Bergen: Arrival

Late night dinner in a 303-year-old restaurant. Looking out into the pale blue twilight. It's nearly 11 p.m.

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 We arrived at our little guesthouse in Bergen, Norway exhausted; as would expected, after traveling nearly 20 hours and traversing 9 time zones. It was mid afternoon, cold and rainy and the only thing we could think about was sleeping, if just for a minute.

Our home-away-from home for five days in Bergen.

We figured out the IKEA style Scandinavian bedding and collapsed. Like every other international trip, we intended to sleep a few minutes and woke up hours later. But this time, thanks to Norway’s long summer days, it was still light out.

We left the comfort of our new home and walked down wet cobblestone streets to find Bryggen, the 800-year-old, postcard perfect fishing village in the heart of Bergen. It was already late, nearly 11 p.m., but we found an amazing little restaurant with cobblestone floors and wooden walls and rafters. The server told us the dinning room was 303 years old. Our founding father's grandfathers could have eaten here.

When we saw the prices we ordered enough of the local tapas for one person and shared: pickled mackerel, smoked salmon, potato salad, fish soup. It was delicious and not nearly enough food, but a perfect taste of Norway. We made plans to find the nearest grocery store and stock up. We knew we wouldn’t be able to “eat out” every meal.

Our view from the bedroom window, down into the street. It's by now the middle of the "white night," Norwegian summer light.