Friday, March 25: Norwegian Weather at Last
We wanted to check out a couple of museums on our last day, so we decided to get to VilVite, the Bergen Science Center, at opening time. It was a gray, drizzly day—the first time we’d needed our raincoats! But we really needed them. We walked down the hill from Dave’s apartment to the museum; the “scream exhibit” (for lack of a better description) that I’d tried out the night before was our first stop.
The science museum itself was terrific. We could’ve stayed another hour and still had plenty to learn.
I was eager to see Håkon’s Hall, which was built between 1247 and 1261 by Håkon Håkonsson. It was the largest of the royal residencies in the 13th century when Bergen was the political center of Norway. It’s a brisk walk through the city from the science museum, so we headed out in the rain. Alas, when we got there, we saw this sign and could only walk around the outside.
I knew that Saint Mary’s Church was open on our way home, and it was on my list of the top five things I wanted to see. Somehow I completely missed the sign with the helpful “no photos” pictograph, so I took dozens. As we approached, all the walking and the rain became too much for Benjamin; his mood deteriorated and he refused to go in.
Phoebe, on the other hand, enjoyed looking around.
We had to get back to the apartment in time for our online appointment with the people who would certify our COVID tests, which we had to take with them watching on a video call. On the way, we saw this demonstration about the environment, which seemed well attended on a rainy day.
After the COVID tests, we dragged the kids back out to go to the Bergen Art Museum (on Phoebe’s list of possible museums), but if you can believe this, we couldn’t find the entrance! I did some Googling, and we did some wandering, but we gave up and went back to the apartment.
We found a dinner place that had both fish (for me) and pasta (for the kids). And it was just down the street! And the owner was French! So was the décor. Dave and I ended up with fish and chips. Phoebe had spaghetti bolognese. Benjamin might’ve had mac and cheese?
