Pictures from Bergen

Looking through my Blog I find that I haven't presented any pictures from Bergen itself for quite a while, so I 'll put that right at once by showing you these typical "tourist-pictures". The first picture shows the two carriages of the "world famous" Fløybanen meeting half-way to the top of Mount Fløyen - one of the seven mountains surrounding Bergen. The second shows the view from the top towards the old harbour called "Vågen", while the third shows the view towards the city center with the small lake called "Lille Lungegårdsvann ("smålungeren" in the local dialect") with a fountain in the middle.

Needless to say I walked both up and down.

A bug

I met this little guy when I was out walking the other day. I don't know if he belongs to the species known as Computer Bug (in that case he would have be one of the larger ones), but he seemed to enjoy the stroll and the weather. Maybe he had just come down from one of the nearby Apple-trees?

Another boathouse

I took more pictures of the area around Hindensfjorden on last Saturday evening. This is a boathouse with reflexes in the calm water at the end of the fjord. BTW; it is taken very close to a couple of other boathouse I have shown you before.

Storset

The farms in Norway have traditionally been small, and especially so along the coast. Many of them are placed in positions where foreigners question the ability of getting a decent outcome. But they survived and they built the country. Today many of these farms are used as summerhouses for the generations following the initial farmers and many of the houses are still kept in full working order.

The two farms shown here in the evening sun are at Storset, not far from Bjørsvik and Ostereidet in the municipallity of Lindås north of Bergen. They are so placed that they without much difficulty can overlook both Osterfjorden and Hindenesfjorden. And some of my more distant family are related to one of them.

Evening over Hindenesfjorden

If you drive along the E39 north of Bergen, you will sooner or later get to Ostereidet. Here you can take small a sideroad going north and get to Hindenesfjorden. If you get there when the sun is going down, you may have a spectecular sight.

Cotoneaster

Yesterday I wrote about our continuing summer. Today's picture indicates that autumn is on its way however you look at it. This cotoneaster grows along the wall of our cottage and the vivid red colour of the berries leaves no doubt about which season we are in.

Still summer in Norway

The summer has been unique in this part of the world, and it keeps going on. At the time of the autumn equinox we are used to 10 degrees and heavy rain. Not so this year. Today we had 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Ouside the local florists I found these flowers basking in the sun.

Haugesund

The western part of Norway ("Vestlandet") is not only Bergen and surrounding area. This picture shows Haugesund in the county of Rogaland, situated to the south of Bergen. It has about 32 000 inhabitants, but covers only 72 square kilometers. It is perhaps best known for hosting the Norwegian International Film Festival.

Newgrange

It has been quiet on this Blog for a while. This is for a very good reason: I have been away. My job brought me to Ireland. Now, this is a Blog called VisualNorway, and one would suppose that the editor kept himself to Norwegian subjects. But since I am also the "owner" of this Blog I have given myself leave to show you this picture from Newgrange. Newgrange is one of the pasage graves in a complex called Brú na Bóinne.

It was originally built, probably as a tomb, about 3200 years B.C. This makes it 500 years older than the Pyramids of Egypt and 1000 years older than Stonehenge in England. It has a very advanced construction. When you go inside the chamber you really feel the centuries, not to say millenia, looking down on you.

It made this Norwegian feel very small.

PS I have a couple of other pictures from Newgrange on my other Blog.

Bees and flowers

In the old song it says:

Let me tell ya 'bout the birds and the bees
And the flowers and the trees
And the moon up above
And a thing called "Love"

I haven't caught all of that in this picture, but at least it has got a bee and several flowers.

Sunflower

At the moment the sun is not what is most in evidence around here. But this sunflower does not seem to mind. A bit shaken after yesterdays heavy rain it nevertheless keeps up its head as if it is saying: "Come again, I can take more than that!"

Ivy (I hope)

There is an old saying that states:"A doctor can bury his failures, but an architect can only recommend the planting of ivy". Here we see two examples: One obviously British (Bowness on Windermere) - the other from my own neighbourhood.

Rowanberries in the sun

My latest picture was of rowanberries drowning in the rain. Just to show you that the sun hasn't given quite up on us, I have now posted a picture of some rowanberries basking in the evening sun - this evening.

Rowanberries

It is the beginning of September and the autumn is fast approaching here in Norway. A sure sign of this is the rowanberries. Very red and very bitter. But a magnificent colour.

A fountain in Byparken, Bergen

I have previously shown several pictures from Lille Lungegårdsvann ("Smålungeren") in Byparken in Bergen without the fountain working (1, 2, 3,). It seems I have forgotten to show it in use. But no more. Here it is as seen on September 1, 2006.