«25th of March 1599 Tomorrow I board the Silver Gull, which will sail me from my hometown of Rostock, Germany, to Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. In this foreign town, far from home, I'm to become an apprentice at the Hanseatic Office on Bryggen. 'Tis said more than a thousand Germans take part in the dry fish trade there. Norway lies far to the north, and is said to be cold and miserable. But I'll manage! And I've heard hundreds of boys work at Bryggen. With so many boys, it can't help but be grat fun!» In this journal, 14-years-old Jochen describes life as a new apprentice in Bergen. We are with him in his daily life at Bryggen, as well as, among other events, the initiation games, festivities, a royal visit, a fire and a gruesome murder. An exciting and enjoyable book about an important side of Norwegian an European history, and about life at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen in 1599, when the Hanseatic League was at its peak.