{"id":80469,"date":"2018-11-29T11:05:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T10:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=80469"},"modified":"2018-11-29T11:05:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T10:05:04","slug":"norway-incentive-winter-fjord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/norway-incentive-winter-fjord","title":{"rendered":"Norway: winter by the fjord"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report Serge Barret \/ Photos Alain Parinet<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Vikings here, Vikings there... But what is it with the French and Vikings at the moment? It's all they talk about<\/em>says Arve Lindgren, manager of the convention office in Bergen, Norway. I wonder if the recently broadcast Vikings TV series might have something to do with it?<\/em>\"Probably. But undoubtedly also their attachment to history and heritage. In any case, the French in search of distant Norman origins are in for a treat: references to the conquering people who terrified the early Middle Ages<\/strong> are, with varying degrees of success, everywhere in Norway. In museums, of course, but also in souvenir shops, restaurants, and sometimes even in reconstructed villages, part eco-museum, part amusement park, which don't hesitate to stage amateur actors, or to invite the public to take part in costume parties complete with helmets, horns, animal skins and all that. As long as you put aside your restraint and let yourself be drawn into the dance, it can be great fun, especially as part of an incentive operation.<\/p>\n

Slowly, the rain hits the windows<\/h2>\n

But for the time being, the Vikings are not on today's agenda, since the recent opening of a direct route from Paris operated by Joon in 2hrs 15mins means that we are landing directly at Bergen, Norway's second city<\/strong>. Bergen in the rain, as usual, you might say. The city 'benefits' from a microclimate that drenches it copiously for around 270 days a year. But that's not such a bad thing, as Bergen is above all a city of interiors. At the same time, it has developed a particular art of living, with warm decorations, a pretty mix of dark wood, brown wood and painted wood, and the rest of the time listening - in the warmth - to the rain on the windows.<\/p>\n

In the end, it's in the rain that you really appreciate its charm; when its quays run<\/strong>The cobbled streets leading down to the harbour sparkle with silver, and the caf\u00e9s and restaurants are packed to the rafters, enlivened by the presence of a large student population celebrating anything and everything, preferably loudly. This includes Bryggen, a historic district listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you can leave the old woods behind and indulge in a slightly more rock'n'roll atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Wood, almost all wood in Bryggen: on the gabled houses lining the quayside, in the alleyways that are sometimes so narrow you can touch the shingled walls that line them with open arms; in the covered passageways, squares and backyards, in the passageways that run along the entire storey of the houses, but also, and surprisingly, on the floors of the streets. All of which makes a feeling of intermingled interiors and exteriors<\/strong>. This district, which bears witness to medieval Nordic architecture, was the home of the merchants of the Hanseatic League, in other words, the German trade organisation that controlled trade in Northern Europe at the end of the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n