Prep Day in Old Bergen

We ended our first week with Sports Night and then Game Night, where I learned the rough and tumble game of "Innebandi."  It may not look like it but I am in the "ready position"

After a very busy Monday we took Tuesday as a day for ourselves. I took Shanna on a tour of old Bergen. We took the cable car to the top of Floien with a throng of tourists from a number of cruise ships that were in port today. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get a car up the mountain.

However, once on top, the day and the view were spectacular.

We got our Bergen picture - ready for framing.

This is the old part of town including Bryggen or the wharf area. It has been an active trade center since the middle ages. Some of the buildings are built partially on footings established in the 1400's.

I used the panorama feature on my little SONY camera to get this view. We live in Raadal which is in the far left edge of this photo about as far back as you can see. Our place is about a 35 minute train or car ride from downtown.

Old downtown Bergen from the mountain

Trolls are everywhere here but they rarely eat children anymore.

 These buildings were built in about 1700. They are part of the reason that Norway is a International Heritage City. Norwegians are extremely patriotic and very proud of their long history.

Looking back the other way at the wharf

Cool little streets lined with shops run between several of the buildings and lead to more narrow cobblestone streets but the Bryggen features boardwalks.

No day downtown would be complete without a visit to the fishmarket. Good fresh fish at high prices. Divide the prices below by 5 to get the dollar equivilent. We took some free samples of smoked salmon and white caviar.

One last look out into the harbor and then it is off to Byparken to catch the train.

Our evening is pretty busy with shopping and meal prep for tomorrow's district meeting.