Tag: bergen

On that earlier post

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And by that earlier post, I mean this one. It was only when I sent the concert information to Mrs 6000, who is was looking forward to our Bergen trip , that she put two and two together and worked out that the concert in question was to be staged outdoors.

Perhaps it was this bit that did it:

Remember that you should at outdoor concert! Dress practical and according to weather conditions. Check the weather forecast! Wear comfortable shoes, there are long standing. Do not forget that the concert will take place in Bergen and dress accordingly. If there is a chance of rain, bring a raincoat, then the umbrella is not allowed in the concert area.

Google translate with the assistance there. I can see we’re going to be playing with that a lot while we’re away: Min norsk er forferdelig. My English isn’t much better.

But that line about “dress accordingly for Bergen”? Well, that would be because of this sort of stat:

Compared with Sweden and Finland, Norway has a much more humid and rainy climate. It is impressive to note that the precipitation in some areas of the country may reach the impressive 3000 mm per year, which is one of the largest quantities in Europe.

Here you can find the city of Bergen, which is considered to be the rainiest city on the continent.

Oh joy. Tell me more, Wikipedia:

Bergen experiences plentiful rainfall in all seasons, with annual precipitation measuring 2,250 mm (89 in) on average.

Cape Town’s annual average is about 450mm. Exactly one fifth as much.

It’s still a way off to the concert (in weather forecasting terms), but I can tell you that the weather in the lead up to the main event looks somewhere between utterly dismal and bloody awful. It’s cold, it’s wet and it’s windy. Add the wind chill and the temperatures are remarkably stable at 1ºC. Having grown up in Yorkshire, I am untroubled by this sort of thing. Having grown up in Cape Town, Mrs 6000 is less keen on the whole “chilly weather” thing.

The Norwegian for “divorce lawyer” is “skilsmisse advokat”.

Konsertinformasjon

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Oooh.

a-ha topp2

Incoming:

Konsertinformasjon a-ha lørdag 7. mai

Når a-ha sin legger turnéavslutningen til Bergen lørdag 7. mai vil konserten reflektere bandets fantastiske karriere med et bredt utvalg a-ha sine største og viktigste låter. Og de er det mange av: a-ha-katalogen er spekket med gull fra de tidlige årene med «Hunting High and Low» og «Scoundrel Days» og frem til nyere tid hvor plater som «Analogue» og «Foot of the Mountain» har sementert deres status som vårt viktigste og største band noensinne.

Bergenskonserten blir trolig en siste sjanse til oppleve a-ha på en scene i 2016. Vi gleder oss til å ta i mot Morten, Magne og Pål i Bergen lørdag 7. mai, og gi bandet en verdig avslutning på “Cast in Steel”-turnéen.

Tider: Portene åpner kl 19:30. Support dePresno kl 20:45. a-ha på scenen kl 22:15. Slutt kl 24:00.

That all looks good, although I’ll make my own decisions about what I want to do at midnight, thank you very much.

 

Is this… is this really going to happen?

Support

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Given my history with attending a-ha concerts in Norway (or rather not attending a-ha concerts in Norway), each time something pops up in my email regarding the Bergen gig, I get slightly panicky. There has been much time, effort, money and emotion invested in our upcoming trip. Plans must not go astray. And, to be honest, there’s no reason why they should.

Here is one of those missives, via a-ha.com and their Facebook page. But it’s news news, rather than bad news.

The first support act for the evening – I say “first”, because there will be more:

We will make a proper party in Bergen. We are working to put in place an international “mystery” entertainers that people have heard about.

Anyway, the first support act for the evening has been announced. And he are dePresno.

No. Me neither.

depresno

Apparently, he is/was a finalist in a Norwegian singing show, which seems akin to Idols or The Voice. It’s called Urørt which means “Untouched”. He looks like a cross between Ed Sheeran and Thom Yorke here, although there’s also elements of Alfred E. Neuman from MAD magazine and a hint of Ron Weasley in other photos. Right, I’m all out of ginger comparisons now.
And while the music coming out of those shows might not be quite my cup of tea, there’s obviously talent there.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229715260″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Ugh. Bit R&B, ne?

Says dePresno, via Google Translate:

Both me and the band is insanely excited and very honored to have the opportunity to warm up for A-ha! It will be an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to people ocean and A-ha concert! It gets insanely fat!

People oceans and the prospect of certifiable obesity are two of the main reasons I wanted to go into the music business, so I’m right with him there.

A couple of points here. Norwegian for support act is “varmer-opp”. This pleases me.

Also, no-one goes to concerts to just see the support act. Believe me, it won’t be the end of my world if he’s a bit shit. That said, please note my comments on Chris de Burgh last weekend. Live music is live music. It’s an experience, no matter whether it’s your cup of tea or not. I will enjoy that experience.

And what comes immediately after…

Tight timetable

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Despite being the second city of Norway, Bergen is actually pretty small. But it seems like there are still loads of things to do there. The thing is, you might not have ever so much time. We don’t, so I was delighted to find a blog post entitled:

Explore Bergen In 1 Day – The Complete Guide

Thing is, I’m now just a bit unsure exactly how long 1 Bergen day is. Because the blogger in question managed to fit: 1 funicular ride to a scenic viewpoint, 1 historical UNESCO heritage site, a market, an aquarium, a castle, 4 museums and 2 hours of shopping into his one day in Bergen.

Blimey.

I can’t imagine that Parichay Mehta (for it is he) saw any of these places in great detail. Allowing for a reasonable amount of travel time between them, we’re looking at about half an hour per visit. Still, it has at least given us a bit of a heads up as to what’s on offer, given that we have… wait for it… a whole 1 AND A HALF days in Bergen.
Which of course means 45 minutes per attraction. And given that tourism is very much our secondary reason for visiting, that seems more than reasonable.

Oh, and we’re going to do one of these as well, because you don’t go to Bergen and not do The Sognefjord (apparently). Cannot wait.

(Obviously, when we go, I’ll do a more sensible ‘Bergen in a limited amount of time’ post.)

Good advice

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Last night, I was booking some stuff for our (brief) stay in Bergen in May. This line was in the confirmation email (but not, as you will note, the final confirmation email) they sent back to me:

Please note that regional trains and the Hurtigruten can be fully booked, especially in high season and weekends. We therefore recommend you to not make any further reservations before you have received the final confirmation e-mail.

That’s very good advice. Everyone knows about the problems regarding the regional trains, but people nearly always overlook the fact that the Hurtigruten can be fully booked.

I, for one, had never even considered a fully booked Hurtigruten.

Rookie error.