After leaving Oslo I stopped at Gothenburg (Sweden) for an hour, just enough time to nip into the shopping mall and do a little gift shopping. Then on to Copenhagen. Jørgen met me at the station and I spent the afternoon showing off my photos of Norway and comparing hiking stories with him.

   I really should have booked my train ticker earlier, when we got to the station the ticket booth had closed and advised me to get on the train and buy one then. I did, and the train pulled away from the station, but pretty soon I found out it was full, and the conductor expected me to get off asap. Luckily (for me, not so good for them) someone had missed the train and I got to claim their seat. That night was terrible, it was nigh impossible to sleep in the cramped cabins with six upright chairs facing each other and a bum on every seat. The most sleep I got was when I sat on the floor and put my head on the chair, and that was not comfortable at all. The next day (Friday 25th) I paused in Basel long enough to wander the streets, look at the interesting fountain and sit my the river eating my loaf of elfish whey bread.

   By early evening I was back in Fribourg to stay with Mike and Sandra, the lovely couple who put me up (and put up with me) when I came her a month ago to see Levi. I slept pretty well that night. The simple joy of a bed that isn't moving and having a room without a pile of smelly hiking clothes (besides my own) and snoring Norwegians was just heaven.

   Saturday was moving day for Mike's brother's girlfriend. So the three of us drove over to the old part of Fribourg and helped bring all her belongings down three narrow flights of stairs to the van. I just can't seem to escape exercise, every where I go there is another reason to do walking/lifting/swimming. As a reward we (and all the other helpers) were treated to a big lunch at Bernard's (Mike's brother's girlfriend's brother) house. mmmmm lunch. Back at the apartment we had raclette (the melted cheese dinner) and polished off a quite sizeable amount of cheese, washed down with a few shots of Kirsch (40%) and then Grappa (37.5%).

   Yesterday the weather was pretty grotty, and as we walked around the Schwarzsee (black lake) the hills above us echoed with thunder. On the way home we stopped to look over the old part of Fribourg. It is really easy to imagine that area back in it's time. The little cobbled streets, the guard towers on the hill and the really old houses have all been very well cared for since then. It deserves a bigger entry in the Lonely Planet Guide for sure.
Mike spent a while on the phone trying to organise a train from here to Barcelona but it appears that it's school holiday time right now, and Barcelona is the place to be seen this summer, so a train this week is impossible. I might go to Italy instead. Stacey and Brie are heading to Rome today and it would be most cool to meet up with them again. It would mean giving up on seeing Bronwyn and Nina in Spain, but it's just too hard to reach there. I'll catch up in France next week I think.