Stockholm

Amazingly, we arrived in Stockholm to some blue skies.  A little break in the rainy weather gave a real shine to our destination.  We had visited the Viking village, Birka, mostly standing in mist with occasional real rain.  In case you are wondering, there were only ghosts and the pretty young archeologist there to tell us the story of the village. 

It was a dramatic story of pillaging and plundering.  No, wait.  That was Conan the Barbarian. 

Actually, she said there were only a few men with the job description of “Viking.”  Most were farmers and fishermen, even the Vikings when they were home did their own laundry.  Sweden has always had a progressive society.  Of course, doing laundry I imagine was skinning hides and cutting new lace-up straps. 
 

 On to the last of the locks.

Lock closed

And a fine lock it was too.  We came into Stockholm’s harbor and watched the beautiful buildings along the shores of any of the 14 islands of the archipelago and the beautiful boats of widely varying sizes at the wharfs.

Lock open

We are coming Stockholm!

We docked and disembarked and said our goodbyes to our new friends.  Won’t they be surprised when we really do show up in Bavaria to be their guests!  A cab took us to the hotel, where we crashed. 

Wilhelm Tham Crew

We arose refreshed to partly sunny skies and no rain in the forecast.  Well, actually, we couldn’t tell since we don’t speak or read  any number of languages, including Swedish.  But the tiny symbol on my iPhone ap didn’t look like a rain cloud so, no we don’t need our umbrellas.  Naturally, this was hubris.

We went first to the Vasa Museet to see the big boat.  Now, I was really impressed with the Viking ships in Oslo.  They were truly fantastic.  Birdie said the Vasa ship was a lot bigger.  At this moment, I am trying to come up with a comparison of the proper magnitude, but nothing seems to be right.  “Blown away” seems close, yet still inadequate.  Go there.  It is of Titanic proportions and fate. 

 After a sunny lunch on the veranda and an ice cream cone, we walked to the big museum next door and wandered through.  Another “Wow!”  We had scheduled our tours to coincide with the times the facilities were open (and closing).  So now it was 5 PM and time for us to visit Skansen.  Two notes here.  First, it was now raining steadily.  At least the girls looked cute in their thin rain panchos.  Second, all the buildings were closing at Skansen because of the rain.  We returned the next day and realized what a good choice it was to return.  We spent most of the next day there, looking at the many exhibits from years gone by.  The Skansen museum predates Williamsburg in the US.

And that's not all!

I am posting this from our first night in Stockholm.  I haven't added much to the blog...Jill and Ken have done a terrific job of hitting the highlights, but don't kid yourself,  this is just the tip of the iceberg!  Ken must have 40 gazillion pictures already and each of us has some incredible stories.  We have met some delightful new friends!  We have eaten some incredible food (who knew that Scandihoovians cooked something that wasn't white!) and traveled from the west side of Norway to the east side of Sweden!  We have gone by train, plane, bus, boat, taxi and later this week, automobile.  The trip is only half over but I think that the best is yet to come as we get a chance to see this wonderful place close up and personal visiting Ken and Chuck's wonderful relatives.  Jill and I feel pretty lucky to be a part of this family.   Just don't think that reading this blog will make the telling of tales and the showing of pictures go faster.  Nope, won't happen.  Just a P.S. to my kids - didn't know I would miss you all so much.  Can't wait to share this terrific adventure with all of you in person.  Just know that just as the landscape reminds us of Minnesota, everything else makes us think of you and how much you would love this.  And how much we love all of you.  I know that goes for Chuck and Jill, too.  So...to coin a phrase, having a great time, wish you were here!

Birdie

Forsvik and a surprise

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Oh, we had such a nice lunch!  First course was a luscious potato salad and herring followed by the main course of chicken, risotto and fresh vegetables (broccoli and carrots).  I felt a nap coming on just after lunch.  Jill wanted to read and do some painting and Chuck felt a strong need to lose another cribbage game or two to Birdie.  (Birdie 5, Chuck 1 before lunch, now she got another after lunch, a close one, leaving Chuck out two points.  He is so nice to her!)

The weather is wonderful today, the cruising idyllic.  The scenery is so familiar, the geography like the Boundary Waters.  (I know, I said it before but it bears repeating.)  The houses along the coast are neatly cared for and simply beyond description, like pictures!  Before lunch, passing one of the two old hand-turned locks, there was a little boy helping with the lock.  He had a little help, since he could barely push the big lever.  He managed. 

The boy and the lock

We sat for lunch and savored it.  As we enjoyed the company after lunch, Chuck noticed a couple that looked like friends from church, Jerry Anderson.  I joked that this might be the real Mr. Anderson and those at home were imposters.  Chuck informed me, “Gerry Anderson is a woman.”  Now this wouldn’t be much of a story without some other occurrence.

One little town named Forsvik along the Boda Kanal is known for a family that meets the boat every trip and has done so for fifty years!  The assembled members

One of the Norske Princesses and her bouquet.  She looks like a Beach Angel!

of the family sing hymns, offer blessings and bestow bouquets on some of the passengers.  We stopped to honor their talents, enjoying and clapping.  There was that couple again, an hour later.  As Jill stood by the rail, “Gerry’s” partner called out “Jill!”

The familiar couple was Runo and Ulla Davidsson, our cousins, whom we had not seen for four years when they were last in the US.  They had made a Saturday excursion to meet us.  We had a very nice visit, if brief, with our relatives.  They had prepared a map for our return visit, which we got with handshakes over the side rail of our boat.  We will meet after Falun and spend more time with them, June 27 and 28.  This was almost unbelievably touching.  Birdie and Jill got the bouquet.  We have been reveling ever since!

Runo and Ulla Davidsson

Our Home for 4 Days

Welcome to the Wilhelm Tham!! As we approached Pier 10 and saw our new home for 4 days we were very excited in the drizzling rain. We signed in and our luggage was carried to our quarters by the deck hands! A 6' x 6' x 6' cube outfitted with bunk beds, a sink, and various hooks...C-20 was to be our little nest!

A porthole for a window created wonderful evening breezes! The toilet and showers were down the hall. We were down a very steep stairs (aka ladder) from the main floor. But the beds were outfitted with snuggly duvets and we were still tired from our traveling day and late night yesterday. We looked forward to a good night's sleep.

It wasn't quite as dreamy as I thought it would be...you know, rocked to sleep by the waves and all. By the time we were halfway through dinner we were in the middle of Lake Vannern that looked like high seas!! And when dessert and coffee were served...9-ish...I was feeling a little green around the edges! I crashed into my bunk, hung on, and hoped morning would soon come. I thought this was a canal trip!!! What's with the waves and open water????? JILL

Boda Kanal

Highly reliable sources tell me it is Friday.

Dah days, der runnin’ togedder a bit.  I cannot remember what day it is, but were on a boat, a tossin’ and tossin.’  It isn’t like sleep, no turning, yust tossin’!  We are crossing a big lake, bigger than Saginaga, even Mille Lacs!  I will need to look it up.  I don’t think its Lake Costa Boda, but it is on the Boda Kanal trip.  Costa Boda would be like glass.  The sea isn’t like glass.  The wind is up, 12 m/sec.  I think that translates to 27 miles per hour.  The canal is quiet and narrow in places.  This lake is the third largest in Europe.  We make land around 3 AM, so we will be rocking awhile.

Here is what it felt like when the wind was up:

Wind was up

Yesterday was travel from Oslo to Goteborg.  As it turned out, the train went as far as Trollhaten, where we switched to buses due to construction of a new double track from there to Goteborg.  Trollhatten is known for its Saab factory.  We did not have time to stop by to see if they were giving away free sample cars.  We quickly were shuttled onto buses for the last leg.  The highways are also under construction, so we got into Goteborg later than expected.  Ake (Furst) bought dinner for seven, the four of us, Ingemar and Phillip (Bergdahl).  I didn’t see if he swallowed hard or not.  It was a lovely dinner, quiet and great food.  We talked for a couple hours.  Anita had to work.  As it was, Ingemar faced a 2.5 hour drive home and Ake an hour or so.  Ake was so gracious as to walk us home to the hotel before heading out.

Suddenly it is much smoother.  But there weren’t seven short blasts followed by a long to suggest trouble and there is no water leaking in the porthole, so I don’t think we are visiting Davy Jones’ locker.  Aaaah.  We are close to shore!  It is an archipelago.  It looks exactly like the Boundary Waters.  Well, except for the cabins and the bouys and other navigation markers.  The rocks and trees and water look exactly like home.  And we assume we know why so many Scandinavians settled in Minnesota.  That, and the beautiful Swedes and Norwegians who were already there.

Wind was down

We left our very cushy hotel this morning early and in the rain, to get to our boat the Wilhelm Tham.  It’s small and old and so are the passengers.  We are the youngest passengers aboard, we assume.  Like my 87 year-old mom says, looking out of my eyes, I see like I was 24.  So perhaps we aren’t really the youngest passengers aboard.  (Oh, yes we are!)  We had fun with the Swedish chef who was our taxi driver.  She was driving taxi in Goteborg because she said her body couldn’t take the grueling routine where she worked in New York.  Now there is an odd accent!  We all know Marcus Samuelson, some better than others.

Wilhelm Tham

 The food is beautifully presented and luscious to boot.  Chuck, as the rest of us, loved the moose, but tried not to think about it.  He has a thing about moose, as many know.  So Schucky, ver do yah tink dem fancy mittens you wears comes from, anyvay?  “Yah, but der dead, den.”  “Yah,” I sess, but you don’t get dat meat by milkin’ a moose, yah know!”

Now some of us are playing cribbage (Birdie and Chuck) and the rest of us aren’t.  Birdie shows Chuck less mercy than she does me!

Ken

Patterns

Oslo is a city of patterns..as are all cities. But old Oslo and the places we visited I found fascinating!!

JILL

Trains, buses and boats

Through some fine deductive reasoning, I have determined it is Thursday.   (Looked at my iPhone.  Not much good as a net surfer due to enormous expense, but great as a time keeper and calendar.   And now “I’m sittin’ in a railway station; got a ticket for my destination, hmmm.”  Yes, of course, all four of us are.

We got up and had a nice breakfast again. (Bergen was better, so far, by a hair in the butter.)  Got ourselves packed, checked out of the Astoria (Thon, not Waldorf) and headed for the train station by 9:45 for our 11:15 transport.  In the train station we inquired where to collect the tax rebate we were due for, for having bought goods in Norway.  Back outside at the tourist center, of course.  Not that far, just back-tracking a bit is all.  We left a guard dog with the luggage and went back to get the ca$h.  I got mine.  C&J got half of theirs.  “That must be collected in the train station.”  Yeah, but the computers were down.

So we decided to walk to the bus terminal.  When we got our train tickets, there was a proviso.  There is track construction from Oslo to Goteborg, so you will be taking the bus.  (Gothenburg and various other spellings – I hope they are all referring to the same urban area!  When I hear the natives say it, to me it sounds like "Yo'-tuh-bo-ree.   I do not know where the letter 'g' went. Sing it a little bit and you have it.)  People were very cooperative about telling us where to go.  Upstairs, follow the signs and you will cross a bridge to the train depot.  (About a mile, it seemed, not validated by my previously complimentary step counter.)  We pulled our suitcases to the bus terminal.  Jill checked to see if we needed to get our vouchers converted to tickets and find out where we would catch the bus.  “Oh, that’s platform 19 – in the train station.”  Platform 19 is the most distant platform from where we were standing at that moment.  And immediately in front of our original guard dog station.  We hiked back. We trudged out to the platform.  We don’t read Norwegian of course, but something besides diesel didn’t smell right.  Our security team stayed with the bags.  The intelligence team went to scout.

I can only imagine the conversation went something like this with the uniformed information person.  He says, “Tell me that again.”  Birdie and Jill repeat the tale, with gesticulation and embellishment.  “Oh,” he says, “there is no such bus.”  Our schedule said there were four options.  “There’s only one option.  And it is a train, not a bus, to Goteborg at 1 PM.

“Oh!  Now you will be able to get your rebate back,” Birdie said with some satisfaction.  She can always see the bright side.  The team switched to Olson-Jacobson and C&J went off to get their cash.  Success – of sorts!  Computers still misbehaving, they returned with a nice envelope to mail in for the money.  Chuck opined that he suspected half the foreigners never bothered to collect their tax rebate.  Due to the minimum purchase requirement, as it turns out, C&J will need to send some cash back to Norway.  Not to mention the postage and the extra fees.  Chuck might be right about the tax rebate redemption!

“I’m sittin’ in a railway station; got a ticket for my destination, hmmm.”

Ken