This one shows the ship we were travelling on (extreme right):-

Close up on lake with fountain:-

A road bridge in central Bergen from Mount Fløyen:-

Part of Bergen with sea inlets beyond:-

A distant suspension bridge (photo is fuzzy due to zoom function.) Due to its sovereign wealth fund – a legacy of the oil boom – Norway is festooned with infrastructure like this:-

One of Bergen’s attractions is the Fløibanen funicular railway which ascends from the city centre 320 metres up a mountain, Mount Fløyen.

This is the street that leads up to the lower station:-

At lower station:-

Inside tunnel-

On the ascent:-

The summit terminus leads on to a viewing area where there you get a magnificent vista of Bergen:-

We decided to walk back down the path as it would give us a chance to see parts of Bergen visitors would perhaps not normally encounter.

There were goats near the summit:-

An attration for children it seems:-

On the way into Bergen from where our ship had docked you stroll along Bryggen (the dock.) Originally named Tyskebryggen (the German Dock) and was the site of the first buildings in Bergen. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I assume the one with the painted tarpualin covering it was undergoing refurbishment:-

Several closes run off Bryggen into back streets. These house idosyncratic little shops:-

Note connecting wooden stairway here:-

This building in the back streets has a wodden hoist:-

This stone building marks the end of Bryggen:-

More pictures of the Art Nouveau National Theatre, (aka Den Nationale Scene,) Bergen.

Detail (to right hand side of entrance – mirrored on left hand side.)

Detail:-

Side Tower and Canopy. There is rule of three in the columnar windows so a hint (or a prefiguring) of Art Deco:-

Side of the building (to the rear):-

Side of building:-

Rearmost side of building:-

Back of building:-

Stitched photo of part of building:-

The National Theatre (Den Nationale Scene) is an architectural gem in the Art Nouveau style in Norway’s second city, Bergen, which we visited in September 2017.

From a distance. I didn’t realise it at the time but the statue just to the left of the lamppost is of Henrik Ibsen:-

Upper frontage:-

Entrance canopy (heavily detailed):-

Reverse angle:-

Doors:-

Door. “Billet Kontor” is, I correctly assumed, ticket office. “Video overvåket” is apparently ‘video monitored’:-

Internal door (and pram):-

Central tower with finials:-

I’ve been away again.

A week in Orkney with the good lady, the furthest north either of us have been in Britain.

I have been further north (Stockholm and St Petersburg – or Leningrad, as it was then – since you ask; and the good lady has been to Bergen.)

Orkney was fantastic – lots to see and do. The landscape is a bit odd to a soft southerner. It took us a while to get used to the lack of trees. There are some trees on Orkney – mostly maples and usually in sheltered spots – but the hills are all bare. And you are never far from water.

The weather was all over the place though. Great sunshine for the first two days then it rained for the next two then there was another one of sun before the next saw a driving rain storm catch us on the Brough of Birsay. Still it apparently was dismal for the whole week where we live, so we escaped that.