London to Honefoss

Sunday, June 02, 2013
Honefoss, Eastern Valleys, Norway
Well we've been back in Australia for over ages now, but as I need to sort out the photos etc I might as well do it on this blog. As you may remember the laptop "broke" the day we left London - so no downloading maps and timetable (when WiFi was available) for future use on the trip. This led to a few problems - but nothing insurmountable. It also meant I couldn't write the blog on Word and copy & paste.

So onto the Great Adventure!! I'm including the prices for anyone thinking of doing a similar trip . I'm also including the problems and pitfalls for the same reason - and also so the rest of you can have a good laugh!

We were at St Pancras, London, in plenty of time to catch the Eurostar, at 8.04am, for Brussels, arriving there at 11.05. We'd purchased the tickets on-line before we left Australia ($124.44 for both of us and used Visa Card).

We activated our Global Eurail Passes at Brussels. These were First Class for 15 days with 2 bonus days. $630 each. I wanted to see the tulips (if there were any) in the Netherlands and travel the 'scenic route' from Utrech to Arnhem, so at 12.18 we headed for Amsterdam via Rotterdam on an Inter City train. (The Thalys train was quicker, but it's a private high speed train and would have cost extra. We intended avoiding any extra fares where possible.) A girl lost her bag on the train to Rotterdam. We couldn't understand much of what was said between her and the conductors, but it seemed like it was stolen . Better keep an eye on the bags!! Bryan had the backpack (with the bloody useless laptop) and I had a small wheely bag and a Nike gym backpack, and a bumbag. Bryan also used his pockets, but I had nothing in any pockets. The other thing we noticed was that people bought their own food onto the train; so in Rotterdam we both bought a panini + freshly done juice from "La Place" for the next train trip. Cost 4.95 Euros ($7) each. I later learned what excellent value this was! We got on a FYR train from Rotterdam without paying a supplement somehow, and arrived in Amsterdam just after 15.00.

Just outside the station there were tourist guides, with free maps, to answer questions. [This led us to a false expectation - we thought all major cities would have something similar.] We walked to Dam Square and then through the Red Light district - lots of people - lots of whom were smoking, lots of noise, lots of bikes; lots of bodies for sale - some were quite gross; lots of bars and cannabis museums . All too much really - so we went back to near the station and took the free ferry trip (NDSM WERFVEER on the map) - 15 minutes each way. Then a walk around the Ooster-dok; past the houseboats and the thousands of bikes and back to the station. Used the first class lounge at the station in Amsterdam - free lockers, free WiFi and a free beer each. Things are looking good!

Oh - and I didn't see any tulips in The Netherlands. Lots of market gardening and "allotments". Thousands of bikes. Somewhere along the line I learned that "witlof" is a bitter salad green that is fried - I wonder who told me that?

Our first night - "Borealis" overnight train (City Night Line 40447) from Amsterdam to Copenhagen 31 May. I booked this in Australia because I didn't want to miss out on our private shower and toilet - same price as the shared bathroom, but not many of them. The charge for the sleeper was 150 Euros, but by paying early we incurred a booking fee, an agent's fee and then the tickets had to get sent (no email ticket available) so we paid $232 .

We left Amsterdam at 19.01 so were surprised the berths were already made up - but we soon fixed that. The next surprise was that there was no dining car on the train. A deluxe cabin with our own shower and toilet but no real food!! However we did get those small complimentary bottles of red wine ..... and we bought another bottle each later (or was it two?) The train stopped in Emmerich for quite some time around 20.47 - this was when we were eating our "dinner". Bryan's was a ham sandwich and mine was curried sausage in tomato sauce. The wine was Portuguese Rotwein 500ml.
NB - take your own food hamper and make this trip even better.
 
Arrived in Copenhagen at 10.07. The First Class Lounge was closed as it was Saturday. The lockers required DKK, so I queued up to change some money. Still in the queue 20 minutes later and gave up. Decided to walk with our luggage - after going to the loo. Woops, another queue and 15 DKK to get in (which I didn't have). Left the station and tried Tivoli Gardens . I thought it had a free park, but I was wrong. Walked to the Tourist Information, and a lovely young lass stacking the shelves told us of a free park at Sankt Jergens Lake where we could just sit. Then we wandered across to the Town Hall and along H.C.Andersens Boulevard and back to the station to catch the train to Gothenburg.

The train went over the Oresund Bridge to Sweden. This is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe and opened in 2000. It was on our "must see" list - but it is now part of 'the everyday' and we went over it again on our way back from Stockholm a week later. The bridge has made a big difference to Denmark and Sweden - you can now live in one country and work in the other! We had a stop at Goteborg and bought something to eat on the train to Oslo. They turned out to be overpriced 'meat and salad' rolls - cost 78 SEK). We'd spent the same amount for rolls on the train out of Copenhagen and they were much nicer, and bigger! Unfortunately, we were never sure what would be available on the train . From my notes - we had an interesting conversation with a retired Chinese man. There was a lot of flat land with green grassy stretches - my notes also mention poppies, firs and pine trees, and the hydro at Halden. The 'hydro' is actually a nuclear reactor apparently.

In order to avoid arriving in Oslo at 22.00 and then having to find the hotel (which had a high probability of having bed bugs if it was in our price range, according to reviews on Trip Adviser!), I'd booked at the HI hostel at Nesparken in Moss. Moss being a much smaller town (population just over 30,000) 50 minutes before Oslo. The two trains we'd been on in Sweden were great - free coffee and free wi-fi. We made notes of how to get to the hostel from the station - easy 15 minute walk, and got there just after 21.30. After we'd settled in, we went for a walk around the lake without jumpers on and still light. Great.

The hostel was just that - no private bathroom or toilet, but everything was clean and the double bedroom was very roomy . It cost about $135 - without breakfast. However, the walls were thin and a very loud French family arrived about midnight and left about 5.30 am. Not the hostel's fault. Off to the station early, before breakfast - beautiful clear morning. There didn't appear to be a train to Oslo for 2 hours - whattha!! I'd checked all this out so carefully. Bryan browsed around looking at train timetables and found that the train to Skoyen, which was due to leave in 5 minutes, went through Oslo (Skoyen being in the western part of Oslo)! So I was right after all. We caught the 8.31 train and got into Oslo at 20 past 9.

Upon arrival at Oslo we put our bags in a locker (50 NOK) then went to reserve a few of our Norwegian trains - it's free to do the reservations in Norway. The booking office didn't open until 10am - no probs, we'll check out the Tourist Information Centre. Oh it's moved, but they gave us a mud map. Back to the booking office and did the reservations. Missed out on getting sleepers from Bergen back to Oslo for the following night . Oh well. Now to find the Tourist Information Centre. Finally found it - and got a better map! First port of call was The Viking Ship Museum, so we caught a ferry across to the Bygdoy peninsula. We bought the ferry tickets onboard and were charged 100NOK - that's when I remembered that we were supposed to get them from a machine before boarding (at a cost of 60NOK). Live and learn. An expensive 15 minute ferry ride, followed by a 15 minute uphill walk. Maybe it was time to try Bryan's Seniors Card (I didn't take mine). Worked! 35 NOK each to get into the Viking Museum instead of 60 NOK.

It poured with rain while we were in the museum - which was really interesting - so we decided to catch a bus to Vigeland Sculpture Park. The bus was free - maybe the driver assumed we had an Oslo Pass. (The Oslo Pass is awesome value if you're into museums and NOT walking - or if you're over 65! - 120 NOK (say $22) per Senior for 24 hours; 145 NOK for 48 hours and 190 NOK for 72 hours .)

 http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Where-to-go/East/Oslo/What-to-do-in-Oslo/Attractions-in-Oslo/Vigelandsparken-sculpture-park/

Vigeland Park in Frognor Park hasn't changed a lot since 1974 - the statues are dirtier and the trees are bigger. Still all nude though! There is work in progress tidying things up, but despite that, and the odd shower, I still loved that park. [Pity we couldn't have the picnic I'd planned in my mind.] We had a cup, not a mug, of coffee at the cafe - cost 38.50 NOK (about $7) each and that was the going rate. Yikes! We continued walking - towards the Royal Residence at the top of Karl Johans Gate - and there was a torrential downpour while we were eyeing off a menu at a restaurant in Henrik Ibsen Gate. Lucky us being in semi cover - this downpour resulted in water flowing down the stairs to the underground station [we were told]. Interesting walk back down Karl Johans Gate towards the station. There were a few more downpours . We came across a Subway and they had a special of the day - our footlong cost less than our coffees. I kid you not - "skinke & ost", ham & cheese, and all the extras was 69 NOK ($12.60). Bargain! That was our first food for the day - no wonder I lost weight in Scandinavia - too much to do, and prices too high!

Got on the train for Honefoss at 16.00 and arrived at 17.40. Did I say why we went to Honefoss? The next day was our version of the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour - and I didn't fancy being up early enough to catch a train at about 6.45!! An 8.17 departure is much more civilised.

We were really tired after all that walking in Oslo - so the walk down the hill to the Grand Hotel seemed longer than it really was. There was a wedding reception finishing up at the hotel - but we were checked in and shown upstairs to our room. Yes - the wifi worked! But before I got carried away on my iphone (sans SIM card) we went walkabout. Saw the first supermarket in a while - ICA - but it was closed; an interesting town, but we ended up back at the Sportsmans which was attached to the hotel. And I decided I'd rather have another beer than pay the same for a very basic meal. Met some interesting people and had a Norwegian pronunciation lesson!
Back in the hotel room, we picked up the BBC news - floods in southern Germany! The Grand Hotel cost 890 Nok ($166) and we were very happy with it. Breakfast was great.



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