Our day started early. The alarm went off at 03.55 and again at 04.00 – I hadn’t slept well, never do when we have an early start, I just can’t trust the alarms so when they do go off, I’m always slightly annoyed I didn’t sleep.

We left the house at 04.35 hrs and arrived at Gatwick South Long Stay Car Park just before 6.00 hrs, we were in the Terminal by 6.15 hrs and all checked in by 6.40 hrs. Our case (T insisted we only take one although we had a free 20kg each to check in) weighed just over 21kg so we had to unload our iPads and relocate them to our hand luggage.

As we had time to kill we went into Jamie’s Diner for a coffee and breakfast, considering it to be superior to Wetherspoons. Sadly, not a good experience, the coffee was bitter and the scrambled egg on toast very dry. Jamie wouldn’t have been impressed.

Our Norwegian Air flight took off on time and we both managed a short snooze; we landed just 1 hr and 45 mins after take off.

We managed to catch a coach from the airport to our hotel rather than doing the easier thing like taking a taxi. The hotel had provided good information and luckily, airport staff spoke perfect English. We travelled mostly underground in the coach so didn’t get to see much, other than stone walls and the occasional light.

Our Hotel, The Grand Terminus, was about a 5 minute walk from where the coach stopped although we took the long way round so it took us 15 minutes hauling our luggage. We were early but were able to check in. Unfortunately, it took longer than expected as the male receptionist was carrying out first aid on another resident who had fallen out of the door on to the pavement and had cracked her head open. We didn’t mind waiting though.

The receptionist explained that the hotel was undergoing refurbishment (‘here we go’ I thought, ‘no wonder it was more cost effective than the rest….’) so a room had been reserved for us at a separate building just around the corner in a refurbished 17th century villa. I must say, I wasn’t entirely happy when we entered the building, which seemed to have been painted in the dungeon style. Our room however, is warm and cosy, bed is very comfy and the shower very good. But best of all, according to T, is that Croissants and Coffee are free in the communal area all day. T has had 6 so far today.

By the time we settled it was 14.30 so we freshened up and headed into Bergen. The weather was @ 1 degree, so we layered up, not wanting to be cold.

After about 15 mins of walking I knew I had overdone it and had broken out into an uncomfortable sweat. We found a coffee shop where I was able to partially disrobe in the ladies and splash my reddened face, which could have easily have been mistaken for a cold face, with glacial waters. It reminded me a little of our first night in Bangkok when, before leaving the safety of our hotel, we smothered ourselves in Deet and only left our faces uncovered for fear of being eaten alive by mosquitoes, only to discover other people walking the streets in shorts, crop tops and flip flops. Not a mossie in sight.

We spent a good few hours wandering the very clean streets of Bergen, popping into the odd shop or two. We really like the Scandi type furnishings and Nordic weaves and knits. We liked the casual feel of everything, everybody seemed relaxed and happy. We enjoyed walking around the old harbour buildings, the Bryggen area; the huge snowy mountains behind the houses which frame the entire city -very pretty.

We returned to the hotel and decided to eat our meal there rather than walk into the city again. The menu was very limited but the food quite satisfying even if the cost of my glass of wine wasn’t, at around £12 for the glass. T went to pay the bill, which came to 592 Krone which he generously rounded up to 600 Krone to include a tip as the service was excellent. Later we worked out that that the 8 Krone would have been about 71p. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Above and below – Bergen city centre