Oslo
Bus
I wonder whether by the end of all this I will have acquired an intense hatred for bus rides, or whether I will have built up a tolerance to them, at least to the point of indifference.
There was this one woman sitting a bit ahead of me on the bus to Haugesund, who said it perfectly. She mentioned to her neighbour that she had often considered taking the bus rather than the plane when visiting family:
I always think "It cannot be that bad, can it?" But then I take the bus once and, no, it really can. Then after a while I forget, and the cycle repeats.
I'm currently betting I'll land on "intense hatred", but who knows? Maybe I've simply stacked the odds against the concept early, by forcing myself through two 8-hour back-to-back trips on my way to Haugesund at the start, and now one 11-hour trip on my way to Oslo.
There are two bus routes from Haugesund to Oslo: Haukeliekspressen, which takes the direct 8-hour route across the mountain, and a real milk-route that takes the 11-hour long road south along the coast. While one is clearly much shorter, somewhat funnily, their schedules this January was such that the longer route would arrive sooner, for cheaper, and with better seats. So that's the one I booked.
Mucho más and Skrenten Pizza
My stay in Oslo was short but filled with food and friends. Two restaurants for the two days I was there, as well as a cafe on the first morning (the second morning I had to run for my bus to Malmö).
I met my friend Cole at Grünerløkka soon after getting off the bus. Following the advice of a guy working at a 7/11, we sat down at the Mexican restaurant "Mucho Más". There I had the best burrito I remember ever eating. Highly recommended!
The next morning was so pretty. I woke up, alone, in the attic of a stylishly furnished but unfamiliar house, beautifully lit through giant windows by the Oslo winter midday sun, nothing of mine around but a guitar case full of clothes. This was Cole's girlfriend's mother's house, where I had very kindly been allowed to stay the night. I stood up, had a stretch on the giant carpet, tidied up the mattresses, and then got to business.
There were a lot of things I needed to get sorted out before leaving the country, and this day would be my final chance. I like to work in cafes, and so made my way to the closest one, Kaffebrenneriet. There I got lots of messages on Snapchat from friends who were surprised to see I was in the capital.
In the end I made plans with Vegard to meet at a nearby pizza place, "Skrenten Pizza". The beer and pizza were great, and after the meal and a longer conversation, Vegard showed me his motorcycle collection that he kept in a garage right across the street.
I had made plans with Bendik, a third friend, to spend the final night on his couch. We only had time for a few hours of catching up before turning off the lights, and then I woke up just in time to get dressed, pack my bags, and run out onto transit to make my bus to Malmö with minutes to spare.
The bus ride into Sweden would take around 8 hours, and would take me to the first tango oriented destination of my trip: The Malmö Tango Marathon 2024!