This weekend was spent in Norway. Friday morning we flew from Newcastle to a city called Bergen, just a 70 minute flight, both having taken the day off work. Upon arrival in Bergen it was pouring down. Apparently it rains in Bergen 260 days of the year. A 20 minute bus ride into Bergen city and we were wandering around under our rain jackets and umbrella. Bergen is surrounded by 7 mountains and 7 Fjords, the Fjords offer some pretty good fishing which Bergen boasts by hosting a daily fish market in the central town area. This fish market has such things as dried eels, whale burgers, reindeer salami, live & cooked crabs & fish, etc. We were fascinated by the fish market and spent quite some time exploring it. We found our B&B which Kerry had organised, it was a downstairs granny flat to a family home. It was very comfortable and cosy and only about 10 mins walk from central Bergen. After dumping our stuff we found a local watering hole and enjoyed some Norwegian beer and food. Leaving fat & happy we retired for an early night to what would be a big next day.

Saturday we had organised to do a very famous tour called Norway in a Nutshell. It consisted of a 1 hour train ride, 1 hour bus ride, 2 hour boat cruise, 3 hour stop, and then 3 x 1 hour train trips back to Bergen. It was fantastic. We saw some truly breathtaking scenery. The high lights were the 2 hour ferry in a Norwegian Fjord and then a very popular trip on the Flam Railway. The Flam railway is 20kms long and 1 km high. The electric train takes 1 hour to make this trip. The 3 hour stop was in a very touristy town called Flam. Flam is situated next to a Fjord and is backed by massive mountains. We spent 3 hours enjoying locally brewed beer, Norwegian fish & chips and roaming around the small town.

Arriving back in Bergen late saturday night 12 hours after embarking on the adventure, we flaked out quite early again.

Sunday was spent trying to find activities that would suit the pouring rain that we were experiencing. We went to the Bergen aquarium which amongst a few hundred kids had some seals and penguins which attracted our attention for quite some time. We also roamed around the city wandering in & out of art galleries before having to return to the Bergen airport in the late afternoon.

All in all we had a fantastic weekend. Norway is such a beautiful country, if not a bit expensive, well ok, a lot. A schooner of beer costing the equivalent of $12AUD means..... well, lets just say that we didn't get pissed. Anyway, we are so glad that we went.