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I have been so frustrated with the quirkiness of blogspot that I went over to wordpress. The last installment of my trip to Scandinavia is at ottorolwing.wordpress.com

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Thanks for reading,  Otto

Bergen - Artic Circle - Mandal

Young Polish girl on the ferry

The sleek Fjord1 ferry

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Me at the Arctic Circle

The stupendous and magical waterfall at Odda

Karina's home in Mandal

Leaving Bergen with freshly laundered clothes, I headed north for more of the famous Norwegian mountains and fjords and was not disappointed. I quit taking photos of both because I have already taken so many and none of them fit into the camera. They are just too magnificent and grand, especially the waterfalls which always find that special spot in my heart and mind.

I took a long ferry boat ride out of town as the guide book said that it was better than most of the guided tour boats going through the fjords. And it was, with waterfalls from way up high and snaking down the walls to the water. I spoke at length to a young Polish girl traveling with a group of 45 other Poles, mainly teachers, one her mother, in a bus that they had ridden from Poland. She was eager to practice her English and to get away from all of the 'old folks,' and she promised to stay in touch.

I checked into a nice hotel in Molde, overlooking the waterfront with the coming and going of ferries and tour boats. I love the look of the ferry boats gliding through the water. The hull is sailboat shaped, but the main platform and upper carriage is sitting atop this hull and the platform seems to just glide over the water with a bare ripple of a wake. I returned to this hotel after riding around the island that Molde is on and took in the Atlantic Highway and a Sculpture Symposium. The Highway was overrated in my opinion as well as the opinions of a father/daughter riding team from Washington DC that I met the next day. I think that the government built it and hyped it to replace the lost cod fishing industry.

Then on to the Artic Circle. I'm not sure why I needed to go, but there I was. I thought the cairn fields were quite interesting and wondered how that got started.

I had debated which way to head back south, further inland in Norway, down the middle of Sweden, or down the east coast of Sweden and into Stockholm. The Couchsurfer that had agreed to host me in Stockholm had canceled out a couple of weeks ago as he had the opportunity to go to Africa. Can't blame him. I had heard good and bad things about all three, rain and boring roads being the main reasons give. So I decided on Sweden because everything there is about half of what it is in Norway and headed east out of Molde on E 12. A great choice! It went high into a surreal lake/mountain/snow/fog condition that was very enjoyable. Very little traffic and cabins stuck in the woods everywhere. The Norwegians do like their winter sports and their cabins in the outback. About half way to the turning south point, I crossed in to Sweden. Then down E45 to Ostersund where I planned to spend the night. But a big football game changed my plans, everything in town being booked up. Since it wasn't dark yet, only 10:30!, I kept going until I stumbled on a restaurant/bar that advertised a hytter (cabin). The new owner said the cabin had not been cleaned yet from the night before, so I chilled with a fish and chips and a couple of beers. A bit of adventure finding it by taking the path along the creek and over the bridge, etc., but I did, and returned by the road to retrieve the motorcycle.

I rode with a couple of Finns and their girlfriends for a bit and then parted after we got off of the ferry. I met the Washington DC father/daughter riding a rented Harley when I stopped for a coffee. She was attending architecture classes in Oslo and he came to visit for a week. We compared notes on what we had seen and done. They were envious of my Fish Festival experience.

I outsmarted myself in Geilo. I stopped for the evening at a decent looking highrise hotel and the clerk quoted me 970 krona. I replied that it was Saturday and that 700 would be better. She accepted and I went to my room. Later, I went out for dinner and as I was returning there was a large banner high up on the hotel that advertised a special rate of 595. Stupid Americans!!

Route 7 going west across Norway again took me high into the mountains with snow and even one lake still having some ice floating on it. There are these marvelous Swiss looking Alpine lodges with large front porches overlooking the valleys that just make me want to pull over and check in and order a glass of wine to go with dinner. But the thought of riding out in the chill of the morning makes me keep on riding to lower elevations. Then left onto Route 13 along the fjord and its narrow road clinging to the side of the mountain. Lots of tunnels and even more waterfalls. One just south of Odda was the most impressive one I have seen in a long time. Such power! And so close that I can reach out and touch it. The only other one that I got this sense from was the one in New Zealand and the third highest in the world.

I arrived late in Mandel and managed to find Karina's house with only one bit of advice from a pedestrian. Speaking of advice, there is no 'c' in the Norse language, and I go through the senter of town. Her brother, Pol, is there also. He has Downs Syndrome and is normally in a care facility in Bergen, but was down visiting her. So for several days, we rode bikes, went for coffee, and cleaned up one of her workshops. I did some bachelor style cooking for them, real American food! I find it interesting just seeing what people do with their trash.



After leaving Mandal yesterday afternoon and taking the ferry out of Kristiansand to Denmark, I spent the night in another lovely town and hotel. They are all just so! So neat, so well kept, so well signed and laid out, so quiet and well mannered, so easy just to be in. Today, I took in the galleries of Herning in Bilk Central. Two different galleries with sculpture gardens, landscaping and extra large sculptures. Check out Kronhammer's Elia and Abyss sculptures, and The Gate, which was my favorite.

I found Christian's place here in Westerland, Sylt, Germany by stumbling around a bit and then coming across his street. The key was under the door mat, so I let myself in and then went out and bought some beer to stock the empty refrigerator. He lives in Hanover, but keeps this apartment up here in the tourist area. He and a friend of his should be up later on this evening.



The Norwegian cairn field at the Arctic Circle











Fish Festival in Vevring

When I originally contacted Karina and Wenche and told them that I was coming to Scandinavia, they immediately invited me to the Fish Festival and gave me the dates. I had spent some time with them when I was in Skopolos two years ago. I had no idea what a fish festival was, so it was a nice surprise.

I met up with Karina after getting lost in Bergen. The town is similar to San Francisco, but much smaller and built on the hill sides surrounding the bay. The downtown is quite old and has several inlets coming in from the fjord. Cruise ships stop by and the cruisers do whatever cruisers do when they are not on the ship. Karina drove me around and then we went up to her home about two thirds of the way up the hill. This was her parents estate, a large home and several outbuildings, that they had purchased long ago. He was an archaeologist that refurbished and saved many of the old German homes along the waterfront. The Germans had originally come to do trading with the fishermen. Karina now rents out rooms in the main house and in one of the outbuildings that has been converted to apartments. Needless to say, it has a great view of the town, the bay, and the surrounding hills.

I left the bike there and the next day we drove four hours north to the village of Vevring, located on one of the fjords, where Wenche (pronounced Ven-ka) lives along with her brother, mother, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. The festival was started 40 years ago as a sort of home coming, keeping the old friendships alive, and keeping the old customs and ways alive. There was only 60 or so participants, half local and half from out of town, either past residents, friends of locals, or relatives that had moved out.

The grand scheme of things was to go catch fish, get together and eat them. So I teamed up with Einar, a man about my age, and rowed the boat and he laid out the nets. We did this each evening for three days and went out each morning to see what we caught. Day one and two were disappointing, but we scored on day three with five cods, a couple of trout, and a St. Peter's fish, an oddity in this area. Fortunately, Einar and I were not the only ones fishing.

We had a fish expert on hand who would gather together the day's catch, explain to everyone what was what, open then up to see what they had for breakfast, and then pass them over to the cook. We all shared in kitchen duties with a semi formal work roster. I learned a new way to fix carrots and got pretty good at filleting fish. The cod and salmon were cooked/smoked in various ways by the men of the village and there always seemed to be a pot of coffee going and the great pancakes that they make on a large griddle. Lunch and dinner were communal affairs and we had breakfast in Wenche's home along with two other couples and whatever strays came around. Did I mention it was raining all week. I had my rain jacket from the bike, but had to borrow rain pants and the proverbial nor eastern rain hat.

Saturday they had an opening of an art show in the room behind the quick shop and Saturday night there was a one woman play (in Swedish!) put on in the room above the old milking parlor. We had dinner in the milking parlor that had been converted to a dining hall by adding picnic benches and tacking on a kitchen at one end. This village, like many in the world, has seen a conversion from farm life to working in the city and just living on the farm. But there is still home made beer and wine and smoked salmon! Some traditions just can't be stopped.  Saturday, Stig took us out in his covered 35 foot boat for a three hour cruise around the fjord.

I taught the group in the house how to play 'Oh Hell' and we played til 2 am. Speaking of which, one never has to worry about getting any thing done before it gets dark - it just never does. The sun will go down around 10:30 and its back up again at 3, but it just seems like a long twilight.

Karina and I returned to Bergen on Monday afternoon, I did my laundry and repacked, ready to head further north. Karina was headed south to her other home in Mandal.

There are lots of photos at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109078628479246209734/FishFestivalJune2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCMK6uYW0icnhaA#

Einar and me after our big day fishing

Talking about the day's catch

Wenche's house on the fjord

Otto

Jotunheimen

I forgot to mention the bicycles in Copenhagen. They are everywhere!! The city has a goal of being the most auto free in Europe and they are well on their way. There are very few private cars on the downtown streets, just bikes and buses. And not that many motorbikes either, just plain old single speed, coaster bikes. And like Harleys and Model Ts, most are painted black. As the incidence of theft is high, most don't invest in a good looking or high tech bike for there every day commute. And they ride year round, not just in nice weather. They are welcome on the buses and underground trains as well with elevators in the train station to go down to the trains. I do see motorbikes on the road, about half cruisers with two up and camping gear, the other half sport bikes with full riding gear and traveling in a group, a tour maybe. The people that I have met are extremely friendly with wide open smiling faces and more that willing to help with whatever I need Two have even lent me their telephones as I did not bring my US only phone with me. The internet and Skype, as expected, are widely available but not very fast.

The sun only highlights part of this great view.

I have ridden many really wonderful roads in the past, but yesterday's ride on Highway 55 through Jotunheimen National Park was outstanding in many ways. Excesses of water, ice, snow and far vistas interspersed with cute lodges and farms made it hard to keep my eyes on the road. Parts were similar to Glacier or Estes Parks, but this was five times longer and had many other 'mosts' As extras, the road is very narrow, one lane at times and never wide enough to merit a center stripe, and the switchbacks were quite a bit sharper than usual - a challenge for my big Gold Wing (but not me, of course). The day before, I rode up and then back the deep valley north of Lillehammar and thought that that was pretty marvellous, but the shortcut road out of Vinstra and over to Lom brought on new expectations.  And then Highway 55!!!  Google this park up and try to find some photos. I tried, but my camera is just not big enough to capture all of this.

Last night was at the Walaker Hotel in Solvorn.  I balked at the price when I first came through, but then in town the Best Western had the same price and I knew that this would be my last hotel for a week, so I came back the 20 km. It has been in continuous operation by the same family since 1690 and is quite the European classic. It is the oldest hotel in Norway, quite picturesque and right on the fjord. Their offering for dinner last night was a six course extravaganza for $95 plus wine. I picked up a take away sandwich and a beer from the cafe and enjoyed it sitting on the pier. The hotel breakfasts are spectacular buffet affairs with meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, herring, salmon, yoghurt, cereals, juices, and coffee. Much of it home made or local and all very good. I think there must be some type of competition between the different hotels and it is always included with the room. Or maybe the room is included with the breakfast.

It is raining again/still as it did most of yesterday. Not a downpour, just overcast with a splash of sunshine now and then and a sprinkle every twenty minutes, just to keep me in my rain gear.  I will check out after I finish my coffee and head over to Bergen, a three hour ride plus a short ferry, and meet up with Karina, a woman that I met in Greece two years ago.

Demark and Sweden

I left Prescott on the 2:30 am shuttle to Phoenix for a 7 am June 19th flight to Copenhagen for a two month tour of Scandinavia with a side trip to Bristol, England and then up to Glasgow, Scottland. But things change, so stay tuned.

Here's me and 'The Little Mermaid' in Copenhagen. The city certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe.

The downtown area has a large river running through it with many side canals such as this. Of course there are tour boats and water buses on the river and canals.

I climbed a church tower to get this shot. It used to be the tallest building in town and the last part of the climb is on the outside of the tower, spiralling up to the very peak.

This is Olle in his shop in Stockholm where he cleaned up my friend Noel's Gold Wing for me to use. It had been parked for three years and needed quite a bit of work. Olle also fed me and put me up for the night.

I rode out of Stockholm on Friday, June 22, the largest holiday in Sweden, Midsummer, and found a lovely hotel on the river. This was my happy hour place with a cold beer.

After an all night flight from New York, I arrived in Copenhagen at 7:30 in the morning and checked my large bag into storage, purchased a train ticket to Stockholm for the next day, picked up some tourists maps and headed downtown on the Metro. It was a beautiful, sunshiny day living up to all of the brochure photos. I mixed up museums, art galleries, and coffee by the river with people watching before catching the 6 pm Metro out to my Couch Surfing hosts. The Metro stations as well as all of the city is extremely automated and modern. One station even had movies projected on to the wall that appeared to be what one would see looking out the window of one of the cars as the scenery passes by. Wave at a button and the door would slide open, just like Spock would have it.

My hosts were great, giving me beer and eating with them and their teenage daughter a meal of roasted chicken, potatoes and vegies from their garden. Finn and I chatted on into the night and I crashed so hard that I didn't wake up until almost 8 am, disregarding the all night well lit sky.

Then back on the tourist route, again leaving my large bag at the train station to await my 2:30 departure to Stockholm on the high speed train to pick up the motorcycle that Noel is letting me use. I was originally picking it up in Malmo, just across the river from Copenhagen, but it was transferred to Olle in Stockholm as he had the time to do the 'get ready' work on it. I paid Olle for the work and have rationalized that I would spend that much on very limited bus and train fares and even more if I had to rent a vehicle. The train ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm was 985 SEK. An SEK is somewhere around 6.8 per USD, and Olle put me up and fed me dinner and breakfast and two beers, so that is worth at least the 800 SEK  price that I am paying for food and rooms. I was warned that this would be and expensive area of the world. Good rationalizing, no?

Olle said compare Mexico to the US, then apply the same ratio to the US vs Scandinavia. The hotel I am in now is 700 SEK and includes breadfast., Dinner last night was 200.


Saturday, June 23.    I am now staying at a small hotel/resort along a good sized river 10 K outside of Malung, Sweden. I rode 300 km yesterday in five hours, a good lazy beginning to the trip. The Gold Wing is old and tired, an 84 model with 98 K miles on it. The engine seems OK, but the tranny makes some interesting noises. It looks good and seems to work, so we shall see.

I think I am going to go on strike today and read and put out a blog. Maybe go into town and buy some sun screen and skin cream and replace the reading glasses that I can't find. It is another 1000 km over to Bergen, Norway where I meet up with Karina, but I don't want to be there til Tuesday afternoon. Supposedly, the roads get much more interesting in Norway as it is quite mountainous. Sweden has been fairly flat with some rolling hills, lots of water, and mainly pasture land and timbering.

The days are way long and it never does get completely dark. I think I could ride all night not be too concerned about seeing things. This weekend is the midsummer festival for the Swedes, occurring on the first Friday after June 21. There doesn't seem to be much public celebrations, but I saw a lot of picnics and family gatherings going on in back yards. There is a group of 15 or so here at the hotel that had dinner last night in the restaurant and they appear to be family. I sat with Tom, an 92 year old man from Norway who is just driving around. He stayed here last year and enjoyed just walking around so much that he came back. He thinks this will be the last year as he is afraid that he is going to lose his drivers license soon. He told some interesting stories about WW II.

I did go into town and attended an outdoor annual performance of the Swedish version of 'The Taming of the Shrew', mostly local actors, but the leads were big name opera people. A different day for me. It was overcast most of the day, high of 60 or so. Tomorrow will be riding west into Norway, which promises to be more interesting riding with mountains and twisty roads.

Dogwood & New Mexico

I left Prescott on April 16th after getting the speedometer and rear tire replaced on my Triumph Bonneville T100. It was a pleasant ride with overnights in Silver City (camping), Clovis, NM, and Tulsa. The section across the top of Arkansas on highway 62 was the nicest with everything in bloom, and I revisited some of the sites from our ride last year.

 The dogwoods and azaleas came and went several weeks before the festival this year but the roses were in full bloom. the whole family was there and we had 26 people for Saturday dinner at daddy's home. Joe, Jerry and I stayed there. An added highlight this year was a visit to grandma peacocks old home that is being refurbished by Fred for Hannah and Jacob after their fall wedding.

Larry Brazell is always fun at the 6 am breakfast down at Boomland. He has been a really good friend of daddy's for many years and farms out by the levee in Texas Bend.

 Abie was the hit of the crowd, whether on someone's lap or on Ron's new riding mule. Ron and Jeane have a great family going with more on the way.

 Joe on his Honda NT700V and I took off on the 23rd for parts west. It was cool and stayed cool the entire ride with morning temps in the 30's and 40's. We both had our electric jackets and had prepared for cool weather, but it would have been better with warmer temps. We spent a day and two nights with Jim and Judy and extended family in Oklahoma City and helped Jim do some maintenance work on his hot tub. Unfortunately, we didn't get it fixed in time to enjoy it. Their home is quite nice with a great backyard, indoor pool and hot tub and Judy's ever expanding garden and landscaping. Shelly's kids also contribute to the liveliness of the place.

 We spent almost a week riding around northern New Mexico, Taos, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and our favorite, the Jemez river road, where we hiked along this small creek with high trees and rock walls.

 Fourteen miles in and twenty miles out of Chaco Canyon on this rough and gravelly road was a challenge for both of us. We camped there and made some interesting contacts. It always seems that the most interesting people are at the end of a long gravel road. The ruins are among the largest and best preserved in the Southwest. And the least visited due to the road maintained this way just to keep the crowds down.

I talked Joe into coming to Prescott and staying for a couple of days before he headed back. He helped me pour 45 ninety pound bags of pre-mix for a new sidewalk and rock wall foundation in front of the house. We also did some tree trimming of a large limb that had split during the 21" snowfall we had in March that was dripping pine tar on the redwood steps and handrail. And several parties and get-togethers with friends and of course a session of volleyball. We left on Sunday, May 6th and rode over the the eastern part of the state and enjoyed highway 191, 70 miles of twisties ending up at the large open pit copper mine at Morenci, where we spent the night. Monday morning after breakfast, we toured the old town of Clifton, then Joe turned left for Nashville and I to the right for Prescott.
I really enjoy these rides and the companionship with my brother. And getting a project out of the way was icing on the cake - thanks Joe.

What a difference a day...

I was due to leave today for the motorcycle ride back to Missouri on the Triumph, but...

Returning from San Miguel, the speedometer needle went erratic, then hyper, then spun itself to death. A hundred miles later, the odometer followed suit. So I stopped in to the Scottsdale dealer and they agreed to replace it under warranty. Last Saturday, I rode down to have the new one installed, but it turned out that they had ordered the wrong speedo. They appologized and agreed to sell me a new back tire at a friendly price and install it for free in light of my long trip from Prescott - two hours.

Last night, the service writer left a message that the parts had not yet arrived. This morning, I awoke to two inches of snow and more coming down. So maybe no departure today. It continued to snow all morning and into early afternoon, but with no accumulation. Frustrated, I just stewed about all day eating breakfast and lunch out as I had already cleaned out the refrigerator.

At noon, I called the dealer and left a message to return my call and learned that they are open seven days a week, a ray of hope as most dealers are closed Sunday and Monday, which would put me two days behind. At four, the writer returned my call. The tire arrived as well as the speedo and cable and could I make it in tomorrow at noon. Then the snow stopped!

No sunshine yet, but it can't be far behind.

Keep the faith! Otto

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