greatcats
Engineer
Continuing my journey from Bulgaria to Turkey to Italy to Switzerland, to Denmark, I departed Copenhagen Thursday evening on the DFDS ferry, " Crown Seaways. " I rate this ride much higher than DB's City Night Line. My inside cabin was just fine, and I had an excellent, although pricy dinner in one of their several dining rooms. The breakfast buffet the next morning was very good, and we arrived on time after a seventeen hour voyage into Oslo.
I have never been in Norway and spent two nights in Oslo. This morning I departed on the NSB train at 8:05am to Bergen. I thought it might be slow business, as it was Sunday morning. Not at all. Crowds of people headed down the ramp to Track 3 to depart west out of Oslo Central Station. This is an electrified train of I believe seven or eight cars. I was in the Komfort Klass, which was reasonably priced ( amazing in this country ) and is not all that different from coach. The seats are not that different, but a selection of complimentary coffee and newspapers is available. For most of the ride I was seated next to three gents from London, who were good company.. Other than one of the WCs in our car being out of order and I found the Cafe car rather cramped, and was not permitted to leave that car with my beer, the train was fine.
About two hours out of Oslo, in a rural area, I heard the engineer sound his horn and come to an abrupt stop. As we slowed, I saw the head of a man walking alongside the train. After we stopped, I saw him pass by again - completely naked! He happened to be a black man, which is something of an anomaly in Norway. I don't think many passengers saw him. I thought perhaps we had hit somebody, but after about 15 minutes we started up again. From what I could make out of the announcement by the conductor, we were delayed fifteen minutes and the man who I observed would be removed by the police at the next station. He must have been put aboard the electric locomotive, as I can't imagine them boarding a naked man into a coach full of passengers! Honest, I am not making this up! I would think they would have had him on two counts: not an appropriate place to be naked and trespassing on railroad property.
After this little incident we continued on. This trip of a little over three hundred miles is indeed quite a ride, from the urban areas of Oslo, through rural country, up to around 4,000 feet and alpine tundra with snow, descending into the coastal fjord area. We arrived on time into what appears to be a lovely city, Bergen. I walked over to my hotel and looked up cultural events and ended up taking a shuttle bus five miles out to Troldhaugen, the home of composer Edvard Grieg. The concert this evening was by a distinguished Norwedian pianist, Einar Steen-Nokleberg playing music of Handel, Beethoven, and Grieg. Truly wonderful! In a few days I will be on three nights of a Hurtigruten ferry-cruise up to Bodo, and then return to Oslo airport, by two Norwegian trains. Please stay tuned. By the way, if I have whetted your appetite to come to these parts, keep in mind that the trains are reasonable ( must be heavily subsidized), the hotel rates aren't bad, but the prices for meals are in the stratosphere! Be warned!
I have never been in Norway and spent two nights in Oslo. This morning I departed on the NSB train at 8:05am to Bergen. I thought it might be slow business, as it was Sunday morning. Not at all. Crowds of people headed down the ramp to Track 3 to depart west out of Oslo Central Station. This is an electrified train of I believe seven or eight cars. I was in the Komfort Klass, which was reasonably priced ( amazing in this country ) and is not all that different from coach. The seats are not that different, but a selection of complimentary coffee and newspapers is available. For most of the ride I was seated next to three gents from London, who were good company.. Other than one of the WCs in our car being out of order and I found the Cafe car rather cramped, and was not permitted to leave that car with my beer, the train was fine.
About two hours out of Oslo, in a rural area, I heard the engineer sound his horn and come to an abrupt stop. As we slowed, I saw the head of a man walking alongside the train. After we stopped, I saw him pass by again - completely naked! He happened to be a black man, which is something of an anomaly in Norway. I don't think many passengers saw him. I thought perhaps we had hit somebody, but after about 15 minutes we started up again. From what I could make out of the announcement by the conductor, we were delayed fifteen minutes and the man who I observed would be removed by the police at the next station. He must have been put aboard the electric locomotive, as I can't imagine them boarding a naked man into a coach full of passengers! Honest, I am not making this up! I would think they would have had him on two counts: not an appropriate place to be naked and trespassing on railroad property.
After this little incident we continued on. This trip of a little over three hundred miles is indeed quite a ride, from the urban areas of Oslo, through rural country, up to around 4,000 feet and alpine tundra with snow, descending into the coastal fjord area. We arrived on time into what appears to be a lovely city, Bergen. I walked over to my hotel and looked up cultural events and ended up taking a shuttle bus five miles out to Troldhaugen, the home of composer Edvard Grieg. The concert this evening was by a distinguished Norwedian pianist, Einar Steen-Nokleberg playing music of Handel, Beethoven, and Grieg. Truly wonderful! In a few days I will be on three nights of a Hurtigruten ferry-cruise up to Bodo, and then return to Oslo airport, by two Norwegian trains. Please stay tuned. By the way, if I have whetted your appetite to come to these parts, keep in mind that the trains are reasonable ( must be heavily subsidized), the hotel rates aren't bad, but the prices for meals are in the stratosphere! Be warned!
Really enjoying your trip report.
