Guidebooks usually list the buildings, the places, and the landscapes that you are supposed to see and to lodge and eat in when you travel. But many times you simply want to see in a cafe and watch people...people waiting for a bus, people walking or biking to work or school, people meeting their friends. Street life in places like Trondheim and Bergen are vibrant...owing to the density of housing and the design on public transport to bring people into central areas for their shopping, entertainment and work.
You do pick up a few things about Norwegians from watching them on the street. While they do sometimes make eye contact, they make no formal greeting, no head nods, certainly no "hi" or brief exchange the way they do in towns like Fort Collins...not even in the small coastal villages. Yet if you do make contact, asking for help with directions for example, they respond openly. If they sense you do not know Norwegian, they respond in English. They each seem to be going about their business...unless, of course, they are having a drink together at another table. They dress functionally, practically. They walk at a good clip, but some will stop for music. And they are almost all fit...well, after all, they walk everywhere.
Another aspect of street life, though, is that Norwegian towns and cities are very unfriendly to automobiles. Parking fines begin around $100 for overtime. Pedestrians, buses, bikes all have right of way. A tank of gas for a small Toyota cost us $90. And cars themselves are tremendously expensive...hence the side business our cousin Eivind has of importing used cars from Germany, shining them up, and selling them on ebay. One way to put yourself through the university...even if it is tuition free, you still have to earn your bread and board.
