10/27 - Oslo

Don't really count today as a Gothenburg day. Had to wake up at 5am and walk in the pouring rain to my train. Nice train ride, I could tell the second we were in Norway because the terrain wasn't just flat. There were hills, valleys and rivers; something I am yet to see in Southern Sweden or Denmark.

Arrived in Oslo at 11am and was set to meet Mike at 1:30, plenty of time to walk around and see a little bit of the city. Immediately found the main walking street and hung out there for a bit. I had a map but really had nothing in mind so I pretty much just wandered.

Eventually made my way to the main waterfront and discovered the old fortress. Not as cool as the one in Finland but still a nice find.

Went back along the waterfront to the Bryggen, the main part of the harbour that has been turned into a giant shopping mall. Wasn't very interesting so I just walked through it pretty quickly. Found the royal palace and then kept walking back into the main part of the city. The one thing I noticed about Oslo was the amount of beggars. There were beggars on every corner, something very strange for a Scandinavian city. And they were all playing accordions. It was kind of funny at first but then it just got annoying.

Found the 'hip' district of the city that had a lot of cool buildings with bright colors and graffiti everywhere. Turned south again and actually found our hostel even though I wasn't looking for it.

It was just about time to meet him so I went to the tourist office and waited. Worked out perfectly, he arrived 5 minutes after me.

After being alone for a week it was nice to finally have a travel buddy to share the experience with. We checked into our hostel and then went in search of metal history.

Black metal, the most extreme and satanic form of metal, had its second coming in Oslo in the early 1990s. Neither Mike nor I really listen to this music but we both think it's really interesting, and it's hilarious to see how these bands try to 'out-evil' each other. We went to the old record store of Euronymous, member of one of the most extreme bands, Mayhem. He was murdered by a fellow member of his band for basically unknown reasons. The record store is now a cafe called Our Daily Bread and we actually had some really nice food there. We asked the employees if we could see the basement where the black metallers held their meetings and they let us take pictures and hang out there for a bit.

We then went in search of the sculpture park, the biggest tourist attraction in Oslo. It's a huge park with giant granite statues, most of which contain weird babies. I don't really understand it but it was still incredible and unique to.

That night we checked out the two big metal bars in town. The first, Unholy, was really cool. It's basically a dive with black walls and candles everywhere. They only played really extreme metal and we had a long conversation with the bartender about Norway and its history with metal.

The next one was called Rock In, which is probably the most famous metal bar in Norway. A bit of a more upscale atmosphere but they only played metal so it was still fun. Mike couldn't believe bars like this existed in the world.

Oslo was a cool city, but we both felt that one day there was enough; all of our other possibilities of activities were really touristy. Tomorrow: Fjords and mountains!

10/26 - Gothenburg

Woke up to find that it was raining pretty hard! Lame. Oh well, it's laundry day anyway so it shouldn't be too bad. I walked to the southeast of the city, basically the museum district. Was thinking about seeing the Universeum, the tour guide said it was a 'family friendly museum for nature lovers' Not too sure about the whole family friendly thing but I do love me some nature. It looked pretty cool from the outside, like a big greenhouse with an indoor mountain. I walked in and immediately walked out. Strollers, everywhere. Little kids, everywhere. I was probably the only person between the ages of 13 and 30. Nope, sorry. That's a bit too family friendly for me.

Went down the street where there was a modern museum. Not a modern art museum, but a museum that deals with events in current history, basically the last 50 years. It didn't open for half an hour so I figured I would explore a little bit more. Walked along one of the rivers running through town. Really relaxing even though it was pouring with rain. Saw the local soccer stadium and circled back.

The museum was really unique. It has exhibitions on deforestation, revolution, the emergence of hip-hop and even a small section about heavy metal in the middle east. I was wearing my At The Gates shirt, and immediately two people ask me if I worked there...middle aged people can't know the band is from here, right?

The rain hadn't let up by this point so I figured it would best just to go back and start my laundry. Huh, just realized that was the last time I washed my clothes....should probably do that soon. Anyway, wandered back slowly and saw this cool tower on top of a big hill. Climbed to the top and saw an amazing view of the city.

Spent the rest of the day inside unfortunately. Laundry took a lot longer than expected and I also had free internet so I caught up on news (daily show). At night the rain finally stopped so I went on a photo walk and took some pretty cool night pictures.

Disappointing that my only full day here was marred by rain but I realized if there was one day it had to rain during my trip today would be the best. Lazy sunday, laundry day. And it didn't rain any other day on my whole trip so it really worked out amazingly well.

10/25 - Stockholm/Gothenburg

I had a morning train so didn't have much time left in Stockholm. Basically I just walked around one last time then sat at a traditional bakery with some pastries. Swedish pastries are awesome, lots of chocolate and marzipan. Yum.

The train took five hours, going from one coast to the other. It was a little bit frustrating, I was sitting next to a mother with her two young children who were loud the whole time. Arrived in Gothenburg around 4pm.

As I waited in line to get my ticket to Oslo, a girl started smiling and waving at me. Okay, there is no way I know anyone in Gothenburg, Sweden so I just ignored her, she was probably just waving at someone behind me. But she kept doing it and I eventually walked over to her. It was the Austrian girl from last night! She was trying to get back to Copenhagen but all the trains from Stockholm were full so she came to Gothenburg first. We were even on the same train. Crazy how small Europe is. We had a coffee and after promising to try and meet up again somewhere down the road went our separate ways.

Gothenburg is my kind of city. Big, but still feels small, really laid back and easy to walk around. It was gray and cloudy when I arrived and I started to notice how similar to Seattle it is: West Coast. Relatively new. Important port city. Lots of rain. Happy, relaxed people. Big counter-cultural scene. Developed its own genre of music in the early 1990s. Trees and parks everywhere. Awesome.

I walked down the main street and then started wandering towards my hostel. Magnus in Stockholm warned me that the streets are very confusing and he was right. After running into a few dead ends I finally found my hostel right before check in time ended.

Went out for dinner at a vegetarian buffet which was surprisingly good and then started looking for bars. First checked out a local beer bar that has their own microbrews. Good beer, but it was a bit crowded and there was nowhere to sit so I looked for the heavy metal bar. I was a bit worried when I first walked in. They were playing AC/DC and it was mostly 30somethings. Generic Swedish beer, nothing special. But then, they played both Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, the bands who invented the 'Gothenbyurg sound' of melodic death metal! That was incredible. Not only hearing those bands in a bar, but hearing them in the city from where they came. So much fun.

After going back to the hostel I found out that I did have a roommate. A Norwegian guy who told me that Oslo is only okay and Bergen is great. Sounds good! Sunday tomorrow...