We had purchased a Bergen card the previous day and it was still valid. A Bergen card allows you into a certain number of museums and attractions for free or for a reduced fee. The University Museum of Bergen has 2 museums, but only one was open this month. It is the cultural history museum. There were exhibits from the Stone Age which included stone weapons for fishing or fighting. Next we went to the church art exhibit which had preserved stave church doors and planks. Stave churches were built from the 11th to 13th century with upright planks or staves. There was a model of a whale that had washed up on the coast and died. When the scientists examined it, its stomach was full of plastic bags. The whale had swallowed the plastic thinking it was fish and they wanted people to recognize the environmental impact of plastic. Upstairs, we found exhibits of traditional Norwegian culture such as wooden shoes construction, weaving, and music. The final exhibit was on the life of Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. There were theater models and costumes.
After we left that museum, we headed back to the city center to see Håkon's Hall. It was first built by King Håkon Håkonsson between 1247 - 1261. Over the years, it had started to fall into disrepair and It was restored in the 1880's. Unfortunately, during WWII, there was roof damage and it was restored once again. The Great of Hall is 108 feet long by 42 feet wide and 55 feet high. At the front, you can see the Royal high table for banquets.
Since we still had time before our shuttle bus to the boat, we visited the art museums again. There are 4 art museums in Bergen, but we only went visited 2 the previous day. This one contained Cubism paintings from Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and Surrealism art from Paul Klee and Diego Rivera. Up the stairs, we found Op Art. The last museum contained Bergen art from 1400 to 1900 and International Modern art. We walked back to the hotel so we could catch the shuttle bus to the boat to begin our ocean adventure.
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