26.9
By the end of today, I had quite some difficulty in figuring what I did all day!
4 countries, 4 people, 3 trains and lots of sleep. We were moving away from Scandic Europe back to mainland, through a short stay over at Munich.
Oslo greeted us in the morning, with Baba joining us who was in apparently in the same train as ours since last night. Our first train was to leave to Goteberg in Sweden at 8.30 in the morning. Routing out the Subways in Goteberg early morning on the net, we set forth in a thoroughly uneventful journey, traversing the Nordic countryside deep in sleep after 10 days of country hopping. Breakfast was sandwiches and Marie biscuits, and we anticipated a yummy lunch at Goteberg.
Currency conversion in the Nord countries is always a pain, and doing so especially when you have less than an hour between connecting trains makes life rather painful. We picked up 4 12inch subs, boarding our next train to Copenhagan in Denmark. Having side seats to sit on, we feasted on our lunch, chatting about. Life seems so much different from the craze of first year, the work during internship and the good old CA Days.
Time passed quickly and we changed trains yet again from Copenhagan, boarding a train to Munich. We had made a countless changes over the last 10 days of our travel schedule, and in fact, we hardly had a concrete return trip planned before leaving. Just this morning, the plan was to spend a day at Goteberg, spend the night in a hostel and move through Sweden into France. Suddenly, we were reaching Germany the same night, and with completely different plans.
We now planned to see what all the fuss about the Oktoberfest was about, and we planned to do so from the heart of Bavarian Germany itself- Munich. Our train was to leave Copenhagen at 6.53 and the journey included an 8 kilometre journey under the sea! Next morning, Munich. Some more sleep beckons, as I write this staring at a 60 year old woman reading the New York Times with a 110 litre backpack (almost as big as me!) and her tent, sleeping bag propped against her. Wow. And night.
Today was a day when I was enveloped by nature.
Seldom does a day start immediately after the previous one ended, and here, by 6.30 am, we were boarding the train to Bergen, heading to Myrdal, from where we were to begin our fjord cruise.
Oslo to Bergen had been described by people we knew as the most scenic journey by train we would witness in all of Europe. And how!
Having slept until around 10, catching up on lost sleep, I woke up to scenes lifted straight from an LOTR description. Steep black mountains jutting out of the plains, its sides lined with trees in autumn bloom - every possible shade of yellow and green. The hills had a crystal clear river flowing by its side all through. Waking up to a sight like that, my first impression was that of an enormous giant, wearing a dark green fleece coat and a silver sheath by his side. The river meandered, filled to the brim, and looked icy to the touch.
A few miles on and the landscape completely changed, and effect was quite dramatic. In a few minutes, we were passing by snow capped mountains, with glacial river streams falling down by the sides. Thousands of water cascades fell by all sides, the effect mesmerizing.
The train chook-chooked away between crystal blue lakes, their frigid water lapping the banks as glacial cascades fell into them. To top it all, the person sitting next to us was the president of the Bergen-Oslo rail link himself, who spoke fondly of having recently celebrated the 100th year of operating the line, and was curious as to how we felt watching what we are. He gave us a beautiful rail calendar, a souvenir that is bound to create a lot of in-fighting unless we reach an amicable solution, that marked the Bergen-Oslo line through the seasons - the bright green spring from may, the orange hues and waterfalls of September, the frigid sheath of ice of January, the wonderful melting snow of April.
Opening the emergency windows, bitter cold wind streamed in as we passed tunnel after tunnel, some miles long, opening to exotic views of cascading waterfalls, snow caps and swiftly flowing rivers. I fell in love. It was absolutely paradise.
It soon started drizzling as we reached Myrdal- a little town straight out of a fantasy novel. A wood log cabin and a tiny cafe marked the station, and our dark green train from Myrdal to Flam stood on the other platform. Around us, rain drizzled down gently amidst bright green trees.
Buying tickets to our next line, this scenic one hour journey from Myrdal to Flam has been voted the most scenic train journey ever. An engineering marvel, it descended 800 metres to sea level cross a steep gradient and 20 tunnels, the largest 6 miles long. Wow.
Words are difficult to describe this journey, but here, we passed by truly what Norway was - shifting panoramas of thundering waterfalls and lush green vegetation, with rivers descending into the sea at Flam, Norway’s most exotic fjord cruise.
As the train descended into the valley, it stopped by at scenic spots for the shutter bugs to go crazy, and a stop at the mighty Kjosfossen falls was the hallmark of this journey. Churning down the hill with ferocity, billions of gallons of frothing, icy glacial water thundered down the valley, our train at a brilliant vantage point where the froth hit our faces hard and the mist rising up the hill drenched everything in sight. It was a sight to behold.
We passed by quaint towns with black roofed houses and waterfall after waterfall, eventually landing down to sea level at Flam. Here, the Sognefjord began, sea water coming back many hundreds of miles into deep crevices, with towering black mountains on both sides. Our cruise ship, the Fjord1 was to flow between this scenic journey to Gudvangen.
Standing on the deck, with icy cold wind blowing across my face and through my hair, this I felt was a moment that could not even be captured on film. And towering hills on both sides, with hundred of tiny rivulets crashing into the sea from the mile metre high mountains. You really must visit this someday.
Passing through incredibly narrow gorges through the canyon-like fjords, we were in Nærøfjord, the deepest arm of this fjord and perhaps the most dramatic one. We also came across the Undredal chapel, Scandinavia's tiniest church, which was a pleasure to watch. The serene two hour journey lulled me to a short nap in between, after which I went to the front deck, standing in the frigid cold air as evening bent on, munching on bread and carrot. Carrots are probably the most nutritious thing I’m eating on this journey.
Docking at Gudvangen, and out of Norwegian kroner for the next leg, the kind bus driver allowed us to get in, as we promised to pay her at Voss. It's the first time I’ve witnessed a lady driving a bus, and this Stalheimskleiva road trip twisted and turned through an incredibly narrow road offering views of several waterfalls. She drove with amazing dexterity! I was tired, and the one hour trip far too soothing to the eye, and nearly everyone on the bus fell asleep.
Landing at Voss and paying her in NKr and thanking her profusely, we walked around Voss, visiting the camping site (too expensive!). It was a beautiful town, a huge lake by its side, snow capped peaks around it and gentle rain falling down. We wanted to camp here for the night, but too expensive for us, we headed on the next train from Voss to Bergen, had a dinner there of Cup Noodles, “jugad-ing” boiling water from our store paying 2 kroner for a cup, had noodle sandwich and boarded the train back to Oslo at 11pm.
Technical problems meant that we had to switch from the train to a bus at Voss at 1 am in the night, and back to train at 4am, but little did it matter cause I was sleeping far too quickly and far too peacefully in practically seconds. There are even rumours that the buses were ferried across a lake in the night, but I was too dead tired to figure that bit out.
Another day gone by, and inevitably, every journey is now 24 hours of action packed adventure, and not just the customary 18. Next stop, Oslo. Phew.
Today. Extraordinary. That's the only word I can think of. Outrageous Oslo.
Oslo is a capital that possibly is the smallest capital city in the world. And for the capital of one of the most visited countries in the world, it has surprisingly little to offer. Perhaps not.
We started the day at Stockholm. This is my 7 countries so far in roughly 10 days. Germany, France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. And to think I was content and happy with the thought of being in India before IIMA happened. And staying here in Europe, I just realized how much I love India!
Starting at Stockholm, we left Stockholm University early morning to the station, again avoiding tickets and even picking up complementary bags offered by a book exhibition. The bags are going to be immense help here, and we get a banana and juices (a single banana costs 50 bucks in Scandinavian Europe. 200ml of Fruit juice is around 70 bucks). Living on the shoestring that we are, having some part of our breakfast sponsored made us think, wow, and a nice start to the day.
We board the Intercity Express, using our Eurail passes and flowing into Norway. And how. The entire 6 hour journey was dotted with at least a 1000 lakes, beautiful serene lakes, crystal clear water, flanked by tall windswept pine trees, the sun shimmering on the water. And the train dotted and curved alongside these lakes, until a mighty river came along that we followed for the rest of our journey. And to top it all, beautiful black tiled sloping roof houses dotted the countryside; the houses often nestled deep in the trees or on the lake banks.
We reached Oslo at 2.30p.m, did some painful conversions to Norwegian Kroner and finally landed up at the tourist information centre, picking up our customary maps.
The Oslo journey was to be completely on foot. Few capitals can boast of having a glorious medieval history, a sea shore and mountains dotting it all side like Oslo. We first hopped over to the adjoining Opera House, a marble and metal structure, shimmering in the blazing autumn sun. Cold wind blew across the adjoining sea, and the sloped terrace offered excellent vantage points of the city.
Hungry now, we began our walk to this place called Blitz. This neo-activist place was something we were totally unprepared for.
For starters, some facts- Oslo is the most expensive city on Earth, so claim the statistics. We needed food. Vegetarian food. And our travel guide recommended this place, Blitz.
Going to the road where this was supposed to be, we hardly could find the place. A bit of searching, a bit of asking later, we figured it was this totally unmarked white building with some graffiti on its walls. Entering, I encountered the weirdest people ever. Punk rock stars, tattooed arms, a million piercings and outrageous green and pink hair, they told us they were about to protest against the establishment in 15 minutes, so we should hurry with the cafe. They wanted us to join them- apparently a Pakistani national had been arrested. This only vegetarian cafe offered sandwiches, bread, coffee and juice at steal away prices- entirely volunteer run, they were now waiting to leave for the protest, drums and placards in hand.
Watching the goth punk people, we were half scared, thoroughly amused, and our stomachs partly full, we left to the city palace, admiring the armed guards patrol the area. Beautifully uniformed and walking in absolute sync, their batons and feathered caps, their black uniforms and white stripes immediately commanded respect.
The early evening atmosphere was rather insipid, with few people on the streets, no activity absolutely. What this gave us was little to observe except cars- from Saabs to Citroen, Volvo to Audi, and good old Mercedes, always designated to being a taxi here, as we walked along the roads from the City Palace to a landmark garden.
We next headed out to Vigeland's Sculpture Park, a landscaped park with pseudo erotic male, female and child sculptures depicting the various phases of life. It really was striking, watching those stone sculptures in fantastic poses against lush green trees, superb gardens and a lake passing underneath. We came across a huge tower of human bodies them, beautifully intertwined, flanked with humans in various postures- depicting, as I saw it, grace, power, solitude and the cycle of life. With the evening sun glowing on one side of the tower, the effect of light and shadows on the sculptures was mesmerizing. It's difficult to describe a moment when you just stand and stare in awe at human figures so beautifully carved. I stood there for several minutes, lost in thought, before proceeding to explore the rest of the garden, comfortably watching a gang of skateboarders performing stunts with the sun setting as a backdrop.
Early evening brought with it a cold chilly weather, and as always, hunger. We hunted for an Indian Restaurant- encountering several - Gandhi's India, Krishna's Cuisine and Gateway of India. Exorbitantly priced, we moved on to McD'S, unable to find a Subway, munching on cheese burgers. It was a bland dinner, but until we get to Paris, it satisfies. On an average, we are doing walking tours of European cities at the rate of at least 15 kilometres a day.
We walked, comfortably getting lost in the streets of Oslo. And the atmosphere of the city had changed in its entirety. Cars zipped by on roads, pretty pretty women wore their Friday night fineries heading to the nearest clubs, the buildings were wonderfully lit, and the posh shopping streets seemed alive.
Boisterous young chaps hung around pubs, and we could hardly believe it was the same city we were walking in in the morning. Street music rung through the roads - violens, flutes, even a tabla. Love was in the air, everywhere.
We stopped by often, breathing in the atmosphere of this new city.
At 9.30, we walked over to the royal castle, closed sometime earlier, which looked quite eerie in its solitude and strong halogens lights creating a wonderful collage of lights and shadows. As we loitered around, two royal guards found us, and told us we were not supposed to be there (I was waving a flashlight reading castle sign boards). They actually gave us a full escort to the gate, almost giving us a sense of royalty, with their heels clicking in unison and their hands swinging in tandem. Never once would I have imagined being escorted (out, but what the heck) by the guards of HM! Never.
We walked on exploring, tiring ourselves out. Finally heading to the station, where we would be spending the night in peace, waking up for a 6.30 train to the fjords.
I found internet access at the station, and made good use of it.
But little did we know this would the most exciting European night we had as yet experienced.
At 1.30 a.m., an announcement rung that the station would now close and open again at 4.30 a.m. cursing under our breath, we asked the Politi (police) where we were to spend the night. He gladly suggested the streets!
Outside, on the streets, the three of us contemplated several options. The stairs and the benches around the station were far too cold, with an icy gust blowing across. Realizing the open space around the station was far too open; we realized the only other option at that hour of the night was to spend the rest of the 3 hours walking the streets of Oslo.
And we were in such a shock. The only street that was alive was full of punk BOYS and girls, sporting weird tattoos, hairdos and terribly drunk. The cold hit us hard, and if things couldn't get worse, some kind of a police case occurred right where we were standing. Few cafes were open, the ones that were seemed too shady. And the only road that wasn't deserted was.. it was lined with hookers.
In retrospect, and to be honest, we were scared. 3 hours in an unknown city with what seemed like an aggressive crowd can never be funny.
We needed a refuge, and shuttled between the station and that road, and finally decided we were going to spend the night in... hold your breath, a Seven Eleven(7-11). We explained our situation for this 24 hour open store, and he allowed us to stay the night there. The problem was there were no chairs, the store was the size of an average bedroom, and it was stacked with goods. It was the safest place we could find that night, and as things go, it was popular with the punks too.
From then on, it got amusing. Not one character we saw seemed what may be described as normal- gay youth in a merry mood, hookers with their customers, policemen, and drunk men, they all dropped in and out. And the three of us, standing in one corner of the store, blessed the cashier attendant for allowing us that comfort of the store- it was warm, and I had internet. And terrible company.
Standing continuously for 3 hours, we were tired, miserable and bored. We ran for our lives to station the moment the clock struck 4.15 am, thanking the cashier for his asylum.
Dead tired, we crashed at the station, the other two sleeping and I writing this.
This was an experience liked no other.
Thinking back, there was nothing at all to be scared off, we were three guys, not once did anyone threaten us or was aggressive, cops were all around us because we were at the scene of a crime, the we were at least warm. Still, I knew I would never want to experience this again, doing all this in a totally unknown city, with almost no one you could rely upon; it scared us at one point.
I guess it is all part of the great European experience. It is 6.30 now, the train to Myrdal is about to leave.
Love, peace, tranquillity, and stay warm.