My group was given a particularly priveleged introduction to Bergen. I felt that we were given the opportunity to perceive more deeply than ordinary tourists. We were given hours of historical and architectural sightseeing, guided not by a regular tour guide but by art historian Professor Per Jonas Nordhagen, who despite his great age walked quickly and orated loudly. We were also talked and walked through the Rasmus Meyer collection and the city's art museum by Chip Sheffield, an American academic and an authority on Norwegian art. And when we visited the home of composer Edvard Grieg, it had been specially arranged for pianist Natalia Baudoin to perform a concert for us. From talking with these people, my ideas about Norway and Norwegian art and music were considerably widened, and I will have much to write about these subjects in future.

My journey to and from Bergen introduced me properly to the vast and majestic landscape of Norway. This is also something I will return to in writing.

Here's a few pictures from the trip: a view of Bergen taken after our ride up on the funicular ("Fløibanen"); the old buildings of Bergen's Bryggen area, on the waterfront (the little man in the photo above comes from there); and finally, a rainbow at Vøringsfossen waterfall, which I photographed while eating lunch on our journey home.