I Won't Quote: norway

Tallinn Music Week

, by Signe

The next few days were occupied by the music festival that I have already briefly mentioned, but I will try to, one day, get more energy and mindfulness to write about those on Nordiksimit. I hope. I am sorry.

I am trying to finish this trip recap though so I will be focusing mostly on what I did do alone when I was not busy with delegate business.

Going through the pictures I am impressed how I do not need any edits. They just look so nice already.

On both days of the festival they had pretty cool panels, and some of them were even in English. I attended one that was about Norwegian success in oversees market, and one about promotion and building a fanbase.

I love walking. Especially when places around me just look... amazing. I am still feeling weirdly honoured having seen all these streets and glimpses into people's backyards and homes.

These panels were held usually around 12 so that is when I got myself ready and went to the city center. After that I would usually have a couple of hours to do some other, more touristy stuff and have food, before heading to the concerts that started at around 5 pm.

I am glad to have seen the gigs, I really am. And visiting one of th clubs that has been fascinating me for a long time - klub Kok. A big shoutout to my friend from NMG who was there at the door and had a little chat with me. It was bizarre.

Classic.

Anyway, on this particular day I wanted to see some more museums or something - I was actually kind of tired from running around, yet wanted to see what there was and what people liked. I have to say that even if I was disappointed by a few things during my trip, I do not regret going anywhere.

A lot of troll-themed art. And now just any normal graffiti.

It is pretty awesome to think back and say like "oh yeah I was there". Also as Bryggen is sinking and they are doing their best to save the place and renovate it, I am glad I was able to visit a lot of those places that may actually be closed for a while (told by the airbnb host).

Hanseatic museum had realllly beautiful vibes thanks to shining sun. It was also quiet inside and really made me feel like I was in some middle age old seaside town.

Looking back at these pictures I am surprised I felt disappointed at the time.

Very cinematic and organic.

So on this day I went to see the Hanseatic museum at Bryggen. Honestly I was... not impressed. It was beautiful, yes, but as Estonia's towns were part of the Hansa towns, it was not mindblowing or new for me. It still had some interesting things there - like old colourful decorations on the walls - some made after descriptions, some originals. As I was alone, I took my time to read the explanations on the walls and next to pictures, furniture or items. This is one part that I really like about going to museums when I don't have company with me. So travelling alone, doing touristy or sightseeing things are nice - both when you are with friends and when you are without. It is different, but still nice. You just have to make it enjoyable for yourself.

I used to take a lot of comfort in travelling with someone else.

Would not be a proper Bergen post if I did not add a picture of the view of mountains.

When me and Aylin went to Oslo that very first time, I am ashamed to say, that I did not even try to pay attention to places we went. I mean as in which streets and transport we took. I feel like I was just tagging along and having someone do all the work for me.

Yes, I am bad in getting around myself. I get lost more often than not even if I have a map, google maps or gps. But there is also something beautiful in it. If you have time, and you want to be somewhere, you will find your way and maybe discover some new, amazing and interesting places. It all depends on how you think about it. And it is important trying not to get frustrated or annoyed.

Anyway, the evening was busy, running from place to place to see all that I wanted to see. Missed one of the concert because there were too many people, made it home by 1 am.

Perfect to capture my mood and airbnb host's style.

It was difficult for me. I was both happy, sad, depressed, hopeful... but I was better.

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, by Signe

In Bergen, friends

True colours

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, by Signe

In Bergen, Fløyen

Hip hop is dangerous

So the day three rolled around.

The most beautiful days. Breathtaking. Never enough of the nature. I want to have another trip so bad and only for hiking. I loved it,

We decided to go to the aquarium, because I have only once been to that kind of place, in Kiel, but no more. Also my friend got me as soon as she mentioned penguins, I was sold. In addition to this, there were also sea lions and we saw their show...

Again we decided to walk to town, and on the way found this legendary spot as well.

If you know anything about Bergen hip hop scene you know this place.

Apparently even with google maps it is more than possible to get lost, but who would mind that, if the weather is absolutelt gorgeous and the views breathtaking.

I think it was great time to see the aquarium, as there were not too many people around. It was Monday, if I remember correctly. (Also a tip - aquarium entrance fee is less on weekdays and more on weekends).

I had also never seen any penguins. They are adorable.

Bryggen from across the water. One thing I am really impressed with is that some of the houses were under construction. And instead of covering them with some pastic and whatever staging they use for aid, it was covered in some material that had the house printed on it so it would not ruin the view?! HOW AMAZING IS THIS. And it was not only at Bryggen, it was also the case with other tourist places that were currently being renovated??? Norway, heck yes, you have gotten this so right! THANK YOU.

Hello from the other side.

After that we walked around some more and finally headed to town center because we were doing the smart think of deciding to have some lunch instead of running on too little energy and getting grumpy. There was a fish market nect to Bryggen and we got some fantastic salmon burgers. I do not eat meat but I do sometimes like fish, that's also why I don't usually say I am vegetarian; only when someone starts ranting about meat. I eat what I eat and I don't want to label this stuff. I normally just say I don't eat meat at the moment because of health reasons,

After that it was given that we should hike up Fløyen, I had been wanting to go there forever. We dropped by the tourist center to get the map and check/ask the best way to do this and off we were.

It had not been that warm in the morning but by the time we were half way up I was really dying. Probably the 7/11 coffee I had gotten did not help as well. It was honestly quite fun though, climing up. Well, climbing part comes on my second to last day, this was just walking up the mountain.

Half-way-up enjoying the sun, Who wouldn't want to live in one of those white houses there???

Nevertheless, it was the highest place I had been to that point, or walked to. As Estonia is such a flat country, all the hills and ups and downs took a toll on my body (but helped me to grow my stamina sooo much I still feel, after a month of being back, that I am fitter than ever before).

Told someone I am meeting my ancestors.

Also - remark to Dilan: I finally looked it up, Fløyen is 340 meters high. A huge difference between this and Estonia's highest "mountain".

We were just sitting there, me having my ultimate favourite baked good and Dilan a cinnamon roll. Hung out with some trolls, took pics, saw some goats, helped other tourists to take pictures and that's about it. I fell in love with this place so much that there were actually 2 more times I went up.

My emotions can be described as !!!!!!!!!!!!! and !!!!!!!!??!??!?!!!1.

Here you see the Estonia's highest mountain. Not the land covered with the trees. Oh no. The tower. Man-built tower.

THE ULTIMATE PASTRY, SKOLEBRØD. I dream about those.

After that we were pretty tired and decided tooo drop by Kafe Spesial our airbnb host recommended us for pizza. We were still quite full from the lunch so we just had a beer. I went wild and decided to try Norwegian extra dark one - it was absolutely delicious. Still surprised about myself.

We took the electric train down from the mountain because it was a must. A beautiful view. And also, they removed the floral decorations the next day, so please enjoy my good photo.

The hike really wore us out and soon enough we headed back home, having walked literally 29 kilometers by the time we got there (this was a lot. But all of my days after that were probably around 40 so... a marathon a day keeps... something... away).

We watched Charlie and the Chocolate factory and some more Lilyhammer. It was a good day. 10/10 would repeat 10 x 10 times again.

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, by Signe

In Bergen, culture

Sunniest town in Norway

I have to say that up until 2 days before leaving Bergen, the title rainiest town would have sounded a complete lie to me. The time I got to spend with Dilan, we were presented with the most amazing summer weather. I honestly think it was even warmer than it had been all summer in Estonia.

Really summery feel. Blue sky, water, mountains... I may be in love.

Our first day was kind of really chill but kind of really busy. Bergen hosted the World Cycling Championships so the town was crowded. It was actually quite amazing to see how many people and supporters there were - I imagine 17th of May may (haha see what I did there) look like this: everyone had Norwegian flags, patterned clothes or just had coloured their faces.

Our awesome walk to town.

I really wanted to see Bryggen, so we took quite a long detour to make it there as some roads were closed. They did let people cross when it was safe, though. There were so many cameras and radio and TV people and also even helicopters. I feel like literally every single cafe/restaurant/bar had live footage playing on TV. We did stop to cheer several times, it was just kind of addicting. And made sense.

Final race of the day.

Bryggen was awesome. As one of world heritage towns, Bergen does have such a strong culture and some unique and fantastic places. We took pictures and stopped by Gunvorr store (support local!) and just hung out there for a bit.

Maybe even too sunny... You can clearly see my struggle with keeping my eyes open.

Lost count how many times I walked back to Bryggen.

Look at the muscles she has from taking my pictures all day every day.

Our next stop was KODE museums. There are 4 of them (3 open right now) and if you get a ticket to one, you can actually visit all of them. Also, the ticket is valid for 2 days actually, so you don't even need to hurry.

Very much of a classic.

I am a museum/art gallery person. I really like these kind of culture trips and it was really nice. I wish I still had my ability to make puns out of everything but somehow I have lost my touch. I should really re-read the book "The Pun Also Rises" my friend gave me... Anyway.

Dilan really liked the park in the town center so we had several stops there in order just to sit, rest, have a snack and talk. It was sunny and warm (I could not get over it). We even answered to some people's inquiry regarding our trip, which was pretty fun (not the part where they asked us "how much is your estimated spending on food gonna be").

As we finished in the last KODE museum building, we were desperately hungry and could not focus on anything. I had been craving for pizza since the marathon and hadn't had it yet, so we looked up pizza places. We would have liked to have gone to Kafe Spesial but as the town was too crowded and this was on the street where part of the race happened as well, we decided to pick other one for the day.

We went to Mollaren, which was really adorable, too. It did not look anything special, but it was sweet. The server was really nice and accommodating, and they also showed the race on TV. It was the last 40 km or so. There were a lot of Norwegians around, having a couple of beers and cheering for Norwegian racer. Honestly it was so fun to see them actually bang on the tables and yell. Kind of like in American movies they do with football.

Right outside the pizza place, which I honestly recommend!

We had awesome pizza, then got ice cream from the store and headed back to the flat. It was a long (yet amazingly nice) walk and we were still quite tired.

Airbnb host had told us to feel free and use Netflix so we started watching Hotel Transilvania and Lilyhammer, I think it fit perfectly.