The Rest of the Journey

Before I forget it all, I should probably make some notes about what happened after my last (first?) post. For starters, the Stockholm Central Station really is much nicer than the tiny little corner of it I crashed into at first. Although, if I hadn't been sitting there, I wouldn't have seen the three guys wandering around with their accordions hanging off their backs. :)

Imagine my excitement when the train pulled in and I hauled my two suitcases, fiddle, and backpack up the two steps and down to the far end of the narrow hallway to my cabin that had not three, but six beds! Not to worry, I didn't wind up getting any cabinmates. I slept as well as I usually do on a sleeper train. That is, everytime the train stops, I wake up. Fortunately it didn't stop very often. Unfortunately, it stopped at about 7:30 am outside of Fredrikstad. Due to some electrical trouble on the tracks, we had to change trains (remember all of my luggage?) in the middle of nowhere and take a different route in to Oslo. If I thought it was fun getting all of those bags up two stairs and down a hall, it was downright peachy dropping them off the side of the train, dragging them through the gravel, and hoisting them back up onto the new train. After all of that, we were only an hour late into Oslo. Not so bad.

At the Oslo Central Station, I picked up my tickets for the next leg of travel and headed for the Forex exchange office. Travel tip: if you are carrying traveller's checks, don't exchange them at Forex. Do it at a bank! Then I found some food and coffee. Food was to be a spinach and feta calzone. Mostly notable because it was really a spinach and feta curry calzone. I think the coffee was pretty good, but who knows after the curry and feta and a solid 40 hours of travelling!

The journey to Bø i Telemark was mostly uneventful. My suitcase fell out of the luggage rack on one big turn. Oh well. I got excellent directions at the tourist information office when I got off the train and took the bicycle path to the motel.

It turns out the motel is the student housing during the school year - I can only hope that my room is this comfortable! Of course, I was assigned to the third floor (luggage!). I can't remember when a shower felt so good. I thought about taking a nap, but I still had things to do!

Ultimate travel tip: don't bring so much luggage!