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Newsletter #47 - May 6 to May 13, 1960 |
Newsletter #47 May 6-13, Hello for Another Week: We really had a very busy day here in Stockholm as the sun was very generous and shone brightly the entire day. Our first job was to secure plane reservations to and from Helsinki so we can leave tomorrow and return Tuesday [May 12], which will give us almost three days in Finland, (It's only a short time but our schedule is running pretty close for these last weeks, so it is a good thing we decided not to visit Russia, since on that trip you must plan on at least five days.) Since I have read today's paper I do not believe Americans would be very welcome in Russia right now; the shooting down of one of our planes surely doesn't make us feel too happy. Our next strategy today was to visit "Waldemarsudde", the former residence of the late Prince Eugene of Sweden. Here we saw a very fine collection of paintings of contemporary artists as well as hundreds of Prince Eugene's own. He was a very excellent landscape artist and painter. We also took the complete tour of his very wonderful home and enjoyed the furnishings as well as the beautiful gardens from whose terraces you find magnificent views of the sea approach to Sweden. This unusual art collection, as well as the home and museum, was donated in his will to the Swedish State, to be administered by the City of Stockholm. To any visitor to Stockholm I would suggest this as a must to see and enjoy. Today [Mai 7] was as busy as yesterday, as we acquired plane reservations for to-morrow and we wanted to see as much of Stockholm as possible before leaving. We first went to Rosendal Palace, which was ones a Royal Summer Residence, but it is now used as a museum; then on this same island called Skeppsholmen we saw the handsome Museum of Nordic Art, as well as the Museum of Modern Art and the Royal Armoury. We then went back to the older part of the city of Stockholm to enjoy the changing of the Guard in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, which is the home of the Royal Family, and later viewed the Storkyrkan Cathedral nearby. Later we saw Stockholm's Concert Hall, with the flower market in arrays of colors, having its stalls in front of this lovely cultural building; and then to the Royal Opera House, one of the oldest in the world, and today it looked particularly beautiful as flags of all nations were flying on the bridge as we approached this well situated building due to the fact that a few dignitaries are visiting Stockholm during our stay, including the Shah of one of the Near East Countries. In the afternoon we drove out of town to visit Drottningholm Palace, the king's summer residence, which is one an island on Lake Malaren. This palace is a magnificent 17th Century building in French style, with extensive parklands partly laid out in French style with several fountains and formal gardens and an 18th century building which was the court theatre. We then drove on to see Haga, a royal pavilion, built by Gustav III in the year 1790; and during this drive we also saw Ulriksdal, a 17th century royal palace with a magnificent park situated on the shore of Edsviken and which was once the favorite residence of Charles XV. Stockholm has a very beautiful and unusual Town Hall, which is considered one of the most wonderful contemporary buildings in Europe, this is near our hotel so we see it from all angles, and it is also Stockholm's trademark. - 1 -
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Since Stockholm seems to be made up of three areas, the old town, the modern Stockholm and greater Stockholm, you really note the terrific development as you drive about, as the old city still maintains the atmosphere of the Middle Ages since they have preserved some narrow streets, cobble-stoned alleys, old doorways, parts of old buildings, medieval ramparts, et cetera; while modern Stockholm has broad streets, innumerable bridges, shopping centers, parks, modern Swedish architec- tural buildings, and so forth; while Greater Stockholm has many pro- gressive areas, residential areas, and tall, modern apartment blocks which gives us as tourists a wonderful contrast of its changes. In Sweden you will not find a single inexpensive item and I so wanted some Swedish glass but prices are really out of reason and food is ex-ceptionally high with meals in ordinary restaurants outrageous in price, and it seems a 15% tax is added to everything and they still expect a separate tip. (This is true all over Europe.) I really feel travel in the country of Denmark and Sweden is quite a luxury and they do know how to charge! Today [May 9] we are in Helsinki after a very pleasant 1-1/2 hour flight and a nice lunch aboard the SAS plane, which was loaded to capacity. Helsinki is the capital of Finland and is known as the "White City of the North" and is a city unspoiled by too many tourists. I suppose it is too far from most tourist areas. We really used shoe leather express today and seemed to travel for miles and only stopped when it began to rain quite hard. We visited the President's Palace, which is an ancient imperial building with no lavish grounds as you find in other countries. Nearby we saw the Parliament House, which was built in 1931 and later walked to Suurkirkko, a magnificent white stone structure with an enormous cupola and one of the landmarks of Helsinki; it is known as "The Great Church", which is Lutheran — 96$ of all Finland is of the Lutheran faith. Because of the continuous rain we went to the movies this evening and enjoyed an American film; we also think we ate "Reindeer Steaks" for dinner tonight, which were not too bad. Our second day [May 10] in Finland has really been a perfect one, as "Old Sol" really shone the entire day. We again walked for miles visiting the famous statues of the city, such as "Shipwrecked", "The Three Black- smiths", "The Maid of Helsinki", et cetera. We then walked to Observatory Hill or Rocky Park, where you get a very wonderful view of the Gulf of Finland, as well as many of the fortress islands nearby and the many busy harbors and waterfronts. From here we went to the fish market in the square and then on to the University area which is quite extensive and has a very unusual Library. We passed the old wooden church constructed in 1826, which has a very beautiful but simple interior and then walked to nearby Johannes Church. (1891), with its twin towers and its lovely interior, which reminded us of St. Paul's Church in York, although not quite as modern. About noon we started another long trek to see the Olympic Stadium, scene of the 1952 Olympic Games. This building has an imposing tower which affords an excellent view of the city of Helsinki and commands a wide view of the coastal islands and dense forests of the outlying vicinity. - 2 -
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Newsletter #47 Thanks to Mrs. Roscoe Fisher we met some very charming Finnish people. We called Mrs. Rose Roschier, whose son is an exchange student from Helsinki, and he has been going to West York High School this past year. His mother is a teacher and she met us at our hotel after school and showed us a few other interesting sights of Helsinki and we exchanged ideas over a delicious lunch and later visited her sister, brother-in-law and nephews, who were charming people. Rose is a delightful and interesting woman and if her son "Nils" is half as pleasant a person as his mother, I'd say West York School is very fortunate. About midnight we saw the lights of the harbor, Helsinki's neon signs, and the beauty of this elegant city at night. We must soon get to bed as we have been invited to visit Rose's classroom tomorrow morning. This morning [May 11] we were quite thrilled with our visit to a Finnish school, as Rose had her pupils put on their native costumes and they danced many of their folk dances and sang several songs for us. We met several other teachers, visited the classrooms and even the kitchen of this particular school. In this school they teach the Swedish language, but by the time a child has completed twelve years of schooling he knows Finnish, Swedish, German, French and the English language. It really makes us feel quite uneducated when we realize the several languages many Europeans of average ability are able to handle well. (We do also try to console ourselves by saying we have no need for knowing more than English, but we really wish we could speak French and German correctly.) During the afternoon we meandered about the streets of Central Helsinki, visited Stockmann's, their largest department store, and then went to the air terminal until the bus took us to the airport for our flight back to Stockholm. The flight was delightful, as you see the extensive archipelago of Finland and some of their forests and the thousands of small islands which comprise the country of Finland. As in Sweden and Den-mark, we found everything extremely expensive in Finland, and I did not spend money for any souvenirs except their stamps, which I have re- membered to purchase in every country. Tonight we are back in Stockholm and since we had a rather strenuous time in Helsinki we plan to get to bed rather early. Today [May 13] after leaving Stockholm we drove to Uppsala, which lies north in the plain on the River Fruis. It was Sweden's royal and ecclesiastical city where there were once pagan temples. The University of Uppsala dominates this city as well as the old castle, which is situated on a hill overlooking the city and its surroundings. Uppsala is considered the city of the past, the present and the future and is actually located in the very heart of Sweden. The Cathedral in this city is the largest church in Scandinavia and it has three ornate spires and a very beautiful and sacred interior. The wood carvings, shrines. pulpit and interior furnishings are interesting and in wonderful condition, although a restora-tion is now being planned. From Uppsala we traveled on to the beautifully situated city of Sigtuna on the banks of an inlet of Lake Malan, also north of Stockholm. Here we saw some 11th century church ruins, the 13th century Maria Church, a large number of runic stones, Viking graves, and other ancient remains, as well as the old Town Hall. The city has several renowned boarding schools and it surely retains an ancient picturesque atmosphere. Excursions - 3 -
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Newsletter #47 can be made from this city to visit the pagan mounds of the Beorwulf Kings but we decided against going as many of the roads in Sweden are not too good. Another day finds us about to leave Sweden, but first we drove about sixty miles on dirt roads to Filipstad in the province of Varmland. En route we passed many large and beautiful lake areas and drove through forests galore. This entire part of Sweden is quite popular for winter sports and Filipstad seems to be the real sports center, with streams which thread through the town, forded by little bridges. The drive back to paved roads was quite picturesque and we went on to Karlstad, which is the capital city of the Varmland province on lake Vanern. This city has the usual museums, statues and churches, so after a short walk about the central area we drove on to Norway, where we will be spending the next three and one half weeks. The drive from the Swedish-Norway border to Oslo is a very lovely one and it seems the trees, grass, flowers and all of nature is much further advanced in growth than in Sweden. What we have seen of Norway so far has really thrilled us. Here it is Friday [Mai 13] and the end of another NewsLetter week, and also the end of the superstitious Friday the 13th. We had a very busy day in Oslo trying to do as much sightseeing as possible, since we had sunshine. Oslo is a very large city; it is 900 years old and is Norway's chief center of commerce and industry, as well as a sports playland. The city is surrounded by lovely green wooded hills and everywhere you look you see beauty. Today we went to the Viking Ships Museum, where we saw several remarkable relics of the Viking age, as well as two Viking ships and several carved wooden sledges, which were all stored safely away during World War II. We also visited the Royal Palace, where we saw the unusual statue of the late Queen Maude and walked about in the Palace Park enjoying its many beauties. At four o'clock vie were met by Gini McLanachan, whom we never met before but were told to visit, since I teach with her brother. Gini is a very attractive and wonderful person and we felt comfortable in her presence immediately. She drove us to their attractive home and we later met her cute teen-age daughter and her husband "Mac", who is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and a very congenial and marvelous host. We had dinner with them, chatted and saw slides of Europe which Mac has taken during their three-year tour in Norway. They drove us home showing us the lights and interesting night spots of Oslo, with a date to dine out at a favorite Oslo suburban club tomorrow night. (This I will tell you about in our next letter.) Guess this winds up our adventures for another week, so until I begin a review of another week we will sign off and hope this finds everyone in the best of health. Fondest regards, Charlotte & Meredith
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