Bergen, Norway: We are told Bergen is the rainiest city in Europe. Supposedly it rains or snows here 300 days a year, that's five days out of six.
Today was no exception, we took a neighborhood walk after supper and were rained on the whole time - not wonderful. The other DrC says you could wear out an umbrella in this town, I concur.
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, population roughly a quarter million. It is heavily involved in Norway's North Sea oil boom. The harbor home ports a number of very heavy duty workboats or ships for the industry.
Bergen is an old Hanseatic League city dating back to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. We visited their quarter this afternoon, multistory wooden trading buildings that would be ancient if the quarter hadn't burned several times over the centuries. We saw where they were restoring one using ancient timber framing techniques and brand new wood.
When I see Bergen I think of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, his various wooden sidekicks, and a pretty daughter Candice who had her own TV show, Murphy Brown. I presume he was of Norwegian ancestry.
A high school graduation party was happening at our hotel tonight and more than half the young women were wearing traditional Norwegian garb, very old-style costumes. The balance wore cocktail dresses, the fellows were all in suits.
Later ... Driving through Bergen we saw a tasteful display of bikinis and beachwear in a shop window. Our immediate reaction - it's resort wear, entirely unsuitable for local use. The weather here mimics that of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, or panhandle Alaska - cool wet summers, wet snowy winters.
Even Later ... There is a T.G.I.Friday's in downtown Bergen that does a great bacon cheeseburger. It is just the ticket for a Yank suffering the culinary culture shock of Norwegian "cuisine."
