Since my retirement and with the advent of the PC I finally did it! Considering the fifty or more years that have gone by since then, I felt it necessary to do a great deal of historical research and was surprised to find that my memories  actually agreed with events of those five years. I also found that history is very subjective.

While not especially relevant to the subject of World War II, it was
intriguing to stand on the battlements of Bohus castle in Sweden a few years
ago and observe how it controls Sweden's access to the western oceans.
Denmark's loss of that castle to Sweden five hundred years ago is but a foot
note to Danish history, but a momentous event in Sweden's history.
In any event, Danish history being very much a niche subject, I was
surprised and pleased that my little book "Conquered, not defeated" has been
published.

Peter's book is available through www.amazon.com or  www.booksamillion.com 

July. 2008

SCANDINAVIA  ALA CARTE

The time had come for my wife and me to return to Scandinavia for no other reason than there were places we had visited or had not visited over the last fifty years that we now wanted to see.

The trip from New Haven to Newark was routine: Shoreline East to New Haven, then Amtrak to Newark Airport and check-in with SAS. Once inside the Inner Sanctum the only source of nutriments is a bar with bar food.

Having experienced the Economy Class sardine can arrangement in the past, we decided to spend the extra dollars for SAS’ Economy Extra. For an eight-hour trip, it was well worth the money. The seating was 2-3-2 rather than the 2-4-2 in cattle class and there were some additional extras, such as boarding with Business Class, choice of two meals with dinner and last but not least: Additional leg room. While my wife is 5’1”, I am 6’ and need the room.

It must be noted, that SAS’ caterer on this side of the Atlantic pales in comparison with the caterer on the other side, but the fish dish that I chose in lieu of the standard mystery chicken was very good.

We had also decided to travel light and had only carry-on luggage. This worked well, as boarding with Business Class, we were able to stow our two small suitcases over our seats rather than being pre-empted by people further back in the cabin who might not have wanted to carry or roll their luggage the full length of the Airbus. We did not sleep much, but having no checked luggage helped, as we had a quick turn-around in Stockholm to catch the 737 to Oslo.

Oslo’s airport is beautiful, but must set a record for its length. We docked at one end and had to walk the full length to reach the exit at the other end and then repeat the walk to get back to Customs and Immigration.

We chose to take the airport train to town, a great ride. A taxi took us from the station to the Best Western Bondeheimen hotel in the center.

This hotel was originally built to accommodate farmers on their visits to Oslo. The rooms are small, but perfectly adequate and the location a block or two from the Karl Johan Gate, Oslo’s main drag, could not be better. Oddly enough, the hotel is a temperance hotel, which was no issue for us, if for no other reason than that liquor is extremely expensive in Norway. Breakfast came with the room, the usual and excellent Scandinavian spread ranging from herring to cereals.

We headed for the Viking ship museum at Bygdøy early the next morning. We took a public bus and while sort of prepared for the high prices in Norway were taken aback having to pay $ 4 for a one-hour senior citizen bus ticket bought at a local 7-11 store on Karl Johans Gate.

We arrived as the museum opened at 9 am and beat a busload of Polish senior tourists in and were, as usual, completely awed by the beauty of the Oseberg and Gokstad ships displayed there. They literally astound you. The very plain church-like character of the building only adds to the downright spiritual nature of the experience.

We walked from the Viking ships down to the shuttle boat back to Oslo, another lovely trip across the harbor. The boat docks by the Akershus Castle, the city’s ancient citadel. While we did not do it this time, the Resistance Museum in the castle is worth a visit, followed by a few minutes of meditation at the now peaceful site outside the museum where the Germans during the Second World War executed Norwegian resistance fighters.

We took advantage twice of eating at the Stortorvets Gæstgiveri a few blocks from the hotel where we enjoyed the excellent atmosphere, food and service. In the evening we tried the Mona Lisa restaurant. The food was reasonable, but as the Norwegians have not quite beaten the smoking habit, the smoke literally put a pall on the otherwise pleasant covered sidewalk café location.

That afternoon we visited the National Gallery and saw the recently reopened Munch exhibit. Our personal taste is more in the direction of the Impressionists, such as Christian Krogh, but the museum is worth a visit. Be warned that it has no obvious facilities for handicap access.

Our next stop was the Stena Line ferry terminal for the trip to Frederikshavn in northern Denmark.

The 15,000-ton ferry was impressive. We had requested a cabin with windows and were surprised to find that not only did we get two windows facing the bow of the ship, but also complementary bottles of champagne and wine, plus a fruit basket! I suppose that had the Stena Saga been a contemporary of the Titanic, there would have been an expanded metal gate separating us from the steerage passengers!

We had intended to eat in the ship’s cafeteria, which past experience had taught us would have been more than adequate, but the line was long, so we decided to eat in the ála carte restaurant where we were served a first class meal by a first class wait staff.

The steward at the entrance to the cafeteria did suggest that we purchase a ticket to the breakfast seating to avoid having to stand in line then. Good advise given and taken.

The next morning after breakfast, we approached northern Jutland and docked on time in Frederikshavn where we were met by old friend Jørgen Brøndlund Nielsen, a retired university professor, active poliician and former member of the Danish and European parliaments. Jørgen drove us around Vendsyssel, the part of Jutland north of the Limfjord, in his mint 1972 Volvo sedan! We visited the west coast at Løkken, Lønstrup and the ancient Mårup Church, which soon will slip into the North Sea as the tall sand cliffs are eroding away. We later found out that it has been decided to demolish and move the church. What will happen to the old graves, including a mass grave for several hundred British sailors whose frigate foundered during the Napoleonic wars, is uncertain  Then on to Sindal and other lovely places. Most impressive was the Børglum Monastery; built by Cistercian monks and confiscated from Stygge Krumpen, the local Catholic bishop, by the Danish king at the time of the Protestant Reformation in 1536. The bishop refused to join the king’s new church and was imprisoned for six years. The king later compensated him with another estate in Denmark where he spent the rest of his days. The estate and its adjoining farms were later sold to the Rottbøll family who still owns and manages the estate. A son of the family, Michael “Mik” Rottbøll, fled to England during the Second World War, was trained as a paratrooper and saboteur and returned to Denmark to work with the Danish Resistance. He was,sadly and ironically enough, shot and killed in a gun battle with the Danish police when apprehended and is now buried outside the ancient church of the estate under both a Danish gravestone and the official British military gravestone, an honor to which he was entitled as a captain in the British army.

On the final stage of the trip, we visited the buried Skagen church. Only the whitewashed, red roofed tower still protrudes above the sand dunes, the rest of the church having been buried by the shifting sands. The tower was preserved, as it serves as an aide to navigation till this day.

Jørgen eventually dropped us off at the charming village of Skagen. Until the nineteenth century Skagen was an isolated and poor fishermen’s village on the Kattegat side of the point of Jutland. It is still headquarters to a significant modern fishing fleet, but has also become a tourist attraction characterized by its quaint yellow painted houses. Before the railroad and new highway were built, access to the village was not easy, so yellow paint was chosen for the yearly painting of the fishermen’s cottages, a custom that continues until this day. It is a beautiful place, well worth a visit for its atmosphere, seafood and its art museum. We checked into the lovely, small Hotel Petit, had dinner on the dock in Skagens Fiskerestaurant and the next morning visited the Skagen Museum, home to the great collection of Danish Impressionist paintings products of the town’s fame as an artist colony in the late 1800s.

Who can forget Krøyer’s ladies in white dresses walking the beach during the late evening summer sun?

One of the most impressive members of the group was Anna Ancher, the daughter of the Brøndums whose inn served as the home and headquarters for the artists. She married artist Michael Ancher and became an accomplished artist in her own right, despite not being admitted to the local “academies” because of her gender! We enjoyed a typical Skagen lunch at the Brøndum Inn, which is still going strong!

We had hoped to visit Grenen, the northern point of Jutland where the Kattegat and the North Sea meet. It is a spectacular place, but as the weather had turned somewhat cold and wet, we were not up to the 2-mile walk from the town of Skagen.

A charming illustration of the local Danish wit happened at dinner in the Folden’s restaurant when we successfully emphasized my wife’s lactose intolerance. I kiddingly told the waitress that even if a cow walked by in the street outside our window, it would be a problem. The waitress replied, suggesting that, however, my wife could eat the cow and sold her an excellent steak!

The next morning we took the spiffy, blue train train of the Skagen Railroad from Skagen to Frederikshavn. Danish privately owned railroads have developed over the years from bankrupt local railroads using second rate equipment, to just the opposite.

In Frederikshavn we went across the platform and got on the Inter City train to Copenhagen, where we arrived late in he afternoon after an uneventful trip on the very nice train. This was the first of several uses of our Eurail Pass, another very worthwhile purchase.

We walked the three long blocks to the City Hall Square where we checked into the Palace Hotel. This hotel with its tall tower that rivals that of the City Hall next door, was built in the 1920s, has a perfect location and is in the process of a total renovation.

My personal, minor connection to the hotel consists in standing on one of its balconies with my family on the afternoon of September 26, 1940 to see King Christian X crossing the square in his open Cadillac touring car, celebrating his seventieth birthday, the year of the German Occupation of the country.

My widowed sister-in-law joined us at the hotel and we walked to the Københavnerkaféen in Badstuestræde for a delightful Danish party dinner, including different kinds of herring, salmon as well as roast pork with the crisp rind on it.

It is difficult to explain to American friends and acquaintances that one is expected to eat this delicacy and not to do so is an insult to the hostess! I can assure them, that even with my septuagenarian teeth, it will not break theirs and you will survive the cholesterol jolt for that one time!

We had planned to visit the Kunst- og Industrimuseet , the Museum of Industrial Design, the next day to enjoy the collection of items of Danish utilitarian design, but unfortunately, we found out that being Monday they were closed. So instead we took the Canal Boat Tour out of Nyhavn off Kongens Nytorv, always enjoyable. The boat had a glass roof protecting us from the light rain and the young woman guide gave a running commentary in Danish, English, German and Spanish!

The tour was followed by lunch at our favorite Copenhagen eatery, the Kronborg in Brolæggerstræde. We had the traditional Danish open sandwiches – smørrebrød – herring, eel etc accompanied by a very large glass of beer and a large Aalborg Jubilæums akvavit. It was noticeable that all our fellow guests were Danes, no tourists were apparent.

The nature of Copenhagen has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Headscarves and other Muslim attire are common sights in the streets and shops and the tourists seem dominated by Eastern Europeans and Asians, the boisterous Russians standing out!

There were at least two shell games run by foreigners going on the famous Strøget walking street. Oddly enough surrounded by what were obviously not Danes!

One can only advise to stay off the Strøget except for the obligatory visits to the Illum’s Bolighus, the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain shop, not to mention the traditional Illums and Magasin du Nord department stores.

There are plenty of quiet and cozy streets that are well worth a stroll or two in the historical inner city surrounding Strøget,.

We did not visit Tivoli this time, after all this trip was to be ála carte, but it can be recommended. For no other reason thah that the hefty admissions price keeps the place serene and safe for adults and families.

The next day we embarked on the train trip to Stockholm across the new bridge/tunnel connecting the two countries. If riding backwards in a train is a problem for you, make sure to start riding backwards in Copenhagen, as the train changes direction in Malmø!

In Stockholm we stayed at the brand new Clarion Sign hotel, located so close to the station that a cab driver politely suggested that we walk, as it was not worth the cost of the taxi to get there!

The hotel is beautiful, decorated to the n’th degree in modern Scandinavian. It is also obviously an expense account, businessman’s hotel. The first evening we ate in the hotel’s Aquavit restaurant, supposedly a twin to its Manhattan namesake. No complaints about the food or service, but one does not go to Stockholm to eat in a Manhattan restaurant! They even offered Sam Adams beer, not to mention akvavit sold in 1 cc shots! That is One Centiliter! We chose a good Swedish beer and passed on the O.P.Anderson akvavit.

The next morning we took the public bus to the Vasa ship museum. While as always worth a visit, it does illustrate the oxymoron of military intelligence: The only actual ship contemporary to the “Mayflower” still in existence, it capsized and sank only 1300 m from the place it was launched, because someone, possibly the king, had demanded an additional gun deck which made it impossible to put enough ballast in the ship. The ship has been completely restored ,an enormous  puzzle using mostly original pieces recovered from the wreck site in Stockholm harbor.

We ate at the Stortorgskällaran on the Stortorget, the Main Square, where some 400 years ago the Danish king ruined the union once and for all between the three Scandinavian countries by holding a dinner for his Swedish political opponents and after dessert had their heads chopped off in the square. A poor political move that was taken advantage of by Gustav Vasa and eventually resulted in Sweden’s regained independence.

The next day we took the train to Uppsala and via public bus visited the Old Uppsala royal burial mounds, museum and original cathedral, as well as the 700 year new cathedral.

On our last day, it was Midsummer’s Day and Eve and many places were closed. Therefore, we took a tourist boat around Stockholm.

Access to the Gamla Stan – old city –was easy from the hotel, about a 15-minute walk, so we took advantage of that every day.

It seems that many restaurants in Stockholm are run and owned by Italians. They do try to maintain a Swedish menu, but have you tried tagliatelli with smoked reindeer meat? It really is very good. And remember that Bambi was a deer, not a reindeer!

A word of warning to visitors to Stockholm: It costs 5 Swedish Kronor, about  $ .85, to use many public toilets in Sweden, such as the NK Department Store, the Main Railroad Station, not to mention the Uppsala Cathedral, so make sure to carry a supply of SK 5 coins with you at all times!

Stockholm is a great place. A lot like Copenhagen twenty years ago: Clean and friendly.

Some observations from the trip:

Despite $ 8/gal gasoline the traffic in both Stockholm and Copenhagen could give any major US city a run for their money. While we saw a few US-sized pick-up trucks and even a Hummer, Navigator or Escalade or two, the cars are of the same size and types that we see here, if anything; more up-scale. The idea of us having huge cars and they small cars is a thing of the past.  I saw but one of Mercedes’ new “Smart” cars. The next one I saw, is being raffled off by St.Mary’s church here in Branford, Connecticut.

As mentioned before, while public transportation is available, it is far from inexpensive, but then noting is in Scandinavia.

The invoices received in stores and restaurant indicate a 25% Value Added Tax! That is a hefty sales tax by any standard, even if it can be refunded on major purchases, albeit not on meals, when leaving the countries. Tips are included in taxi fares and restaurant checks, but some cab drivers and waiters – especially the non-Scandinavian cab drivers – try to “encourage” additional tipping. I do not know how the tips are calculated or collected, but bear in mind that when this system was initiated in Denmark in the mid forties, the normal tip included in the bill was 12 ½%,

I was fortunate to be able to and read the local daily papers in all three countries. What was said about our country and our administration in these papers tended to be both positive and polite.

As an example, in commenting on President Bush’s trip to Europe, the “Jyllandsposten”, Denmark’s largest newspaper of Mohammed cartoons fame, in its editorial reminded its readers of the many times that Americans had stepped up to the plate to save Europe, often paying the ultimate price. If one had the absolute need to hear and read standard negative news about the US, one had to listen to BBC or CNN and read the International Herald Tribune. A reasonably unbiased English language alternative was the Financial Times.

One item that dominates the Danish newspapers is the crisis caused by the several hundred thousand Muslim “asylum seekers” that live off the Danish welfare system while refusing to assimilate culturally or religiously. This confuses the Danes with their long established tradition of cultural and religious tolerance and is causing serious political polarization in the country.

The problem is not as acute in Norway or Sweden with fewer Muslim immigrants, but in Denmark it is a potentially explosive situation.

Despite the Scandinavian flair and deserved reputation for great design, they for some reason have never been able to come grips with ergonomic, modern bathrooms. Even in hotels it is not uncommon to have the shower drain located in the middle of the floor inviting one to use the conveniently furnished electric hairdryer standing on a wet floor. In one hotel there was a very complicated circular shower stall that reminded us of Woody Allen’s old Orgasmatron. It even offered to provide a steam bath! We were cowards and used its multiple shower heads only for a multi-level shower experience!

The common use of frosted and even clear glass separations between the hotel rooms and the bathrooms also takes some getting used to, privacy only being possible by shutting the lights in the bathroom when in use! The long and deep bathtubs provide several shower options, albeit without instructions or even logical ergonomic signage and worst of all, with no grab bars for us senior citizens for getting in and out of the tub!

The most bizarre illustration of non-ergonomic design was found in the otherwise beautiful recently modernized black-white and stainless steel bathrooms in our Copenhagen hotel: The sinks were only about a foot in diameter and when one had to bend over to rinse one’s head one would unavoidably hit the mirror.

All in all, by US standards `Scandinavia is not user friendly when it comes to handicap access. Even the very modern Copenhagen-Stockholm train required three steps up from the platform.

It is our impression that the Scandinavian approach to this issue is to provide cheap and convenient special transportation for those that need it and not worry about any “discrimination” or regard for any possible onus attached to the exclusion of handicapped citizens from all possible means of access. The approach seems to work, as it was not an issue that we heard about.

The return trip on SAS was uneventful, with first class food and service, even in Economy Extra.

In Newark we encountered the first and only glitch of the trip: The Amtrak train we planned to take back to New Haven was badly delayed, but the ticket seller suggested that we take an earlier, also much delayed train that was about to enter the station. So, by taking a late Amtrak rain we ended up getting home two hours early.

An absolutely wonderful ála carte trip to Scandinavia was thus completed!

August, 2008

CROSSING THE COUNTRY THE OLD FASHIONED WAY
With no seat belts, lots of leg room and being told not to take your shoes off.

Three generations of Tveskovs

We boarded Amtrak’s Empire Builder in Portland, Oregon on Thursday August 7 following a leisurely late lunch at Wilf’s, the station restaurant and were assigned our bedroom in the one Superliner sleeper. Amtrak inherited the Superliner fleet from the old Santa Fe railroad some thirty years ago and although they have been upgraded periodically do show the need for better maintenance. As an example, the single seat in our compartment had a broken armrest, unacceptable in a first class carriage.
 

Peter and Judy

However, there is no real need to dwell on this item. but we did notice that it was very cold in the compartment and despite there being an adjustable thermostat in the compartment, there was no way to modulate the temperature. We mentioned this to Dennis, our helpful steward, who proceeded to cover the louvers with a towel.
 

The compartment was about 8’ x 8’ and contained a single seat and a bench seat that converted to a lower bunk at night, a sink, as well as a small folding table and an upper bunk that was folded away during the day. The compartment also had a private, cylindrical shower/toilet about 3’ in diameter, and a ladder to access the upper bunk at night. It was pleasantly decorated in blue — the compartment, not the shower/toilet. It was perfectly adequate, especially if the occupants know each other very well and get along. As an example, it was necessary to dry oneself properly outside the shower cabin.
 
The first day started with a spectacular trip up the Columbia river gorge with beautiful scenery.
 
As the dining car was on the section of the train that originated in Seattle and did not join the Portland section until Spokane late that night, we were served a cold salad in the compartment, in our case a very adequate shrimp salad. Our steward at some point lowered the upper bunk and made up the lower one and we went to sleep. Sleeping was easy, even with the curves as the train crossed the Cascades and entered the desert-like country of Eastern Washington.
 
We woke up somewhere before Whitefish, Montana, as we were passing through a tunnel and it was disorienting to find oneself in pitch darkness until exiting from the tunnel. The daily local newspaper was  tucked under our door and we proceeded to the Dining Car for a good breakfast, with many selections: Elaborate omelets and the like. As at all the meals in the Dining Car, we were assigned table mates at the four man tables, which resulted in getting to know many nice people, literally like “trains crossing in the night”. If you had little in common, it did not matter, as odds were that you would not see them again, let alone eat with them.
 
While the Dining Car manager seemed a bit full of herself, the waiter that waited on us all the way to Chicago was very professional and helpful.
 
That day we crossed the Rocky Mountains including Glacier National Park. Quite a few passengers left and boarded the train at Glacier, many of them hikers. Unfortunately, the scenery was a bit of a disappointment. Obviously, whoever built the first railroad did not have sightseers in mind, but there were snow covered mountains around and once out of the mountains the panorama of the mountains that we left behind was impressive indeed.
 
Editorializing, I would say that crossing the Rocky Mountains and Glacier Park in particular, probably is a better bet on the Canadian cross continental railroad. The negative side to that is that the Canadian train now is strictly a weekly tourist train and much more expensive.
 
Then came the Great Plains and boy are they great! Pastures with grazing cattle and horses and later, golden wheat fields stretching to the far horizon under the truly Big Sky. Occasional neat ranches and farms, usually with every automobile and piece of farm equipment the family had ever owned neatly lined up and rusting into the ground, away from the buildings! In the neat little towns we passed through, the tree lined streets, modest churches and not so modest grain silos by the railroad track were typical parts of the scenery, as were auto junkyards that would be true goldmines for any old car restorer! In these towns the railroad crossings were usually at grade and our by then very long train which had gained the Seattle section, as well as another coach or two along the way, would create patient lines of local vehicles, mainly very new and clean pick-up trucks.
 
On asking, we were informed that the children from the ranches and farms as often as not would have a two-hour ride to school and back, but that in many counties the parents had the option of enrolling the kids in public boarding schools in town during the week.
 
In Minot, Minnesota, we were delayed for over an hour, having been ahead of schedule until then. Already knowing the place name Minot, now we learned that it is pronounced Mi-note.
 
That afternoon Dennis had scheduled a wine tasting for the Sleeping Car passengers in the Dining car where he presented four excellent Columbia river wines, two white and two red, with cheese dishes that matched the wines
 
That second night provided another restful sleep, the track being pretty much straight and level.
 
The scenery changed the next day in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It now was hilly, wooded and very much like Connecticut albeit much bigger, for sure! All the towns impressed us by being very neat and clean, even along the railroad tracks.
 
No trashed shopping carts, tires and refrigerators there!
 
Now is the time to speak of delays. Apparently, most of the right-of-ways belong to the original railroads and are used for the enormous freight trains, mostly container trains, grain trains and once into Minnesota: Long coal trains. The freight trains have the right of way and the passenger trains must pull over for them.
 
The situation begs the question why the freight trains cannot have schedules that can be worked into some overall scheme for all the trains. Unfortunately, the attitude of the Amtrak personnel is very fatalistic and they seem to have accepted the unavoidability of their trains always being late. Not encouraging to the passengers. It did not become a problem for us, as both our trains arrived at their destinations within an hour or so of their schedules and only resulted in shorter waits in the pleasant Metropolitan lounges reserved for Sleeping Car and Acela passengers in Portland, Chicago and Washington DC. These lounges, among other advantages, also made it possible to board the trains 10-15 minutes before the rest of the passengers.
 
It must also be mentioned, that the trains have lounge/observation cars with fast food and snack service on the lower level.
 
For no particular reason we did not take advantage of the observation car which was usually full. The Conductor several times along the way asked people not to spend more than an hour in the Observation car and let others enjoy the view. The Observation car had a full-length skylight similar, but much longer than the old Vista Dome cars, but the view from our bedroom was perfectly adequate.
 
The Amtrak Superliner coaches have very comfortable reclining seats and Roomettes are offered in the Sleeping Cars. These Roomettes accommodate two people in facing seats and at night are made up into two bunk beds. There are showers and toilets in the hall for these passengers, but just looking at the Roomettes as well as talking to dinner companions who used one, makes one question their comfort and acceptability, especially for two people!
 
We arrived in Chicago about an hour late despite having had to dodge the commuter trains as the lady Conductor threatened us with doom and gloom and fatal delays!
 
In Chicago Dennis, the steward, came to the bedroom and without being asked carried our two suitcases down the narrow stairs and deposited them on the platform, a final flourish to efforts that he made the trip so enjoyable for us.
 
The Capital Limited that carried us from Chicago to Washington was configured as the Empire Builder, with the same lack of maintenance threadbareness. The track on that stretch was not as smooth and the Sleeper did some serious rocking and rolling that night, which made it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. One felt as if one was on a small sailboat in rough weather, not only the bumps and grinds, but also the sound effects from the train’s undercarriage.
The air conditioning was, if anything, colder than on the Empire Builder, but when we mentioned that to our new steward, his response was a shrug of the shoulders, so we plugged the louvers ourselves with a towel. That attitude was typical of this steward who showed no particular interest in the welfare or comfort of the passengers, as well as barely fitting in the train’s narrow corridor. So, the Chicago-DC leg can only be described as “Third World”, although the scenery through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland, especially along the Potomac river, was beautiful.
 
By then, I suppose, we were also about ready to end our three-day voyage and maybe a bit less patient.
 
In Washington we joined Amtrak’s train 166 to New Haven and got in about 10 pm on August 10, after an unforgettable three-day and three night trip across the continent – the Old Fashioned Way!