The last stop on our 15-day cruise was Bergen, the second largest city in Norway. Bergen was an important port of the Hanseatic League trading empire. Because most buildings in the city were built of wood, Bergen has burned 16 times, the last in 1955. Each time, until 1955, the city chose to rebuild in the old pattern. The 1955 fire burned nearly the entire city. Afterward, the city proactively worked to make itself more fireproof by adding open spaces in the city, more space between buildings, wider streets, etc. to avoid such a catastrophic fire in the future. Sixty-two of the original wooden structures remain today, most on or near the Bryggen Wharf. The city is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because these buildings are relics of the wooden building style that used to be common in Northern Europe.
It was a cloudy morning, so we took our umbrellas for our walking tour of the city, but we lucked out. There was only one ten-minute downpour and our guide was talking to us under an overhang at the time. She extended her remarks a little bit, the rain stopped, and we moved on.
The Bryggen Wharf–a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After the guided tour, we spent some time walking around by ourselves and enjoyed the city. The architectural style is not what we see in St. Peters. One of the alley shops sold moose leather products. I couldn’t believe how soft and lightweight moose leather is! I lusted after an expensive purse and an expensive carry-all.
McDonald’s is in the cream-colored building on the right. No visible arches.
This is one of the shopping alleys. We were under the overhang on the left during the rain.
These alley buildings are filled with little shops.
A Viking restaurant–complete with giant Viking horns at the door.
Of course, Bergen is on a fjord (it’s Norway!), so there are mountains just behind the shoreline. We took a funicular to the top of one and had some pretty views of the city.
A city view of Bergen from above.
Lunch time for the goats on the mountaintop.
Just as we found the Finnish version of Schroeder in Helsinki (Schroder), we found a form of Soerens in Bergen. The ø changes the pronunciation of the oe to the way so many people in Oostburg and Hingham pronounced my name: Zernz instead of So’-rens. Maybe there’s a similarity between the Old World Dutch and the Old World Norwegian and they were just using the old form of pronunciation. Whatever–it was fun to see Sørensen and fun to be in Bergen.
Soerens, Sørensen–probably the same family line.