day 08 – 10.07.09

Posted: July 12th, 2009 | Author: Gergana Milusheva | Filed under: fun, trips and notes | No Comments »

we depart from the hotel to a secret place (I will let you know in a while)

and we pass by the ice skating rink again:

from up close, the facility looks terrible :), I don’t even want to post these pictures… for some 15 years (the Olympics were in 1994, if I am not mistaken) the building has been amortized tremendously…

still, they build other sports facilities such as this stadium

we reach the banks of the lake, we park happy to find a free public parking (which is truly rare) and off we go along the waterfront alley towards our destination; the houses around the alley have fenced… the first ones I have seen here

it is drizzling all the time but the people we pass by don’t seem to notice; it seems Bergen is not the rainiest city; there were renovation works going on in some of the houses and I did not miss the chance to get informed

we reach it after walking for about a kilometer or so

this lass stands by the entrance

and sends us to the “barn” at the back where we can buy tickets (I am not kidding – she used the word “barn”); so we go to the barn in question:

which turns out to be a museum… by Sverre Fehn

let’s take a short detour here:

Sverre Fehn died in February this same year

he got the Pritzker in 1997

the place where we are now is, actually, called Hedmark Cathedral Museum and it was built in 1979

and the museum personnel is dressed accordingly

the stone walls look strange

there are more surprises waiting inside in the shape of massive concrete platforms and second levels

we wonder around the museum and notice some quite interesting exhibits such as these sleighs

or the saddles for ladies

the wooden roof is supported by strange stands next to the walls in some places

another gallery

a random view through the vault arch

and this is in 1979…

we get to this at the end of the gallery

it is time to go outside because it has almost stopped drizzling; to the inner yard of the barn

the barn itself

besides the ancient rocks, you can see these in the yard as well

we go back to the glass house

and there is already another girl inside

after the young people that the girl was paying attention to left, she started singing.

unfortunately, I cannot re-create this in pictures

was she really singing beautifully or were the acoustics of this glass ceiling incredible… I don’t know but the feeling was amazing.

and she turned out to be quite talkative after she stopped singing

besides the memorized historic facts about the place which she seemed obliged to tell us (FYI: this thing is a Catholic cathedral from the 13th century which was destroyed by the Swedes 2 centuries later, abandoned after the acceptance of Protestantism and then forgotten for the past 4 centuries until recently), we managed to wring out another fun story from her:

after they did the excavation of the cathedral’s remains, it turned out that the stones got destroyed by the humidity; the museum was already built at that point; so they organized a competition for a facility that would protect it; they chose the winner; the locals, of course, opposed the modern glass building; but the competition had its winner; and nothing happened; for over 10 years the authorities kept putting off the construction works; a local lady, married to a rich American and living in the US, left the municipality the nice amount of 1 million dollars for the construction of the building under 1 condition – to use them within 4 years; so they had no choice; the construction works turned out to take 10 million dollars; the locals kept opposing the project.

now, 10 years later, the building is a regular spot for concerts (because of the amazing acoustics and the fact that during the winter, the building is constantly being heated to at least 2 or 3 degrees above zero), weddings, baptism ceremonies and all kinds of social events; the people in the region really love it…

the unique acoustics inside are a side-effect, it was neither intended, nor expected…

the supporting frames have a heating system attached to their back instead of lighting

a few details

one last glance

and we head for Stockholm

soon, the landscape is one of an absolutely flat country

the arable fertile lands are in Sweden

the roads, however, are not that different here and we are as fast as a snail… the speed limit for the highway which appears as we approach Stockholm is 110; everybody drives within it (?!?!!!); there is no police or patrols.

after about 600 boring kilometers, we get to Stockholm

10 hotels – all of them full! and expensive…

as if by accident we find an available room in one of them and even smoking is allowed! (in contrast to Norway where all hotels have rooms for smokers and there are ash trays on the terraces of the bungalows, Sweden is a member of the EU and things are not quite the same…)

it turns out our hotel is quite special anyway but I will tell you about that tomorrow 🙂

coming up next – day 09 – 11.07.09

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