Viking Homelands: Troldhaugen (8/25/2018)

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Our hotel apparently retrofitted an elevator
in between buildings, as seen by the old roofline

Hmm, was it going to rain today? We decided to go ahead on a field trip to see Edvard Grieg's home, Troldhaugen, which involved a trip on the light rail train and a twenty-minute walk one way.

Bergen light rail train at the Hop station

Part of the walk to Troldhaugen

Is that supposed to be Grieg's profile to the left?
(sculpture at entrance to Troldhaugen)

First the visitor center and museum: Edvard Grieg is one of Norway's world-renowned composers and pianists. He composed pieces for playwright Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt and incorporated influences of Norwegian folk music, resulting in the national identity of Norwegian music.

Silver laurel awarded for outstanding performance

One of Grieg's good luck charms, a red troll

The name of Grieg's estate, Troldhaugen, means Troll Knoll.

A tiny frog that Grieg always kept in his pocket while performing

When traveling extensively, Grieg would at least have a photo of his good luck charms to put on the piano as he performed.

Edvard and Nina Grieg's house at Troldhaugen,
(1885, by Schack Bull in Swiss-style) was a summer home

View of Lake Nordås from the house

The interior of largely unfinished wood (KSS)

Tea kettle

Steinway piano (1892), a silver wedding anniversary gift

The Troldsalon/concert pavilion (1985)
is built in a ravine on the property

Statue (1917, by Ingebrigt Vik) of Edvard Grieg,
which is life-size at 1.52 m/just under 5'

At the age of 17 years, Grieg suffered from pleurisy and tuberculosis, which destroyed his left lung and resulted in a thoracic spine deformity.

Komponisthytten/composer's hut (1891) with its view of Lake Nordås,
where Grieg escaped the noise and busyness of the house to work

Gravkammer/tomb of Edvard and Nina Grieg
in the cliff below the house at Troldhaugen

View from the tomb of Lake Nordås

We hiked back to the light rail train station in Hop.

Now we know what all those colored dots on sign poles
are! Admission stickers from the Grieg Museum

Grocery store ad

Back in Bergen, the post office was closed. We were to find most post offices in Scandinavia had been closed down, and stamps were to be purchased at certain grocery stores.

Gamle Rådhus/Old Town Hall (16C)

We returned to the Magic Hotel where we had checked out, but left our luggage in storage. Retrieved the suitcases and began the hike to the Viking Star cruise ship, 1.1 km/.0.7 mile along the waterfront. At the cruise terminal, our marked suitcases were taken to be put into our staterooms later that day. We then went through a security checkpoint before arriving at a reception area for check-in.  We were given key cards to the stateroom, which were also our ID cards to check on and off the ship. Although we could not access our room now, we could board the ship. Fernando and Josefina were due to arrive shortly from the airport, and we planned to meet them for lunch in the World Café restaurant.
Next: Bergen I.