February 23, 2016
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Although I awoke some time before the sun had risen, it was rather unusual for Heather to doze until mid-morning. After a tasty egg-and-gouda-on-toast, compliments of Heather, we went for a morning stroll.📷The flat
Since the flat is located literally across the street from the Bryggen, the historical merchant quarter and UNESCO World Heritage Site, we got in the habit of walking through it to get to the waterfront. Up close, we could see how tilted and askew many of the old wooden buildings had become. It’s a wonder so many of them are still around today.📷Bryggen
We then meandered over to the Nordnes district on the next peninsula to see what was at the end. While it was incredibly windy (as evidenced by the choppy waters), there was a great view from the tip of the peninsula. As mentioned in the previous post, Bergen and Seattle are sister cities, and on this peninsula we actually ran into the totem pole commemorating the connection. A little slice of the Pacific Northwest…in the Atlantic Northwest – how quaint!📷Fish market
📷Totem
It was nearly noon by the time we headed back to the flat. We picked up the same tomato soup and gouda cheese we had for dinner, and Heather made another delicious meal. We watched the rain come pouring down while we ate, and once let up an hour or so later, we headed back out again.📷Grilled cheese time
This time, we wandered in and out of the various shops, and meandered our way to the center of town. We even went inside a Norwegian mall, which was fairly underwhelming. The most popular place there, was a shop that sells build-your-own sandwich subs (but was not Subway nor Togos).📷Festplassen
Feeling like we had soaked in enough of Bergen for the day, we returned to the apartment to wind down before dinner. We played a few card games while we watched the snow fall. At one point, the snow was coming down so quickly we could hardly see beyond the Bryggen. Once the snow let up, we walked the 300 feet or so to Bryggen Tracteursted – a very nice restaurant.📷It started to snow
The reason we chose Bryggen Tracteursted was because (i) it had more than one vegetarian option and (ii) it served whale. While I was able to sample whale and salmon roe, the two options Heather hoped to try were not being served that night, so all that was left on the menu was cold rabbit food. The hostess, however, was kind enough to offer for the chef to cook Heather a vegetarian warm dish for no extra charge. Although Heather had more asparagus than she bargained for, the hot meal was appreciated. I, on the other hand, enjoyed my salmon roe, fish soup, and whale. The salmon roe weren’t terribly special, but the fish soup was amazeballs, and the whale just tasted like premium beef jerky. All in all a great meal for Ryan, and a slightly suboptimal meal for Heather. Scandinavia is pretty big on their meat dishes – and for good reason.📷Bryggen Tracteursted
📷WHALE!?!?
As per usual, once we got back to the flat, we browsed the interwebs for a short time and then promptly passed out.Our walking route:📷Post-edits were made since GPS was turned off
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