This week was as scenic as the first and much hillier overall. My legs weren’t so tired at the end of the day, so I could do some exploring after I reached my hotel(s).I had a couple more mornings of beautiful seascapes before the route left the coast and turns inland.

Galicia is the green lush part of Spain that the Camino winds through going inland. It’s a mix of towns, farms, vineyards and cities. The walk to Vigo, a city on the northwest coast, was about 12 miles and became more challenging with the city’s steep hills.

The routine of getting the suitcase down to the lobby by 8 got me out the door to start walking each day by 8:15 or so. The transport companies that move luggage on to the next hotel have my thanks and admiration. I was lucky enough to have my suitcase waiting each time I arrived at my next night’s stay. It seemed like the vans were everywhere when I arrived in a new place, with their guys using rolling carts to move mountains of suitcases.

As I walked through Vigo to leave the city, there were lots of parents walking their kids to school. Most of the kids had uniforms on, I’m guessing for parochial school. The views from the hills of the city made the climb up and down rewarding.

Redondela is a small town where I stayed in a hostal (their spelling) that had individual, double, triple and quad rooms. I was happy it had good a/c like the other places I’ve stayed since it was still hot out. I met a really great German woman named Sabine on our shorter walk into the next town Arcade. She invited me to stop to have a cold drink with her when we reached town, and then added me to her WhatsApp contact list to join some other people she’d met. I had dinner with her and a British guy who was also traveling solo. The 3 of us walked together the next morning to Pontevedra, a small city with lots to offer. At dinner that night, we were joined by 2 other German women Sabine had met a few days before. The 5 of us came together in the chilly wind the next morning to walk to Caldas de Reis.

The hotel receptionist had lots of good information, and even told me my Spanish was good! She was very kind; we didn’t have a very long conversation.

We had a fairly long walk that day, but it wasn’t too hot til later in the day. At one point, it was a slow line to get a wax stamp for our pilgrim credential books. I got talking with a young British guy who was waiting with us. He had a small backpack with one change of clothes, so he washed and dried what he wore one day and switched to the other. I invited him to walk along with us after he showed us a cool way to customize the wax stamp. It was fun to talk with him about his travels, and his spontaneity in deciding to do this walk.

It dawned on me that I was doing just fine with the longer walking days, still tired at day’s end but well recovered next morning. I contacted the booking company to cancel the shorter walking day I’d planned for the weekend. That way, I’d stay with the group of people I’d been walking and eating with for several days, and arrive with them in Santiago on Sunday.

I didn’t meet the group for dinner that night in Caldas de Reis, and opted instead to go to bed early. It’s not always easy to eat on Spanish time at 8pm or later. The afternoon siesta is still going strong. It’s crazy how busy stores are in the evening.

Our destination town of Padron greeted us with grey skies and lots of stone decor. We stopped and got rain gear on, and fortunately the downpour didn’t come til we were in the town. I’m happy- and surprised- I never had to hike a day in wet weather on this trip.

Sunday dawned grey but the weather prediction was for sun the whole 16-17 miles to Santiago de Compostela- the final day of walking! The walking paths varied a lot as the day went on.

We were greeted by a man playing the bagpipes in the woods. Galicia has strong Celtic roots and I’ve heard bagpipes in several places now in this part of Spain.

There were more pilgrims on the trails and not quite as much chatting. I think people were focused on walking and noting what the shell markers said for distance left til Santiago. No matter how many days people had been walking, it hard to believe the end was coming near. We joked about ‘what would the next week be like without walking many miles/kilometers each day”?

I was still seeing farm animals on the way, and the rose gardens in bloom. The roses were beautifully scented too.

Sabine hadn’t walked the last day with us because her infected blister had re-opened. But she met us at the Cathedral and showed us where to go to register for the “compostela”- the official certificate that says a pilgrim has completed their journey. I had gone online a day before, as everyone has to, to register myself as a pilgrim. We’d joked that for those of us who selected “not religious” as a reason for walking would have to wait longer in line. But in fact, it was a little like getting a ticket for the deli. I showed the QR code I had from online registration and received a number to take in line. They even have a screen that tells what number is being called and what desk to go to. The woman who completed my compostela was an American retired ER nurse who’s volunteering for 2 weeks to do this job at the desk. She told me she’s walked the French Camino in 2019, and the number of people walking all routes has grown hugely.

My group of 3 German women and 1 British man had lunch together before we all went our separate ways. It was really nice to celebrate with them, and to recognize quite a few other faces of people coming in to the Cathedral square.

Even though I’m not religious, I wanted to see the ‘Botafumeiro”,where the thurible is swung back and forth with burning incense in it. Here is a link to a video on the Cathedral’s website if you want to see it:

I have no idea how they had so few people in the Cathedral when they made the video. Both times I went, the place is packed with people hoping to see this giant thing get swung back and forth high above our heads by 8 men pulling ropes to move it on its pulley. The incense is wafting everywhere as the thurible goes higher on each swing, the rising smoke symbolizing pilgrims’ prayers going up to God.

I stayed in Santiago for a few days to explore, rest and go out to the coast one day on a tour. The old city is all stone and winding streets and alleys. And it’s full of tourists and pilgrims. I’m sort of dismayed by the plethora of Camino merchandise in the shops all around the Cathedral.

The day tour started with stopping on the way to the coast at this old stone bridge. It was cool and misty there, completely unlike the weather in Santiago and at the coast.

When we reached the coast, the beaches were beautiful white sand in protected coves. But the farther along the coast we went, the tour guide repeatedly reminded us that it is called the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) for a reason. There’s a long history of shipwrecks along this coast due to rocks that rise up and can’t be seen by ships and strong currents.

After lunch in the town of Finisterre, our last stop was the village of Muxia.

There are also model size or larger ships throughout the church, and memorial plaques outside to pay tribute to boats and crews who’ve lost their lives off this coast.

The day was so clear and beautiful, and the breeze was chilly outside the church. I liked it even better than being in Santiago at the Cathedral since it wasn’t mobbed with people everywhere.

While I didn’t walk this part of the Camino, it felt like a fitting way to close my walking trip in Portugal and Spain. The greens, eucalyptus, roses, and the sea were all part of my walk, and their scents will bring it to mind often.

The arrow and the shell are the route signs to look for when walking the Camino.

There are quite a few Camino routes to walk to arrive at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. After reading about some of them, I chose to walk the Portuguese Coastal Camino. I liked the idea of a relatively flat walk along the coast north from Porto,Portugal and then turning inland to walk the Portuguese Camino for the last 100 km. I’ve never done a days’ long walk anywhere. From I read and heard from others who’ve done some routes, it’s safe and a good challenge. An excellent way to celebrate my retirement! I booked with a company whose itinerary options looked good; they move my luggage each day and have booked my hotels as well. Going in mid- September gave me hope of not walking in boiling heat each day.

Most people start from Porto for the Portuguese Coastal Camino, although it does start in Lisbon. I took a bus to the outskirts of Porto to start walking on September 13. My “training” over the past several months was walking longer distances and slowing my pace down to do longer walks. But I hadn’t done any walks longer than 12 miles, so the 18 miles of the 1st day were more than a little daunting! I saw the yellow arrow and started off.

There were other people walking; a number of lone walkers, and also some groups that were going really fast. People said hi or ‘buen camino” as they went by or when I did. The sea breeze was strong, but it got hotter as the day went on. I stopped twice at sandy beaches to strip off my socks and sneakers to get into the water. My legs were tired by the time I strolled into Povoa de Varzim and found my hotel with my luggage waiting, but I was psyched! The evening agenda: cool shower, stretching, and dinner before getting bag organized for tomorrow and bed.

Luggage has to be downstairs by 8 am, so an earlier start the next day meant cooler air, sun only peaking through the mist about 8:30. This older man wished me “bon camino” as I walked through town; there were other people out fishing or raking sea weed into flat rectangles on the beach (to dry it?).

I tried asking one guy if it was for his garden, but my limited Portuguese and his lack of any English had us both laughing. Only 14 miles that day so I arrived earlier at the hotel. But my room was ready and luggage there- and they gave me a 2 bedroom suite because they ran out of single rooms! I ate dinner with a Dutch woman. It was interesting to hear her perspective about the walking and what she hoped to get from it.

Day 3 was another 18mile day, but the cool start and walking for a while with a woman from Toronto kept my energy going.

I walked with a couple from Edmonton for the last couple hours of the day. They were sympathetic about our country’s horrid political state because they describe Alberta, their province, to be like a MAGA province. I was happy to have them walking ahead as we went single file over a bridge into Viana do Castelo; between the cars whizzing by and the wind, we were afraid we’d be blown into the traffic!

By the 4th day, I had the routine down about getting the bag downstairs at 8 and getting out early. But I was tired to start and it made for a hard day with heat and a longer walk than I originally thought because my hotel was booked farther along. After 12 mi., I caved and got a taxi for the last 4.5 mi. They had a sauna and pool, so after that and a good meal, I slept hard.

Being a town closer meant I had time to roam around Caminha before getting my 10:30 taxi over to Spain. I got some good fruit and things to eat at the outdoor markets, and poked my head into a church.

I walked for a ways with my fellow ‘pilgrim’ from Toronto before she turned off the path to her hotel. It was a shorter day for both of us- 7.5 mi. I was in A Guarda before I knew it. This time the hotel gave me a little apartment -another case of running out of single rooms. I did laundry by hand and laid it out to dry in the sun on the little deck before making myself an omelet. It was chilly but nice to sit out to read.

Chilly the next morning, and the sun took its time coming over the hills as I walked. The eucalyptus forest smelled amazing,

I got into the 64 degree pool when I reached the hotel in Oia, and it melted the 10+miles away. There were a lot of folks I’m starting to recognize from various days of walking, and everyone seemed to be getting their feet and legs in at least.

The route on Friday switched back and forth from ocean side hills to steeper inclines up through forest. Charles called to chat while I walked— late shift for him at work had him up very late. I can’t believe the cell connection we had as I walked up hills and down curvy little roads.

I think my legs are acclimating to the long walks, even though I start stiff each day. The 12 miles didn’t seem too daunting. On the way into Baiona, there’s a tall statue on top of a hill. I actually had the legs to make the climb up to see the “Virgin de la Roca”. The hill was an ancient Celtic place of ritual. There were 4 Spanish women up there who had me take their photos in several spots. And then they said they should take mine.

This has gone on way too long-I guess that’s what happens when you take a rest day and sleep many hours. Hopefully you just look at the photos. I’ve learned a lot about the Camino and myself this week, met more nice people than I’ve mentioned, and look forward to the next week of walking.

I had 2 days in Porto before beginning the Portuguese Coastal Camino. Besides sightseeing, there were 2 things I needed to do: get my Pilgrim “passport” for the Camino at the Catedral do Porto and figure out my bus route out to the coastal edge of the city to start my walk.

There wasn’t really a line at the Cathedral, so that task was done quickly. I stopped into the bus station within Sao Bento train station, and stood in line quite a while. I think a lot of new university students were getting their bus passes. The woman at the desk began to pull her shade down to indicate her lunch break just as I stepped up to the window. She was happy to sell me the ticket with a few rides on before she pulled the shade all the way down!

Even there there’s major construction going on in and around Sao Bento station, the tiles inside made the trip worthwhile.

Since I was near, I went to visit a church with more amazing tile on the outside wall.

The narrow house truly is super narrow with 1 or 2 rooms on each of its 3 floors. And on one of the floors, there’s a doorway that allows visitors to touch the back foot on a statue of Christ stumbling while carrying the cross. The Carmo church had stairs down into catacombs where I could see human bones in a glass floor (eek!), stand on a balcony to see the whole church, and get a glimpse of various tools people used flagellation.

There’s so much beauty to be seen around every corner and up every hill in Porto, much like Lisbon.

One last touristy thing I did was to get a ticket to visit the Livraria Lello, one of the oldest bookstores in Europe (Lisbon has one too) and supposedly one of the most beautiful. I have since read that they charge for entry tickets to help them survive as a bookstore. It is quite beautiful outside and in.

Porto is a beautiful city, for sure, and one I’d like to return to explore more of. It was also quite cool to get off a city bus in its coastal edge and start walking north!

When I started looking at Workaway listings, I stumbled on listings for helping in monasteries or convents for nuns. I wrote to a few, and was happy to be invited to go to help at one a few hours’ train ride from Berlin in the countryside. The community of sisters are from several different countries, so English is just one of many languages spoken there.

One of the sisters met me walking from the bus stop near the convent, and she showed me around the guest area bedrooms, a kitchen, and dining rooms. She also showed me where the bicycles were stored so that I could use one anytime I liked. After she left me to unpack, I wandered around the front gardens and took a short bike ride to the town center. I wanted to be back in time for Vespers (the evening prayers) at 5:30 in the chapel. It was so lovely. The sisters sang and read in French, a language I only know a little of. It didn’t matter. Their voices were beautiful.

It was warm and sunny all week, giving me good weather to trim the hedges. I’ve always wanted to try something like that. The line to trim along wasn’t completely gone, thankfully. There were tools, wheelbarrow and a short garden stool to give me some height. Over the course of 5 days it all began to look pretty tidy- or ‘very German” as one (Dutch-born) sister told me.

The biking around the town and out through the farmland is mostly flat like the Netherlands, with equally good bike paths. Each afternoon I would ride into town and then follow a different path out into the countryside. I liked getting a glimpse of neighborhoods in and around the town and seeing teens playing soccer in a really nice sports field The further out I rode, the farms seemed at first look to be identical in their layout and tidiness. But I began to see some differences too: a flourishing dahlia bed in one, a huge concrete Christ on the cross in another, miniature toy farm equipment for kids in another.

I felt very absorbed and mindful as I worked on whatever job I had. It felt like the sisters move thoughtfully through their days of prayer, study and work (cooking, looking after the guest area, cleaning, etc) and that mindfulness permeates the air of the convent. I liked the variety of several tasks to be done inside in case of rain, or outside in good weather. The sisters would stop to introduce themselves and to chat when they were going about their day, so I think I got to meet most of the 10 who live there all year. There were also sisters from other places visiting to be on retreat or study. No one asked me if I was religious or a church attender; the invitation was open to join whatever form of worship was happening. When I went to one of the Vespers, a sister gave me a book with the songs and readings marked—in French- to follow along if I wanted. I tried…

In the evenings, I often had dinner and great conversations with the 2 young priests visiting from Rome to study German at a nearby language school. One is originally from Toronto and the other from Northern India. I learned a lot about their seminary experiences and their studies in Rome. They both had to master Greek and Hebrew in their first year in order to study the New and Old Testaments in the original; apparently that first year is when many young priests leave. We laughed a lot too, and I found their questions about the US thoughtful and challenging!

I took a little ride on my last evening to see the sunset (at 8:20!). The bus to my train would leave early the next morning Over the course of my last day, several sisters came to wish me well, give me a hug and invite me to return. Even Mother Superior stopped in the kitchen to say goodbye! In just a short time I was made to feel like a part of their community.

Berlin in WWII features a lot in historical fiction books I’ve read over the years. Since I had a few days before my Workaway in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, I decided to spend 3 days in Berlin. I was curious about it asa modern day city, and about how the horrors of WWII would be presented and acknowledged.

I saw this mural of Anne Frank the first evening I was walking around. She looks so young and alive. I was surprised there was a center dedicated to her in Berlin, and happy to read on their website about their focus on education and sharing Anne’s story with young people all over Germany. My wanderings around the city over the next couple days took me farther afield, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t get back there during opening hours.

Public transportation is really good in Berlin, and in between walking miles, I used trains, subway and buses. But mostly I walked. I heard a lot of Germans speaking English, and many people speaking other languages too. The city feels very international and not unlike New York in some ways. I stayed in Berlin Mitte area at Rosenplatz, the city centre where it seems to be a mix of very old and newer.

As I walked, I began to notice people stopping and reading small gold plaques in the sidewalks in seemingly random places.

Once I saw one, I began to see more and more as I walked. They are also in other cities in Europe.

The Berlin Wall Memorial is at the corners of some neighborhood streets where the wall was first build. The information center they have on one corner shows photos of how the neighborhood was instantly divided, and has recorded interviews from neighborhood residents talking about how their lives abruptly and harshly impacted. Several of them told stories of their efforts to escape the Eastern side and how neighbors on the Western side helped them. On the opposite corner had been a church that was damaged in WWII and was in the ‘death strip” when the wall went up. The GDR (East German government) blew it up. What’s there now is the Chapel of Reconciliation, made from clay with glass, soil and rubble from the site mixed into it.

I visited Checkpoint Charlie later the same day.

On my last day, I went to The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It covers a city block or more, and has an underground information center.

I posted photos of the Opera House last year, but I think it looks different with changes in light and weather. We booked for one of the many tours in English. It was led by a man named Dag whose love of the arts and the house shone through everything he said. No photos were allowed in the areas behind stage sadly. About 85% of the Opera House’s budget comes from the government,making tickets affordable for all to see concerts and ballet there!!The workshops and practice theaters are larger than the actual main hall. So many creative people were at work sewing, making models of sets, moving huge walls on wheels to make space for new designs, welding, and meeting over sketches and plans. Will was able to get a few photos peering inside when we walked along one back side of the building- amazing!

I had two sculpture parks on my wishlist for Oslo. Ekeberg Sculpture Park is located on a hill that gives great views of Oslo. The park is free and the 43+ sculptures are scattered about on grass and in the forest. I’m addling links to the titles of works below – the info about the artist(s) is really good

I’ll include one more we came upon as we wandered the forest part of the park. It was striking and heartfelt.

Vigeland Park is the other sculpture garden we walked to at another end of the city. All of the sculptures are the life work of Gustav Vigeland. Again, the park is free and open all the time. All of this work is of human figures showing the range of human emotions. It was a gorgeous sunny day when we were there along with many other people. The sculptures don’t have any written info with them. I felt like I just wandered along staring and considering what each figure was feeling. We did look up some of the museum info later as we walked to get some of the history. Next time I think we’ll go to the museum to see photos and drawings about how the park was planned and built.

These are just a glimpse of the 200 sculptures in the park. We did see a couple of his other works in other places in Oslo, and there are more in other parts of Norway and Stockholm. What a prolific artist.

Oslo has so much art all over the city outside of these 2 parks. It’s very apparent that the city and the country encourage and support artists of all kinds. It’s refreshing to see that countries can be so arts-minded!

We saw these incredible wire mesh figures hanging high above a walkway in a busy restaurant area.

These last two figures were on the restroom doors at a great Italian restaurant.

Will gets the credit for most of these photos- he tends to get more good photos at times.

We’ve been to several saunas on this trip and find the small ones to be some of the best. I’m starting to understand why sauna is such a big part of life in Scandinavia and other places. It’s really relaxing, even when the sauna is in a busier place. The one pictured above is on a lake about 40 min by tram and bus from where we stayed in Stora Essingen. It was a very peaceful time. The lake was cool and

Will discovered Eden, another little local sauna just before we left Stockholm. It’s part of a little beach club where there is a restaurant, kayak rentals, a waterway that is mixed fresh water with salt water from the Baltic Sea, and their own little sauna radio! Too bad they weren’t playing while we were there. It’s a shared local sauna, but we had it to ourselves when we visited.

We’d visited Varberg for their classic old sauna last year, and returned this year to spend a windy sunny afternoon. The photo above shows the corner of the courtyard of the women’s side,and the window in the middle is the window of the women’s sauna. Will got this photo when we walked out the jetty later in the day. It was busier this year and equally as relaxing and special. I love the old style sling back sun chairs to sit and read between sea dips and going back into the sauna. The cost is about $10 per person!

In Oslo, we went to several different sauna, including one in the “Sauna Village” just past the museums on the harbor. There were cold baths as well as the fjord to hop into to alternate with the warmth of the saunas. The fjord was warmer this year- 68 degrees.

Having become a sauna “enthusiast” I’m wishing we could have a floating sauna on Peaks. But I know the insurance and licensing of such an idea would make it all very cost prohibitive. I’ll just have to wait til we get our own sauna finished!

This year we decided to return to Sweden, but to start in Stockholm, the capital city on the East coast. It was a little intimidating to think about where to stay in a city that ‘straddles 14 islands and is connected by more than 57 bridges.” (Eurocities.com). But it was a fun puzzle to tackle on a cold sunny day back in February, and we came up with a pretty great plan.

I found us a house called the Charred House, named for the siding used on the house. The siding is Nordic spruce that has been burnt and turns a lovely dark charred color. Stora Essingen and its neighbor Lilla Essingen are both primarily residential areas that have houses and apartment buildings on quiet streets and woodsy walks to swimming areas or boardwalks.

We caught a bus or tram each day into the city center to walk the streets that connect the different neighborhoods. Tickets are easy to buy on an app, with a discount for seniors even!

Will found us a sauna to relax away our travels at the end of our first full day in Stockholm. The sauna is part of a tennis/paddle ball club on the top floor of a building in the center of the city.

The sauna had 3 guys in it when we entered the sauna, all speaking in Swedish. But they quickly switched over to English to include us in their conversation about ‘sauna culture” and also some very astute conversation on climate change. Suffice to say, they were super nice and we had a lot of fun talking with them. The cold dip tub outside was a good balance to the toasty sauna; the temp was a chilly 41! When we were all leaving, one of the guys put something around his neck that looked like a small life jacket.

We had a recommendation for a fish restaurant that we ended up going to twice in our 5 days in Stockholm- so good! Fresh fish soup, fresh smoked salmon with dill, cucumber and hard boiled egg and tuna to name a few things. We were excited to see this shell figure and tableau in the window. The artist is Tilda Lovell; we recognized her style after seeing a larger bronze she did in Gothenburg last year called Oraklet (the Oracle).

Over the course of the week, we used ferries, trams, buses, subway (noticeably very clean!),and taxis to get around. One day we went farther afield by several means of transport to visit Artipelag, “where art and nature meet” as their website says. Well worth the trip to see incredible art, architecture and design!

We spent a lot of time in the Lars Wallin Atelier: 35 Years of Fashion Stories exhibit. It details Wallins’ process of creating with descriptions of his first meetings with clients, sketches and patterns, and the final remarkable dresses. There was also a video where he speaks about his process as patterns are being cut and fabrics are selected.

The Enchanted Forest exhibit was a little eerie as well as enchanting. We walked for a while outside admiring the views to other islands, the beautifully planted roof of the building and the outdoor exhibition Art in Nature.

More soon from Norway.

We had the offer of staying in our Peaks Island neighbors’ flat again in London, so we went there before heading home. It was breezy and sunny when we arrived from damp old Bergen. I got the drying rack out and put out our bathing suits and ‘quick” dry towels before they started molding in our suitcases.

Richmond London is on the Thames, and has trains, buses and subways to get all over London. I returned to a Pilates studio I found a couple of years ago near Battersea Station- with the help of Apple maps telling me what train to take to catch the right bus. It’s a different way to experience a place when visiting, sort of taking a peek into “what would it be like to live here”.

After eating lunch somewhere neat Battersea, Will and I walked through streets to visit BrixtonVillage Market. Many folks who live there came from the Caribbean and West Indies. The fabric stores were amazing and there was lots of good street music.

We left London one day to go to North Devon, about 4 hours by train. Will has a book at home that has ocean swimming pools all over the world, and we’d put a sticky note on one in Ilfracombe, North Devon. The train took us to Barnstaple where we did an overnight and bike ride on the estuary there. For any Ann Cleeves fans of her newer Matthew Venn series,those books take place around the Taw River there.

After a good brunch at Boston Tea Party Cafe, we got a bus for the 45 min trip to Ilfracombe. Our destination was The Tunnel Beaches.

When we arrived in the afternoon, there were lots of families and people on the beach and in the water. The surf was strong as the tide was rising. It wasn’t cold really, and there was a warm southerly breeze that got rid of the clouds evening.

There were lots of historical information about bathing during Victorian times, with cool photos of ‘bathing machines’ people got into for privacy drawn down to the water! Check out their website.

Back to London, and we’re off home today. Good travels- so much time outside,great food, beautiful art,. And it will be good to return home to our little piece of heaven.

Everything you read about the train across Norway from Oslo to Bergen on the west coast mentions that it’s one of the most scenic train trips in Northern Europe. For the 1st hour or 2, I was wondering what all the excitement was about. But then the train began to climb into the mountains and the scenery got a lot more interesting. Will is much more adept at getting good photos out the window of a speeding train, so suffice to say all of these are his. Turf roofs, ski mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and many tunnels were the hallmarks of the trip from about the 3d hour of the 7 hour trip to Bergen. Each station stop was announced by the conductor in sort of a droning voice; first in Norwegian, then German I think, maybe another Scandinavian language and finally English. He always ended with “and the train is on schedule”! We could hear many different languages being spoken on the train.

Everyone we spoke to in Oslo about heading to Bergen said “oh it rains all the time there”. We were prepared with rain gear, and very nicely surprised to have the sun around our first evening and a little on the next morning. It was grey but still dry as we took the funicular up to the top of Floyen, one of 7 mountains around Bergen. Smooth trip, and faster than the one I remember in Barcelona.There are hiking trails at the top and ways to walk down mountain, but the weather wasn’t great…

It was quite crowded walking around Bergen’s port with tourists from everwhere and two huge cruise ships in port. Even though it was very scenic above the town, it did feel a little like Portland when a cruise ship is in port. It was nice to walk away from the port, through some neighborhoods and some industrial areas to get a feel for where residents live.

There were lots of outdoor gear stores advertising rain gear in their windows, and yarn stores again on many corners. We walked through the market where fresh and cooked foods were sold and served under tents. They really have the wet weather thing nailed there! Bergen claims to have 200 days of rain per year, and the best outdoor gear-yikes!

As in Oslo, Will found the floating sauna and got us in for a late afternoon soak and swim.I’m not sure their harbor is as pristine as Olso’s but it was a good chilly swim in between lounging in the sauna. I can’t say I’ve ever swum so near a large crane as I did there. Some people were in the sauna beside us, and I happened to be in the water with one of the guys swimming. He’s Norwegian and had just started cold water swimming this winter. It told him Will and I did too, but we don’t have the sauna part (yet) in our routine. He told me he had to break the ice at a fresh water place he swam in one time- that’s pretty inspiring!

I wish we could ship that sweet little sauna over to our yard.

Our 2d day in Bergen was big rain and some wind all day. We moseyed around, did a short city tour cruise around the harbor and began to make plans to find dinner and a drink to take back to the apt for a low key evening. Beer is sold in grocery stores. Alcohol is sold in the Vinmonopolet, the Norwegian state alcohol stores. It took a little searching before we found it; and it was busy. . I went looking for Prosecco and found myself in a wonderland of creative labels. It was so fun to walk the aisles – the designers must be loving what they do!

I laughed a lot in that store and called Will over a bunch of times to see yet another design. But hey,if it rains 200 days in Bergen, let’s hope graphic designers are having as much fun being creative as the folks who are drinking these are.

I’m not sure we’d go back to Bergen even with it being an interesting port and home to access to many fjords. Oslo has a lot more we’d like to explore, and the country around it. The weather cleared just as we reached the airport to fly to London for a few days- brilliant sun as we took off.