Summer Love in Bergen Norway

Foreword One summer an opportunity appeared that could not be taken lightly. After a springtime filled with the kind of revelations and family obligations along tragedies that one could never forget, a chance to travel to Europe, to Norway in fact, with a place to live and a hostel full of people from all around the world was given to me. It was a gift, an escape from the daily grind and difficulty that danced along the horizon like a beckoning valkyrie. Bergen is the home of music, mountains, art, rain and fish. It is a fairyland of waterfalls and blue eyed translucent skinned people. Every day in the summer the fjord harbor is filled with cruise ships, yachts, fishing vessels, tour boats and swimmers. The streets of Bryggen teem with tourists, and the days go on forever with only a few hours of dusk between 1 am and 3 am. The music from the clubs is everywhere along with the midnight sun making it impossible to sleep and therefore many people are outside for most of the night. The town is surrounded by seven mountains. There is a center to it called Sentrum, where The Kunst Museums, Den Nationale Scene (The National Theatre of Norway), Grieghallen Concert Hall and Festplassen intermingle with the University in Bergen. Metropolitan restaurants, little spots to have coffee or a drink dot the city and in the summer are a special find for tourists who dare to venture away from the harbor. Bergen can come alive in a way that rivals the biggest metropolitan areas. Not far from Bergen is the spectacular beauty of the fjords. One can take a day trip between mountains on a ferry that lasts for an afternoon but whose memory will never fade. On the train from Oslo to the western coastline where the town is nestled, the scenery is heavenly and one wonders at why anyone would want to leave this land until it becomes clear why the Vikings returned home after each conquest. It is so easy to fall in love there. It is a place where love survives even the greatest of challenges. Bergen shines like gold in the summer sun. The verses in this book were written during that summer in Bergen, one for each day spent there. The photographs were taken during that same time at many of the places mentioned in the poems. I hope this book brings you as much joy and pleasure and enlightenment as I found in Bergen in the summer I fell in love with it. The Gate and Its Keeper The Gait of this town is Free and Easy like his With no particular place to go That Air of Zen Contentment of Being Here, Now when all is quiet when they have stopped their shouting when they have gone to sleep Protected by the strength of the thighs of the Seven Sisters surrounding it like his. It is a Timely Timeless place. An ancient crossroads tucked away with a past hidden in plain Sight. Like His. Twisted Things The city is surrounded by concentric circles that bump and grind it's people Like a dancer in the air. The cobblestone streets have no mercy for the cyclists that fall on them. The hills could care less if you are breathless. Sometimes, it's hard in Bergen to concentrate because the softness of the mistiness blurs your mind. Fallen The rain fell again today, in torrents, puddles, that made me slip and slide like the time I’m passing here. The lenses of my glasses covered by the rain made fake tears more real than the ones in side of me. Behind the clouds though, I think I saw a flutter of wings, an angel's arms that would cradle me sometime. In the water everywhere, that is the reflection that can be seen. Torque Like a spiral the events of the day turn turn turn tightening their grip on my psyche. People come and go as if they had some secret knowledge of the ages. Hermes looks on bathed in light as if to remind all Bergensers of the possibilities of chaos. This place is chaotic in it's rhythm and in it's sleep. This place doesn’t let you breath the wonderful fresh air all around filled with sound. If I could have Hermes view I might SEE you. Foreigner I've lost my way. I've gone too far a-field. Finally, with no direction, maybe now I'll find what I am looking for. On the train, which one I can't remember, I realized that everything I know, I have forgotten. It does not matter. It's better this way. The farther away the better. Still when I saw that last underground tunnel I felt that I was home. Where is your home? And so it ends. The year that followed that summer in Bergen proved to be fantastic. The splendor and challenge never went away. In the fall of the same year I returned to Bergen and worked with students at the Rudolf Steinerskole in Paradis, a suburb connected to the larger community that is part of Bergen and spent the winter there. As the days got shorter and time passed quickly, I found myself in a world that had five hours of sunlight daily with a relentless rain that went on forever. It was lovely. What Daniel, the owner of the little restaurant called Pygmalion near The Fiske Torget (The Fish Market) had told me about winter in Bergen was true. It was a time of introspection and making friendships that will last a lifetime. During that winter, among the people I met there, two friends, Nina and Alvin in particular, kept me alive in a culture I was almost lost in. They took me into their hearts and homes and taught me what Norwegian living is really about. Beyond that they have become friends who are more like a sister and brother than people across the ocean in a far away land. The beauty of Bergen is what sustained however because it was unmistakable. It did not pass with the coming of the winter but instead became even stronger. In some places, the waterfalls froze into cathedrals of ice housing stone and ferns stopped in time by changes. The snow would fall and the mountain passes became playgrounds for everyone who on skis, in sleds or walking on snow shoes made their way around Floien and Ulriken and on the mountain trail Stoltzekleiven. Everything that was so beautiful in summer now undressed revealing the enduring strength upon which Bergen is built. I have since returned to The United States. As a New Yorker in America the memory of Bergen will never lose its luster, as I fell in love with it in the summer of 2005. That love affair is complete with all the magic and mystery of the first few months after meeting someone who is everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Bergen is a Prince that will never lose its charm. All the photographs in this book were taken by Lourdes Lozano Lauber with a Canon Sure Shot A530.