Bags-in-my-Boots Bergen

Daniel, our host, had been nice enough to sacrifice his bed to us, and it was super comfortable, but we woke up in the morning to pouring rain. We put on our warm clothes and finished off our outdoor outfits with ponchos and bags in our boots.

Our first stop was the famous Fish Market in the main square where Danielle had lunch. It is no secret that I am not a huge fan of fish, but I am working on it. She had smoked salmon, so I tried a small piece. In the quest to find fish that I like, this was a failure. I ended up eating something from a grocery store nearby for lunch.

Our plans for the day included climbing the mountain in Bergen to see the spectacular views... in the pouring rain. We opted to take the funiculaire up to the top instead, and then to walk down. At the top it was incredibly windy and cold, so we looked at some views and then hid out in the souvenir shop for a bit.

The walk down was not as cold and it was beautiful. We came across some strange sights, however. First, there were trolls interspersed among the trees which were super creepy. Then, there was a sign banning witches on broomsticks. Finally, there were mountain children. They were just casually toddling along the mountain roads avoiding the slippery spots and being all cool and stuff.

When we reached the bottom, Eirik joined us to show us around Bergen. He had once worked in some sort of tourist-related thing in Bergen, so he knew lots of random facts, or alternatively, he made them up.  He showed us the castle, which was pretty cool, and told us a bit about the history of the monarchy in Norway and how it used to be ruled by Denmark. He showed us the buildings along the pier that are restored versions of buildings that have been there for centuries. He told us about special boats that can only be constructed in Norway because of the size/depth of the harbours or something. At this point, a giant bus came by and sprayed us with water that dripped into our boots.

He showed us the students' union for his University and explained how those unions actually have a lot of power over the university ("evil socialists!") because the unions own about half of the University property. The building where the union is housed was enormous. I was so jealous on behalf of the Brock University Students' Union.

We stopped at a grocery store and picked up ingredients for a typically Norwegian meatloaf... which hilariously turned out to be spaghetti and meatballs. No complaints though, because it was delicious and Eirik cooked it for us. We passed the time waiting for Daniel to get home from work by sharing more stories with each other and watching funny videos, such as this one:

Ring på spring is like "nicky nicky nine doors", "ding dong ditch" or "ring and run", but these guys have added the rule that you can only take three steps once the doorbell has been rung. We we were in hysterics. I kveld med YLVIS, the group that was responsible, is a variety show from Bergen. (Other notable Bergen-ites include Sondre Lerche and DOLK, a popular street artist; fun fact: Québec City, Canada is one of Bergen's sister cities).

Daniel brought his friend Martin over, and so we just hung out for a bit. Danielle and I ended up talking to Daniel's other great roommate, Analin, who is studying to be a French teacher. After only a short time out of France, it was so strange to speak French again. I really felt rusty and Danielle said that her host family would definitely make fun of her when she got back. Analin was really nice and even taught us some Norwegian: "Jeg heter Tessa" (My name is Tessa; sounds a bit like "yo hater"); and "Tusen takk" (A thousand thanks).

Before we knew it, it was bedtime, and we said goodnight to everyone, really sad to leave, but still excited for the "climax" of our trip... the fjords.