Bergen: infinite city With its mountain paths and picturesque waterside streets, this Norwegian town reads like the episodes of a northern tale. A poetic, meandering exploration in the company of novelist Parisa Reza. The city of Bergen doesn’t reveal all its secrets at once. It startsyou’ll end up at the harbor and the popular fish market, or else by introducing you to the surrounding nature, bombarding at KODE, which encompasses the city’s art museums in four you with colors—but to get to know it, you have to close the different buildings. It includes KODE 3, offering an overview guidebook and tourist map and let yourself be carried away of Edvard Munch’s work beyond The Scream, and KODE 4, by the place itself. Take a random path, leave the city center with a concise and precise survey of international modern art behind, get lost, delve into one of the micro-districts by the through unsung works by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Paul large harbor, and the beauty will take your breath away. Klee and others—and you thought you’d seen them all! With You’ll feel like you’re in one of those canvases painted by a a bit of luck, you’ll discover Carte Blanche, the Norwegian master of perspective, where buildings are more prominent National Company of Contemporary Dance. In addition than people and the distinctive color palette contributes to an to attending performances, you can also watch rehearsals—in architectural harmony that is both simple and majestic. a way, the company is also rehearsing its public. If, one day, you’re lucky enough to wander through the labyrinth of Bergen’s backstreets, you’ll be surprised to notice that some Shifting perspectives You’ll learn about culture and you’ll mysterious movement is afoot. Along the way, an invisible hand get to enjoy good food—but very quickly you’ll miss the slowly reveals a backdrop of hills and mountains, sea and forest;sense of time standing still in the small streets. So you go back then a foreground of beautiful homes; and between the two, and pretend to get lost. And this time, you discover other a trompe l’oeil spectacle of appearing things. For example, that the city has hills. and disappearing forms in shades of red, Without realizing it, you have climbed yellow, green and blue, along with lead its gentle slopes. You then have to take the white and jet black, not to mention narrow wood, stone or metal stairs back brown, which in Bergen is elevated to a down; at each landing, you’ll find an noble hue, and the gray that is the most inviting bench, the perfect spot to sit and vivid of the city’s bright colors. The city whispers enjoy its view of the city. Bergen’s living rooms extend outdoors, where solitary trees A sense of detless with history than with space. That’sail Bergen is concernedin your ear, tellinglend shade to the urban seats, which takemany different forms. why, as you stroll through its nooks and you the way And, lost in admiration for this city that crannies, exploring the views, you’ll find to reach spots it’s takes such good care of its ordinary objects, it hard to avoid inventing your own stories its viewpoints and skyline, you end up and setting them in this enchantingplace. And that’s fine. So dream on! Let’sespecially proud of.realizing that you’re going around in circles.And then you decide that Bergen is making find a spot to create an imaginary world. fun of you—you can hear it laugh, and you Which square, which street is best for laugh along, too. the job? It’s hard to choose, because Even better, you finally take the funicular, wherever you look, the landscape is because you read in the guidebooks and all extraordinary. The buildings, the houses, over the Internet that it shouldn’t be missed. the minimalist villas along your path all And indeed, it’s a journey within a journey, seem implausible, with their perfect styles and secret details. a mise en abyme that gives you yet another viewpoint—both You can spend hours admiring the carved ornaments on the literally and figuratively—in under five minutes. Once at facades, the shape of the windows, the many different flower- the top, you see Bergen again, but this time, as a city-by-the- pots and window boxes in the street, tastefully placed just so. sea, at the foot of the mountain, gleaming in living color, like The unusual objects that residents discreetly display behind a handful of glitter scattered on the surface of the water. Bergen their windows give a sense of the silent pulse of a whimsical is an infinite city, reflecting itself, duplicating itself from within: world: a statuette of Tintin who looks you straight in the eye it has now become a scale model of itself. with a startled expression, “Oh, so you’re here?”; one of a Arms resting on the railing, you can now contemplate the contemptuous angel turning its back, allowing you to see magnificent landscape stretching out before you; hike a path only its wings; a female troll with an impish smile straight out to visit the forest; and meet the billy goats living in the wild. of an elven legend; and an enormous earthenware dog, with But as Bergen has become a miniature of itself, what’s most an expression so fixed it seems to have been frozen alive. interesting is to find the exact locations of the enchanted But to be honest, no one ever gets completely lost in Bergen: little streets that you wandered through, lost. You’ll probably the mountain is always there to show you where the sea is, and give up quickly though, on the pretext that they’re impossible the city whispers in your ear, telling you the way to reach the to recognize from such a distance, and return in order to spots it’s especially proud of. And rightly so: wherever you are,find them, this trip—or perhaps the next. 135