Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and my chance to see a bit of the west coast. The Montana hostel there has stunning views over the city from its location on Mount Ulriken.
I encountered a senior hosteller there who looked in his 60s or 70s but fit as a fiddle. He was the oldest person I'd seen in a hostel so far and it planted the idea in my mind that age need not be a barrier to backpacking.
In the evening I joined a group of hostellers to await the sunset over the harbour.
And this is what we eventually were privileged to see.
Only an afterglow left.
The next day I explored the harbour which dates from the 11th century.
Grieg was born in Bergen and his home Trouldhaugen is a museum. Unfortunately it's some ways out of Bergen, so I had to leave it for another year, perhaps.
This fountain is in a lake near Byparken.
On the way to Hamburg, I stopped over in Bremen because of the Grimm Brothers folk tale of the Town Musicians of Bremen. The city has a statue depicting the four animals. Although, in the story the animals never arrive in Bremen, but take over the house of the thieves and live happily ever after, free from the cruelty of humans.
Evidently I also took a walk down the main shopping street.
In Hamburg the youth hostel had a view of the harbour. I didn't explore Hamburg at all because the guidebook didn't mention much culture there—it being a city of commerce, and its entertainment district had a seedy reputation. This is unfair to Hamburg; I'm sure it's pleasant enough but it was competing against cities like Vienna and Munich. Perhaps I should give it another chance. In the event I spent the evening playing chess on a floor chessboard with a couple of Irish girls.
A short post as I had only a short stopover in La Rochelle on my way to Paris. I had decided to forgo Bordeaux and took a train north along the Atlantic coast, headed for Paris. So these are the only two pictures I have of this town. First the small harbour. with the defensive towers at the mouth in the distance. It's quite marvelous that now with Internet access to maps I can pinpoint where I took this photo, and see that I must have done a short walk from the railway station to get there.
The railway station of La Rochelle. From the station clock, I had only a few more hours of the afternoon to reach my destination.
The Atlantic coast of France is another region I have not given enough attention to.
