an american welcome in bergen.

Arriving at my guesthouse here in Bergen, I found out that the owner was not there. Hmmph. I went and got a coffee, and came back. Still not there, but some other guests of hers invited me in.

Tek and Tom from Tampa. Affable guys, probably in their sixties, here on a fishing vacation before heading to Scotland. I was exhausted from my travels (two layovers, in Brussels and a town called Billund) so i was thankful that they invited me in.

Waiting for my hostess to arrive, I enjoyed some whiskey and conversation with these guys. Tek looked kind of like Garry Marshall, Tom sounded like Sam Elliott after a cerveza-and-cigar bender. Tek was orginally from Scotland, with encylopedic knowledge on various topics including the origin of the term 'two bits'. Tom is 3-0 in cases he argued before the Florida Supreme Court. They asked me to sit down, asked me about my travels, i asked them about theirs. we all pulled pieces of bread from a big loaf they had purchased in town, and sipped our whiskey, all on the lam from responsibility for a bit.

when my hostess did arrive, she didn't have a room available. she showed me to one nearby, where i spent the night. but who knows, if i hadn't gone there to start with, i may have never sealed my own welcome with a friendly conversation and a pleasant buzz.