What to Do When Travel Plans Go Awry

Tip 2: When it rains, grab a poncho and get out there! 

Prior to boarding the ship, I spent three days exploring a very rainy Bergen. While several people had warned me about the weather, I had blithely tucked that information far from my consciousness. Despite the wet, I enjoyed my visit. It is an attractive city with friendly people and lots of intriguing neighbourhoods. A day trip, Norway in a Nutshell, provided a taste of the fjords.

Apart from the rain, there was one glitch—food was scarce. On the Norway in a Nutshell trip, there was nowhere to buy food. I returned to my hotel with a rumbling stomach. That evening, every restaurant hosted a holiday party or was fully booked. My hotel suspended room service. Dinner wasn’t the fresh fish I’d hoped for, but cheese, crackers and yoghurt from a convenience store. C’est la vie! 

As we travelled north, we docked in a series of cities and towns. In Ålesund, I explored its impressive Art Nouveau architecture and postcard perfect fjord in on-and-off rain showers. Despite the weather, the stroll through the city cheered me enormously. The city felt like an amalgam of the past and present, with a view of wild open waters and nearby islands. If the climate was better, I could see living there. But the sun never got very high, instead it made a fast, low sweep across the sky. Still, that arc was enough to provide a rosy glow that set buildings and water sparkling.

Trondheim, Norway’s third largest city, was founded by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997 A.D. The day we visited was blissfully bright, though very short. The tour I took gave me a good sense of the city, including the Nidaros Cathedral, considered the most sacred building in Norway. It was impressive seeing three magnificent organs and hearing stories of the building’s multiple transformations.