Behind again!

But only by a day. Then again, it's been a busy 24 hours, since I'm now north of the Arctic Circle. But I'll start with yesterday, when John and I took a fun trip into Bergen. We went for a farmers market, but it was actually disappointing. There was some prepared food and a handful of vendors with local products, like cheese and honey. It was nothing like the type of market that I'd expected, for example, the photogenic joy of the Toulouse markets.

Did I mention that pancakes and waffles are big here?

We did walk around some, and I bought some fishcakes (fiskekaker) and soup for dinner.

There was an interesting monument to Norwegian seamen through the ages, called the sailor's monument. I couldn't find much information about it, except that it was unveiled in the early 1950s. It has 4 reliefs and 12 figures, and it was actually a strange compilation.

We had time to ride the funicular to the top of Fløyen. I had noticed it as we were walking around.

It was an amazing view! I'm going to post a couple of pictures full size, just because the view deserves it!

It was glorious every direction! The brown roofs you can see in the top center picture is the Bryggen area that I posted pictures from a few days ago. In another, you can see some oil platforms, very close to the city. I got better pictures of those today as I flew out over them.

There is a restaurant at the top of Fløyen, with a patio, and just as we arrived, a wedding was starting there. As in, the bride was being walked down the aisle by her father. I didn't take pictures, though I wish I had, because it seemed intrusive. But they were getting married in about the most public place possible, and everyone else was taking pictures. The bride was wearing a gorgeous full length gown with a train, and she had tattoos over a good portion of her exposed skin. We walked on, and discovered that there is a herd of friendly goats lives up there. On the way back by the wedding, I noticed that the bride and groom were sitting, facing their guests. Only the officiant was standing, very different from weddings in the US. Also, by now the sun was gone and it was starting to rain. I'm sure the bride was freezing her ass off.

From there, it was back to John's car and home. I ate my fiskekaker and packed for my trip north. Luckily, I could leave stuff at John's, as I don't really think I need any tee shirts up here. Oh, and I had John take my picture—I'm going to have more pictures of myself from this trip than I've had for any other trips I've taken. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's fun to have the pictures from these gorgeous places.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Another manhole cover! According to John, this one denotes emergency services access.