World Cruise Day 140/152 Viking Homelands, Bergen Norway day 2 - at least it's consistent, and COVID is back

Cruise day: 140/152

Ports days: 70
Sea days: 70
Countries: 23
Continents: 5
Ports: 51

Well, you can say one thing for Bergen, it's consistent.  We awoke to a second day nearly identical to the first.  Nearly identical, but different.  Today, it's colder, so there's that.  Temps in the mid-40s to 50, rain, occasional fleeting sun, and then more rain.  

We'll do a little forward time warp here - this afternoon, the Captain came on the public address system and announced that we have seven cases of COVID on the ship - two existing cases (that must be crew) and five brand new cases (and that means passengers that just came aboard yesterday).  So woo hoo - we're back to being served at the World Cafe - self-service lasted exactly one day.  And, while World Cruisers did an awesome job managing COVID, the new folks dragged COVID onto the ship in large quantities.  We shall see if the number goes up, but for now, five new passengers are isolated. Ten days in isolation on a 14-day cruise.  Hmm...sound like fun?  OK, back to this morning...

We started the day (OK, I'm lying as we ended yesterday doing this) by spitting.  We've been doing this for the last 139 days and it will continue for another dozen days.

After 30 minutes of no eating, drinking, smoking, gum chewing, etc, you drool into the tube filling it up to the 2ml line - we learned on the last cruise that the sample is viable for 24-hours, so if you want to sleep in, it's OK to spit in the evening and put it out for collection (that's what we do) - pro tip, it's more romantic if you do it as a couple

We also stopped by to say, "Good morning", to our amazing Guest Services Manager, Mara. 

Disembarkation and embarkation days are rough on the GSM, and over the past few days, she's had disembarkation in London and Bergen along with yesterday's embarkation in Bergen.  In addition to that, there have been flight cancellations that have impacted incoming guests, flight cancellations that have impacted disembarking guests, and just the general, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, kind of things that can really make for rough days.  It was nice to see her looking at least a little more relaxed today, even though she is still sorting out some travel issues for guests.  Have I mentioned that she is amazing?

This morning, we took the included Panoramic Bergen tour.  It was a two-hour bus tour with four stops for photos and information.  I tried taking some photos from the moving bus today, but between the rain on the window and poor lighting conditions, most of them wound up in the digital trash can.  That's a good thing as I did get a lot of decent, albeit damp, photos when we stopped.

This is the entrance to the Fløibanen funicular - more on that coming below

One of the more interesting McDonald's - more coming on that too

Our first stop was on the Nordnes peninsula, across from where we are docked.

You can see our Viking Star docked, and south across the bay is the Nordnes peninsula - you can also see the Bryggen marked near the right end of the bay

Rosenkrantz Tower

The Fløibanen funicular track

We continued driving.

A bronze statue of Amalie Skram, the pioneering feminist writer who dreamed that women should have the right to vote - it happened in 1913, eight years after her death

Our next stop was at Den Nationale Scene or The National Stage - the oldest and largest performance theater in Norway. Since the National Theater was already in Oslo, they elected to call this The National Stage.

I don't think the sculptor liked their subject very much

The theater company started in 1850 and has been housed in this Art Noveau building since 1909

There are several statues on the grounds.

This guy didn't seem impressed with the weather either

We continued our drive.

A fountain in what appeared to be a manmade lake, but was a small natural lake left over from the glaciers carving out the fjord

St. John's Church - the tallest church in Bergen

We headed to our next stop - Grieghallen - the Grieg Hall named for Bergen-born composer Edvard Grieg. It seats 1,500 and is home to the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Grieg stood 1.52m or 4'-11.84"

We hopped back on the bus and continued toward our final stop.

The original town hall, now a religious building

Our final stop was at the iconic Bryggen.  We walked around the alleys and toured behind the buildings.  They no longer use it as the city of Bergen has burned down multiple times.  The buildings are all wood, and wood burns.  And each time it burned down, they rebuilt it all, out of more wood.  Hmm...

You can see the hook on the lift that is used to haul packages up to the second floor

Alleys between the close buildings

One of the oldest wooden buildings in Bergen

These buildings made from stone and plaster were used as banks and held valuable items like art and liquor - value is in the eye of the beholder

Interesting construction techniques to save money - cut a post from the bottom of the tree and include the roots - flip it upside down and use it to support a roof

At this point, we left our tour and started walking around the town for a second day.

This sculpture had a plaque that reads, Ingen er bare det du ser. That translates to, No one is just what you see.

We walked over to Galleriet, a lovely indoor six-floor shopping mall.

When we were ready to leave, the rain started coming down enthusiastically.  We reversed course, found a little diner in the mall, and enjoyed a snack.

When we were done, so was the rain, at least for a bit, so we continued our walk.

There was some steam coming out of the little ports on this

What is this man picking up?

McDonald's!

We walked to the Fløibanen funicular and purchased tickets for the ride.  The cost is 150 Kroner per person roundtrip or about $15 USD at current exchange rates.  It connects Bergen's city center with the mountain of Fløyen, 320m above sea level.  The 5-8 minute ride is pleasant and smooth.

Once on top, the views are terrific.  Of course, it would be even better on a nice, sunny day but you take what you can get in Bergen.

You can see the train in the lower right corner

Hey - I can see our room from here

The original drive wheels were pretty big

They have goats that live on top - they wander around freely and also have a house to get out of the elements - they were friendly and would walk up to people for a quick pat or scratch

I think this was a play structure for kids

It started raining (again) so we started heading for the train and saw this guy

Arlona made sure we were leaving on friendly terms

We got into the terminal and saw the train was right there - we hustled on the train

The view on the way down - the roof is all glass so we could listen to the sound...of the rain

More interesting architecture on the walk back to the ship

Since we could see our room from Fløyen, I thought I'd take a photo of Fløyen from our room - you can see the funicular doing its thing

We grabbed lunch on the ship and got ready for what we hoped would be a spectacular sail away from Bergen.  We headed up to the Explorers' Bar for....the view - yeah - it had nothing to do with the drinks - it was for the view - yeah, that's it.

While not what I would call "spectacular", it certainly was scenic and photo-worthy.

Going under the first of two bridges

The second bridge

How cute is this house by the lighthouse?

It is mid-May - and we're still seeing snowcapped mountains

When you aren't really a people person, this is the place to live

So many little islands

An island, a lighthouse

An island, another island, another island

These look like nice vacation homes

One of the last channel markers before we hit the North Sea

We enjoyed dinner in the World Cafe and shared a table with General Manager, Wendy, Financial Officer, Ana, outgoing Excursion Manager, Rob, and cruise Consultant, Hamed.  Honestly, the officers on this ship are friendly, relatable, and simply decent human beings.  We are lucky to have such a great crew.

With COVID on the ship, we decided to watch the Captain's welcome show in our room on our stateroom TV.  Unfortunately, the live feed, much like the Cruise Director's daily show, has audio issues, at least on our TV.  The audio plays for a few seconds, then cuts out for 10-30 seconds, comes back for a few seconds, cuts out again, and this pattern repeats. Essentially, it is useless.  That is one thing that has been consistent throughout the World cruise, and now onto Viking Homelands - the IT service all-around has been terrible.  Unusable internet, spotty TV service, poor performance on the onboard video service - it is all IT-related and never gets any better.  This audio issue has just started with Homelands, so I have no idea what changed.  We reported it, and we'll see what, if anything, gets done.  I am certainly not holding my breath.

Tomorrow, we will arrive in Eidfjord, Norway.  The sail-in looks like it would be beautiful, but we'll be doing that tonight, overnight.  I'm hoping for a scenic sail-away tomorrow night.  Well, that, and no additional COVID cases.  Almost time to spit in a vial.  Ahh, the romance...