We Disembark in Bergen and Check In at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel

We had to leave the ship at 9 a.m. but couldn't check in to the hotel until 3 p.m.

Fortunately, the hotel allowed us to drop off our luggage, at which point we had to kill time as best we could. Unfortunately, it was raining virtually all day.

Kindly, Viking had reserved and paid for a taxi to take us the 1/3 mile to the hotel. We hadn’t asked for that, and I don’t know how they knew that was our plan, since I had booked it on my own. The taxi was a Toyota EV similar in shape and size to a RAV4. I continue to be impressed at how many other manufacturers jumped into making EVs for Europe but not yet the U.S., inspired by the quick success in Norway of the Tesla Model S in the late-2010s. The other Tesla models are more numerous now than the Model S, and they’re everywhere. But equally popular are the Mustang Mach-E and EVs from Mercedes, Volvo. Audi, Toyota and other brands.

The hotel umbrellas were all lent out, so they pointed me to a store across the street where I could purchase either a compact umbrella for 120 Norwegian kroner or a full-size umbrella for 160. I went for the full-size one thinking it would be better suited to cover both Rita and me. We learned that it rains about 250 days per year in Bergen. As the porter who helped us with our bags at the pier (a born & bred Bergen resident) said, “Bergen is God’s favorite city, so he wants to wash it constantly!”

I was glad to have the rain hat I had purposed on a whim at Eidfjord’s Norwegian Nature Center, which, combined with my World Cruise jacket, was all I needed to keep reasonably dry, and I let Rita have the umbrella to herself. Here’s a picture of me in that hat, which I put on just for the picture:

The picture was taken by Rita as we enjoyed lunch at Madam Felle’s restaurant/bar adjacent to the hotel, waiting until just before 2 p.m. since we were told that a room might be available before the 3 p.m. check-in time. More about that later. Now back to what we did before lunch, but first, here’s the picture I took of Rita at the same table with another view of the sidewalk outside. You can see umbrellas in both pictures.

My first time-killing idea was to buy tickets for Bergen’s version of the ubiquitous Hop on-Hop off bus for its one-hour circuit of Bergen. We didn’t hop off until it returned to the starting point a few blocks from the hotel. From there we walked over to the nearby fish market and enjoyed looking at all the fresh fish and other products for sale. We bought a four-pack of caviar for about $45, and I bought a serving of salmon chowder to go, which I consumed back in the lobby of the hotel. It was delicious! Still needing to kill time, that’s when we walked back to the above restaurant/bar, where Rita enjoyed a veggie quesadilla with red wine, and I enjoyed an amazing BLT with white wine, with coffee and Bailey’s for dessert. We’re going to return to this restaurant, since we’re here for three nights.

I say “nights” instead of “days” because tomorrow and Wednesday are both all-day excursions taking us out of Bergen. You’ll have to wait until those blogs — I won’t preview them here.

We were checked in at 2 p.m. for a “standard” room which was terrible. It was on the top floor and whoever slept on the far side of the bed was bound to collide with the sloped ceiling in the middle of the night. Also, there was no closet! I called the front deck to complain, and I was upgraded to a much better room on a lower floor which also had a closet. We can live with this room, although it’s not as nice as the ship’s stateroom.

After unpacking, we decided to skip dinner (except for some snacks we had in our bags) and go to bed early. I was up until 2 a.m. last night writing and submitting a cash offer on a Golden home for a Denver client, and we have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to catch our 8 a.m. ferry to Flam.

Good night!