After writing a couple of postcards, and having visiting most of the (budget-friendly) sights I wanted to in Bergen, I realised I had an afternoon free to myself. I randomly googled "attractions in Bergen" and found a garden that was located 1.9km away - or so the map said. It also said that the only way there was by driving - which should have struck me as something odd, but it didn't.
I thought, "1.9km, thats not far at all, I can totally walk there!" So I grabbed my camera and headed out for part 2 of my day.
I studied the map as I was walking and made mental notes to the various landmarks I had to pass by before getting myself to said garden. "Big park, water body, bridge." I told myself.
After walking for about 20 minutes, I was STILL in the big park, and couldn't figure out how to get myself out of the park, because a part of it was cordoned off. The park was located in a residential area of some sorts, clearly slightly outside the central area of Bergen judging by how inhabited it was.
Children were playing in the park by the water, older people having nice slow afternoon strolls, and happy ducks swimming in the pond. There was such a nice spring vibe going on. But, I was set on making my way to the garden, so I didn't stop.
Eventually, after walking a long route AROUND the perimeter of the park, I found myself heading towards the "water body". But there was no way for me to cross it. I couldn't find the bridge and ended up walking along the edge of the canal.
The lovely thing about Bergen is, you could be lost and clueless as to where you are, but the view you get is just as amazing.
I walked past what looked to be a shipping container/storage area, and even something like that was an image to be captured. With green mountains as its background, there is nothing that can look bad!
After about another 10-15 minutes or so of wandering around the area by the waters, watching children ride bikes to and fro, I found the bridge connecting to the other side!
As usual, when I don't do any form of adequate planning, I hardly ever make it to the destination.
Low and behold, the bridge was not meant for human crossing. And then it dawned on me. "No wonder it said the only way to get there was by driving!" How silly.
So I was there, with no internet excess, rather confused, still believing that there would be a way I could get across but had no clue how.
See the thing is maps usually show you the contours and height of things, so people (well, people who can read maps) would be able to figure that there was no walking path across, but, despite me taking O-level geography, I don't have those skills. It's not that I don't try, I just can't... But so far it hasn't pose any serious problems, so I just let it be! Maybe this is why my mum gets a tad bit worried whenever I travel alone (don't worry mummy - I'm always being safe!)
What I Wore
Top: Forever21
Coat: coldwear.sg
Boots: Topshop
Necklace: Primark
In the spirit of just going with the flow, I did what I would normally do in situations like these, put away the map, continue on walking and exploring the area hoping to stumble upon something interesting.
As you'd expect, it was a common residential area, I was surprised that it didn't have any cafés nearby. There were a couple by the canals, but mostly just wide empty spaces and wooden planked floors. Wouldn't it be troublesome for people if they had to go to the city centre to get stuff?
Well, they had like convenient storers, but how about restaurants and food?
That was what was going through my mind.
Then again it was probably because it was a Sunday (public holiday) which could be why most places were closed. That being said, I wouldn't mind living in this residential area. They have their own soccer field, its near a park, relatively close to the canal, but sufficiently far from the city to avoid the touristic hustle and bustle. It's a nice quiet place to live in I must say.
I walked and observed to the point I heard my stomach growl. Realising that there was no food available in the vicinity, and double checking with city maps, I headed back towards the city centre to for a nice dinner - I was surprisingly not far! It took me less than 10 minutes to get back (guess the whole time I was walking in the direction of the city centre even without my maps - going by intuition works for me after all); I had no idea how I got lost earlier on!
I can't decide if I want to be more of a type A person who plans out her route, or just wing it and do away with plans. I took this holiday to experiment with the "just go with it" mentality (well, basically I flew to Scandinavia IMMEDIATELY after the end of the school term, so there wasn't much time to plan). Whenever I plan for my trips, It feels a bit stressful because I want to go to one too many places, and not spend too much money.
Having a nice leisure stroll around a less populated area turned out to be rather memorable. No doubt there weren't any fancy attractions around, but it was nice to walk by smiling families, kind drivers who don't beep at you when you're in the middle of the road taking a photograph (something you can NEVER get in London. Yeah I was so surprised about that! The drivers are so nice!), just taking sometime to appreciate the landscape, mountains from afar, and having a very zen relaxed afternoon.
I use to plan almost every detail (including food places!), and plot all the locations I wanted to go to on a map before heading to the city, but now, I can see I'm starting to adopt more of the just-go-with-the-flow mentality with my travels. It's a nice change - until I start getting OCD again and go back to planning my routes!
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