We had an eight a.m. flight, so the shuttle picked us up at 5…luckily, our lodging was prepared for this, and always serves a minimal breakfast starting at 3. Keflavik airport looked to be a seething mass of humanity when we got there at 6, but there were about 30 self-serve kiosks for check-in and baggage tags, and plenty of staff on hand to help out. Then we got in the line to hand in our luggage, and then of course there was security. The whole thing took less than half an hour, and we were at our gate in time to get a more substantial breakfast before our flight.
It was a real treat to be met at the airport by Knut-Arne, smiling broadly and waving Norwegian and American flags. “I thought I would take you home for lunch, and then take you to your hotel sometime this afternoon, and then Olav and I will take you out for dinner and then show you around Bergen.” That sounded good to us!
So that’s what we did, with the addition of a “half-hour version” of Olav’s presentation on Northern European drinking-vessels. The walking tour was around the old section of Bergen, known as “Bryggen”—The Wharf. This is an area built in the 1400s, burned, rebuilt, burned again, etc. It was one of the bases for the Hanseatic League, which oversaw trade throughout Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. The old part of town behind Bryggen is a maze of narrow cobbled streets, lanes, and staircases. While we didn’t actually take photos that evening, we did get some the next day.
Oh, and it is spring here:
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