get usage of the Scanrail to the fullest

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Left the hostel in Stockholm in the early evening. Stopped by an internet cafe in the pedestrian street to check email and to use my last Swedish krona. I didn't need an hour so I asked if I could use the internet for 15 minutes. Agreed upon the term but when I left the computer the middle-eastern-shopkeeper wanted me to pay more even in euro currency. I washed my hand and left the place without paying for more. Walk to the Stockholm central train station, checked the time and the platform which the night train would leave from for Oslo, I took a seat and waited for the train arrival.

The train arrived. I had a little difficulty to locate the right carriage. The number listed on the carriage was not numerical order. Finally located the correct car and took my assigned lower bunk bed. It was a good, interesting train ride. Managed to sleep a little through the sit-sit-sit sound of the moving train. Arrived in Oslo at the crack dawn in the morning. The hostel hadn't open yet so I had to wait outside for it to open.

Checked in the hostel. Paid for my first night. Left the backpack in the storage and was told to come back later to get the key.

Since I left Sweden last night after 7 PM, my scanrail pass would not consider yesterday as a usage of a travel day, but the next day. So I should take advantage and used the free day of train ride to the fullest. So I went back to the train station and took the very next train to Lilehammer, a former winter olympic host in the past. Along the way I took notice of the changing of the scenery. Got off at the train station and hit the center. Spotted a supermarket and bought ready-to-eat chicken and orange juice for breakfast I walked around town and found a place to sit down to watch the world pass by and had my late breakfast.

It was quite a small world. I was tickled to see a vietnamese couple set up their shop for the day in the main street and sell wooden figures of cartoon characters. The man was using his little saw to cut the small thin ply wood into words or names then affixed into the sold wooden merchandise. I saw this activity done in Vietnam. I was quite a bit surprise and tickle to know that such creative work can be sold here in Norway, thousand miles away from its origin. What a way to make a living. It is good for them.

Walk around town a little. Zip back to the main pedestrian street. Cross to different road. Pass by a hotel where there was a bus loaded with spanish tourists was about to leave. Wonder are these people travel by tourist bus all the way from Spain ?

On the way back to Oslo in the afternoon, I made another stop in a coastal town of Hamar. Home of the famous indoor speed skating arena, the Olympia Hall, better known as Vikingskipet ("The Viking ship") for its shape. You can see this arena aboard the train as it passes by the town. Hamar is a nice little town. I had a good strolling around town. Stopped a supermarket again but didn't make any purchase.

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