It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times...

Last night, I took the train down to Oslo to have dinner with Victoria of the hilarious http://victoriasguidetonorway.blogspot.com/ . She is even funnier and sweeter in person, if that is possible, and I had such a great time chatting with her over dinner and drinks. I was having so much fun (and perhaps one too many cocktails) that I kind of lost track of the time. When I did finally check a clock, I realized that I had about 15 minutes to get from the bar on Aker Brygge to the central train station. After an evening of drinking cocktails, I really needed a bathroom, but there was just no time so I figured I'd use the facilities on the train. We were able to hail a cab quickly and somehow I did end up at the train station about 2 minutes before my train was scheduled to depart. I barely had a chance to say goodbye to Victoria, and took off running for my train. I reached the platform, panting, red in the face, but extremely grateful that the train to Gjøvik was still there. A lady stopped me and told me that there was no reason to rush, the train had mechanical problems and had been cancelled. She said we would be picked up in about 10 minutes, and I stupidly assumed she meant that we would be picked up by another train. Um, no. We were herded onto a couple of little shuttle buses. Everyone was speaking quickly in Norwegian and I got really confused, but another helpful woman explained that if I was indeed going to Gjøvik, I should get on the bus. At this point I was rather unhappy about the whole situation because I still really had to pee and there was no bathroom on the little bus. Also, I tend to suffer from motion sickness on buses, but luckily I was prepared and had a Dramamine tablet in my purse. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to drink, but I figured that I could probably swallow it dry. Yeah, that didn't quite happen...instead, the tablet got lodged halfway down my throat. I tried subtly coughing a couple of times to no avail. I decided that since I was already well known among my fellow passengers as the slightly tipsy stupid American who couldn't figure out that I was supposed to get on the bus, I didn't want to also be known as the slightly tipsy stupid American who was making nasty cat-hacking-up-a-hairball sounds, so I gave up. It was a loooonnnngggg ride. I kept my legs tightly crossed while my face turned green, but I did eventually make it home without further incident. Seriously, as bad as the bus ride was, it was totally worth it--I am so glad I got the chance to meet Victoria in person. If we have an opportunity to get together again, though, I think I'll drive!