A mixed bag!

Between the weather being nasty and my host having obligations elsewhere, it's been a slower couple of days. In the rain yesterday, we visited a wonderful museum and an aquarium, and today I managed a long walk to the nearest water and beyond. I found a really nice grocery store and got a big salad (I was craving green) and bacon pancakes, which were yummy! I hope the weather cooperates tomorrow, as we have plans for the funicular that goes to the top of the mountain (Fløyen) above Bergen.

So today will be a mixed bag of things I have found interesting. First, as promised, are the manhole covers. I got interested in them in Japan, where they are practically an art form. There is a whole group for them on the Flickr website. When I was in Toulouse in 2020, I took photos of the manhole covers in Old Town, as the art told you which area of town you were in. So, I started taking pictures of them in Bergen as well. I amused some watching locals at the same time, so it served 2 purposes.

The compass manhole cover was right outside the museum we were visiting, the University Museum of Bergen. It stuck me as a a very old fashioned museum with touches of modern. It covered everything from anthropology to geology to zoology, and more, with history thrown in. Lots of stuffed birds and mammals, and modern touches like wall projections and magnifiers.

From there, we went on to the Akvariet Bergen, the aquarium. I really like aquaria, but it was quite expensive, $31 for adults! I took advantage of the senior rate, which conveniently starts at age 67, and got in for $23.50. Still, it was a fun place to visit on a rainy day. The Gentoo penguins were probably my favorites—of course, they were outside in the rain. Surprisely, they were sitting on eggs!

The fish ranged from native to tropical, with a few snakes and an Philippine crocodile thrown in.

One thing that has surprised me here is that there is a fair amount of trash and cigarette butts on the ground. I know it's not unknown in the US, but there seems to be more here. There is certainly more here than I saw in Iceland.

Oh, here are a couple of images for my EMS friends. John drives an ambulance as a side job, but these were just vehicles I saw downtown. The response vehicle is used to take a doctor to the scene. John says that occasionally it will be a paramedic, but that certification is new here and it's usually a doctor. From John's description of his training, though, it sounds like he can do most of what our paramedics can do (IVs, intubations, etc.). Definitely more than an ambulance driver.

On the way home from downtown, we went to a pet store for cat food. I had to check out the dog stuff of course. Wonder if my pack would like some rabbit ears? That NOK 99.90 is $9.78, by the way.

Today I walked. It was pretty sunny, but the wind was intense. I had splurged on a Gortex jacket at the 66˚North outlet in Akureyri (Iceland), and I'm glad I did. It blocks the wind (and, in the past two days, the rain) really well. I've been birding and looking at wildflowers, which I enjoy wherever I go. The hooded crows are pretty common, and the Eurasian magpies are everywhere. The forget-me-nots should look familiar, as we have the same flowers at home.

So, fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow, so we can take the funicular! And Sunday I'll be heading to Tromsø for a week. If the weather gods smile on me, I've got a good shot of seeing the Northern Lights. If the photography gods are also smiling, I'll get some good images of them. I bought a fast lens to use just for the aurora, but I've seen really good cell phone images too. 🤞