70th birthday trip, Thursday 8 June. Travel day 2/15

We got up fairly early - well, when it is light by 04:00 it's hard not to! Plus we wanted to catch the first tourist bus of the day, which left at 10. Hotel breakfast was delicious and copious, although the bacon made me thirsty! But quite the nicest melon I've ever tasted!

The city tour was great, and showed you where everything was, although it would have been nice to have had time to get off and look around. Difficult to take photos from a bus. Also had I thought, I would have taken a box for my hearing-aids so I could have listened to the commentary. If we take another tour bus anywhere, I will try to remember to do that.

A lovely walk back to the hotel from the final stop, and then we checked out and sat in the lobby (very comfortable) with a cup of coffee (complimentary) and relaxed. We bought a couple of filled rolls and some chocolate for lunch and then went to the station to await our train.

Not desperately comfortable, and a very long, but pleasantly scenic, journey to Oslo.

Much of it single-track, which surprised us, between two major European capitals. But there are no trains this Saturday - don't know whether strike or track work - so we have had to buy coach tickets, and I dislike coach travel! I am hoping Eurail will refund us the ticket costs - am trying to sort that out. Also, no idea whether SJ will refund the cost of our reservations; they should, but I am not holding my breath. No customer service at the stations of course. This holiday is a total nightmare so far, but then, come to think of it so was our last Inter-rail tour the first few days, and then it was delightful.

Anyway, I had ordered us a meal on the train - nothing grand, just a wrap with meatballs and potatoes, but it was very good! Tea, coffee, water, fruit and chocolate were all complimentary for 1st-class passengers, which was nice. I dozed in front of some YouTube videos for the first hour or so, and then read and watched the world go by.

I made a mistake and booked a hotel miles out of the centre, so we had to take a taxi which was horrendously expensive, and we'll have to take one back to the bus station on Saturday. But it is a very nice hotel, although the loo wouldn't stop flushing in the first room they gave us, so they moved us into a rather nicer one! Not enough pillows, though - I'll have to ask for an extra one in the morning. Meanwhile I have my inflatable one. The hotel is up a massive hill, and there is a fabulous view, which I shall take photos of in the morning - the light was fading rather by the time we were settled tonight.