Wednesday 31 August 2022--I don't have much of anything in mind to do today. I scheduled two nights in Bergen at the start of the trip mostly to give myself a buffer in case of travel snafu, and also to have an easy day after a travel day. I have breakfast in the hotel about as late as possible. I really like the European breakfast buffets, cold meats and cheeses and fruit and breads.

Get out and wander around the old town streets at the head of Vågen, the narrow bay around which Bergen grew up. It occurs to me that I should take a ride on Fløibanen, the funicular that runs up the side of Fløyen, one of the Seven Mountains surrounding Bergen. (The seven peaks are a poetic device inspired by Rome's seven hills; there is not universal agreement on which seven of nine peaks are the pertinent ones.) I have a few more days in town at the end of the trip and was thinking to save Fløibanen until then, but it's a sunny day and I realize I should take advantage of it. Norway is a rainy country, and Bergen is notoriously wet; it averages 195 days a year with some precipitation. So up I go, on a track about a half a mile long, rising a thousand feet.

At the top, a couple dozen people are spread out along a broad viewing platform, enjoying the sunshine and the view over Bergen and the fjord beyond. There's a café, a restaurant, and a souvenir shop just behind, and trails leading off in all directions for as far as anyone would want to go. I explore a couple hundred yards along two different trails, but don't feel up to any more of a hike. Hang out for an hour or so, some of that over a cup of coffee in the restaurant. Then it's back down to town, where I wander a bit more before popping into Pingvinen, a gastropub about a block from Henrik. Friendly place, and the dinner menu looks interesting. After a pint, I head back to the hotel for a nap.

I'm up in time to go for a walk out around Nordnes, the peninsula extending from the center of town on the south side of Vågen. Win and I didn't get out to this part of Bergen in 2004, and I've been thinking about it since. There's a non- touristy commercial stretch along Strandgaten, followed by a not-very-charming modern block; I'm wondering if this area was cleared by fire not too long ago. Or maybe it was filled with warehouses that were ripe for clearing. But much of the peninsula is taken up by a neighborhood of older wooden houses and intriguing narrow streets and alleys. A park out at the end gives views out across Byfjorden. On the way back toward town, Løvetann Café & Bistro looks like a nice local spot to have dinner, but it's very busy. I decide to go back to Pingvinen, but find that booked up, too. There's a barbecue joint along the block, and I grab a burger there. Then to Henrik for a few pints before retiring. It's been a good first day on the road, my first in Europe in thirty-four months.