Denmark - Copenhagen

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7-18-07

I am sitting in Kristiansand, Norway typing about where I just left in Denmark. Here in Norway I have never in my life seen so many blondes. Every woman is blonde I think in this country. The prices are expensive as well. I just walked into a very nice hotel, actually it is just a Clarion, but at the ferry ticket office described it to be a very nice hotel. The cup of coffee I am drinking however is just less than 5 dollars and to have a buffett breakfast that looks awesome the cost is 20 dollars. I am going to hold off and eat my Sardines a little later. I already had breakfast on the boat. I am going on only about 4 hours of sleep so it will be interesting to see how today goes. They say the trains in Norway are better than in Denmark, but they have problems too. They say the temperatures get so cold that the rails contract so severely that it causes problems with the trains. Every person that works here is blonde and the only other colored hair you see are on the scalps of the guest. It is cute this little baby girl that has almost white hair with her mom's hair as blonde as blonde can get. Norwegian's need clean water engineers don't they? Maybe I stay.

I never sleep to good when I know I have to get up early and that being the case today as I needed to leave Berlin for Norway very early and I did not sleep all that well. Maybe I got 4 hours as I know I woke up around 5. It seems like once you get a certain amount of REM sleep and you know you have to get up early, your body says that is enough sleep for you now get going. Really though it seems like that amount varies. Such that if I know I only have 3 hours of sleep I will wake up in about 2 hours.

Anyway I was awake and out the door quickly and before you knew it I had said my goodbyes and was out the door. I had a couple slight hiccups in my travels to the train station, but made it to the Berlin Main Station with about 30 minutes to spare. I grabbed something to eat and was at the platform waiting for the next train. When I first arrived in Berlin I was thinking I am not really going to like this town much, but having spent a couple days here I was pleasantly surprized to say I really did like this place. I think because of all the world war II history and maybe because the tour was really good. I wonder had I taken tours in the other City's I would have liked them better too?

Well I was out of there and on my way to Copenhagen. It was about a 7 hour train ride as it seemed most of the more recent train rides have been. It sounds like a long time, but it really goes quick as I usually end up talking to someone or typing most of the time. I normally look forward to it.

I wonder if blondy there was trying to take advantage of me. I told her I just got off the boat, which I literally had, and just got this cash out of the ATM machine and ask her to feel it as it was still warm. Ok I didn't say that but to say that is kind of funny isn't it? I told her the smallest currency I have is a 200 Kroner, which is today's currency as yesterdays was the Danmark. Really when you are buying a 25 kroner cup of coffee that is not that big a bill but she said no problem and has the change. However she had only given me a part of it which was the 125 kroner part. I went back and ask her about it and she said oh I am so sorry I am not sure what I was thinking and got the remaining 50 kroners immediately. I hope she wasn't thinking lets take advanatage of this guy who just got off the boat or maybe it was the blonde hair or maybe she thought I was too focused on her blonde hair to even notice the mistake. Not sure, but lets say it was an honest mistake which most likely it was.

I arrived in Copehagen about 20 minutes later than I was supposed to. I went and got some Danmarks my new currency and a blue chip card, which cost about 120 Danmarks. That seemed plenty as I thought you only got 3 train rides for that money which equates to about $20, but later I found out I got like 5 train rides. I then found the S-train I was to take to the couchsurfing host place and got on. At Farum the last stop I called Guxi, the lady's name, having borrowed a persons phone and she said no I was at the wrong stop. I understood her directions wrong and she said to just meet her at the Nooreport train station, which is in the City Centre at 7:00. I then checked my phone and the messages from her were on there I had not heard the notices. On the way there I had been talking to a couple from Utah and had allowed them to use my cell phone, which was no big deal, but after that I received a text message that said I had no more credit on the phone. I didn't mind that at all, the problem arose when I needed to text message my couchsurfing host but could not. I just assumed the phone no longer worked, but I realized I could still receive messages.

Anyway I thank the lady who I borrowed the phone from and offered her money, but she said no adhemently after several attempts to give her some money. I look forward to helping travelers after this trip is over as I know how it is to be on the road doing your thing.

The people at this hotel with all the blonde workers are very nice as the lady at the front desk let me use the hotels computer and the internet for no charge. Very nice and I just presumed that the initial payment of 25 kroners for the coffee entitles you to free refills of coffee but I suspect it didn't. I don't think anyone seen me take the extra cup. I don't drink coffee noramally but really do like it but don't like the feeling when the coffee wears off. I think however during this trip when I do not have the stress of work I can handle coffee better. I will see how things go, but if I feel myself becoming more irritable I will stop drinking it.

I went back into Copenhagen and walked around the tourist area. This isn't as big a tourist town as I have seen in other places but it was nice. I saw a statue of what appeared to be a Viking on a horse with a sword. Why are most of the cool statues portray people who gained the celebrity status through violence and war. Though that is kind of still the case. The violent people are often the more popular. I guess it goes back to the idea of survival of the fittest.

I walked to a sailboat harbor and found the harbor master asking about sailing possibilities, but no luck on that front. I still am disappointed I have yet to get on a sailboat. I must be losing my touch. Not sure I have ever had a pursuasive touch. Maybe it is just luck and a smile. Luck and a smile will take you a long way in this world, but it is not sustainable. Knowledge will allow good fortune to be sustainable.

I worked my way back to the train station Norreport where I was to meet Guxi. There were several other people waiting there as well. A few minutes after the meeting time Guxi appeared with a friend. She wore dreadlocks and had a very bright colorful outfit. If she had walked down the streets of Batchtown they would have talked about her for weeks, but in Copenhagen she definitely was noticeable but did not stand out at least as much as she would have in Batchtown.

We jumped on the train and headed to her place. When we got off the tain their were some kids smoking on the steps and she said something to them and they responded hesitantly and seemed a little confused by Guxi's comment. She said she had just told them they were losers because they smoke. That seemed a little forward to be saying to me as I prefer to be a little more positive. I think being negative like that to kids will only make them rebel worse. Who knows maybe that works. I wondered if I was not there if she would have said the same thing and I tend to think she would have but I do not know for sure.

We walked about 5 minutes to her apartment and then I met the pug and 4 cats of which 3 were Siamese. There was cat hair and dog hair all over the place. She made my bed in her daughter's room which consisted of a mattress with sheets on them. That was fine by me as I really am not a big fan of couches. Guxi in turn was sleeping on the couch. I told her she could sleep in her daughter's bed in the room and I would hit the couch. She said no this is what she does for all couchsurfers. That was really nice of her and I said ok and thanks. For some reason her daughter does not want anyone sleeping in her bed. I can understandn but I sure would have thought her own mom could sleep in the bed when her daughter was gone. The other room she had a tenant living there to help pay for her daughter's schooling. Guxi spoke very good English and was a great cook. She made an Indian dish which was very good. She is a vegetarian and told me she does not like to kill any animals and how pigs are treated inhumanely. We obviously were going to disagree about animal rights and I just didn't say anything. I do not have a problem with that just as long as I get my bacon. I teased her a couple times like asking if the dried tomatoes that were on the one dish were chunks of bacon. She at first didn't think I was kidding and then realized I was. She was a good sport about my joking and I was good a sport about her views and ideas. She told me in depth about this area of Copenhagen called Christiana. I had walked through a portion of the area and when was there walked away from it as I didn't know if it was safe because of all the grafitti. We were going to go there the next day and I was wondering what I might see. It was very interesting talking to Guxi and listening to her ideas and views even though I did not hold a lot of her opinions as my own. Oh she also has two lizard like things in an aquarium in the room I was sleeping in. I told her there ok if they stay in that cage but if I wake up in the middle of the night and one of those things are standing on my belly looking me in the eyes I am not going to be there friend anymore. She said they will not get out of the cage. Guxi walked around the house sometimes with one of those things on her shoulder. I never touched them. They just did not appear to be soft and cuddly but instead quite leathery. Anyway it was an eventful night and I got a little computer time as well. Guxi was very nice to me and extremely hospitable and I am deeply grateful for that. Good night and I will sleep with one eye open and on those lizards.


7-19-07
I got up around 7:30 and Guxi was still on the couch. I asked her how she had slept and she said not too good as her tenant had a friend over and they stayed up late. Guxi said she is a very light sleeper. She mentioned that I had snored and I said really and then she said I stopped after about 5 minutes of that. I think when you are really tired you are more apt to snore and I had only around 4 hours of sleep in me. I always wonder what I look like when I sleep? I think everyone probably wonders that. Maybe just self consciuos people wonder that not sure. Guxi ask what time it was and indicated she was going to sleep awhile longer. I thought I could probably do that as well. So I slept for another hour.

I kept the door shut all night so the cats and dog would not come visit. Guxi on the other hand had 4 cats and dog around her all night. Two of the cats were a friends that she was watching. Once I got up I sent out a couple emails one to Maj, a lady that offered me a place to stay after I had already accepted Guxi's offer. I told Maj that if she was going out tonight and wouldn't mind some company I would be in the area and would love to meet her. Maj had given me her phone number and Guxi said she didn't mind texting her with her phone since I had no minutes on mine. Guxi texted her. Guxi is really a very hospitable host and was bending over backwards to help me out. She is a good hosting model and I hope to be a host like her someday.

Guxi and I headed downtown around 11:00 and we were both getting hungry and we had some Danish pastry since I was amongst the Danish people. The pastry was fabulous. We then went to Christiana. Guxi was a big proponent of this area and said the government is trying to take this area away from the people living there. Most of the people in this area are pot smokers and live in tents. I am not sure what kind of work they do. I suspect some do very little as I was told pot smoking makes you lazy and there was a lot of that going on in this area. Guxi said the government is trying to take this land away from them. I asked her if they own it she indicated not in a legal since. They have built buildings on some of the property. Around the lake area there was a couple tents and the grass was really tall. I saw one lady topless by the water. Guxi said that is common near the beaches. I did not know that.

We stopped at a place to eat that Guxi said is really good. It was a vegetarian organic place. When we walked into the cooking area I could not believe the olfactory sensation. It was awesome. I could smell all these fantastic smells. It was sheer olefactory exctasy. It reminded me a little of the spices that we put in turtle soup at home. I told them whatever you have that has what I am smelling I want to put in my belly. We got about 3 different items and they were all awesome. I told Guxi this was the best meal I have had on this whole trip and I think the cost was around $20 I was not exagerating at all about how good this food was either. I told Guxi this is one of those meals you just hoped you would never fill up. I did get full however, but I never quit eating! The food was great and I only stopped eating when all that remained was the plate and the fork. I was tempted to lick the flavors off the plate, but I didn't.

We left there and went past a factory where they make bikes. She says the bikes are very popular and they can not keep up with the demands. There was also a steel fabricating place that appeared to be ran by three women who I believe Guxi referred to as being lesbians. It is a very neat area and I enjoyed my visit there. Guxi had to get to work so I went on my own.

I headed to the castle as that was really the only thing I had to see in the afternoon. Maj had text messaged Guxi back before she had left and said we should meet at 7:30 at the main entrance to the Tivoli. I was looking forward to meeing Maj and was going to ask her what she thought of Christiana to get another opinion. I walked through a botanical garden and took a couple pictures. It is really easy to get pictures for the wallpaper on your computer. I think when I go back to work I am going to download my top 365 pictures and have them rotate each day as my computer wall paper. Man do I have a lot of pictures and a lot of them I really like.

From there I went to the castle which was ok, but nothing like what I saw in France. I decided not to go in as it was like $12 to get in. I talked to the lady working there a little about Norway and how to get there. I then decided to head back to Guxi's to do some computer stuff and get ready for tonight.

On the way back I felt like I had some diarhea coming on and a couple times I was about to jump in the weeds and take care of business as I did not know if I could hold it. At times I just had to stand still as movement made me have to go worse. The one lady that saw me standing there looked at me weird as I was just standing there trying to be calm. I finally made it back to her place and ran the best I could into the bathroom just hoping no cats got out of the house when the door was open and dropped my drawers and let things happen. The final 5 steps started the movement and when I finally did drop the drawers I had concern that there might be stuff in my underwear, but thank god there was none. I had made it. As I sat there quite content, actually the most content that I had been in days I wondered what caused all this. I finally figured it must have been that awesome vegetartian food I had in Christiana. I know too much detail in that last paragraph.

I used the computer for awhile and then took about a 10 minute nap and got ready to go to the Tivoli.

I made it to the train station about 50 minutes before I needed to be at Tivoli, but was really concerned that I miss Maj as the trains had been horrible this day. I started talking to a lady about the trains and she said she was on her way to the Tivoli as well. Because of the inconsistency in the trains I did not validate my ticket right away and then when the train arrived I forgot to do so. It is like a $100 fine for not doing so if your caught. I was asking the lady about it and she said I might be ok, but who knows. At one point we waited for a long period of time and the lady I was sitting by, who was from Jamaica, said those people right there are the ticket checkers. Because of all the problems with the trains I told her it would be bad public regulations to be giving people a hard time on a day like today. We sat there for 15 minutes when I thought maybe I should jump off and validate the ticket, but I just knew as soon as I did the train would take off and I would miss meeting Maj. I joked with the lady asking her how the Jamacian Bobsled team is doing these days and told her to "make it Jamaica" the advertising slogan. She laughed about that and seemed to recognize it. She got off before I did. I enjoyed talking to her to have a good trip.

Finally we got to the main train station where I was getting off. The lady that I had waited with at the Dyssedorf station was going to the Tivoli and I followed her out of the station. I walked around the Tivoli and got to the main entrance a few minutes before Maj did. There were quite a few other people waiting there as well.

Maj soon arrived and she is a very stunning women. She has the blond hair, great smile and obviously stays in very good shape and is a doctor. She is the full package. We said hi and she introduced me to the people with her. The one guy was a physician like her and the other lady she knows from volleyball. Maj seems to be the type that walks with a gentle and confident pace and seems to be in contol of her future. Who really knows if that is the case maybe she was just on some good drugs. Who knows. But outwardly she seems to be a very cool person. We talked about various miscellaneous items and drank a beer. I talked to Simeon and Maj's other friend for awhile as well.

At around 9:30 we headed for the Tivoli as the concert that Maj wanted to see began at 10:00 to meet some friends. Simone the guy who had a beer with us earlier went home. We met the friends in the middle of the crowd and had a great view just a little ways from the stage. One of Maj's friends at the concert plays 2 woman volleyball with Maj and they have a volleyball tournament together the next day. Maj is quite tall and I could see her being a very good volleyball player. I would have liked to stay around and check some of the volleyball action out, but I new I needed to be like Joe Dirt and keep on keeping on. We listened to the first band which I think was named Marie Q or something like that who played for an hour. I thought she was pretty good, but a little bit of a gimmick band in that they sang a lot of funny songs. In that respect they reminded me of Bare Naked Ladies while vocally her voice sounded like Edie Brickell. I mentioned to Maj that she sounded like Edie Brickell and Maj finished the sentence with "and the New Bohemians." Maj and her friend I guess were getting tired of standing so they left about midway through the second concert. They went to sit at a table. I stayed standing for awhile longer and then decided to walk around the Tivoli area for awhile as I really had not seen much of it. I bought a box of popcorn as I had not had supper just one beer all night was it.

We talked awhile longer and then the rest of the group returned. Around 12:00 the music stopped. Actually the Tivoli estabilishment required that. We headed for the exits and said goodbye.

I jumped on the S-Train and headed to my stop Dyssedorf. The trains seemed to be running better tonight. I got back to the house with the cats and the lizards. Guxi had stayed at a friends after work and had taken the pug with her. I am not sure if Guxi's roomate was staying there or not as I did not ever hear her. I checked my email and went to bed. It had been a long day but I felt like I saw Copenhagen pretty well. Tomorrow I head to Stavanger. Hopefully I will get some typing caught up.

7-20-07
I got up around 6 got organized. Headed for the train station. Everything seemed to be working properly this morning. Headed for the train station and everything was going just great. This was a little scary. At the train station there were some very scary people. There was one guy dancing to the music McDonalds had playing and another guy who was eating his hamburger and fries right at the counter. He even had ketchup on some paper that spilled over onto the stainless steel counter. These guys I am sure had not been to bed. There were other people there as well that I think had been out partying all night. It seemed a little disgusting to me. I am not sure why the people working there did not make a big deal about it, but they didn't probably not wanting the confrontation. They just seemed to look the other way as much as possible. I think people in Denmark are quite tolerant. Maybe that is why there is less violence here. I did have a sausage McMuffin that was really good. The food everywhere is indeed a little different even food that is supposedly pretty standardized. This might have been the best sausage McMuffin I have ever had. The sausage was very thick and just tasted good. The hash brown however was pretty bad. After breakfast I went to my train platform and began waiting. The train came on time and I got on. Again everything going quite good. I was scheduled to be in a small town about 20 minutes from Hirsthall, Denmark where I would be taking a ferry to Kristiansand, Norway.

The train was a little slow, but not too bad. On a couple occasions the train stopped and the conductor said the lines were down somewhere. I was not sure how long this would delay us. I asked the guys sitting near me how long these delays usually last and they said it is hard to say. I told them I only had 6 minutes between this train and my next transfer.

We would just have to wait and see. I also talked to a lady from Denmark for awhile that was going to meet a friend in Sweden. I talked to another lady for awhile and she was going to most of the same places I was. I told her good, I would follow her. We talked for a long time about lots of different things. She was interesting to talk to and I think she enjoyed talking to me as well. When we got to the next train station I told her I was going to try and run to find some food. She said we had about 15 minutes before the train left. Some of the train stations have mall like areas built around them and this was one of those. I walked for a long time and finally found a grocery store. I ran in their and got about 6 cans of sardines and some fruit to eat in Norway as they say food is way too expensive in Norway. People told me no one eats out in Norway because it is way too expensive so I wanted to get some food before getting there. At the counter they said they did not take Visa and I ask them again and they again said they do not take Visa. I told them I do not have Danmarks and ask if they take Euros. They said they did so I paid in Euros which I assumed I am usually getting screwed when I do that as I suspect the exchange rate is in their favor. I then took off running as I was getting close to the 15 minutes so I ran down the passage ways and was back in the train station ran down the steps and jumped on the train as the doors closed and we were on our way. The lady I had been talking to came to my section of the train and I told her I just barely made it back in time and she said she knew as she had seen me jump on. We talked for a little bit and then she left only to come back and sit by me. That was a nice thing for her to do. We talked more and I typed and she read. Her name is Nancy and I guess she is in her 50's. She has been to the US a few times. It seems people that have been to the US are more willing to talk to Americans than those that have not been there. I assume that holds true for anyone who has traveled to a foreign country they are more likely to talk to someone from that country as they have something in common.

We had several more stops where we just sat on the tracks and finally we made it to our next stop. Again there were delays there as well and we had about a 30 minute wait before the train was scheduled to arrive. I went to the other end of the train station and sat by a young man and his girlfriend. I asked them if it was ok to sit by them and they said of course. The Scandinavian people I have met have been nothing, but courteous everywhere. I am a big fan of the Scandinavian people.

Finally our train arrived and I found myself sitting by Nancy, the kid I had just sat by at the train station and a new guy. The new guy was fun to talk to too and we joked about a lot of things. We had plenty of time to talk as the train was frequently stopped. We joked about the US and Europe and pretty much everything was fair game. I told them the only thing I know about Denmark's train system is that it is faster than walking. They too joked about Denmark's train system. Everyone said they have trouble with it because of the temperature fluctuations. I find this a little hard to believe. There are lots of cold countries does everyone have trouble? The conductor then came around asking who was on their way to make the ferry. I guess it was common for people to be be on their way to catch the ferry when taking this train. I told him I was. They then announced they were getting taxis for those people needing to catch the ferry and they announced a Taxi would be waiting for us at the next train station. The one guy said if a Norway train is more than an hour late you are entitled to your money back. Not sure how that works if you have a rail pass like I do. Do you get another day added?

We made it to the train station and they all told me this is where I needed to get off. I really enjoyed talking to these people. We had quite the diverse group with the kid probably 17 the guy probably my age and the lady probably around 50. It was a fun trip even if we were a few hours late.

We jumped off and I walked to the first taxi I found. The person did not speak much English which is unusal for the Scandinavian countrys. I finally determined this was not the right taxi. There was no taxi for the 12 of us who just got off the train. Surprise, Surprise in true Gomer Pyle Fashion. You know Gomer is a name I have never heard anyone called besides Private First Class Pyle himself.

The driver I was talking to then received a phone call and he must have been told to pick us up as all of the sudden he started talking to some people close to him that had gotten off the train and then one of those folks asked me if I was by myself and I said yep and they told me I could ride with them. I jumped in and we were on our way to catch the ferry.

Again I enjoyed talking to those people in the taxi as well. The lady who was traveling by herself said she was a lawyer. I told her lawyers in the US are made fun of and she said it is the same way here. She was a little quiet and did not say a whole lot. The guy in our group who was traveling with a small child talked more. I forget his occupation, but he was a very nice guy. The trip was much shorter than I expected as it appeared much farther on the map as we were there in about 15 minutes. The attorney lady said I needed to go upstairs to get my ticket.

I went upstairs and talked to the ticket people and they said their is a 10:30 boat and 1:30 boat. They said the other boat had just left to Kristiansand. All the train delays were no longer funny as this was going to cost me a day of traveling. After some thought I decided to put off the decision and walk into town as it was like 4:00 in the afternoon and there was no reason to get in a hurry to get the ticket.

I walked to the tourist information center to discuss options with them to get to Kristiansand. We talked about a lot of different scenarios, but in the end it was going to be best to take the boat directly to Kristiansand. I felt like I had done pretty much everything I could do to find a cheap boat, but this was going to be the best for me. The only internet in this small community appeared to be right there in the tourist information center. To use however was not cheap. I told them all I had was 0.35 danmarks. I asked them how they keep- track of the time. The lady said she just uses her watch. I got on the internet to check couchsurfing options, which did not look good for Stavanger and then got off. The lady who had been helping me said to not worry about paying anything for the time I used. She was very nice and helpful.

I decided to take the 1:30 boat that way I would not need lodging. If I took the earlier boat I would need lodging in Kristiansand upon arrival very, very late at night. There was a band playing at a local bar so I left my backpack at the bar as the lady said that would be fine. I wanted to have a beer and listen to the music.

I walked the 20 minutes or so back to the port and got the ticket. I then went back into town to the bar. The music must have been a happy hour thing as it was over when I got back. I still had a beer but they served no food. After the beer I walked down the street to a pizza place and had just that a pizza. There was one guy in there that looked a lot like a guy that I worked with but a little overwieght. I decided to take a picture of him and email the picture to work to see if they see the resemblance. I paid for the meal in Euros and roughly did the math and did not think they were screwing me too bad for using Euros. From there I walked around for awhile and checked out the beach. This is a camping area and there were several German Bunkers on the beach. I did not know the Germans had such influence this far north. Can you imagine what this world might have been like if Hitler would have not tried to take over so much land. They could have easily taken over a lot of Europe, but they just got greedy and kept wanting to expand his empire and his influence. People like him are just so deranged they just do not know when to stop. Calling him deranged is another sports announcer comment. If you get more runs than the other team 99% of the time you will win the game.

It started raining so I went to a hostel to get out of the rain. Their were mainly old people staying at this hostel. After it quit raining I went to a grocery store as I had found a 50 Danmark bill and decided to blow it on some additional food supplies. From there I walked towards the ferry and came across a tent that had a band playing rock and roll in it. I am not sure if there was a festival going on, but I went in, had a beer and listened to the music.

From there I walked to they ferry and typed in the Cafeteria until it was time to board the boat.

Finally about 12:45 we began boarding the boat. I was not in a hurry to get aboard as I was just going to try and find a place to type for awhile. I walked to the restaurant aboard and sat at a booth. A little bit later several other people started filtering in and were laying down in the booths. The booth I had was much bigger than most booths and I soon realized I had prime real estate. I was tempted to offer my location for a beer, but I didn't. There was one shady looking character near me so once I quit typing around 2:00 I clipped my backpack to the table and tied the top string to me. I also slipped the strap over my body. If anyone was going to mess with my belongings they were going to have to crawl under the table to do so and then they had many other obstacles to get through before getting my belongings. I would sleep better knowing this. This boat was pretty amazing having slot machines, beds , several restaurants etc. I was impressed although very tired. I decided to call it a night. Sweet dreams from somewhere on the North Sea.

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Photos

Amber Waves of Grain!
And Windmills?

Train on Boat?
Yep they just drove our train right on the boat.

Mainland Denmark!
Here I come.

Lots of Water around Copenhagen
Kind of reminds me of Amsterdam

Vegetarian Food
This was very spicey food and vegetarian and the best meal I had on the entire trip.

Good Food Served Here!
and it is all Vegetarian. Who would have thunk it?

German Bunker in Hirtsal, Denmark
I didn't even know the Germans made it into Scandinavia?

A very Amateur Rock Band.
I enjoyed them nonetheless.

Comments

[Julie Jansen]

No, I got ripped off when I landed here too
... but not for long! First at the airport train station, the machine didn't like my 500K note so I went to the window where I was charged double. hmmm. then downstairs the conductor said yes, this train goes to your station it didn't just Central. Then the cabbie went twice around the block because he couldn't get to the 'exact' spot I was staying (it was Parkveien! A major street!). And to top it off at the hotel they decided to dock me a night even though I'd told them in time I'd be a day late. At that point I wondered if they were taking tourism tips from the mafia and thought, "I"m onto you people now." :-D Having said all that ... no ripoffs since. And everyone is friendly if you know 'Hallo" and the basic phrases. Have fun those readers coming to Oslo! Jules in Australia (who will be in London in a few days for three weeks)