I Sent A Letter

I write now from yet another Sidewalk Express, this time from the gentler surrounds of Oslo Sentralstatjon. I'm finally here, and finally writing a blog. It has been an interesting few hours.

I started the day at the Sidewalk Express terminal at København H station, an hour before catching the train from platform 9 to Goteburg. I alighted from the train at 12.23, and caught my connecting train on platform 4 to Oslo. These two train rides have easily been the most fascinating and beautiful experience of my stay in Europe. The amazingly green pastures, the ocean views, the incredible forests - including the pine forest which seems to stretch from just outside Goteburg all the way to Oslo - are absolutely amazing. Cows seem to make sense when they're eating real green grass, unlike the starved bovine death spotted occasionally while driving around rural Australia.



It was an eight hour train ride, and I passed the time by writing Erica a letter. Once I had finished, I realised that it would take at least a week for it to get from a Norweigan post office to a letterbox in suburban Melbourne. This just wouldn't do. So once I got to my hostel, I sat and took photos of all of its handwritten pages, and set about finding a better Internet Café - one with accessible USB ports - from which to send it.

In my hostel I found a series of Oslo guides in every conceivable language, except English. Fortunately my French was up to the challenge of the words Cafés Internet. There were two listed. I went back to the Sidewalk Express, where I had credit, and searched for the first on Google Maps. The address wasJernbanetorget 1, but Google pointed me to this very train station. I got up and looked around, everywhere, on both levels, but could not find the Arctic Internet Café. I even found a map of all of the train station stalls, which made no mention of any such thing. I walked down to Tourist Information, took a number, and waited fifteen minutes, to be told that Jernbanetorget 1 was indeed the exact train station from which I had come. Exasperated, I went back to the Sidewalk Express, googled for other Internet Cafés in Oslo, and found one about a fifteen minute walk away, on the other side of the hostel. Figuring it was a good way to see the city, I began to walk.

I found the café. Although the sign on the front clearly stated it was open between 11.00 and 21.30, and despite my phone telling me it was only 8.50pm, the door was closed. I walked closer to investigate, and found only the loud whirring of the burglar alarm within. I quietly walked away.

So I went back to the train station, to write a blog post about the missing Arctic Internet Café. But then, with a sense of adventure, I decided to give it one last shot. I walked to where the food stalls where, but found only another Sidewalk Express. I walked up the escalators, and found only that the post office had closed. I looked up to the ceiling in desperation. But then, it hit me - there was a third level! And advertised on this third level: the Arctic Internet Café!



Thrilled, I walked up to the man at the desk, asked for a computer, and sent my letter in full. This café is even more expensive than the Danish one, so I will try and find a library from which to post my other photos. I decided to write this blog from downstairs where I am using my remaining Sidewalk credit. And now, I will return to my hostel dormitory at the Hotel Perminalen, which cost me twice as much as Denmark's Hotel Jørgensen. That's not a bad deal, considering this one is only a four-bed dorm, and it has an ensuite bathroom. Better still, when I was last there at 8pm, it seemed I was its only occupant for the night.

So I think I can expect a much better sleep than the night before.