The Harmons drove up to our house on Saturday so that we could all fly together directly from Minneapolis. After I worked the Twin’s game, we had a great meal and spent the bulk of the evening packing and remembering all of the last minute things we almost forgot.
Sunday was relatively leisurely. Our flight wasn’t until 3 pm so we were able to wake up casually, eat a good breakfast and get ready to leave without the usual panic. Nicci took us all to the airport and we left with little hassle or irritation. It was a KLM flight and, as had been my experience with previous KLM flights, it was an enjoyable experience. The flight attendants were fun, engaging and informative without the cloying sweetness of American attendants. I think they were all Dutch. We received hot towels when we first got on the flight and then again in the morning following our grueling 8-hour flight. We disembarked at the Amsterdam Airport and went through customs in no time. Then we just hung out at our gate until time to leave again after a couple of hours. This second flight was the type we are used to: narrow crowded seats, no food and inattentive attendants. I guess they figured that since it was just a two hour flight, they didn’t have to do anything for us. Another thing that we were starting to discover was just how rude people could be. Not saying that Americans are all that courteous, but we have been very surprised at how people cut in front of you in line or just pretend you are not there. I have had to be a dick a couple of times because people don’t seem to know just how rude they are being.
Bergen street cover
Upon landing at the Bergen Airport, the first thing we had to do was catch a bus to the central bus and train station downtown. We managed that fairly easily and soon found ourselves in the buzzing tourist heart of the city. The place we were staying was about a mile and a half away, an easy walk normally, but a bit of a struggle with all of our luggage.
One of the things I noticed almost immediately was the number of Nissan Leafs and Teslas in this city. In the two and a half days that we spent in Bergen, I must have seen over 50, and this in a town of just 130,000 people. I felt right at home and kind of edgy. Knowing how progressive Norway is, I am assuming that there must be some kind of huge tax advantage to owning a high mileage / low emission vehicle. On our way to the house, we cut through the commercial area in search of food.
We discovered a cute little place and ordered. They carried the traditional Norwegian lunch. I ordered with chicken salad with a very tasty cooked whipped potato salad and and a small lettuce salad. The chicken salad had a dressing of mustard and curry and was very good. Energized and refreshed, we arrived at our house in no time but were a little bit early so couldn’t check in right away. We were able to stash our luggage at the house and then Susan and I took a walk down to the nearby wharf and market area to check it out. It is a very cool area with several seafood shops and restaurants along with a commercial heavy tourist zone of trendy stories and gift shops.
Bergen has a beautiful harbor that sits at the foot of steep low mountains that rise up from the water with narrow cobblestone streets and beautiful traditional houses that line the street lining the harbor.
The seafood restaurants and markets were fabulous, overflowing with all kinds of freshly caught seafood, almost too many to imagine. There were salmon and cod and tuna and live crab and lobster. There were clams, oysters and mussels. Then there were more exotic catches like sea urchin, Wolfish and Monkfish (scary). You could get it fried, baked, broiled or steamed usually with potato salad and some greens.
We returned to the house and moved our stuff in. We were all starving so headed back to the market for a huge seafood feast. It wasn’t hard to get inspired! We had our pick of several different seafood stands so visited an investigated them all. We found the one we liked and proceeded to chow down. I ordered the triple threat: tuna steak, halibut and a shrimp skewer that Susan and I split. It was heavenly. Clay suggested that we eat all of our meals there from now on. We truly all had our fill except for Clay who managed to eat all of his and any that was left over from anyone else’s plate. Then satiated and exhausted we returned to our new home and crashed.
I must say, the place that we rented was very nice. It had one bedroom and a large two-person sectional couch. It had a nice, modern kitchen and bath and all of the towels, linens, utensils and pots and pans we could have wanted. It was located next door to a well stocked grocery store, it was a ten minute walk to the water and walking distance to everything downtown.
The only problem was, it was also located on a very busy main street. That meant that traffic and road noise was at times really loud and that we could hear the conversations of the people who walked by on the sidewalk right in front of our house. To make things worse, there was no yard of foliage to deflect or soften the sound. And with the cobblestone streets the effect was to amplify the noise to startling levels. The second night we were there we were awakened upright out of a sound sleep by a motorcycle revving its engine at deafening levels seemingly right outside our window. Susan and I both shot upright on the couch and stared at each other. Also, first thing in the morning, right before sunrise, the seagulls would commence their screaming. After a day of travel and almost no sleep, we were not catching up.
Susan's Note: There was one other issue with the apartment, because it was unseasonably hot when were there, and there was no air conditioning, we kept all the windows open. The windows had no screens, so not only did all the sound from outside the windows carry into the place but all the flies came in too! Additionally, the sun did not go down until almost 11 pm so while we were tired, with the windows open and partial blinds, we had lots of sounds and light coming in while trying to sleep!
I must say, the place that we rented was very nice. It had one bedroom and a large two-person sectional couch. It had a nice, modern kitchen and bath and all of the towels, linens, utensils and pots and pans we could have wanted. It was located next door to a well stocked grocery store, it was a ten minute walk to the water and walking distance to everything downtown.
The only problem was, it was also located on a very busy main street. That meant that traffic and road noise was at times really loud and that we could hear the conversations of the people who walked by on the sidewalk right in front of our house. To make things worse, there was no yard of foliage to deflect or soften the sound. And with the cobblestone streets the effect was to amplify the noise to startling levels. The second night we were there we were awakened upright out of a sound sleep by a motorcycle revving its engine at deafening levels seemingly right outside our window. Susan and I both shot upright on the couch and stared at each other. Also, first thing in the morning, right before sunrise, the seagulls would commence their screaming. After a day of travel and almost no sleep, we were not catching up.
Susan's Note: There was one other issue with the apartment, because it was unseasonably hot when were there, and there was no air conditioning, we kept all the windows open. The windows had no screens, so not only did all the sound from outside the windows carry into the place but all the flies came in too! Additionally, the sun did not go down until almost 11 pm so while we were tired, with the windows open and partial blinds, we had lots of sounds and light coming in while trying to sleep!