Canada Day in Norway and Sweden


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Europe » Norway
July 1st 2009
Published: July 21st 2009
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CANADA DAY!!! July 1st

Got into Trondeheim and it was a beautiful morning around 7am. Checked out the board schedule and decided to take the next train east to Ostersund. I had an hour and a bit to explore. Took my bag with me not really enough time to lock it up. Went over the bridge through the harbour. Found out some history about the town. Turns out that this was Norways old capital city with Olav Tryggvasson coming here around 997 AD. Holly crap thats awhile ago. This was a special place for Norway. All of the kings and queens were crowned here at Nidaros Cathedral. Old Olav became a saint after his death. They dug him up for some reason and his hair and nails kept growing after his death. That was enough for the church he was declared a saint.
We were cruising through the border between Norway and Sweden and there were tons of ski hills as soon as you got over to Sweden. I almost got off when I saw all these mountain bike shops where you could rent a bike for a day and take the chair lifts up. Too bad it would have been a shit load of cash and I would have been stranded here untill god knows when.
When we finally got into Ostersund there was a huge lake surrounding it. People on the beach all around. I was tempted to get off here as well. Figured it wasnt too far away from the main station and I had to find my next train anyways. I wanted to find my way to the arctic circle. It was Canada Day though and I never missed being home so damn much. I was just picturing what was gonna happen down at the old causeway tonight. Kinda wish I could be there. It was the first event I actually missed!! Walked up through the park from the train station. There was a night train I could take to the Finnish border at Ulemea. That left at 8 so I had quite some time to explore.
Found an all you can eat Pizza place up the road. That worked for me!!! Sat down and made the mistake of making my own pizza which I thought was kind of weird out of a tortilla. After I piled it up with toppings the guy brings out a fresh new pizza!! Ha shit ah well. Nice thing was they had drinks included and even coffee for the end. I must have been in there over an hour. Good eats but not the best quality pizza in the world. I guess im pretty spoilt with my moms pizza making skills!!
After that I went over to the library and hung out there awhile. Got myself my own id card as I had been doing all over Europe. Nice cause using my laptop I didnt have a time limit so other people could use it. There was a sweet fountain in the library with seats all around it. Quite nice. Hung out there for a couple hours. Wasnt a whole lot to see in Ostersund. I had plans to go to the beach after and cool off. Hadnt had a decent shower in a few days either!!
I had to use the washroom at the library but it was only a pay washroom and i didnt have any damn swedish coins!!! O man it was terrible I almost pissed myself, I had to make my own washroom outside in a parking lot. All that for a stupid 5 Kr. Somethings wrong with that to me.
After I went down to the lake to see where I should go. No one was swimming at all. People were lounging in the sun but no one was in the water. Was something wrong with the water was it too cold or what. I tried it out and it didnt seem that cold. Fresh for sure but not as cold as the ocean. Anyways i continued on down the sidewalk because there was no beaches around. Odd I thought I saw a beach before. Found this shack with a dock beside it. No one was around and it turned out to be a sauna for some club. Set all my gear down and decided to jump in the water and cool off on this hot day. I even cooled off my juice for a few drinks. Lounged in the sun and finally jumped in. Definetly fresh WOW. I got out the shampoo and soap and it was a regular camper style bath. Ahhh felt soooo good. Had a few drinks for Canada for sure!! Bottle took off on me when some waves hit the dock!! Oh well lucky Yager isnt that strong to drink straight. Chilled here for over an hour and then went to make the train. Prolem was there was no way around these damn tracks. I finally got up the nerve and crossed them VERY carefully listening for anything moving. The train hadnt got there yet but should be there soon. No internet connection round. I wanted to send Benny a msg telling him im ok and having fun.
I had to change trains at Bracke which was a teeny little Swedish town. Met a couple that spoke Engllish and I asked em where they were from. One was from New Zealand and one was Swedish. We got into good conversation immediatly about travelling and what not. They were both involved with Opera. The lady was a singer and the guy was a conductor. They were getting married in two weeks and had planned a trip up to go hiking in the hiking and celebrate her dads 60th bday. Sounds like a ton of events to me.Couldnt find anything to eat around town everything was shut down. The only thing moving in town was these bloody kids on motorbikes RIPPING around town; No helmets or anything one of em was doing wheelies and another guy had an atv. They just kept going back and forth back and forth. We sat down and started getting attacked by hundreds of bloody mosquitoes. We talked about going to the lake beside the station to maybe swim but couldnt see a way over the tracks. I went to go check out the station building and see if they had ANY food at all. NOPE nothing at all all there was, was this creepy old man smiling the whole time looking off in the distance. Plus it was boiling in that freaking place. Ok so I walked around and found the tunnel below the tracks. Obviously they didnt look too hard eh.
Went back to the couple and told them about the tunnel. We all went over to the lake. The place was absolutly swarming with mosquitoes it was freaking annoying. The nice thing was they offered me some of there mangled coffee cake they had in a bag. The kiwi dude was the most annoyed and changed into long sleeves and pants and even had a freaking net over his head with his hands in his pockets. I decided not to go that far an grabbed my towell sat down and drapped it over me. They were tiny little bugs like noseums maybe. But they definetly bit the shit out of you. The sun was just about to set it was around 10pm,. Should of just jumped in the lake but I didnt want to get wet again and have to deal with being wet on the train. They told me about their carrers and how they travel all the time. They just bought a house together in Malmo and were moving from Germany to live there. They damn train was a bit late. Said our goodbyes and I was off to find my bed.
Wicked little bed in the bottom of a 6 bed bunkhouse. First time I got to actually lie down on a train. Stupid holder thing fell down and couldnt figure out how to put it back up. The cafeteria closed at 10 so I was hooped for anything else to eat tonight. Most people were already asleep.The guy gave me some hot water cause i had some tea bags from the UK still i could use.
OFF TO BED AHHHHHHHHHHHH NIGHT NIGHT!!!!


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