Ha det bra – literally “have it fine” – is how they say “goodbye” in Norway. As I just did moments ago. I’m in Sweden, on the train to Stockholm. Thus begins my whirlwind tour of the Continent. It was exactly a month ago, the 20th of May, that I took the train from Oslo to Bergen. This has certainly been the shortest month of my life. It’s hard to believe I spent a month in Norway, and that I am no longer there. Norway had actually ceased to feel foreign to me. Now I’m in a foreign place again, as I will be for quite some time, perhaps another 6 weeks unless Israel feels like home, which seems a little unlikely.
I’ll be seeing Sweden, Holland, France, and Hungary, plus all the places the train goes in between. The plan goes something like this: two nights in Stockholm, just because it’s supposed to be pretty special. Frankly, I’m finding it hard to be interested in Sweden after falling so hard for Norway. But this will be good to compare the two back to back. In actuality, the chief draw for me is to be able to see the landscape of southern Sweden. I have always been one to look at a map and think, “I wonder what it looks like right there.” It will be gratifying to find out. So far, Sweden is flatter and . . . farmier. And the houses really are mostly red with white accents.
After my brief visit to Stockholm (yay, more hostel nights), I am doing a marathon 17+ hour train trip to Bergen #2, this time to Bergen in Holland, which is about an hour NW of Amsterdam. Yep, this Mr. Bergen was pretty popular (or populous) in Northern Europe back in the day. What’s in Bergen #2 (where, I’m sure, they would argue they are Bergen #1)? My uncle! Technically, Ton is Alissa’s uncle, but that’s close enough for me; he’s family. I have only ever spoken to him on the phone before, so I am excited to meet him! I may also get a chance to meet Kees and Gerhart, the other Dutch Uncles. This will be way cool. Ton and I are going to cruise around and generally have a great time, although sadly only for a day. But it will be a full day.
After my two nights in Bergen, I jump on the bullet train to Nice (for four nights in, wonder of wonders, an actual apartment, not a hostel, hooray!). In Nice, on the Cote d’Azur, I may just chill in my awesome pad after all that train travel, or I may jump on a couple of other trains to see more of the countryside, perhaps the Pyrenees or even a jaunt into, I dunno, Switzerland? We’ll see. The best part is, like Napoleon Dynamite, I’ll be able to do “Whatever I want to do, gosh!”
Finally, after Nice comes Budapest, Hungary, for three nights in the last of the hostels I will be attending. I’m not 100% certain how I’ll get there yet, or if it can be done in only one day. Suffice it to say, I should enjoy some adventure and see a whole lot of countryside, whether Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, or even Croatia, I don’t yet know. Fun times await. I am excited to see Budapest which looks to be a hidden gem and a grand European city. If not for the commies running it for a couple of generations, it would surely be as prominent today as any other awesome European city. I will obviously let you know.
And, of course, when this whirlwind trip is all over, I’ll catch the plane from Budapest to Tel Aviv (by way of northern Germany, grrr. . . ) where I begin another summer study program the next day! And I will find some seriously hot weather to thoroughly dry me off after my soggy Norwegian summer. Oh, that reminds me, the weather finally got good today in Oslo, just as I was leaving. Forecast for Stockholm, which was enjoying warm, sunny weather? Heavy rain all day tomorrow. This is getting pretty humorous, actually!
