Bergen

18 July- wandered around Bergen today. It is the sort of place best enjoyed by just meandering around the streets and enjoying the lovely old houses. We had a look at the Bergenhus fortress from the outside which includes Rosenkrantz Tower- a tower dating from the 1270's so pretty old and something called Hakons Hall- also very old - built between 1247 and 1261 ( not sure how I got those exact dates) and which was built by you guessed it- King Hakon Hakonsdon. A lot of it was destroyed in WW2 so assume the Germabs were here again. They are all very forbidding looking- dark stones and very tiny Windows on the walls facing the water- unsurprising given both the weather and fortification purposes. Also went on what is meant to be the number 1 attraction- Floibanen which is a train that takes you up the mountain where you get a great view of Bergen and its surrounds. You could see why it was a prosperous city when a lot of trade occurred via water. We also saw the oldest building- St Mary's church which dates from the 1200's and inadvertently stumbled on a church where there was a trumpeter playing into the square outside from the church tower. It looked brilliant- s/he was playing one of those trumpets with a long stem- can't think what it is called. It is a medieval looking trumpet. Wandered up the main pedestrian mall- Bergen looks to be pretty wealthy still and circled back to the hotel for a mid day rest. Oh yes and found a cafe that roasted its own coffee beans- had the best cappuccino of the trip so far. Very pretty little city.