Established in 1070, Bergen was Norway’s largest city until 1830 and now, at number 2, boasts a population of  almost 300,000 people. Despite it being in WP_20140909_22_10_07_Pro__highrespart a college town, I learned today that it is still 85% ethnically Norwegian… Jane and I noticed on our first day here, that a vast majority of the employees in restaurants and hotels are invariably young,  pretty & blonde.. maybe it is just the restaurants we’ve been frequenting… but that’s what were seeing.

Anyway, like probably every town in Norway it’s all about the fish and Bergen has an amazing fish market down by the wharf. You can buy everything from big-ass live King Crabs [if you’ve ever seen one live you’ll understand why it is in bold, they are ginormous] to smoked Mink whale meat! Minks are populous enough that are no bans on them…

WP_20140909_23_27_59_Pro__highresIt’s a culturally rich, lovely walking town with enough hills to keep you in shape… Yesterday we ventured down though the old town to the fish market and found ourselves at the foot of the funicular to the top f the mountain. As luck would have it there was literally no one in line and the next car was taking off in 1 minute. 90 minutes later, as we returned to the bottom, there were easily 200 people in line to board the two trams that held about 30 people each!