day 10 - bergen

Bergen gets 274 days with precipitation of one sort or another per year, so it shouldn't really surprise me that I was rained on all day. Still, if I'm going to be rained on I'd rather have it happen in the presence of museums and kitsch shops rather than 100km of open road. If Oslo is boring and drab, Bergen is lively and full of culture and history. Even active vacations need to take time out for some moseying. After yesterday's death-pedal, I've earned a rest day.

Bergen is norway's second-largest city and has been at various times its spiritual, political, and economic center. I spent most of the day walking around the city, unsuccessfully searching out a chocolate croissant and checking out the UNESCO world heritage sites. The latter involved an english-language guided tour so I was introduced to all those American tourists I haven't seen further inland. Most seem to be folks with scandanavian roots and "oh-yah" accents from somewhere between Fargo and Lake Wobegon. Some have even tried Lutkefisk, which is a level of adventure even I won't stomach.

The old and highly flammable Bryggen section of town was ruled by the german-based Hanseatic League for about 400 years. This was about 1000 bachelor merchants clustered tightly and "forbidden" to mix with the locals. (That said, the fine for unauthorized use of the courtard as a toilet was larger than that for fathering an illegitimate child by a norse mistress.) Touring the old chapter houses, all I could think was that the organization was a frat house writ large. There were initiation rituals, a hierarchy of belonging, tightly-enforced internal rules, and copious amounts of beer. It's telling that the three highest positions inthe organization were the supreme leader plus the wood-master (to keep everyone warm) and the beer-master (to keep them drunk).

I also stopped by the energetic Torget fish market to purchase ingredients for tonight's dinner. Some of the fish on sale were really, really ugly with huge toothy underbites and flat, squashed faces.

ugly fish
Originally uploaded by wolftone.

Dinner, yes dinner. I always believe that you should try food when away that you can't get at home. Here, that's minke whale. The guy at the fish market sliced me a generous hunk of the dark grey-red meat and told me that it goes best with potatoes. (This does not help. In Norway, people think that a chocolate milkshake goes well with potatoes.) Since this isn't exactly something you'll find in Joy of Cooking, I decided to serve it with garlic and mushrooms on a bed of pasta. As I was about to eat an animal which may very well be smarter than me, I paused for a moment. This is the time when some travel writers will rationalize, others will agonize, and others will memorialize the Great Dreamer they are about to consume. Me? I added some salt and wished I had a green salad and a glass of chianti. (I think. They also don't tell you what kind of wine goes well with whale in tastings.)

I'm happy to report that those concerned with commercial whaling have little to worry about. I don't think this meat will really catch on, even if restrictions are lifted. Minke tastes like steak that has been left too long in a cod locker. I always thought that "fishy" tastes came from being a fish, not a general creature of the sea. Apparently, not. Some complain about things being neither fish nor fowl, but they should consider the even greater wierdness of something being both fish and carne. It took 3/4 of a hazelnut chocolate bar to get the taste out of my mouth.

I had planned to take the cable car up to the top of mt Ulriken after dinner. With the thick cloud cover, I imagine I'd get the same view from there as the back patio of the hostel.

Big day tomorrow. I should sleep.