Bodø, Norway - 12 JUN 2016

200 years ago, Bodø was granted township.

Dee's photo of Bodø from the ship

Again, we get a warm welcome:

Dee and I went for a walk, in search of a museum and walked into a time wrap.

Dee's Image

Erected in 1903, it is one of the oldest buildings in Bodø, as the town was leveled by the Nazis.

My Image

Nordlandsmuseet (Nordland Museum) was a step into the pass, before computers and plexiglass. We loved it!

They had the largest stuffed eagle I've ever seen:

I thought it was a Golden eagle but the largest in Norway is a White-tailed eagle. I found an article about Norwegian Golden eagles taking out full-grown reindeer.

TW gets artsy with a switchboard and a milk separator.

A thousand year old treasure was discovered in Bodø in 1919. Among the silver pieces, coins and jewelry was the largest (42.3 oz.) Viking ring brooch ever found.

The town began to prosper in the 1860's with the boom in the herring industry.

They had two dioramas the displaying an aerial view of the town before and after the May 27,1940 Luftwaffe attack.

3,500 people lost their homes, but because everyone had fled to the mountains, only 15 people lost their lives.

You walked through a reconstruction of a cellar room of a house hit by a bomb.

3 images from DeAnna:

How to Swaddle a Baby

There was a carved wooden item that caught my curiosity.

It was about 5 by 24 inches, with, a curved claw like a back scratcher. I was told it was used to flatten out sheets or bedspreads.

The pièces de résistance was what the guide called, their dry-aquarium in the basement. It covered the entire wall.

It had buttons, each with a different fish name (in Norsk) and when you pressed the button, the eyes on that fish would light up.

Walking back to the ship, we saw interesting manhole covers...

 ...murals...

...and a future art projects:

Fridthjov Anderssen, Composer

Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway

That night they bused us to the Bodø Cathedral for a concert. The original church was destroyed during World War II.

This basilica was built in 1956 in the Gothic style. A standing bell tower is very unusual in Norway.

It has a 40 foot stained glass window.

Home to one of the country's largest organ with 5,200 pipes. 

Cathedral Door Handle

I was thrilled that they opened the concert with one of my favorites, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the quintessential Halloween music.

There was a girls choir singing Norsk folksongs, dressed in traditional attire.

 The different colors represent the different regions.

 One girl was dressed in Sami attire, and two in Swedish.

Bergen, Norway – 06 JUN 2016

Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway; we took a walking tour of the historic wharf district, Bryggen.

In 1979, it was declared a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World Cultural Heritage Site.

It was part of the Hanseatic League's trading empire from the 14^th to the mid-16^th century. You can see the history of their manhole covers.

Toilet Paper Ad

Founded in 1070 AD, Bergen has an excellent ice-free harbor sheltered from the North Sea by a chain of islands and is surrounded by mountains, being called "The city between the seven mountains."

By the end of the fourteenth century, Bergen was the center of trade for all of Norway. It's major export being dried cod. Today it is know as the "Gateway to the Fjords."

Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen considered to be the founder of modern Norwegian literature.

McDonald's is located in a building dated 1710, looking elegant on the outside but typical tacky plastic décor on the inside.

While Starbucks gets an interesting brick building.

This building must have an interesting history, it has the Hamburg and Bermen coat of arms with the dates: 1480, 1712 and 1912.

The 700 year old Fish Market (Torget) offers a variety of products besides fresh seafood.

This one looks like you can get sausage made from moose, dolphin, elk or reindeer.

There were 12 churches and three monasteries built in Bergen during the 12^th century; St Mary's Church is the only one remaining. 

Having been taken over by the German population in 1408, it has the familiar rooster wind vanes.

In the ninth century, Pope Nicholas decreed that a rooster would be displayed from every church steeple as a weather vane. They were to remind people of Peter's three denials of Christ before the cock crowed.

Bergenhus Fortress is one of the oldest, best preserved castles in Norway

 

To see a wide angel view of the wharf, use this link:Bryggen

If you look Carefully on my image, you can see where they are doing some construction and have hung a trap that looks like the outside of two of the buildings. 

 

 TW waves good bye, as we sailed away.

Moments later we saw a lighthouse.