Gothenburg. 12:20am. I've been on the train for over six hours. Now, a six-hour layover, then another three and a half hours to Oslo. The train departs at 6:08am. Hey, that's an easy number to remember.
I had fully planned to just sleep on the platform. Amanda and i did that at least once on our last trip, and nothing bad happened to us. However, that was June, and we were further south. It's cold in Sweden.
Still getting my land legs back, i toddled into the station. Just inside the sliding glass doors were four red benches, two of them occupied by people who looked about ready to crash for the night.
Aside from everyone streaming in from my train, the station was mostly abandoned. Everything was closed except for a Burger King, which seemed just about there. The full station was set up as a loop, full of restaurants and shops. I completed an entire circuit, and considered setting up camp on one of the more interior benches, but they had arm rests in the middle. You know, classic anti-homeless architecture.
To the right of where i'd come in, the building divided, and there was a whole bus station over there. I decided to give that a try, and was rewarded with about twelve benches that seemed half a square. Like the bracket on your keyboard, ]. A long bench, and then two half-size benches protruding from either end. These also had armrests in the middle, but not in the corner seats.
I walked the full length of the room. Almost all of the corner seats had been taken, and most of the benches had people in the smaller end seats as well. I came all the way back to the front, and found an open corner on the very first bench. I don't know if it was open on my first pass, and i had just hoped to find a fully empty bench, or if it had opened up since. I staked my claim.
I pressed my heavy backpack against an armrest, slouched into the corner, and threw my legs over my bag for protection. It was wildly uncomfortable, but at least i was inside, where it was warm. I am still young enough that i can deal with this kind of thing every now and then, as long as it serves a purpose. I fucked around on my phone longer than i should have, messaging with a few friends back home, and then I tried to get some rest.
My eyes had barely closed when the annoying every-ten-minutes loudspeaker announcement switched from "Please be careful, pickpockets operate in this area" to "Attention, the bus station is now closed. Please exit the building." It was 1:15am.
Across the room, i saw dozens of heads pop up like prairie dogs, glancing back and forth to see if they were actually going to throw us out. Some people did get up and leave right away. A few minutes later, the yellow vests came in.
So now i was outside the train station. I found two large wooden platforms just outside the building, facing a couple of the external facades for other businesses in the building, unsure if these were the same ones that existed inside the train station. One of them was a hotel, i definitely hadn't seen that from in there, because i remember looking up to the ceiling, four or more stories above the ground, and thinking, "it would be a really good idea if all these rooms above the businesses in this station were simple, cheap hotel rooms, but alas, they all seem to be offices."
I sat there for quite a long time. I started looking up the hotels that i could see around me. They were all four-star hotels and were asking the equivalent of $200-250 per night. Like hell if i was going to pay that for a four-hour stay. I just need a place to not freeze for a while.
I started up the conversations i'd ended when i tried to sleep a bit ago. Shannon started looking around the area for hotels for me, but only found the same options i'd already explored. "Why would they even close it??" i asked rhetorically, more of a vent than a question. I started looking up other trains out of Gothenberg. The earliest i found left the station at about 4:30am, well before my train. With trains leaving in the 4:00 hour, why the hell would they close the doors at 1:15?
The cop cars left. I considered trying to get back into the building. I had kind of thought that they'd just cleared us out because they thought we were unhoused. I can't claim to be an expert traveler or anything, but i wouldn't have thought that people waiting out long layovers at a train station would be in violation of vagrancy laws.
I walked up to the side entrance to the building. The door didn't open. Then i saw the sign on the window. Hours: 4:00am to 1:00am. It literally closes for three hours each night.
Shannon messaged, "There might be a McDonalds that's 24/7 near you?"
"I think the McD's is in the train station," i replied. But that did give me an idea.
Instead of accommodations, i tried searching for open restaurants near me, and found a kebab shop two blocks away that's open until exactly 4:00am. I punched the Directions button so damn fast.
"These hours may be inaccurate," the GPS said, which worried me. But i had to try.
Seven minutes later, i was at City Kebab, ordering a kebab salad and Coke Zero.
I ate slowly, trying to milk out the amount of time i'd be allowed to stay at the restaurant, and drank my Coke even slower. But i mean, c'mon, there's no way that "open until 4am" is a coincidence here, right? They're definitely doing that on purpose.
I wondered what happened to everyone else that got cleared out of the station. I was the only person in the kebab shop for a long time. Eventually, more people filtered in, clearly drunk, coming from bars that had probably also thrown them out because it was about that time, eh. I stopped paying attention to them after a while. I was just scrollin feeds on my fuckin phone. Because what else was i gonna do?
Trip planning, i guess. That would have been helpful. But i was so tired an my brain was not functioning well enough for that. Instead, Shannon and i came up with the idea to start a GED program for Eagle Scouts who didn't make it before they turned 18.
It was a god damn incredible kebab, too. It probably wasn't the one i would have ordered if i could have read the menu, which was exclusively in Swedish, but i knew i could pronounce "kebab salad" and just rolled with it. I'm not mad about it at all, it was fantastic.
I left them a glowing review on Google Maps, and confirmed the hours as accurate. Maybe this will help other displaced train layover victims find a good kebab in a warm room someday.
3:40ish, the chef came out and told me they were closing, so i had to go. "The bus station is open!" he said.
"Oh, that's great! That's what i was waiting for!"
"I know!"
I slammed the last of my Coke, the only time in my life i've ever left an open soda in front of me for that long, probably, because i have an addiction, a problem, and i headed back toward the train station.
It had gotten much colder and windier while i was in that shop. I was grateful to have not had to weather it outside.
I approached Gothenburg Central Station from the front door this time. It still was not open. But i saw a creepy little girl, dressed all in white, standing facing a corner inside. It was almost certainly a mannequin, but the way it was set up was unsettling. I took a picture. It turned out, so it probably wasn't a ghost.
I never did get any closure on that. Didn't see her once i was inside, but didn't go looking, either.
A man approached from behind. "It's not open yet," I said.
"It's possible the back door might be open, by the tracks. You could try walking around over there."
"That is possible," i said. He walked over in that direction. I started following him for a moment, but i couldn't see where the door was and it looked like you'd need to walk around the whole block to get there, so i broke off. Too tired, don't feel like it.
I went back to the side door i'd checked earlier. An older man was sitting on a short stone statue next to the door. I walked up to see if it would open.
"About fifteen minutes yet," he said.
We started chatting. It quickly became clear that he was very drunk.
"I've been here since 12:30," i said.
"So have I!" he replied. He regaled me with stories of how he used to be the captain of a ship that went all along the coasts of the Americas and Europe, stopping at every port to transfer goods, and then did it all again, over and over. He's retired now, and lives in the Philippines with a family that is not his that he takes care of. He's originally from Gothenberg, he's been in town visiting.
He talked about how well-traveled he is, how he's used the train system frequently over his life. "Sweden is the only place where they close the train stations! Everywhere else, they leave 'em open. You always see people sleeping at the stations while they wait for their connections! Only Sweden closes in the middle of the night."
A yellow vest approached the door, and unlocked it. We went inside, and he continued to talk while failing to walk a straight line. When we reached the center of the mall area, near the Burger King, he shook my hand and bade me good night, and then kept shaking my hand for a very, very long time, while continuing to talk about how friendly and helpful the Swedish people are. I had told him i was heading for Stockholm after Oslo, and he recommended checking out certain neighborhoods, which i did not write down. Maybe i'll remember when i get there.
"Well, i'm gonna go see if i can find a spot to rest for a couple hours," i said.
"Me too!" he said, and ventured off in the direction of the bus station. I was walking behind him for a moment, and he turned to say something else to me, but i had become enraptured in the departure board. He continued on without me.
My train was not listed.
I checked the monitor screen over by the bus station. Not there either.
I checked the app. Still listed as 6:08.
I didn't have it in me to investigate any further, so i chose to trust the app and just see what happened.
I got myself another corner spot on a bracket bench, set up the same way, and fell asleep almost instantly.
My first alarm went off at 5:30, and i got up immediately. Hadn't been sleeping too deeply, i guess. Probably from all the discomfort.
The train was finally on the departure board. See? Optimism and trust. It might look like laziness but it's optimism and trust.
It was on the track waiting for me, too. I was able to board right away, which was great, because i had just discovered that the train station had pay toilets and told the attendant to his face that i would just do it on the train, then.
I was the first one on board in my section, so i picked the seat with the nicest view out the window, threw my bag on the seat next to me, looped the strap over my arm, and maybe was asleep before the train even left the station.
I'd wake up periodically, and see the train getting slightly fuller each time. Eventually, it looked like there weren't many other seats available, so i moved my bag down under my feet. We happened to be pulling into a station at that moment. The seat got taken immediately.
9:45am precisely on the dot, i stepped off the train and put boots on Norwegian ground for the first time.
Excited. Terrified.
Here i was in Oslo with exactly zero plans of what to do.
I walked out of the train station, noticed how much colder it was than Copenhagen, and approached the fjord before me. There was art all around, so i filmed my way around the sculptures, but i had no idea where to go from here.
After a few minutes, i returned to the train station to get out of the cold wind, and find a spot to sit down for a minute to form a plan.
Couchsurfing had failed me entirely on such short notice. I broke down and decided to just get a hostel for my stay in Oslo. I thought two nights, but then pushed it to three, actively deciding to burn a day to do more planning. You know, the planning i had meant to do in the three months before this trip, but executive dysfunctioned my way out of every step of the way before i decided that "wing it" was an acceptable strategy.
I should not have done that. My plan back in April/May was to get signed up for Couchsurfing right away an start making contacts in every city i thought i might visit, so they could at least be on deck for me if i made it there. I did not do that. Now everyone i reach out to is denying me.
I booked a bed at Bunks At Rode. It was the more expensive of the two hostels i found, but the atmosphere is incredibly unique, and it looks like you get a lot of value for the money. Also it's only more expensive by a couple of bucks a night.
The downside, though, is that i couldn't check in until 3. It wasn't even 11 yet.
While i was working on that, two dudes sat down next to me and asked where i was from, out of the blue. We had a pleasant chat about Oslo for a bit. They were 17 and 16 years old. The 17 year old did pretty much all of the talking while his friend quietly looked on from the side. After a bit, he took a phone call, and i went back to doing what i was doing. They both shook my hand and told me to have a great time in Oslo before departing.
He did suggest i check out the Oslo Opera House while i was there, which is literally on the fjord where i just was, next to the art i had just filmed. I formed a loose plan to walk to the hostel, which looked far away on the map, but in actuality is only a few kilometers. Maps was showing about a 35 minute walk from the train station. Along the way, there were five Atlas points i could visit with minimal detouring.
I took a quick peek at Atlas Obscura. The Opera House is on the list, as well as a sculpture called "She Lies," which depicts a glass shipwreck and is out in the water a good distance, but very visible from the Opera House.
I climbed up on top of the Opera House, its roof is a wedge that goes all the way to the ground, then another wedge that comes up from the first wedge, plus additional wedges. The view from up there is pretty good. Spectacular view of the fjord, but the city is mostly blocked by the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
I pulled up Google Maps to help get me to the next Obscura location, and just a whole shitload of other points of interest popped up all around me. I started flitting from one to another, like a connect-the-dots game without numbers. Fjord City State Park, bits of Havnepromenade, the Bretagne statue, the Giant Tiger statue. Then i got a Norwegian street waffle called the Fisherman's Waffle, which has smoked salmon and dill on it, from a waffle cart on a pedestrian street. It was fucking incredible! Fish on a waffle. Never would have thought of that. I'm still getting used to the idea of chicken on a waffle.
It started to rain about when i was getting my food, so i waited it out under the overhang at what i think was a grocery store near the waffle cart. It stopped right about when i finished eating, so i carried on.
Oslo Cathedral. I was here for an Atlas Obscura point: the Devil of Oslo, a sculpture of a man attacked on both sides by a lion and a dragon. The cathedral was built in 1697; the Devil is about 600 years older than that, having been transplanted here from the ruins of St. Hallvard's Cathedral.
I hadn't planned to actually go inside the cathedral, even though i've visited plenty of churches on my adventures and certainly will continue to do so. This one just didn't seem all that interesting to me. But it started raining again, so i thought i'd duck inside for a bit.
It's a nice church, but as expected, nowhere near as grand as other tourist destination churches. It's still definitely much bigger and more gothic than the church i grew up in, but after walking through Roskilde Cathedral just two days ago, it doesn't hold a candle to it. However, there is a nice sculpture of The Last Supper that captured my attention for a good few minutes.
Next, i tried to go to Grass Roots Square. I followed the map, but when i got there, it was empty. I was expecting to see 1000 small bronze statues of people. I pulled up the Atlas Obscura article. Usually, when an item has been permanently closed, they put the words "Permanently Closed" in red next to its title. For this one, at the end of the article, it says the statues were removed in May 2023 because of ongoing road work in the vicinity, which i definitely walked through. Then, in the "Know Before You Go" section, they have added that the statues will not be returned to this location, instead they will be reinstalled at a different location sometime in 2025. So i got here during the gap year. Kinda sucks, but oh well.
Down the block, i came to a tall conical statue that looks a bit like a tornado. It reminds me of a similar but larger monument that we'd seen in Christchurch, New Zealand all those years ago. Couldn't find any information on it, i didn't see a plaque and it didn't even pop up on Maps as a point of interest. It's in the middle of a roundabout, but i was able to walk up and touch it.
Okay, last stop before the hostel. In yesterday's entry i talked about when a city makes a famous resident a huge part of its identity. Oslo has Edvard Munch. There is an Edvard Munch museum right next to the train station, which i had considered visiting, but since i looked and smelled gross today and was probably too tired to appreciate it, i figured i'd put it off. But i did make it to Munch's grave, to pay my respects.
My walk from the cemetery to the hostel took me through a nice park, and over a foot bridge across a small river close to a two-story waterfall. There were many love locks attached to the fence on that bridge. I definitely had feelings about that.
Returning to the city streets, i came across two grip trucks double-parked with the backs open. A film crew!! Or maybe a large commercial photo shoot, or possibly a fashion show. Something that requires a huge amount of professional lighting, anyway!
I arrived at the hostel about 2:10. I was hoping to persuade them to at least let me use the bathroom if i couldn't check in yet, but the desk clerk said the bed was ready so i could go ahead. In addition, she told me about a few nice amenities available in the city this week, including free admission to the Edvard Munch museum on Wednesday night. What a coincidence!
"I actually just came from his grave," i said.
"Oh, well then you have to go to the museum!" she replied, excited to share the good word of Edvard Munch.
She assigned me to bunk number seven in a dorm called Mermaid's Cove. The stay includes a free locker, which, in all honesty, makes a lot of the price worth it; i'd considered putting my bag in a locker at the Gothenburg train station, but it would have been like $30. If we take that as the value for not having to carry my enormous bag for a few days, that's nearly half the cost of the hostel.
I got my stuff put away, took a porcelain cruise, and then crashed into that bed for a damn good nap. I didn't set any alarms, but i woke up about three hours later.
I went out and got a really fucking good truffle mushroom pizza from a highly-recommended Norwegian pizzeria nearby called Digg. It rained on the walk there, but i passed by a soccer field and they were going at it like they didn't even notice. They were still playing on my walk back.
I have really fucked myself on my water consumption today, to the tune of needing to drink three liters between returning from dinner at 9:30pm and whenever i go to bed. I figured i'd just chug water constantly while doing my Couchsurfing things, but only one of those came true. My brain is still groggy from the day's disaster, so instead i decided to catch up on writing my logs. And it worked! I'm finally caught up! I'm writing about now, while it is now! And now is 1:20am. So i should really get some sleep.
Alright. So i've drank my water, extending my gallon-a-day streak. The plan is, tomorrow morning, i'll figure out my schedule for the next three or four cities, sign up for all those Couchsurfing alternative sites i looked up a week ago, and shoot out a whole bunch of requests. Then i'll go do Oslo things in the afternoon, and the Munch museum in the evening. Come back here and get to bed at a more reasonable time than what i've been doing.
And then Thursday... Well, since i've got the hostel, with the locker, so i don't need to carry my entire backpack...hopefully Thursday i can find transportation out of the city and do one of those fantastic mountain hikes i've saved so many Instagram reels about. I am a city person, i'm appreciating all the city things i'm doing and all the culture and history i'm absorbing, but getting out and doing a hike in the unspoiled natural world is something to really look forward to. I need a bit more of that kind of thing on this trip. More city/wilderness balance.
Goddammit i really thought this entry would be shorter and it wouldn't take as long to write. I don't know how i still created 4,000 words about being stuck in a train station.
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