No progress in Oslo

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Today it will be exciting again. Can I enter Norway?

I am one of the first passengers to pass the border officers. But it doesn't come to that. I am asked to pull over. Now a young border officer takes care of me. He reads the current entry regulations seemingly ten times. Maybe he can find a justification for my entry as a German citizen after all. He makes multiple phone calls to his superiors and to the woman I am supposed to house-sit for in Norway. After three hours, he informs me that unfortunately I have to take the ship back to Denmark today. But they will take care of me not having to pay for the return trip. I would like to give a big praise to the young border officer and his young colleague. They treated me very kindly and made great efforts to allow me to enter.

What is not meant to be, is not meant to be. 😇 At 12 noon, I board the ship again to embark on the nine and a half hour journey once more.

Now it's time to make new plans. First and foremost, I have to figure out where I can stay overnight. I find a kind woman on Couchsurfing who quickly agrees to host me. Her house is eight km away from the port. I think I can manage that.

I have to convince the Danish border officers a little to let me pass. But now I'm back in Denmark and on my way to Caja, the kind woman who offered me a couch.

Just before 11 p.m., it is already almost dark, I reach her home. I am amazed that she is hosting nine more guests in her house. Most of them have been here for a long time. They are all young people from different distant countries like Argentina and Japan. I think this is so great and immediately feel incredibly comfortable here. Now everything makes sense to me. Having to go back has led me to this beautiful place.