Bergen Norway: CityBox Hotel: World Triathlon Cup

 We lazed away our last half day on the Castor.  The sun was beating down in southern Norway and I spent that time on our cabin balcony sort of watching the radiant shoreline and sort of dozing off.  It was a good way to end a good 11 days of negotiating the fjords of Norway.  

Scandinavia is not cheap, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are expensive.  That goes doubly for the places that tourists visit and the products and services that they use.  Hotels, are notoriously expensive.  To counter this, a Hotel chain called CityBox has established itself in the larger cities.  We are staying at one in Bergen and will stay at another in Oslo.  Their business plan is to create a low cost business quality hotel.  They have done it by providing clean simple rooms and cutting down on employee costs which is very high in these countries.  There is no front desk, you can only reserve a room online.  Checking in and out is done at an unmanned kiosk which provides your keycard for entry to the building, elevator and room.  The room is spotlessly clean when you check in.  If you want it cleaned during your stay, you order it online and pay for it.  The concierge is electronic.  Need an umbrella?  They'll rent you one without any interaction with staff, which, of course, they don't have.  This is the first time that Sandy and I tried one of these establishments.  If two old travelers like us can do it, I think most anyone can.  We saw businessmen, backpackers and vacationers checking in, though truth be told no-one except Sandy and I gave each other a high-five when the Kiosk spit out our keycards!

A beautiful sunny day like this and the people of Bergen were going to be out.  The city is safe, historical and attractive.  Wish we were staying longer

Composer Edvard Greig, Sandy has been humming his "In the Hall of the Mountain King" since we got to Norway

Sandy and I have always been lucky travelers.  Today was no exception.  I had not planned it but today Bergen was hosting a major qualifying event for the Ironman Triathlon.  It is a part of the World Triathlon Cup Series and athletes from all over the world were participating.  Sandy and I positioned ourselves so that we could watch the bicyclists and still caught some glimpses of the runners.  This was a "sprint" event.  The winner was from France, second place went to the crowd favorite and current Olympic champion who represents Norway and is from Bergen.  The highest US triathlete finished seventh.  We were watching the cyclists at a high speed straight away over cobblestones.  Very exciting!

Sandy and I have been on the boat for 12 days, 11 nights.  They served well prepared meals which I thoroughly enjoyed.  But they did not serve pizza.  I needed a pizza.  We found Peppes Pizzeria, (we have seen several Peppes around Norway).  I was so excited about finally getting a slice that I forgot to take a picture until is was about half gone.  I thought this was a good pizza, though at the moment of consumption I would have been hard pressed to say that any pizza was bad.  To add to the romance of eating pizza (as if any romance need be added) Sandy noted that Peppes opened their first shop in May of 1970, the same month and year that I met Sandy.  It looks like both arrangements have worked out so far.