Day 6 - Tuesday, July 26 - In Bergen

 Another rainy and blustery day in Bergen with temperatures only in the 50s. It was so windy this afternoon that my umbrella blew inside-out but fortunately, could be restored.

We left the hotel around 11 for a short bus ride to the ship which is docked just on the other side of the harbor, only 10 minutes walk from the main harbor area. We went through the embarkation procedure, mandatory life-preserver training and then upstairs for a light buffet lunch.

Our room wasn't available until 2pm so we decided to visit the Hanseatic Museum just 10 minutes (supposedly) walk away. Unfortunately, Google Maps was confused and we lost a GPS signal so it took a bit of searching. The main museum building is closed until 2026 during repairs - since the 1700s it has sunk almost 2 feet and there is quite an effort to raise and stabilize the building. We were fortunate to arrive at the current exhibit buildings just as an English-language tour was being given of the history of the Hanseatic traders and the restored buildings that we were in. The Hanseatic League controlled most trade in the Baltics from England, Norway, Belgium and Russia from the 1200s until the 1700s.

The restored wooden trading buildings date back to the 1700s after a fire destroyed in 1702 destroyed the entire city - after that the use of fire was highly restricted to just a few places. In the early 1900s, the city wanted to raze all the old wooden structures for "urban development" but a fire across the bay caused so much damage that the city didn't have the funds for the new development. In 1979, the wooden buildings were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and are now protected.

We came back to the ship and were able to go into our room - this is the exact same room on the same ship that we were on for our Venice to Athens cruise in 2019! We were met by Nick, our cabin attendant, who explained the operation of the room. Virtually all the cabin, dining and other service staff are from developing countries around the world but speak excellent English. Nick is from the Philippines, our waitress at lunch is from India, the woman who seated us for dinner is from Kenya.

Only took one photo today from the window of our cabin - too wet and nasty to take other photos.

View from our window - very cloudy


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