... But we had also exceptional weather :)

Even the Hurtigruten staff is astonished from the beauty of the landscapes ;)

Then I got on this organised excursion arround the island with a bus.
So I had a better view of how people live on these islands, mainly from fishing cod (cabillaud) and making some stock fish dried on the racks...

As the weather was sunny we could also witness a magnificent sun set...

Followed by moving northern lights! In a way a perfect day ;)

It was not easy to have sharp pictures, of the Aurora Borealis, since all these pictures were taken from the Ms-Lofoten Boat while sailing :)

Now going in the direction of Bergen, 2 days left.
See you

Leaving Tromsø...

Well the last night was simply amazing ;)
With Anne and Fiete, the friendly German couple I met through the AMI hostel, we did take the bus 20 until the end of the line, there we had a walk (20 min) for reaching a place where no main disturbance light could prevent us from making great shots... As the following:

I probably have to correct myself, about what I told in some previous post, actually if you are lucky your bare eye can see colorful aurora Borealis.

In fact we did had a wonderful dancing show around 22:00, seeing green, red, and even a bit of Violette in the sky of Tromsø.
So thank you so much, mother nature for letting us attend to your great show! 

Then I had to board on the Hurtigruten boat before 1:30 am, I did get some less noisy cabin, but next time I won't get any cabin, the sofa in the Hurtigruten living room are really good, and there is no nose at all up there!
 
Anyway, the light show continued until 3:00 am where I was probably to tired to continue making photos...
Here are some more, enjoy.