Bergen......Gateway To The Fjords
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Well it was just like the good old days. A map, a good sense of direction and a little good luck. No GPS or Google map. After arriving at the airport it was a tram ticket then some walking through the park from the train station, but we made it and found our centrally located hotel with very little difficulty.
It didn't take long to see where all the tourists were hiding. Bergen is the jump off point to the fjords and surrounding environs. As wonderful as it is, Republicans and members of the GOP would not find Norway a suitable place to live and would probably complain the whole time about how expensive it is here. Taxes up the ying yang, high cost of living due to a strong social service support system, cheap health care, education and the cleanest and best dressed beggars I have ever come across.
This picturesque town, though it is considered the second largest city in Norway, used to be the nation's capital. Primarily this was due to the location for trading and commerce. Vikings were certainly an integral part of it's history though there doesn't seem to be much of a focus on that today. An easy sail to Iceland, Britain and Europe, historically the town can go back at least 900 years when it was founded by the Hanseatic League, a group of mostly German traders who organized and prospered at the expense of the locals. Some of the existing buildings can go back as far as 1400AD. Wooden buildings and fire are a good recipe for disaster and this town certainly has had it's fair share with the last major fire back in 1916 where much of the center town was ravaged. Never the less the locals persist as they keep revitalizing, persevering and preserving.
After going on a city museum tour, one can get a real feel as to how commerce evolved with apprentice merchants from the upper echelon of society going through an eight year apprenticeship. Imagine standing back in time and what it might have been like to live here hundreds of years ago.
Great place to walk about for both people watching and did I forget to mention, mussel eating with white wine of course, at one of the best and largest fish markets to be found. Skål!!
Well it was just like the good old days. A map, a good sense of direction and a little good luck. No GPS or Google map. After arriving at the airport it was a tram ticket then some walking through the park from the train station, but we made it and found our centrally located hotel with very little difficulty.
It didn't take long to see where all the tourists were hiding. Bergen is the jump off point to the fjords and surrounding environs. As wonderful as it is, Republicans and members of the GOP would not find Norway a suitable place to live and would probably complain the whole time about how expensive it is here. Taxes up the ying yang, high cost of living due to a strong social service support system, cheap health care, education and the cleanest and best dressed beggars I have ever come across.
This picturesque town, though it is considered the second largest city in Norway, used to be the nation's capital. Primarily this was due to the location for trading and commerce. Vikings were certainly an integral part of it's history though there doesn't seem to be much of a focus on that today. An easy sail to Iceland, Britain and Europe, historically the town can go back at least 900 years when it was founded by the Hanseatic League, a group of mostly German traders who organized and prospered at the expense of the locals. Some of the existing buildings can go back as far as 1400AD. Wooden buildings and fire are a good recipe for disaster and this town certainly has had it's fair share with the last major fire back in 1916 where much of the center town was ravaged. Never the less the locals persist as they keep revitalizing, persevering and preserving.
After going on a city museum tour, one can get a real feel as to how commerce evolved with apprentice merchants from the upper echelon of society going through an eight year apprenticeship. Imagine standing back in time and what it might have been like to live here hundreds of years ago.
Great place to walk about for both people watching and did I forget to mention, mussel eating with white wine of course, at one of the best and largest fish markets to be found. Skål!!
What were the wooden bunks used for. I know for sleeping but in what establishment?
ReplyDeleteApprentices slept there. They were anywhere between 12 and 18 years old and the youngest slept in the lower bunks.
DeleteActually they slept two to a bunk. End to end.
Delete