2007 Articles by Date:
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2008 Articles by Date:
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14 | Mar 21 | Mar 28 | Apr 18 |
May 2 | Jun 6 | Jun 13
April 18, 2008
ANITA ALAN Carmel, CA
Not that we wanted to bolt from Holland America’s MS Veendam, but the ScanRail schedule (Copenhagen
back to Oslo) made the rules for us. Holland America Line and EMI (Executive Meetings and Incentives)
did everything possible to accommodate special passenger needs. On disembarking, we learned just
how dedicated they were: they let us roll down the gangway first. We located a taxi to get to the
train terminal, and boarded ScanRail for Oslo—in Copenhagen’s smoke-free terminal. During our cruise,
Denmark enacted a smoking ban in public places. Signs reminding passengers of the new law hung
throughout the terminal.
After having everything but the laundry done for us for 10 days, we once again struck out on our own. Gloria McMillan, retired teacher and former Director of San Diego City Schools’ GATE program, was my travel companion. Dear friend Gloria and I had already shared tiny compartments in hostels and the tight quarters of Room 562 aboard ship, and still we laughed and looked forward to the next adventure. If the itinerary worked perfectly, I owed it to Gloria—the valiant soul who had some time back taken her high school class to Russia!
The journey back to Oslo had great personal meaning for me because I would soon meet Ronald Pedersen and Clara Deetjen Pedersen, the niece of Helmuth Deetjen, about whom I had written Big Sur Inn: The Deetjen Legacy. Clara Deetjen was just four when her uncle Helmuth, a Bergen native, left for America. She remembers him only through conversations with others and through her archival quality, sepia photos of the family. Clara’s father Otto was Helmuth’s older brother. Without that slim connection to Deetjen’s Bergen, booking passage on a ship bound there would have failed, almost certainly, to materialize. If luck stayed with us, we would soon have a long-planned late lunch with them at their home in Oslo.
Sure enough, the train rolled into Oslo’s huge terminal, and after placing our bags in a locker and encountering some minor misadventures with the public phone—with the help of a thoughtful young Norwegian—we called Ronald Pedersen, who was there in minutes to fetch us. Our delicious lunch included a tasty goat cheese that I buy constantly now at Whole Foods. The visit with them we counted as our favorite day of the entire vacation. The warmth of their home reminded me of what had drawn me to Big Sur Inn, in so many ways a tiny Norwegian village. The chance to photograph photographs, even in the fading light, meant so much. These photos had never appeared Stateside, though the Deetjen family book dating back to 1258 and written in German had. I could have stayed lost in the thick pages of that intricately clasped gold leaf, leather-bound album for hours. Clara’s eyes drew me in. I could see my old friend Helmuth there. She and her kind husband brought all Norway to life, gave us a personal connection as beautiful as any view so far. So much love in one place! So hard to say goodbye!
In such a short time, our Bergenbound ScanRail train would pull away into the darkness, its sleeper coach winning the prize for the smallest quarters so far. No need for more space. In complete exhaustion, we slipped into night, dreams, and the loud silence of wheels on tracks. By morning, we would have breakfast back in Bergen.
The Dream Cruise
Dozing off, I felt the movement of water, air, and now the back and forth motion
of wheels steadying themselves against first one track, then the other. I sailed back over the
ten fleeting days; though we saw sheep a plenty, it was blessings I counted tonight. I relived
the breathtaking fjords, the waterfalls lacing thousands of feet down steep rock faces. It seemed
forever since we donned orange vests and held the lifeboat drill, sang together as we left Copenhagen,
since “A Prairie Home Companion 2007 Norway Cruise” and host Garrison Keillor seemed like family.
So long since the Sail-Away Party, since setting sail for Flåm, since the Flåmbanen to Voss,
the earth-shaking waterfall and the pastoral, but twisting coach ride to Vik. We had plenty of
sheep to count along the way, plenty of goats.
We sailed scenic Sognefjord to Ålesund, its Sunnmøre Museum, and Atlanterhavsparken – The Atlantic Sea- Park. Dozing now, thinking of the 11:04 PM sunset, and the 4:00AM sunrise, of Trondheim and Nidaros Cathedral, Eagle Road overlooking Geiranger, the dew on the wildflowers. A deeper sleep and I am already in Bergen, imagining Peer Gynt, and Grieg at Troldhaugen, Fantoft Stave Church—burned, rebuilt, and the Bryggen buildings. Drifting again, watching Keillor at Choir Practice, a book in his left hand, directing with his right, and the next stop is sunny Kristiansand with its colorful harbor and city flowers, the pond and swans. I drift back once more to Oslo, its museums, the Theater, Ibsen, the Viking ships, the train back and our visit with Deetjen’s dear niece and her husband, the portraits and plates on every wall, the love.
Thank you to A Prairie Home Companion
Thank you to Garrison Keillor, the perfect host of the perfect cruise, to Tim Russell, Sue Scott,
Fred Newman, Guy’s All Star Shoe Band, Robin and Linda Williams, Butch Thompson, The Kreutzer Quartet,
Aaron Shorr, Maria Jette, and Sonja Thompson, Frigg, Kustbandet, Pat Donohue, Andy Stein, Prudence
Johnson, Gary Raynor, Rich Dworsky, Arnie Kinsella, Thomas Scheutzger, John Saucke, Holly Harden,
Phoebe Hanson, Marcia Pankake, Morten Gunnar Larsen, Dan Newton, Nancy Brazilchuk, and Rick Strimbeck.
Thanks also to the Captain and crew, Holland America Line, and EMI. We certainly accomplished Garrison
Keillor’s goal. He wanted us to “see things we’ll remember for the rest of our lives, and come
home happy and rested.”
Norwegian American Weekly
