7/6
Get a decent night’s rest, get up and hop on the train back to Oslo. Today is the marathon journey – I have a seven hour train to Oslo, a four hour layover then a ten hour overnight train to Stockholm. The train is less full than last time, so there are no dramatics involving cats or dogs or bears or volcanoes or any such thing. I sit and watch the splendid countryside pass me by in the bright sunshine. Later, a couple of punky kids sit down near me. One of them is playing wacky dance music in his earphones at deafening volume. At the stop they get off and smoke a joint, and disembark a few stops later. The rest of the trip is uneventful and relaxing, and we pull into Oslo at around five thirty. I grab some tacos, drink a few beers, killing time until the train at ten. I get restless and wander out to a park, lay down for awhile. A big Lassie dog walks up to me, I pet his head. He barks with delight. I hop on the overnight train, the cabins hold six people in a space comparable to a bread box. It is myself, three Indians and two others. I notice that the native Norwegians have been allocated their own six-bed cabins all to themselves, while all the tourists have been crammed together like cattle. I procrastinate going to bed, instead hanging out the window in the cool evening air and watching things rush by. It is magical out there, lush green farmland giving way to forests and valleys. I see a moose hurrying across an open field, heading for the treeline, then a few scattered deer. A group of horses scampers away from the tracks as the train passes by. Goats and sheep and cows are sprinkled here and there in the dusk. I look on in wonder, utterly transfixed. I stand by the window for hours. Midnight is approaching and it is still not dark yet, but in the dimming light the train goes up a hill along a straightaway and we are heading straight at the moon hanging low in the sky, orange-hued and dressed in silken clouds. I take this to bed with me.
Tags: europe, stockholm, sweden, Travel
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