Bergen by foot

"I want to get up the hill to take some photos," I told the guy at the counter. "Can I walk up?"
"Of course," he said. "There are lots of paths."
"What's the best way?"
He shrugged. "Go that way," he said, pointing to the hill. "If you get lost, make sure you're going up."

Turned out to be pretty good advice

At the top I found what at first appeared to be a children's park but turned out to be the setting of a low-budget horror film (I assume) with carved trolls and heads on stakes peering out at every turn.

Gah!

A shower and breakfast, and the rest of the day was spent exploring. I went to the university and saw the foundations of the St Catherine Church and Hospital.

The first women's hospital in Norway

I crossed a couple of bridges and took a bunch of photos I'm not posting here because they're not really of anything. I was staying at the end of an historical area, a bunch of buildings which, if the information outside them can be believed, are sinking into the fjord.

Bright colours indicate wealth

I was also next to a castle (with lots of families having picnics on the walls, in spite of the rain), a remnant from Bergen's days as a member of the Hanseatic League. One of the major structures within was the Rosencrantz Tower.

No Gildenstern Bridge, sorry

And, of course, Haakon's Hall.

Obviously

My last act for the day was to work out how to get the bus to Stavanger and prepare for the six hour ride.

The US healthcare system is in chronic need of reform.

This was not the best day of the trip.  The Liar got up and announced that he had to see a doctor, because he was getting worse, not better.  He headed off for George Washington University Hospital, while the rest of us had a wander around downtown Washington.

As the weather cleared up, Washington became appealing.

Soon afterwards he sent me a text saying, "I have HIV or mono." I jumped the next bus to the hospital and went to see if he was okay.  We waited another hour for the results to come back.  He said that the guy admitted before him had been stabbed in the arm, that the woman across the hall (who spent twenty minutes screaming) had lost the end of her finger.

The Liar having a 'little drink.'

The results came back positive for mono.  "You know what mono is, right?" I asked.  "Glandular fever."  He hadn't known, and he wore an expression of relief.

"Glandular fever," his doctor said, "I'll have to remember that."  She gave him a list of stuff he couldn't do; "No paracetamol, no drinking, no contact sports for at least a month."

"It's been twenty-three years," I told her, "another month won't hurt."

He had to finish the saline in his bags, so we waited another hour or so for that.  One of the hospital research assistants fainted next to me while we were waiting.  The Liar was checked out just as she was admitted.

Aleksander Pushkin

We walked through the GWU campus to find a pharmacist, where we learned it takes several hours to fill a prescription in the States.  So I took the Liar back to the hostel for a nap.