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AUGUST 1, 2003
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After picking up our luggage and getting some Norwegian krone out of the ATM, we got the bus to Oslo, arriving here about 7:30. We had no trouble finding our hostel, and after we settled into our room, we went to sit at a table in a miniature golf place to start making plans for our time in Oslo. It stays light so late here we had no idea it was after 10PM when we decided to head back to our room.
W stopped at a small store on the way back to the hostel for a few supplies and it is amazing how expensive everything is here. We knew food and drinks would be expensive here from reading our guide books, but there are ways to save money (buying food and cooking it at the hostel versus eating out, and no drinking (or at least fewer beers than in England).
Our 4-bed room in the hostel isn't bad. It's spacious, it has a stove, sink, and refrigerator and its own bathroom, but it's noisy outside at night and it's hot in the room. Also, it seems never to get dark here (maybe for a few hours from midnight to 3 or 4AM), so I keep waking up, thinking it's time to get up.
7/15: Today was a rest and planning day. We slept in until 8:30. It was such a treat, because we have always been on the go and had to get up early. The two other women in our room left early so we ended up having the room to ourselves. We looked at the literature we had picked up when we arrived yesterday and then we walked up to Use It, a youth travel information center. They have all sorts of free brochures, etc., very helpful staff and free internet usage. Unfortunately, the internet was down, so we decided to go back later to use it. We went to the Tourist Information Center for information on walking in Oslo, and then we went back to the hostel.
We made plans for our trip to Bergen and Flam and then took a nap. How lovely! It is very hot in Oslo right now (around 90 degrees Farenheit) and it is nice to lay down and avoid afternoon sun. We went back to Use It about 4:30 and they let Shari use their phone with her EKit card to call the Bergen hostel to make reservations for the next 2 nights. We also both got to use the internet for a half hour. Then we went back to the hostel to finish making the rest of our Norway plans. After Bergen, we will spend one night in Hamer and then 3 more nights at the hostel in Oslo.
We cooked a packaged macaroni dinner on the stove in our room and then packed our bags for tomorrow's trip. They have an interesting kitchenware system here. There are no utensils, plates or cookware in the 2 small and communal kitchens, or in the rooms. You leave a 100kr deposit at the reception desk and they give you a plastic box with a frypan, soup pan, 2 plates, untensils, dishwashing liquid and a scrub brush. You have to return the box within an hour, and they give the deposit back.
Most hostels we have stayed in have fully stocked kitchens but sometimes they can be rather messy because not everyone washes and dries their dishes and pans when they are done eating. This system is a little less convenient but it saves them space and ensures the kitchens are neat and clean. It will be interesting to see if other city hostels in Europe are run like this one.
We are leaving our big packs in the storage area here (yeah) while we are gone and we are just taking our fanny packs and small back packs and some food. It seems funny to go away for three nights with so little stuff. We are just taking our sleeping bags liners, our towels, a few toiletries and books. I'm taking my music stuff. We will just wear the same clothes for the next three days. The hostels provide pillows and duvets on the beds in case it gets cool. They also usually provide sheets (or here they rent them to you) if you don't have your own linens or liner. Sleeping bags are not allowed to be used in the hostels.
7/16: We were up early and got to the train station about one hour ahead of our departure time. We got our Eurail passes validated (we are using the three month pass first) and then we sat and read and waited for the train. We have a three month and a two month pass which are both first class passes. They are saver tickets, which require that we always travel together, which is okay because we plan to anyhow. We saved a few hunderd dollars by buying the saver passes. Eurail passes aren't cheap - the three month pass was about US$1,400, and the 2 month pass was about US$1,150 for each of us, but we can use them in 17 countries on the major railroad lines. We can also use them to get discounts on some ferries and smaller rail lines.
It's nice having first class tickets because the seating in the first class cars is very nice. I'm also hoping some of the trains will provide coffee and tea like they did on the British trains. You have to buy reserved seats (about $5 each) on some of the trains even with a Eurail pass. The trains we are taking to and from Bergen required reservations.
We actually aren't taking the train all the way to Bergen today; we are getting off in Myrdal about 1PM. Then we will get on the Flam train which runs from Myrdal to Flam (about a 1 hour ride). Then we will take the 2 hour ferry ride from Flam up the spectacular Naeroyfjord to Gudvangen and to Voss (one hour 20 minutes) and finally the train from Voss to Bergen (one hour 15 minutes). The whole trip from Oslo (especially from Myrdal on ) to Bergen is supposed to be one of the most dramatically scenic sightseeing tours in all of Scandanavia.
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