Trains, Trains, and Automobiltrains. And Oslo

Day 12. I have to admit, I was starting to get tired on this trip and was almost regretting signing on for the second week. It all kinda started to seem the same. That is until today.

We woke up at 5am to catch the bus from Janice’s apartment back to Goteborg Central to get on another train to Oslo. Despite feeling so fired yesterday, we both slept well and felt good this morning. We also walked to the bus stop in a chilly, but refreshing, dawn. We jumped on the bus, made our way back to Central Station, grabbed a muffin and a cup of “kofee” from the station, and boarded the train for Oslo at 6:43am. This was our 2nd of 4 long train rides we’ll be taking on this trip but riding the train that early, we basically had the entire car to ourselves. We stretched out over 2 chairs each and enjoyed the 4 hour ride to Oslo napping, reading, or just admiring the impressive view.

We arrived in Oslo around 10:45am and our next train to Bergen didn’t leave until 4:07pm so we had quite a few hours to relax, do some minor sightseeing, and grab a relaxed lunch. We also knew we’d be back to Oslo on Thursday to finish seeing the city so we decided to proceed through this day at quarter speed. The first thing we did was seek out the luggage lockers at the train station and dump our bags. It was nice to get rid of my 35lb backpack for a few hours. That alone made me feel less tired. We walked outside to a magnificent view. Oslo is GORGEOUS. It’s right on the water, the air is pure and clean with a crispness that can send a shiver through you if you aren’t ready for it. It was a glorious day though. Sunny with a few clouds. In the sun, it felt like it was 75 degrees, but once one of those clouds settled over the sun, it dropped to 65. It was a nice change from the warm, sometimes humid weather in Stockholm and Copenhagen. We stood outside, closed our eyes and tilted our heads up at the sky to soak in the sun and fresh air. We were immediately rejuvenated. We walked around for a bit just seeing some of the sights, laughing and hamming it up for pictures a bit. We saw The Parliament building, City Hall, The Royal Palace, the famous Opera House, the theater, the Ackershus castle, and a bunch of other things we didn’t even identify. Once we got hungry, we stopped at a little restaurant called Z Clubs, grabbed an patio table, and relaxed over a Caesar salad, shrimp scampi salad, bread, and the iced tap water I’ve come to love. Z Clubs was a block away from... The Hard Rock Cafe so we ran into the gift shop so I could get another Zippo! After lunch, we did a little more sightseeing then went to a bakery to get a few items for our evening trainride to Bergen. I got a chocolate croissant and Erika got a chocolate scone. We headed back to Oslo Central to get our bags and hop on our next long train to the Fjord city of Bergen. Janice told us last night that Bergen is beautiful so despite the 6 and a half hour trainride that lies ahead of us, we’re excited to get there.