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Newsletter #51 & 52 - June 3 to 17, 1960 |
Final Newsletter Greetings: Today [June 3] is our last day in Oslo, the lovely city encircled by hills and overlooking a region of lakes and forests in an enviable setting. We have discovered Oslo is really full of tourists in comparison with our four days here two weeks ago, when few tourists seemed to be about. We revisited Frogner Park today as the sun was glorious and we figured on getting some good pictures of Vigeland's Sculptures, which I described rather fully in another letter. The park was literally packed with bathers and picnickers as it has been quite hot. During the late afternoon we went to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump as we wanted to see the superb view of the city of Oslo as well as the west- ward mountains of Telemark over which we climbed up and down for two days last week. The drive to this area as well as the trip back was most interesting as most of the Norwegians are leaving town by car, motor boats or Just plain hiking; it is a long holiday weekend called WhitSunday and WhitMonday. While passing one of Oslo's many harbors we saw the King of Norway's Royal Ship called "The Norge", which is quite beautiful. Today [June 4] in wonderful sunshine we left Norway and drove through about sixty miles of peaceful countryside where we saw hikers, campers, fishermen, bathers and sun-worshipers enjoying the grand weather. We had to bid adieu to this country of spectacular beauty where even the crystal-clear water looks as stimulating as sparkling wine and the rocky coast washed by both the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans opens to all its thrilling vistas where the fishermen, lumberjacks, sailors, Norwegian people in general, and even the nomadic Lapps give tired tourists a chance to shake off the dust of sophisticated and industrial cities and makes one feel relaxed amidst the splendors of nature. The people of Norway are really the friendliest of any country we have visited and the majority of people over the age of fifteen speak very good English, so we had no language problem as we had met in most countries. This spectacular scenic paradise should be a "must" for any American tourist, as it offers so much which the other countries simply do not have. Perhaps I should mention that most countries had friendly people, but Norway's friendliness is different. After leaving Norway we headed our little Princess toward Gothenburg and our ship and drove through the area known as Bohuslan Sweden. We again enjoyed nature's great gifts and especially thrilled to the lovely re- flections in the many quiet lakes we passed today. Here in Sweden the scenery is of a serene, contemplative beauty, rather than the wild and rugged majesty of Norway's landscape. The area of Bohuslan also attracted
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many Swedes today as its sun-warmed rooks and beaches were swarming with people, and campers were seen everywhere and even the shrieks of the sea gulls seem to have followed us from Norway right into Gothenburg. We arrived in Gothenburg in the late afternoon and discovered our hotel room gives us an excellent view of their wonderful harbor, so we have been enjoying the ships and excursion boats which pass by occasionally. Today [June 6] being WhitMonday we find everything closed and lots of time on our hands as we took the Princess to get her steam bath (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture regulation), after which she will be put aboard. Our baggage is at the dock and will be in our stateroom when we go aboard to- morrow. We walked about Gothenberg, which is a very attractive city, and had our picnic lunch in our hotel room today, as we wanted to clean up all cheese, peanut butter, etc. We enjoyed the many canals and at- tractive parks of this city, which surely are colorful with flowers and shrubs. Since we had so much time we went to a movie, which was excellent. Here it is Tuesday, June 7, and we have already been aboard our lovely floating hotel, the Kungsholm, for two delicious meals and a cozy tea at three-thirty. During the afternoon we went to the auditorium where we saw the vistavision movie called "The Rat Race", which we thoroughly enjoyed. After dinner we went to the main lounge to hear "Incidental Music" and later we danced to the music of Aksel Pedersen's Orchestra and also had a late snack. This A.M. our ship docked at Bremerhaven, Germany, where we took on quite a few more passengers and almost immediately set sail after they embarked. After tea time we watched "Trap Shooting" on the upper deck and later en- joyed a "Welcome Aboard Dinner", which was marred because of rough seas. Another day and we are still having rough weather, but almost all the passengers were up for the "Safety Muster" when we all had to wear our life Jackets and go to our lifeboat stations. (This was a colorful sight with all the bright orange-colored lifejackets on the passengers.) During the afternoon we saw an English comedy entitled "Too Many Crooks" and after dinner we played Bingo and later danced. Today we sat about socializing and in the late afternoon we bet at the horse races and broke even. We again danced in the evening and had our usual late snacks. Saturday, June 11, and we seemed to have the usual rough waters, but we went to the afternoon movie as well as the evening documentary and en- joyed both. We had a wonderful party tonight and sang and danced, wore crazy hats and ate plenty of hot dogs and snacks and were treated to freebeer. This morning we went to "Divine Service" at 11:00 A.M., where we enjoyed the Inspiring sermon of Rev. William Coleman, an American who has spent many years in India as a missionary. Today we again attended two movies, one called "Rockets Galore" and the other a cruise with the Kungsholm in the West Indies. We had a lovely farewell dinner, with colorful hats and decorative menus. In the evening the awarding of deck sport prizes was enjoyed, as well as some colorful Swedish dances performed by members of the crew in Swedish costumes. - 2 -
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Newsletter #51 & 52 Today we received our U. S. Customs Baggage Declaration Forms, which we spent a great deal of time completing. In the afternoon we saw two ex- cellent films, one entitled "All the Pine Young Cannibals" and the other named "Cruise of a Lifetime." During the evening we played Bingo and later danced and had our late snacks. It is quite foggy and rough today, but just the same we packed and labeled our cases and packages. (We only had 20 to be labeled.) Our orchestra gave us a farewell concert after tea was served and in the evening we socialized, danced and had our last late snack aboard this handsome ship. We arrived in New York this morning very early and everyone was on deck to watch the ship pass the inspiring "Miss Liberty", which statue will always be a thrill to Americans. This is the day I've looked forward to for a long time, and I really was surprised to have slept so solidly last night, for I expected to be so excited and keyed up that I would have a restless night. Our last breakfast was served soon after the Kungsholm passed the Statue of Liberty and our Health Certificates and Passports were examined. Meredith and I bid a farewell to the many congenial people we met these past nine days, were soon busy carrying our several fragile purchases down the gangplank, where we were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Donnelly, Mr. Stewart Miller and four of Valley View's charming teachers, Dorothy Webb, Beatrice Grim, Esther Knaub and Beth Smith. Words cannot express the thrill we felt when we were greeted by these friends, and we all tried to talk at one time, which caused quite a bit of bedlam and noise. Our Customs Officer was very nice and gave us no trouble, so by noon our little Princess was ready to have her first look at America. We had a delicious lunch at one of the Turnpike Restaurants and then headed for good old York, where we were greeted by both our families. They had a get-together so we could see everyone the first night home. Today turned out to be a real "kissing day" as we were all so glad to see each other and our families surely gave us the real "red carpet" treatment, with wonderful food and very warm welcomes. (You must take a long trip to receive the delightful feeling I had today when seeing my mother, sisters, brothers, etc. for the first time after a twelve-month absence.) We are both happy and thrilled to be back home and to find everyone in good health. We know God was very kind and gave us his help during our entire trip or we never could have gotten along so well otherwise. We thank you for all your prayers and well-wishing, as well as the many letters which meant to much to us when we were in strange places so many thousands of miles from home. Our experiences were many and we feel we have acquired a world of informa- tion as well as an education no college or textbooks could impart to us in many years. We are altogether grateful for this marvelous opportunity to see so much of our versatile and wonderful world. We hope our families and friends have gotten a small idea of the many interesting sights and places we visited through reading these Newsletters. Thus I close the final curtain on these wonderful twelve months of - 3 -
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Sabbatical Leave which was made possible by my generous supervisors and the York Suburban School Board, and by the diligent planning of my husband, who spent many months in research to help make this jaunt smooth and enjoyable. Sincerely, Charlotte Stine Neiman
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