Bergen, 08/02/2017

Not yet fully digested the delicious pizza from last night, we only had one thing in mind this morning: the breakfast buffet. Sad but true. Together with a bunch of Asian gluttons, we then indulged in this luxury. From the breakfast room on the 5th floor of the Magic Hotel, we had a beautiful view of the city - and the threatening gray sky above. It shouldn't have surprised us, after all Bergen, with an average of a proud 240 rainy days per year, proudly holds the honorable title of "the rainiest city in Europe". Better to have such a title than none, right? Definitely without hunger, we left the increasingly crowded breakfast room again, unaware of the nasty surprise that awaited us - me, to be precise. Already in the elevator, I felt a tightening in my stomach that got exponentially worse. (Yes, someone has graduated from high school.) Anyway, I must have eaten something bad recently and urgently needed the toilet. I'll spare you the details at this point. Just this much: we made a spectacular sprint to our toilet. Hours later, and I still feel a little nauseous and queasy in my stomach. Nevertheless, an hour later, we left the hotel and strolled to Bergen City. It finally started raining when we reached the university. That's how it should be in Bergen. Within a short time, not even a tree could protect us from this downpour and thunderstorm. But since we're not made of sugar, we reached the center completely soaked. Bergen certainly lives up to its name: even the city center is very hilly. Torget, the famous fish market, and behind it Bryggen (Norwegian for "dock"), are also centrally located. We spent most of our time under the stalls of the fish market. Fresh fish and seafood are prepared into delicious meals in front of the eyes of hungry mouths and can be enjoyed on the spot with a view of the water. But fruits, especially berries, and sausages from moose, reindeer, and whales are also offered for sale. At this point, I would like to take my hat off to Leon, who refused my beetroot salad but bravely participated in a salami tasting. "Whale tastes better than moose." With these words, we thanked and said goodbye and went to buy fish for tonight's dinner. Despite the really heavy rain, Bergen had captivated us, especially with its winding, picturesque alleyways. Drenched and trembling, we reached the underground garage. This was followed by a complicated laundry, Leon, and shoe drying procedure until we set off towards Lofthus Camping, our starting point for tomorrow's twelve-hour hike to Trolltunga. In conclusion, an important piece of information: Leon is currently grilling the delicious fish from Bergen for dinner. Somehow, the grill only really heated up when he placed a few sausages next to the fish as an appetizer. One question: should I allow Leon to let his perch swim in ketchup?

P.S. Today, there are unfortunately only mobile phone pictures. The camera had to stay in the bag due to the rain.