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Six days of Scandinavia and on to Spain: "
Although planning our time in Norway was pretty difficult, we ended up having a fantastic time there. We also enjoyed our last day in Sweden, and our first few hours in Spain have been good so far.
16/8 Monday Benny had to work during the day, so we slept in with the plan of having a work morning. However, my laptop decided it didn’t really want to work and staged a rebellion – which Craig spent most of the rest of the morning trying to quell. I think I need a new laptop.
We had a light lunch then headed out to see Ostersund by day. We crossed over to the island and hiked around a bit, then found a coffee and failed to play minigolf since it had closed stupidly early for a summer afternoon.
17/8 Tuesday New country! Planning our trip to Norway has been a bit of a mission, and having to catch a train at 7am definitely fits into the “mission” category as well. Madga and Nahikari had said we could stay with them in Selbu, a town 90 minutes by bus from Trondheim, and we’d accepted but found it difficult to work out how to get there. We had a choice of trains from Ostersund – the 7am one, or one that would get us to Trondheim too late for the last bus to Selbu. As it turns out, we could have just caught the bus to Hell (hehehe) and gone from there, but the internet didn’t want to give me that information.
The work was worth it though. We made it to Trondheim and had lunch by a canal and played Settlers of Catan in a nice cafe. Then Craig worked for a bit and I explored the city, which is a really nice relaxed one. We decided to make the most of our Eurail passes and caught the train back through Hell to Stjordal and from there to Selbu (via Hell). They say it’s hard to get out of Hell, but we were there three times in one day and it was all right.
Our couchsurfing hosts were really nice, they cooked us a pleasant meal and we sat by the lake for an hour or so.
19/8 Thursday It was sad to say goodbye to Magda, Nahikari, and Selbu, but the walk to the bus stop was pleasant, as was the bus trip back to Trondheim (even if it did pass through Hell again). We hadn’t managed to find a place to stay in Trondheim – all the hostels were full and we were wondering what to do, but luckily Couchsurfing came to the rescue. A guy called Morten had started an emergency couch request group for Trondheim, and when I called him he said he’d be happy to host us. Unfortunately he had to work in the evening, but we spent a pleasant couple of hours with him drinking coffee and wine and discovering shared interests (notably coffee and wine).
The afternoon was tranquil – we went to see the fortress then relaxed on the hill in the sun. We got a couple of hours work done in a cafe then wandered around the city, weaving through drunk people on their way to or from an outdoor concert that closed off several streets. After kebabs for dinner, we watched a movie and a few episodes of Smack the Pony (which is my new favourite comedy show).
21/8 Saturday The morning was a bit of a write-off after not sleeping too well on the train, but we found our second wind and a hotel to stay in, and visited the tourist information office before walking to our accommodation. We’d found it on LastMinute.com, and I’d seen that it was part of the hospital, but I hadn’t realised how much a part of the hospital it was. We couldn’t find it so we went to the front desk, where we were told to “follow the signs”. So we did. Through silent hospital corridors, past wards and departments, until we emerged at the hotel and were given a room with cemetery views. Priceless.
We only had a day in Oslo so we wanted to make the most of it – we visited the incredible sculpture park and had a coffee and a nap in the park before exploring more of the city. I enjoyed wandering around the waterfront and seeing the new opera house – it’s really impressive. On the way home we had a progressive dinner – hot dog, calzone, sushi and cake in as many establishments.
22/8 Sunday Oh, I slept so well, it was great! Hard to get up in the morning though, but we managed, and headed out to meet Sam Daams from Travellerspoint. We had a pleasant morning chatting with him, eating breakfast, and completely failing to catch the bus to the airport (it was full, they sent another one half an hour later). Despite the fact that we were flying Ryanair, we managed to get to Valencia without any problems – so we’re now in Spain! I’m so excited – I love Spain! We had a great meal involving wine and tapas are looking forward to our next week here.
Six days of Scandinavia and on to Spain is happily produced by The Indie Travel Podcast, proud winners of Lonely Planet's 'Best Podcast' -- Check out our free podcast in iTunes, free online travel magazine, or the Art of Solo Travel
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