17 Sept Glasgow to Bergen

We are now in Norway and it is so hard to remember back to this morning! But I did wake up feeling much less 'peelywaly', as Marion would say, and so was able to enjoy some yummy bacon. The others, including Dad, and grandchildren Ruth and Scott (Dad Donald was in London, and Mum Helen who is a doctor was on duty early), also enjoyed eggs and sausages. I thought that might be pushing things a bit.

We enjoyed an unhurried time together and left for the airport about 10.30am. The goodbyes are not so easy...Peter and Marion have been so kind to us and keep apologising for the unexpected things that happened this weekend, but really, the Kevin episode was hilarious and will stay in our memories forever. It was more a stressful time for them and we were glad to be able to help encourage them through it.

Our plane from Glasgow was delayed but that didn't matter as we had a couple of hours layover at Heathrow. But then the Bergen flight was also delayed so we didn't leave until nearly an hour after we were supposed to, and I think our cases must have been waiting in their luggage containers in the rain for hours- one side of these is just tarp, so the top of my case is wet. Not wet inside thankfully. We were thankful to get off the ground as the visibility was very poor...good ol' London Town.

While we were waiting, Dad found a friend to hold his hand, so we felt quite secure.

Both flights were British Airways and again we had more legroom. It was pretty exciting seeing the coast of Norway. We waved to Odd as we passed near Stavanger, and were amazed at the multitude of islands near Bergen (The parents of our hostess, Mari, live on one of them, and it's accessible only by ferry).

      

    

We were out of the plane and through Customs very quickly, and as we walked outside there was a bus with a helpful man there asking if he could help us. Yes, this is your bus; please just pay the driver. So parting with 200 of the 1800 kroner we had bought at Heathrow, we took our seats near the front of the bus and enjoyed a smooth ride, through several tunnels, into the centre ('sentrum') of town. 

From there, it was a fairly short walk up to Mari's BnB, and she gave us a warm, friendly welcome. Turns out that she did part of her nursing training in Brisbane, and travelled Australia while there! Tomorrow, it's an early start as we're walking to the boat terminal, with Mari and her 3 year old guiding us - we have to be there by 7:45am.