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| From BERGEN, NORWAY |
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| From BERGEN, NORWAY |
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| From BERGEN, NORWAY |
En route to Europe:
I had the good fortune of noticing that another passenger had a poster with words like hyperbolic and manifold. Turns out, he's a grad student at Utrecht (first leg was Chi->Amsterdam). We talked for about 5 or so hours on the flight, which had hardly any people on it at all. I noticed when I visited Amsterdam that Dutch people are on par with Americans in terms of loudness, and both he and I had to be shushed because people were sleeping. It really helped pass the time.
When I got off the flight and looked for my connection (Amsterdam->Oslo, then Oslo->Bergen), there were no such flights for my airline. Thus commenced some searching. The Amsterdam airport, by the way --very nice. They have these transfer stations where you can get your boarding pass. I go to one, and they say the flight's cancelled. I then have to convince the ladies at border control (there's an 'international' region of the airport for people with connecting flights, which removes the need to do customs when they land. Pretty neat) that I should be allowed through because I have to go down to the departures desk (think: place you check in for your flight when you first arrive at the airport) even though I don't have a boarding pass.
I get in line, and this was a rather amazing sight. All of these people had had this flight canceled, and they were waiting in a sensible line, leaving breaks for the foot traffic at the airport to get around them. They were calm and polite. Everyone got re-booked. I also got a voucher for 15 euros worth of lunch at the airport, which I spent on smoked salmon and toast. One of the discussions on the plane was how much better European airlines are in terms of customer relations/service, which surprised my conversational companion.
I was re-routed through Copenhagen. The airport is super swank. I think they must have renovated it in the last 3 years. I also enjoyed people-watching at there as well as Amsterdam-Schipol. Very pretty people. Lots of tall, lithe, blue-eyed and platinum haired types. Fashionably dressed people with their fashionable toddlers.
Bergen!
Bergen is this mess of mountains, hills, and inlets/fjords/mini-fjords. Lots of ever-greens. Lots of drizzle. Everything's green. I'm looking forward to hiking around their mountains. They are comparable-seeming at least to the sandias (around albuquerque), but the setting is much more similar to Vancouver, although I don't think they really have any beaches.
The guesthouse I'm in is nice. Nicer than than the ones I'd been in before. Pricey rel continental europe, but the best cost here. Nice enough beds (but we're on the top floor, so the ceiling is a maze of eaves. I can't stand up straight directly adjacent to my bed.
Walked around. Ate a small tapa at Bryggen. <1 cup of fish stew cost me ~$10 USD (55 Nok). I also bought a 'pizza wrap' (flatbread pizza folded up) for the same price, much more substantial. I discovered that they do not necessarily charge for water. Also, their tap water is just fine.
I've found several grocery stores. Fruits and veggies are pretty close in price to back home, actually. $2-3 for a big head of broccoli, etc. Apples at $4/kg. There's a fish (and fruit and veggies) market daily.
