Stockholm:
frozen lake (it looks freezing, but we were never cold in our jackets):
The next morning we took a 6 1/2 hour train ride to Oslo, Norway which was very entertaining in itself. After sitting across a woman and her husband for a few hours, Caroline mentioned that she looked extremely familiar and thinks she is a singer. Later on the woman talked to us because of my accent as she had lived in the states for some years. She ended up being a professional singer who is fairly famous in Sweden. She invited us to her show that night in which she was going to open for a very very very very famous band in Sweden. She checked with her husband to see if she could get us on the guest list, but unfortunately had no tickets left :( She was so nice and after giving us her information, I checked her out and she's a wonderful singer: http://www.myspace.com/camelasweden is her website. Anyone in Sweden go check her out because she's seriously so nice and talented!! That wasn't the only cool thing that happened on our train ride. I awoke from a nap only to have a dog sniffing me and my stuff. It turns out they were searching for drugs. We thought it was strange and confirmed with other riders that it was uncommon for that to be happening. The dog later goes crazy in the car ahead of us and in comes more dogs as well as a group of people. They search the man's entire bag and find nothing. Then they take him back with him for what we assume was a strip search. Then later on he returned to his seat. Not even half an hour later a group of peope and the dogs returned and took him again. At the next stop he was getting of the train in handcuffs and escorted in a police car. We think he ingested the drugs. It made for an exciting train ride alright!!
When we arrived in Oslo we thought we should make plans for our bus ride to Bergen the next day. We assumed that the ride to Bergen would take a couple of hours based on its location on the map and the distance it took to get to Oslo from Stockholm. Mistake number one!!! Ready to book our tickets, they told us that it was an 11 hour bus ride that cost 500 NOK one way which is about 50 euro. After considering all our options, we opted for taking the bus by night thus saving money by not sleeping in a hostel for the way there and back. So we explored Oslo during the day and at 10 pm took the bus to Bergen. It was pleasant enough and we both slept for a good portion of the trip. I woke up at 5 am to the most magnificent natural landscapes I have ever seen. I tried to go back to sleep, but I simply couldn't keep my eyes off the mountains. I regret never taking a picture from the window to share with you guys :( Mountains, mountains, mountains... but small ones that stretched forever. Aaah I simply cannot describe it!
Oslo:
We didn't think the city in itself was that great because the buildings were rather dull, so we spent the majority of our time walking along the sea
a total of THREE nights sleeping like this (okay one night like this, two sharing a seat with a complete stranger booo!):
We arrived in Bergen and thankfully were able to check into our hostel early to shower, have breakfast and relax. Then we explored little Bergen which was my favorite city of the three. The city was spectacular as it is surrounded by mountains. All you can see is mountains that stretch forever, and the most famous and beautiful fjords. In the middle of the city is a huge lake and it is gorgeous. We tried a bunch of different fish and the famous fish market and I have to say the salmon was the best I've ever had!! The next day we explored Bergen again for my favorite day of the entire trip - taking the funicular to the top of the mountain to see the most spectacular view ever. We stayed up there a while and then took a 1 1/2 hour hike back into the city.
Bergen:
Enjoying the amazing view after taking the funicular to the top of the mountain:
The cool thing is that this is the view you get no matter where you are in the city since you are surrounded by the mts:
That night we took a bus back to Oslo. We had to switch buses at midnight so we both stayed awake until then. The bus driver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere and we were confused because there was no bus waiting for us. The bus driver told us it would be there in around half an hour. So we were in the middle of God knows where - at midnight - in FREEZING weather - with no one around, only two buildings that were closed. It was creepy but because we were together we made the best of it - the view was amazing even in the dark. Thankfully the bus arrived and we got on only to see that it was extremely crowded. We sat with strangers and were unable to sleep. On the entire 11 hour bus ride we probably slept two hours. We arrived in Oslo at 5:30 in the morning. AND OUR BUS BACK TO STOCKHOLM LEFT AT 11 PM THAT NIGHT. We had 17 1/2 hours to kill in Oslo which we had already explored, with all our luggage and on 2 hours of sleep. I know no one will believe it, but we honestly had a great time and weren't even bored. We stayed at the train station for 15 hours of the day. Most of the time we were people watching, playing games, talking and laughing. Maybe it was our lack of sleep that made us so easily entertained, but we honestly weren't bored at all during the day. We met a lot of people and now know many of the employees of the station as well as homeless people and their particular spots and techniques for getting food and money. Sooo 17 hours later... we were on the bus back to Stockholm. It was crowded as well, but being the THIRD night sleeping on a bus, I passed right out and arrived in Stockholm 9 hours later. Then we went to the airport and came home... sooo nice to be back, but such a great trip!!
