Yesterday, I met Wolfgang at the ferry dock and we headed back to Stockholm. Wolfgang let me borrow his Walkman and I listened to my fill of Pink Floyd and "Hotel California" while I cut his hair. Wolfgang is going to Copenhagen to visit his sister and gave me all his travel snacks, including a large brick of very delicious cheese that has a pungent smell of old socks. It has a wonderful sharp, nutty flavour but holy crap, does it stink.
I arrived in Oslo, Norway this morning. I spent the day in Gustav Vigelandpark admiring the many carved statues depicting milestones in the journey of life, from childhood experiences, falling in love, starting a family and growing old.
I have reserved a berth for the trip to Berlin. I'm having a nice conversation with another girl on the train who is seeing Europe after returning from India and Australia. Among the many topics our conversation covered, we spent quite a while discussing feminine hygiene hints and tips, lunar cycles and the like. There is lots of laughter as we openly discuss the challenges of taking care of a girl's needs in the different places we've been. A train employee arrives to convert the bench seating into bunks. I make myself comfortable on the top berth and prepare to drift off to sleep as other passengers arrive. When two passengers can't fit their suitcases under the lower berths, two very skinny guys are discovered hiding underneath.
If they understand English, both of them are now very well educated in menstrual cycles.
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"Life is a thing that mutates without warning, not always in enviable ways. All part of the improbable adventure of being alive, of being a brainy biped with giant dreams on a crazy blue planet."
~Diane Ackerman
