BERGEN, NORWAY

                                 Delightful Bergen

          Bergen, established in 1093, is squeezed between mountain ranges and bounded by water. Bergen means meadow between the mountains. The city center is between the harbor and the railroad station. The capital of Norway in the 13^th century, it was the country’s largest city for the next 600 years. The main square is called Torgalmenningen. In the Middle Ages the Bryggen waterfront became a thriving center of international trade. Because of its harbor and commercial importance it was a vital link in the Hanseatic League, a tradesman organization. The parallel rows of colorful buildings with their seaward-facing gables are characteristic of a building tradition 900 years old. The old wooden buildings along the waterfront are a UNESCO site.

             Norway’s oldest city is a city that has seen a dramatic change of life in the past century as it has evolved from an area of small farms and fishing villages to a city now dominated by gas and natural oil industries. 

           The northern end of the city, Sandviken, is filled with warehouses. Cobbled streets, medieval houses, numerous cafés, colonnaded shops, and an open-air fish market add charm to the city center. At Gamle Bergen one can step back into the early 19^th century. Most major attractions are located within walking distance of the Fish Market. 

         The next day we woke to a very heavy mist---there goes my Bergen pictures! This weather also prevented us from riding the funicular as the visibility was zero. Taking advantage of the weather, in the morning we rode out of town a bit to the Royal Residence, a castle-like structure on lovely park-like grounds. The grounds keep one full time and a couple of part time gardeners busy. 

         The residence was built in 1900 by the Prime Minister. When he died he willed it to the Royal Family to stay in when they visit the city. It was a short uphill walk to the grey stucco residence.

       En route our local guide told us, “Although Bergen is Norway’s second largest city with 250,000 residents, the city feels like a small town. People have lived and worked here for centuries. Much fish is shipped into the city as Bergen does not have a fishing fleet. This year 234 cruise ships will visit the city in a five month period. The unemployment rate is very low. The Gulf Stream moderates the weather, so the city seldom experiences freezing temperatures and we see very little snow. The old south gate to the city remains. The University of Bergen has   23,000 students. Chimneys must be cleaned every three years by law and many of the chimney sweeps are women. It is supposed to be good luck to touch one.

            The hospital is a major employer with a compliment of 8500 people. It has a state-of-the-art burn center, a large ob-gyn division as well as all other disciplines except for organ transplants, which are done in Oslo."

        Beautiful flower boxes were all over the city.  Local people are fond of saying they are not from Norway, but from Bergen. They are very proud of their city and its history. They also have a distinctive dialect. Bergen is a delightful city---old, picturesque, historic and friendly.

            More about this delightful city next time.

KAPELLBRUKE BRIDGE

               Lucerne's Famous Bridge 
 

         The Reuss River runs through Lucerne, Switzerland’s old town dividing the city into two nearly equal parts. Several foot bridges span the river, but the Kapellbruke Bridge is the most famous. One of Lucerne’s signatures, it also is known as the chapel bridge.  

Built in 1333, the bridge leads to the doorstep of the chapel that was built in 1178. The octagonal tower at one end of the bridge was once a navigational light for the river. Then it was a prison, and finally a water tower.  Now it is available to rent for private parties.

Years ago the bridge was used by rope makers. The covered bridge is long and the rope could be stretched from one end to the other. The bells of the church used to ring at regular intervals so, in the days before all the famous Swiss watch, people in the surrounding areas would all be on the same time.

          The Kapellbruke Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Europe. In 1993 a boat tied up to the bridge caught on fire. The fire spread to the bridge causing major damage. Because the bridge is so symbolic of the city, it was rebuilt. On a second trip to the city I could see that a good two-thirds of the bridge obviously had new timbers and trusses. The 101 triangular paintings depicting Swiss history have been reproduced in photocopy and are in place at each bridge truss. Lovely hanging flower baskets hang outside on both sides of the bridge.

            One morning we walked across the bridge and on the other side we walked through some of the narrow cobbled alleys. We hadn’t gone too far before we saw an elephant walking in the opposite direction. What a surprise that was! We soon learned there   was a circus in town. I managed to get my camera for one quick photo. Continuing on our walk we also saw several street performers.

            We stopped to watch an organ grinder with his little monkey. I hadn’t seen one since I was a little girl. I was so intent on the monkey that I hadn’t seen the mime until my friend nudged me. He was very good, and I had to do a double take to realize he was alive and not a mannequin.

            The famous bridge in the center of the city’s old town is quite a tourist attraction and always fun to revisit. I find it picturesque, enjoy the hanging baskets and admire the paintings under the roof as I pass across the bridge.

CHATEAU RAMEZAY MUSEUM

        Montreal's Jewel of a Museum

I can’t tell you how many churches, castles, old homes and museums I have visited over the years while traveling. I always look for something new or unusual and the Chateau Ramezay Museum in Montreal was a real gem for new discoveries. Here our 45-minute tour with Margaret, a retired British school teacher, married to a French Canadian, continued for over two-hours. What a delight she was! And we learned so much.

She told us, “Claude Ramezay built this chateau in 1705 as a family home. He started out as a soldier in a French regiment, eventually went into furs, then wood, and eventually became governor. At that time the average house was the size of the kitchen in this home. He could not bring his wife and ten children to Montreal to such a small home so he built this chateau.”

The lovely home now would have been magnificent in the early 18^th century! This building was the first in the city to be designated a historical monument. Mrs. Ramezay had 16 pregnancies, but only 10 children lived to adulthood. Three of the four boys died in war or conflicts, and the fourth boy after one such conflict moved to France to live. When Claude died in 1745, the house was sold to a fur trading company. Now the museum is run by a board of directors, not the government. In 1994 it celebrated 100 years as a museum.

In one large room we were told the mahogany paneling and ornate carvings around mirrors and paintings all came from a fur trading company before it was demolished and then installed in the chateau in 1967 for the 100^th anniversary of Confederation.

I had never heard of a butter drier, much less seen one. The copper wall mounted hand washing apparatus was unique and quite decorative. I had seen many tin candle holders, but never knew that they were wind proof and that was the purpose of them.

Candles in colonial days were often quite soft and we saw a clever candle holder that made sense to hold up a soft candle. It prevented potential fire by keeping the candle from falling over.

I was most fascinated with the pocket worn around the waist under a woman’s skirt with the slit in it. Talk about practical! My friend was most intrigued with the barrel that they put a dog in to keep the spit turning over the fire. A doggie treadmill, if you will. We both thought it was for a mouse, but of course, it was much too big. Now that was really clever!  It kept the dog out from underfoot and kept the spit constantly rotating!

It was so obvious that Margaret loved what she was doing. I loved that sparkle in her eye, and without her we would have missed a lot. It was an afternoon well spent!

SOME BASIC RUSSIAN INFO

Russian Info Good to Know

            Our first morning in Russia our guide whet our appetite for a fabulous trip with, “You’ll experience the dynamic city of Moscow and the opulent splendor of imperial St. Petersburg. Cruising between these cities you will discover the unknown Russia where daily life has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Along the canals, waterways, and lakes is a land of ancient monasteries, shimmering forests of silver birch, thriving street markets, and churches filled with the sound of chanting voices.”                          

The country of 147 million people represents 40 nationalities. The Ural Mountains divide the country into two main areas; European Russia, and Siberia. European Russia is the lesser half but houses the majority of the country’s population.

The huge country has plains, mountains, rivers and lakes. The Volga River starts as a spring and runs 2325 miles to the Caspian Sea. The Siberian rivers Ob, Lena, Yenisey, and Angarta are so wide that when standing at the river’s edge one cannot see the opposite side. Lake Baikal is the world’s largest fresh water basin. The water is pure in the world’s deepest lake (5714 feet). The lake has only one outlet, the lower Angarta River, but 336 rivers feed it.

Oil fields lie between the Volga and the Ural Rivers. To the west iron ore is on the edge of Ukraine.

            In Moscow the Russian word tsentr, meaning center, designates the down town area, but throughout the country, tsentr refers to Moscow itself as the center of everything Russian. The sprawling city of Moscow has 2500 historical and architectural monuments, 70 museums, 125 cinemas, 50 theaters, 4500 libraries, and 540 higher education and research institutions.

Stalin built the Moscow subway system in 1932-35. They were to be the best and most beautiful in the world to outshine capitalism. Each station is a museum in itself and each is different. We learned the subway system is closed only four hours a day for cleaning. The wheat design bronze vents change the air in the system three times a day. Some of the system is 350 feet below ground level, and Stalin had an underground command post within the metro system.

The stations were so clean! There was no graffiti and they really were beautiful. The first station we entered was lined with huge bronze statues of fighting men—the protectors. Another station had beautiful crystal chandeliers, and yet another was literally an art museum.

Like all subways systems one must act quickly to get on and off the train. Trains run frequently, are inexpensive and easy to use.

Vodka is the national drink and lots and lots of it is consumed each day.

            Everyone in Russia referred to WW II as the Great Patriotic War.

This was a wonderful and most informative trip. My journal is thick and there are many more stories to come.

TULIPS

              The Netherlands in Springtime

 

            The tulip originally came from Asia and the Mediterranean. The word is said to come from

tuliban, meaning turban. The upside down turban-like flowers were cultivated for centuries in Persia before the first bulb arrived in Europe. The first bulbs sent to Europe were sent to Vienna, and the Crown Imperial tulip takes its name from the imperial gardens of  that city.

            The first tulips were long stemmed red cultivars and were illustrated in 1559. After 14 years at the Viennese Imperial Gardens, botanist, Clusius, moved to Leiden, Netherlands where he founded the first botanic garden (Hortus Academicus) to focus on ornamental plants rather than medicinal ones.

            He developed a private tulip collection from which he sold specimens for outrageous prices. Unwilling to pay the steep price, yet desirous of the plants, local gardeners broke into his gardens one night and stole many specimen tulips. It is from this that the now famous Dutch bulb industry developed.

            Today tulip bulbs are a major Dutch export product. About 93% of all bulbs in the word come from the Netherlands. 2700 growers cultivate 52,000 acres of bulbs, plus more than 23,000 acres of land are dedicated to greenhouse production. The industry employs 20,000 people. However, the average bulb farm is only 20 acres. Over 9 billion bulbs are produced annually, one third of which are tulips. Those three billion tulips, if planted four inches apart, would circle the globe at the equator seven times!

            Tulip mania occurred in the early 1600s. This sprang from the tendency of tulips to be infected with a virus, resulting in odd, yet often attractive colored streaking in the flowers. These broken tulips became prized, sought widely, and worth many guilders (money). This led to widespread trading and speculation until in 1637 when there was a sudden market collapse. Those lovely tulips are depicted in the art of Dutch masters and today tulips with streaking, but without any virus, are called Rembrandt tulips.

            Tulips adapt well to any soil type that is well drained. Tulips require cool spring temperatures to bloom at their best. Between September and December, tulip bulbs are planted in the ground at a depth equal to twice the bulbs' height.

            One must visit The Netherlands in mid springtime to see the absolutely gorgeous displays of tulips growing in fields creating huge pallets of vibrant color.

CORNWALL, ENGLAND

                                    Cornwall in a Nutshell

Although Cornwall is geographically close to the Cotswolds it is a world of its own with spectacular landscapes and stunning rugged coastline. Hedgerows climb the hills defining and dividing the rolling green pastures.

The River Tamar separates Cornwall from the rest of the country making Cornwall almost an island.  The once prosperous tin mining industry is no more, and at the time of my visit, the area was somewhat depressed with rather high unemployment.

 Small quaint fishing villages are found along the rugged coast in sheltered coves. The mild climate is conducive to sunning on the many beaches, and there are many good surfing areas.

         Cottages and churches are made of a grey stone, and English gardens continued to abound adding color. Rhododendrons were in bloom everywhere including growing wild along the side of the roads. We often passed under natural green arches over the roads where the trees and vines on each side had grown over the road and entangled with those on the opposite side. The hedgerow-lined meadows became part of panoramic views as the bushes and flowers along the roads thinned. Wild flowers were bloomed everywhere.

            Our guide told us, “Falmouth is the first port of arrival on the coast. In the 1700s the first ship to arrive with a cargo of tea from China received the highest price. The Cutty Sark won this unofficial race many times. Tea was a highly valued commodity and was kept locked in a wooden tea box. There is a large Celtic influence in Cornwall, and names of Celtic saints are evident. The Cornish language basically has been dead since the 1800s, but now there are organizations trying to revive and keep the language alive. The prefix Tre in a place name means village or field.”

            King Arthur resided in north Cornwall. The area has been the home of writers and artists for decades---Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie are but two writers who lived in Cornwall. George Bernard Shaw wrote The Doctor’s Dilemma  in 1906 while living in the picturesque fishing village of Mevagissey.

Most roads in Cornwall are narrow two-lane ones, with one lane going in each direction. Some roads are no more than a one-car lane and it got real interesting sometimes when our van met a vehicle going in the opposite direction. It is easy to understand that people living in this part of the country would want only a small vehicle. It was not uncommon to have stone walls at the edge of the road which eliminated any pull off—someone had to back up! Every once in awhile we’d find a small village or a thatched roof house, but we saw no tourists, buses, or fast food restaurants.