Puddles

I'm sitting in the lobby of my hostel in Oslo. I have been sitting in the lobby of my hostel in Oslo for the past four and a half hours. Today I learned that the next time I plan a trip to a country alone during a holiday, I should research whether that country decides holidays are time to completely shut down for nearly 72 hours. Oops.

I spent the two hours of the day in which things where actually open walking the main streets and getting thoroughly soaked in the windy drizzle. Delightful. My initial reaction to the city itself was that it was a lot more elegant than I was expecting. Everything feels new. I was expecting some gnomes and rocking horses I guess, but so far it's four story malls and historic yet elegant buildings. I guess you need to get out of the city to find the old-world charm. Makes sense.

I know I'm only a day into it all, but I've been thinking about it, and I think that I would like to retrace my steps of the travels I've done, but instead of going to all the major cities, go to the tiny towns. Next time, I'd go way up north in Norway to see the Northern Lights. I would go way up north in Sweden to stay at the Ice Hotel. Things like that. I'm glad I'm seeing the cities now, but at some point I'd like to see the lesser-known parts of these places. It's like somebody who's only been to New York thinking they know all of the US...

Anyway, I've been sitting in the lobby pondering the challenge placed before me: how do I fill two full days in a foreign country when nothing's open and I'm all alone? Last year's two week adventure was so much different because I couchsurfed the whole time and never had a single idle moment. I was always with somebody doing something. And I ADORED it. But this time, I'm flying solo for the first two countries, and I think the optimism and tenacity I would usually have are being squelched by the fact my cold isn't getting any better and I really just want to be cuddled up in bed right now.

So I've allowed myself to sit here, coughing all over myself, eating my Dutch caramel waffle cookies (they had them at the supermarket here!!) and allowing a damp sense of hopelessness and loneliness puddle around me for a little while. I know that tomorrow, after sleeping in a real bed, finally showering and eating a real meal (and maybe finding a pharmacy for more cough medicine) I'll be ready and open to adventure. But for right now, I'm not, and that's okay.

I did at least use this down time to plan out what I'll be doing in Oslo for the next three days, and I'm excited for the hike in the forest, the stroll through the garden of crazy statues, the giant ski jump and ski museum, the nine minute toboggan ride outside the city, the Viking ship museum, and an afternoon of window shopping and a cookie hot chocolate at Cocoa in the alternative/artsy neighborhood. But if I'm going to do all those things sanguinely, I definitively needed tonight to plan and recharge.