Hi everyone!
I have come back from a wonderful trip to Sweden and Norway. I travelled all on my own, which I hadn't done before, although I have to admit my Swedish friend Vincent helped me to find train/bus tickets between Sweden and Norway.
I flew to Stockholm, and spent my first night there. The next morning I took the train to Oslo, where I had never been before. In Oslo, I had about an hour and a half to charge my phone and get some food before I had to take the train to Bø (about 2 hours by train South of Oslo). Vincent had recommended a small Pakistani restaurant; this brought me to a side of Oslo not many tourists visit. I ended up in a very international neighbourhood which didn't look very modern and not at all Scandinavian. I was quite surprised! To be honest, I expected Oslo to resemble Stockholm. I was wrong, but this proved that traveling is useful! I thought Norway would be very modern, clean and fancy. Turns out, I had to reset my expectations. I found out that Norwegian roads aren't in great shape, I also noticed that buildings are often just partly refurnished instead of thoroughly renovated. I have the impression that Norway has a lot of money (everything is about three times more expensive than in Belgium!), an interesting culture and beautiful nature but that they don't reach their full potential, as I have also heard that their healthcare and education system could also be better.
Anyway, after my little outing in Oslo, I took the train to Bø where I met my friends Vincent and Micaela. I stayed with them for 3 days. The first day, I went to visit my lovely hosts at their work, Bø Sommarland which is a water amusement park. I spent a few hours there observing people and resting on the grass. On my way back, I explored the area a bit, climbed a rock just because I could and walked by the river.
In the late afternoon/beginning of the evening, I went to pick up Jaakko, Micaela and Vincent's friend from the train station. Jaakko knows Vincent via a whatsapp group and was in the same school as Micaela (#smallworld). When Micaela and Vincent came back from work, we went to the "city" center (Bø has only 6,000 inhabitants even though it's pretty active) to have dinner. There was a little market of international food stands, but we decided to go to an Italian restaurant because it was the cheapest.
Micaela and Vincent
Jaakko and me
The next day, the four of us traveled to Skien to visit Henrik Ibsen's childhood home. It was very interesting to learn about his sources of inspiration and how his family history influenced his work and lifestyle (#literaturestudentalert). When we came back, Jaakko took the train back to Oslo, and Micaela, Vincent and I took a nap. After our nap, we had a really spicy but delicious dinner! The dinner was simple but it felt fancy as it felt unusual to have an Indian dinner in Norway.
Jaakko
Unicorn Vincent
I spent my last day in Norway traveling by train and visiting Oslo a bit more. This time I went to see the Royal Palace and the fortress. I saw the nicer side of Oslo but I remain more impressed by Stockholm.
I then stayed two whole days in Stockholm before traveling back to Belgium. The first morning, I walked around in Gamla Stan to visit the shops where mom and I usually go to keep up traditions and I went to the change of guards at the Parliament, it was only my third time seeing it... In the afternoon, I walked towards the Royal Library. This wasn't as easy as I thought. I first walked too far and ended up at the other side of the city when it started raining and I had to hide in a sports bar. When I finally made it to the library, I was impressed by its size and how majestic it looked! I went inside and had a little look at the books they had. I was nicely surprised by the number of foreign books they had! I saw lots of French books, and some in Finnish, Russian and German. After my tour of the library, I explored the neighbourhood behind the park of the library. At the end of one street, I found a little cosy square where as it turns out the famous author August Strindberg lived!
I spent my last day in Stockholm exploring areas where I had never been to. I walked to the Southern island of the city, crossed it, had lunch in a little Italian restaurant (fun fact: the owner of the restaurant thought I was a native Swede and said I spoke very good Swedish), and walked around some more. When I was about to cross the bridge to go back to the main island of Stockholm, I noticed a little spot where it seemed to be very quiet. I sat down there and admired the view. I could see almost the whole city of Stockholm! It was so beautiful! I took out my book ("Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe) and read until the rain drops brought me back to reality. I then proceeded to cross the bridge and discover the less touristy side of the main island. In short, my feet were happy to come back to the hotel!
In conclusion, I went to Sweden and Norway to discover new places and learn about my favourite part of Europe! Stay tuned to read about my upcoming trip to Madagascar!
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