Chapter 11: Bergen and Home
Not Candace
07.29.2023 - 07.29.2023 68 °F
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Chapter 11: Bergen and Home
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Our wake-up alarm sounds at 6:00 so we can enjoy room service coffee and pastry before gathering up the few remaining items we will hand carry off the ship. Opening the drapes we are delighted to see that we have tied up across the pier from The World, a condominium ship with 165 "residences." Average occupancy is 150–200 residents and guests (served by 280 crew) as they either reside aboard full time or fly to a port stop to claim their ocean going home for however long they have to spare.
The World, which is the planet's largest privately owned vessel, through an elected board of directors, directs its management company which is responsible for operations, itinerary, finances, and lifestyle. She travels the world, staying two to five nights at most destinations and the captain changes destinations and ports based on a vote of the owners, normally held two years in advance.
For all you Homeowner's Association participants, I found this online: "ship service fees (depending on the property) start from USD 60,000 and go up to USD 300,000 a year. These fees cover onboard service staff/crew, fuel, maintenance (including drydocking), port charges, food and beverages. USD 8 million is the entry fee. This amount of money buys you a lease expiring in the distant 2052. They are not embarrassed to tell you that they must see your net worth statement before they talk to you about ownership. As to the maintenance fees mentioned above - they are ~5-6% of the Apartment's sale price." One source says that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madonna own suites but I cannot verify that.
We disembark Silver Dawn at 7:45am following the announcement for "Purple" luggage tags--the very ones supplied to us yesterday. We were informed a couple of days ago that we would be met on the wharf by a guide who will provide us a couple of hours of touring before we are delivered to the Bergen airport. We have ample time because our flight to Amsterdam departs at 2:10pm.
Bags claimed and loaded into the belly of a big yellow bus, we are off to Fløyen by way of the funicular Fløibanen.
The multi-level funicular takes us on a six minute ride 991 feet up the mountain to the top of Fløyen. We find spectacular views and friendly cashmere goats whose job it is to munch bushes and trees to keep the view pristine for tourists. Who knew that cashmere comes from goats and not sheep. It takes about 4 cashmere goats to produce enough cashmere for one sweater. I think that is a visual i will have every time i put on a cashmere sweater. The poor cashmere goats have a life span of only 10 to 12 years.
The weather is unusually spectacular in this spot where it rains "239 days each year" and owns the title of "wettest city in Europe." The air, unpolluted by diesel and gasoline powered vehicles, is crystal clear, there is no wind and the temperature is 68 but feels warmer beneath the bright sun.
Back to the coach, we circumnavigate the old town and port. We pass the quaint McDonald's, housed in a historic building. The locals refer to McDonalds as 'the American Embassy'. We are told that Bill Clinton, when visiting Bergen, stopped there for a cheeseburger. We also see a particularly well-named store, a hint in the pic below. We are impressed by Bergen and agree that we could spend few days in this place but we would surely feel differently were we here during the dark of winter, the dank of rain or the dreariness that comes with shuffling around on cold, windy days. We are reminded of how lucky we are to be here on this beautiful, "perfect" day.
We are delivered to Bergen's small but highly efficient and modern airport well in advance of when we need to be. Check in is as smooth as can be, security is efficient and the business class lounge is spacious and welcoming. It's a good place to kill time awaiting our flight to Amsterdam.
We set off for our gate only to find upon arrival there that our flight is going to be 15 minutes late. Normally that would be only a minor annoyance but Silversea has booked us a close connection in Amsterdam: 70 minutes. As we board, we are held on the jetway. "A technical issue," we hear one KLM employee say to another. Once we are seated, "We have a fuel pump problem. But, don't worry. We have a lot of fuel pumps and we'll get it sorted straight away." To make a long story short, we take off 75 minutes late.
There is a palpable sense aboard our flight that we are all in trouble. Most everyone on the flight has a connection in Amsterdam. Dusseldorf, Berlin, Madrid, Atlanta; lots of close connections.
Upon arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol, the lead flight attendant begins to read a list of connections that passengers will make. There are three of those. Then she reads those who, like us, have been delivered into a vat of trouble. There are a dozen flights that have left, flights that we will not make, plans that are burst.
We are lucky. We are flying in business class. We are experienced. We skip the automated machines which promise to rebook us and we skip the transfer counter; both of those avenues are backed up with lines of people. We find the business class lounge. There, a fine KLM employee takes charge. Here are vouchers good for $15 worth of food at any airport vendor. Next, here are boarding passes for a flight to Detroit connecting to Kansas City that will get you home. Be back here at 7:15.
Tomorrow morning. 7:15am; not 7:15 tonight. But, to ease the pain, here's a voucher for a room at the Hilton which is attached to the airport.
My grandson Elliot's first musical performance will be missed. We will only be about twenty hours delayed but those are significant hours.
Thinking back to the airline meltdowns earlier this year all across the U.S. where people were stranded for days, we know It could be much worse.
A couple of memories from the week include the fact that our tour guide, Laura, even when nobody could see her, gestured wildly as she explained the facts of our journey.
The roads, the waterfalls and the rivers are memorable. There are turns that the busses can barely make.
There are waterfalls everywhere, even when you're just out for a walk.
A couple of observations from the week include the fact that at Circle K stations in Norway electric charging stations far outnumber gas pumps. It’s a good thing too because the country will ban the sale ofinternal combustion engine cars in two years. Already we saw Tesla taxicabs. The Norwegians will likely achieve their goal: last year 80 percent of new car sales were battery-powered. Tesla not only outsells Renault and Fiat, we are told that Norway is Tesla's largest market after the US. Considering the population of the US as compared to Norway, that is quite an astonishing statistic.
It’s not only automobiles deserting gasoline. Excavators and dump trucks and even ferries are converting as well. Since these construction machines are also much quieter, construction workers get to work straight through ‘naptime.’ Pre-school children in Norway typically nap outdoors and nearby crews using noisy gasoline or diesel-powered machines are required to stop work so as to not disturb the little ones while they sleep.
The air is cleaner because of this shift. Greenhouse gas emissions are down by 30 percent in the past 15 years. Nitrogen oxide levels, produced by internal combustion engines that cause smog, and exacerbate asthma, have cratered. The city of Oslo is quieter. The only downside people cite is that now the air is impacted by higher than normal levels of microscopic particles generated by the abrasion of both tires and asphalt. That’s due to the fact that electric vehicles are much heavier—due to the weight of their batteries—resulting in increased wear and tear.
Oslo says it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to almost zero by the end of this decade.
The dirty underbelly of all this is that while Norway uses less fossil fuels, they export $180 billion of oil and gas annually—effectively exporting their pollution.
Auto mechanics who feared losing their jobs because electric vehicles motors require much less maintenance and repair than to gasoline engines are not suffering because they now work on an a growing business of replacing defective fuel cells. Battery recycling is employing more people who operate machines that shred battery packs and recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite reducing the need to mine those elements.
Auto makers who resisted the shift to electric may not survive. At Circle K, sales inside the store are on the rise because recharging takes longer than refueling so people buy food while they wait. My friends at PepsiCo must love that.
At home in the United States our ambitious goal is to reach a 50 percent share of electric vehicles new car sales by 2030. Norway hit that goal four years ago. Cleaner air, quieter cities, new jobs (the $4 billion Panasonic battery plant going up near our Kansas City home in DeSoto, Kansas, is supposed to employ 4,000 workers) should result in both a better ecology and economy. That evolution already has had that effect here in Norway, an effect that would appear to be in every way positive, conducive to both health and quality of life. Can what has been achieved in this small country of only 5.5 million in a large country like ours of 335 million? Maybe; if we were as united in the United States as they are here in Norway.
But that's clearly naive to even ponder, is it not? We have more pressing issues.
