16 May 2022.
Well this is one for the travel books. We arrived in Oslo on time on a gorgeous Monday afternoon the day before their independence day celebrations and discovered the country's entire banking system was down and had been all day.
OK, let's back up to this morning.
We were both up early to catch an early train out of Stockholm for Oslo. We thought breakfast was at 0600 but in fact turned out to be at 0630. After we checked out the desk clerk very kindly asked if she could bring us some coffee and a few snacks to tide us over on our journey. You bet!
Soon after we got our road food we headed off to the metro, the nearby frequented Slussen stop. One stop later and we got off at the central station. Since we were a bit early for our train we stopped at the Espresso House to sit down and enjoy another coffee.
We boarded our on-time train, and, as we slipped fast through the Swedish countryside past dense forests, occasional farms and lots of lakes, large and small, we continued to appreciate how happy we are to not have to drive. The movement of the train was hypnotic for me, and the two of us just sat relaxing the morning away.
Arriving at the station we had two objectives: the first was to get reservations for our next leg, Oslo to Myrdahl, Norway on 21 Saturday. This was the one leg we had not gotten our reservations from Eurail before we left so we had to stop at the station ticket counter to tackle that issue.
Well, upon arriving at the counter we learned the country's banking system was down and had been for much of the day already. If we didn't have cash (Norwegian cash mind you) we'd have to come back. Well, the reservations weren't critical (yet) but this situation posed another, larger problem for us: how to buy groceries or even transport tickets without being able to use a credit card? We scraped up what loose foreign currency we had and made our way to the nearest currency exchange counter.
Usually we give such places a wide berth since they are notorious for giving poor rates, but we had little choice. We handed over Czech, Danish and even US money. In return we walked out with enough Norwegian money to get by for the moment.
Back to the ticket counter we went and learned that we didn't need to pay for the Myrdahl reservations at all -- they were included in our pass! Something that Eurail conveniently forget to tell us; perhaps because they charge for booking reservations, maybe?
One problem down. The other was to find the tourist information office. We just needed a good city map (got that) and a handy guide to the best of Oslo (got that, too). On Wednesday we'll download the Oslo Pass app and buy 72-hours passes similar to the Copenhagen Card, covering many of the major attractions and all public transport.
We asked directions at the TI office as to how best to get to our apartment; we knew it was a relatively short walk but wanted to confirm. It was a simple matter of walking out of the terminal and following the boulevard that ran parallel to the station to our destination. In the meantime I texted our host to let him know we were coming.
After walking about 15 minutes we met with our host outside the building. After showing us the apartment, explaining its nuances and how to access the roof garden he was off. For details about the apartment you can go here:
As soon as our host left we walked across the street to a small market, picked up a few necessities for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast and settled in to relax for the evening.
Tomorrow Norwegian independence day!
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| our train locomotive and arrival in Oslo |
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