Norwegian Highlight #1: Whale-meat steak

Date: June 24, 2008
Location: Bergen, Norway
Lat: 60° 24.09N Long: 005° 18.49E

Shoot, we’re finally here in Bergen Norway. It was real neat waking up early and seeing the M/V Explorer maneuver into the port. The port of Bergen is centrally located in the city of Bergen and it’s real easy to walk everywhere. There are tons of neat things about this city!

Bergen is situated in the middle of a series of hills; in fact, it’s more like a series of cliffs. The fascinating thing about this is that there are many houses built into these cliff faces. Another interesting thing is that school children all wear reflective vests when they’re walking around the streets. I guess this can be viewed as more of Norway’s desire to hold the hand of every citizen.

I visited the Bergen fish market earlier. It’s sort of like a mix of fish being sold and arts and local crafts. I passed on the Norwegian sweaters so far, but you never know. The fascinating thing about this was that the storeowners didn’t seem to be pushing their wares too hard. Flea markets in the US are livelier than that. At least almost everyone speaks English. I guess there is not the same sort of motivation to push products as in other areas, with the welfare state as it is. A real interesting quote from my global studies class was that the top 90% of Norway support the bottom 90% of Norway. It’s a real different kind of mindset here because it seems like everyone feels like part of a collective whole.

Another fascinating, or rather frustrating, aspect of Norway is the prices. Everything here is extremely expensive. Taxes are real high here, which is clearly a part of it. Another thing is that people can afford the prices too, Norway’s real prosperous now. I’m going to go back out now, but those were some quick thoughts from my three hours in Norway so far.

Well, I’m back for a bit. Norway’s been swell so far. I’ve seen lots of wonderful architecture and buildings. In addition, we got some delicious ice cream and I even got a whale-meat steak! It tasted a lot like beefsteak with a slight fishy taste to it. It was sure tasty. Unfortunately the price was hard to swallow, for seven people, six of which got water instead of a soda, the meal cost 1,298 Kroner. The exchange rate is around $1=5 Kroner, so that’s approximately $260. That was pretty much my prestige meal, the one where I go to try to get the taste of Norway.

I also went up the top of Mount Fløyen. This is one of the seven mountains that border Bergen. The view up here was spectacular, truly unparalleled. I was able to see for miles and miles from up top. I can’t stop gushing about the view. It was easy to get up since there was a funicular which made getting up and down real easy.

Norway’s been outstanding so far, I’m going to grab a little bit of shuteye before I head out for Oslo. Outside of the disgusting cost of living, Norway’s excellent so far.