Bergen -- oh, what a place

Today was spent savoring this beautiful city.  

We mostly split up and did our own things.

Joe went for a long run and shared some of the sights he saw.  Then the two of them (Juleen and Joe) walked around the Fortress and went to the Bryggen Hus Museum which tells about the fortress.  They also partook in a "Resistance to the Nazis" exhibit that was housed there.  They had lunch on a little wooden bench, and in the afternoon, they bought some gifts, shopped, viewed the city from the funicular, and wandered.

The Fortress in Bergen

heading up in the funicular

the view of Bergen from the top of the funicular

Julie and Harold met Randall and Olive at the funicular and up they went.  Bergen is a grand city to see from on high.  Previous to that ride, Randall and Olive wandered around the city.  The four of them had lunch at the Bergen fish market, but they were not together at this point.  Unfortunately, Julie got a touch of food poisoning from her lunch (which was delicious. . . . ), and that bout cut short the afternoon activities for her and Harold, but they did have time to wander through the little alleyways too.

Is it salmon or trout?

Randall purchased some salmon for our evening dinner, and he told a funny story about being at the fish market.  He looks like a native Norwegian, and when he stepped up to the counter, the clerk spoke to him in Norwegian.  Randall smiled and asked him if he spoke English.  Yes, he did, but seemed quite surprised that Randall wasn't Norwegian.  Then Randall pointed to a fish and asked for the salmon.  The clerk sort of sniffed and said, "That's trout."  Let's just say that the clerk wasn't all that impressed with "Norwegian" Randall, but in the end, we did get a huge amount of wonderful, fresh salmon (or was it trout?).  Yes, it is better than what you can get in the US!

Julie and her new beau -- Troll.

We all chilled late afternoon when the major activity was finding a post office in the grocery story we have been using, so Olive, Juleen, and Julie put their reindeer pelts in plastic bags and we headed over to the PO to see if we could mail them to the US.  Sure enough. They had three large boxes big enough for one pelt each, and we boxed them, taped them, paid for them (about $100 total) and away they went.  They should arrive within a week.

We had planned ahead for our final dinner at the apartment.  Randall had bought the salmon/trout at the fish market; Julie and Harold bought the fruit for dessert ($40 worth -- yes, food IS expensive in Norway); Juleen and Joe bought the ingredients for side dishes, and they were responsible for cooking.  We had a superb meal of baked salmon, rice (Julie put butter on hers just to be like a real Norwegian), broccoli, and the fruit for dessert.  We feasted and reminisced about the week.

Then Randall and Olive packed and left about 7:00.  Sigh. They arrived at their airport hotel easily after taking the light rail.

The other four of us at the apartment attempted to get the loaded dishwasher started and eventually succeeded. We are hoping the dishes will be clean in the morning, although Julie wasn't certain what kind of soap she put in the dispenser of the dish washer.  Indeed, it may not even have been soap!

Julie got ambitious and put a load of clothes in the washer and in the dryer.  Again, she wasn't sure which soap was for the clothes, and ended up using a powder soap that was probably for baby clothes. Oh well, it worked, and the clothes washed and dried.

We all went to bed thinking wonderful thoughts about our Norway trip which is almost over for 2/3 of us.