Grumpy Kathy

Bergen is a pretty city. Very photogenic – though the extremes of light and shade make it difficult to take good photos.

It’s just hard to get around. Grumpy Kathy is coming to the fore! Having just come from Oslo with an excellent map of the city provided to tourists – clear street labels (on map and ground), public transport routes and stops marked. Easy.

Bergen on the other hand provides a map that needs to be a larger scale. Street labels so small and fine-lettered that they are almost impossible to read even with the good glasses, and the map is a jumble of numbers and letters to direct you to points of interest (But you can’t actually read the names of the streets they are on!)

I visited the woods and parks on top of the adjacent mountain. No map available beyond the playground and BBQs, but there were signs to the lake. We’re encouraged to walk. Other signs too, to hiking destinations – but where are they? Is it possible to do a round trip walk to the lake and back to the cafe etc? I started out but got too worried I’d end up miles away. Retreat was the only option.

I hung about waiting for the Activity Centre to open. Perhaps they would have maps? Looking at the one on the counter there it seems I could have done a loop via the lake. Most dissatisfying. Why not signs? Map display?

So I’ll walk back down through the nice forest and look at the nice views and take more photos of white timber houses with orange roofs and hope for less (and fewer) cross-making day’s to come.

That’s if I can find the recommended bus stop for the airport bus tomorrow – the map is not clear! Buses are supposed to go every 15 minutes, but at my nearest stop it only goes once an hour. I check the website. The stops (with times etc) are listed by name – but no indication exactly where each is compared with the stops on the map. Sigh!