The GCW Tour, the Frozen Cruise: Norway, Part One

Our first stop in Norway was Bergen. We had a couple of hours to walk around on our own, and then we took an excursion to see some of the highlights. We also learned a few things like...

Bergen's a lot like Seattle, but if the mountains outside Seattle had been picked up and dropped at the water's edge.

Bergen has mostly German roots because a thousand or so years ago the English came to the area and brought the plague along with them. As a result of that, the Norwegians were dead and the English weren't terribly welcome, so that left plenty of room for the Germans to come in and take over the fishing industry.

The old part of the city, Bryggen, has a number of notable features. First, there's not much of it left because big chunks of the city keep burning down. Lots of very closely built wooden buildings makes fire a big problem. As a result of that, they eventually prohibited any of the buildings in the area from having chimneys. All the cooking was done in communal kitchens in a completely separate section of the neighborhood. Additionally, it was all built on landfill right at the water's edge -- and historical protections now prohibit any major changes -- so the angles on the buildings are anything but straight. (This also explains the wood streets, as you needed something to keep from stepping into the wet landfill.) They keep restoring the buildings as the wood rots out from under them, but they can't really stop the ground from settling after they've completed construction.

Sixty percent of Norway's income comes from oil and natural gas pumped out of the North Sea, but very little of that stays in Norway. Electricity is generated hydro-electrically, and so houses are heated with electricity or wood. Similarly, the government subsidizes electric cars so that 25% of cars on the road are electric. They also charge tolls to drive cars in to the city -- which are cheaper for electric cars -- as a way to incentivize the use of public transport.

And in the category of things I learned (way, way, way) too late for it to make a difference, it seems university education in Norway is free, and most classes are taught in English. As a result, a significant portion of the students at the University of Bergen are foreigners. 

I can certainly see why they'd come. At least in the summer, it's a terrific spot...