Oslo

Thus concludes the exciting portion of the life of Daniel Klassen.

I was trying to catch my train back to Oslo from København. I went to the ticket counter to make my reservation and I receive this news: (keep in mind that my return flight to Canada is Monday morning) There are no trains running through Sweden. Oh dear... When will they start running? Monday sometime. There was a storm and there's too much snow. All trains are cancelled. It takes a full day to get from København to Oslo. Plus I have to get to Julius's house and repack my bags in a way that is acceptable to the airlines. So I call Stena Lines to see about a ferry. There is one from Frederikshavn and it takes 8.5 to 12 hours. I get a half price discount for having a Eurail pass. But my credit card won't go through.

So I take the 6 hour train to Frederikshavn in the north of Denmark. I get there around 9:30pm. The next ferry is 10am on the 15th. This was good. My credit card worked this time. I had the ticket and the location. Now all I had to do was wait 13 hours. Lucky for me they closed the terminal. And they let me stay, as long as I didn't leave (which would set off the alarms). So I spread out my sleeping mat and slept. If I didn't move for 15 minutes, the lights would turn off. I got a 2 minute phone call into my brother with my remaining Danish change. As soon as I hung up Elton John's "Daniel" came on. It was very nostalgic. However, I now have it stuck in my head.

Well, my flight is confirmed, my bags are a good weight, and Julius's parents will drive me to the train station where I can get to the airport. Things should go smoothly from now on. I will be back in Canada at 8:01pm. I can't wait.

Zurich

I arrived in Zurich yesterday and decided to reserve my trip today to Copenhagen. The guy at the reservation desk was a mountaineer and invited me to spend the night at his place. Then he paid for my rail ticket to the top of Jungfrau if it was clear. I am having supper with him again tonight before catching my night train. He and his girlfriend have been incredibly generous. Thank God.

Vienna

Things are definitely going better now that I am staying in hostels. On a whim today I went to Budapest. On the way back I met a Brazilian and we chatted in Spanish for several hours. Cool guy. Anyway, tomorrow I explore Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Day after tomorrow: Leichtenstein. I am excited about that one.

Amsterdam

Well, I had a good night in Amsterdam. Quite relaxing. The bottoms of my feet have actually broken open on the balls of my feet so it hurts to walk. For that reason I am staying another night here. Its a really cool hostel. There are people from Mexico, Argentina, Canada and the States here (among many other countries). I even found someone who knows Jeff Rollins. Yeah, so I´m just resting up trying to let my feet heal. Tomorrow I go to Cologne and Bonn, then the Rhine River valley, then Munich, then Vienna, then Salzburg and Innsbruck, then Switzerland, then Leichtenstein (new decision), and finally back to Oslo. And I´m staying in hostels pretty much the rest of the time. Cheers.

Amsterdam

Ok, time for an update... I got to London. There I stayed with a cousin of mine for 4 days. It was great, and I wouldn´t have made it through this month without that stop. Basically we just relaxed for most of the time. I did go to the London Eye for the New Year´s fireworks, which were amazing. We stood outside the Prime Minister´s house (without realizing it) in a crowd who´s end I couldn´t see. It was like a mosh pit but all the way down the avenue. Fun. I also saw a bunch of the typical tourist things.

Then I went back to Paris, and spent the night on the street. Then on to Luxembourg, and saw the whole country in a day, and spent the night on the streets. After that it was Belgium. Saw pretty much all of that country and spent the night on the streets of Antwerp. I also got a 12 minute call in to my parents which was great. (Mom and Dad, there is no MSN here so I´ll have to catch you some other time). Now I´m at a Christian youth hostel in Amsterdam. I figure its time to get off the streets before I burn out again. Besides, I think my feet are rotting. Well, I have 11 days to go before I´m back in Canada. It will be good to be back although I am still looking forward to my remaining time. It will be the Rhine Valley tomorrow, Austria for a few days and the Switzerland before heading back up north to my flight home out of Oslo. Take care all.