Day 2 23/8/08 - Norway

Bergen

Highlight

• Asked to swap room, room next door also did the same thing. Went from 303 to 608.
• Everything opened later than stated, but everyone came very early to breakfast. They must all want to rush off somewhere.
• Breakfast had the usual offerings. I didn’t eat as much as usual because I didn’t feel so well from not sleeping at all the night before.
• Supermarket and tourist info, before a stop at the fish market. Although it was past 8am, the stalls were still just opening. There were lots of live crab, salmon, trout and caviar, as well as whale meat.
• Walked past Korskirken Cathedral and some bread shops on the way to the Funicular.
• We were the last to get on so didn’t get the front views. You could see the same views at the top viewing point anyway.
• The weather was glorious and we spent quite some time taking snaps.
• Started on our walk. There was not much people to start with, but got busier as the day wore on.
• The walk itself was very nice. We started by the coast, moved up and down mountain ridges. Pine forests and mountains were the main views, as well as the water when we were near the coast of course.
• There was a nice breeze but the sun shone for most of the day.
• There were a few difficult sections with mud and steep climbs, but the worst had to be my shoes, which started rubbing on and bruising my toes. After about 5 hours, I couldn’t walk downhill without hurting, so the 600m descent we had to do over some very steep hills and loose rocks absolutely killed me and took about 3 times as long as normal. I was really glad to get down.
• Spent 10 am to 6pm walking, although we did have a lot of stops along the way for food and photos.
• Finally got down, found the bus and had a brief walk around the harbour. Now there were lots of people out and about, enjoying themselves, and eating ice-cream.
• Decided to have dinner at a place close to our hotel as I really couldn’t bear the walk. It was actually very good (but expensive as usual). Modern Norwegian using traditional ingredients. The only hiccup was the rice that came with the scallops, which was very hard and was too salty.
• Slokky made me mad by substituting his asparagus, which I REALLY wanted to try, for trout, even though he could’ve swapped his scallops since I was getting the same though. He claimed he didn’t hear me even though I stated various facts I wanted the scallop swapped: trying more of the menu, scallop and trout being the same price…etc etc. The fact that he thought I would even consider swapping asparagus really annoyed me, so another perfectly pleasant meal was ruined.

Food

• In City breakfast:
  • bread with 7 cold cuts, cheese, herring, salad, pate, tuna and sardine
  • muesli and rice puffs with apple
  • apple juice
  • cherry milk drink
• fish cakes
• Smayet mat og Vinhus dinner:
  • bread with garlic butter oil and vinegar, aioli
  • Aquavit cured mountain trout with crab and pistachio aoili
  • monkfish with sundried tomato
  • pan fried red fish with apple and basil puree, fish veloute
  • rack of lamb with creamed artichokes, Norwegian carrots and shallot confit demi-glaze
  • rhubarb parfait with hazelnut and strawberry
  • pan fried scallops with pumpkin risotto and balsamic vinegar
  • Entrecote with brie de meaux, mango sauce, sauteed cep mushroom and summer cabbage
  • Valhrona chocolate cake with cherry sorbet
  • rose granita