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June 04, 2024 - Entry to Bergen
Flying in to Bergen, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve looked at these locations hundreds of times on Google Maps, panning and flying over the 3D models and 2D imagery. Nothing could have prepared me for the descent into Bergen, dropping though impossibly low clouds just hovering over the mountaintops that ring in the coastal town. Houses dot the sides of hilly terrain rising directly up from black water, boats race back and forth between unseen locations, and the airport tarmac is nearly encroached upon by creeping greenery. Visibly wet and misty, the view outside of the rain-streaked airplane viewport looks almost tropical if you weren’t aware of the 50 F weather outside the cabin.
Transferring off the plane, I’m greeted by the stark and wonderfully designed lufthaven, complete with a 100’ tall glass panel wall, the butt glazing held together by spider clips in place of mullions. Grabbing my car rental reservation, I walk outside and head to the parking garage, where it begins to dawn on me that I hadn’t planned for heavy rain for the duration of my stay - I hadn’t even contemplated it as a possibility, as naive as that is. Hopping into the Citroën C4 that will transport me further north along a scenic highway, I pull out of the airport and head into Bergen.
The city is impossibly charming. Even in the pouring rain, I find myself immediately entranced. Checking into my hotel, I drop off my baggage in room 313 and head off into the dense city center to grab something to eat. The structure of this town transforms nearly every angle you look into a scenic vista. Hemmed in by the aforementioned mountains, at every instance I’m met with some view of distance hillside cottages, dense cobbled city streets, and the sounds of gulls and the harbor ringing through the town. I’m staying one block from the brutalist Grieghallen, standing in sharp contrast to the picturesque and brightly painted traditional city stock that surround it. I happen upon the central park and Festplassen, and walk beyond it through several public plazas. Coming to the port, Bergen Havn, I walk dockside through an open air market selling fresh fish, their vendors offering to cook it on the spot. Staring out over the water, I see small cruise boats pulling out of the port, heading out for a scenic tour of the coast even in the chilly wet conditions. The atmosphere is incredibly peaceful, garnished with the perfect amount of bustle.
On my way back to the hotel I stumbled upon a museum exhibition at the Kunsthall adjacent to the central park. The temporary exhibit ‘Indigenous Histories’ features work by the Sámi people alongside other indigenous groups around the world. Inside on display were works demonstrating a wealth of tacit knowledge and values upheld by the Sámi. Exhibits featured sculptures made from reindeer bone, structures imitating the traditional Sámi nomadic tents, and shimmering woven layers of fabric tessellating into a map of the landscape, with each artwork speaking on ideas regarding representation and place-making. There is a strong emphasis on architecture in this gallery, with many of the motifs in the Sámi work focusing on the mobility, impermanence, domesticity, and lack of waste embedded in indigenous attitudes toward building-in and inhabiting a place. Many of the works also tap into ideas of climate change that have always been witnessed, observed, and felt by the Sámi people throughout their history. Perhaps most poignantly, many of the works express awareness for the exploitation and appropriation of Sámi culture, even embedded in choices such as featuring cultural items and purpose-made artworks in a Norwegian art gallery.
Back at my hotel, I try to get some sleep for the first time since leaving Michigan. Tomorrow my travel plans will take me briefly south before resuming my course into the north. I can hear gulls calling outside, and even though it is quite late now, there is a sort of permanent dimly-lit twilight glowing in the sky that accompanies the dark even this far south in Norway.
location: bergen, vestland (NO)
ext air temp: 47 F
int temp: --
relative humidity: --
dew point: --
wet bulb: --
ground temp: n/a