Well, to be totally honest, there was no wiggling … at least, until the bill came!
The seafood market is one of Bergen’s big attractions: a series of red tents right on the waterfront, where locals grill and boil the catches of the day. Today, the breeze from the harbor was laced with the savory scent of grilled lobster, boiled shrimp, and steamed crab. How could we resist?
So, after strolling the city, we made ourselves at home at a little picnic table under one of the bright red tents. Next to us, some French tourists were putting a dent in a platter piled high with everything from crab claws to mussels … so we called over one of the handlers, pointed to our neighbors’ platter, and said, “One of those, please!”
Ten minutes later, our large seafood platter arrived. Where to start? The half-lobster? The succulent mussels? The bright pink shrimp? The hunks of crab the size of a teenager’s fist?
By the time we finished, we had a pile of bones and shell so high, we could barely see ourselves over the top. When the bill came, the bottom line wasn’t a total surprise (we had seen the prices on the big chalkboard out front, after all). But there’s nothing like dropping eighty bucks per person (on! lunch!) to make you say, “Perhaps we should have gone for the four dollar hotdogs down the street.”
Nah. We’ll only be in Bergen once in a great once in a while, and what’s the use of coming here if you’re going to drink Coke and eat hotdogs? All in all, a delicious and memorable meal … just not something I’d do every day, unless, perhaps, we win the lottery!
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