June 13-19, 1984

June 13-19, 1984

At Koblenz we got back on the train and took it to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Amsterdam is composed of arcs of land and canals radiating from the center because it was a city of commercial traders. We visited the Rijksmuseum, full of Dutch Master paintings (Rembrandt and Vermeers), and afterwards the Van Gogh Museum.

We also toured the Anne Frank House. Anne was the little Jewish girl who hid with her family from the Nazis in WWII inside a secret room in this house. She famously kept a diary of her experiences. Sadly she didn’t survive.

We also toured the Heineken brewery where we tasted the local brew. Not bad. We also walked down the Red Light district. Apparently prostitution is legal here and the girls advertise their services by modeling their underwear behind large picture windows.

As a legacy of the Dutch West Indies trading, Amsterdam is famous for its Indonesian restaurants. For dinner we ate at one and had Rijsttafel (rice table), a sampler plate special. It was all tasty except for the fried banana. We went to the Melkweg (Milky Way cafe) and later saw a show. This was the end of Dave and Mark’s trip. From here they flew home to North Carolina. I was on my own now.

I took the train by myself to Copenhagen (Kobenhavn), Denmark. I took a canal and harbor tour and then walked around the city. One centerpiece is the Little Mermaid, a statue just offshore honoring the story authored by favorite son Hans Christian Andersen. It is surprisingly tiny.

I also saw Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish royalty, and the domed Frederik’s Church, known as the Marble Church. Copenhagen is big on spires. I saw odd ones on the Borsen Stock Exchange, Vor Frelsers Church and the Christiansborg Palace (Danish Parliament). Vor Frelsers had a very impressive pipe organ with intricate woodcarvings. I also went to this hippie enclave called Christiania on Prinsessegade. I took a quick stroll thru and got out. Strange People! That evening I went to the nearby Tivoli Gardens. It was basically an amusement park. Hard to enjoy by yourself.

Because I was over 21, I was forced to get a first-class Eurail pass. Although more expensive it turned out beneficial. First class was nicer and less crowded. We could stretch out on the bench seat and sleep. Since Scandinavia is way more expensive than the rest of Europe and I am travelling solo, I took advantage of the First-Class ticket and took night trains from city to city avoiding the expensive Scandinavian hotels. It worked out very well as I always had a compartment to myself and the train apparently traveled slowly at this hour, taking all night to get to the next destination. Last night I took the overnight to Stockholm, Sweden. Like the English Channel, the train loaded on a ferry to cross into Sweden.

Stockholm is a little like Venice in that the metro area is built on an archipelago of islands. From the train station I went to the city hall building where the Nobel prizes are awarded. I climbed to the top of its tower for a birds-eye view of the city. From there it was on to the old section of town called Gamla Stan. There I saw the Royal Palace and watched the Changing of the Guard outside the Storkyrkan (Great Church). I wasn’t aware that so many European countries still had kings and queens. In the US we only hear of England’s monarchy. I also walked by the central square, Sergels Torg, and a city park with the Swedish sunbathing “au naturel".

From Stockholm I took the overnight train again to Oslo, capital of Norway. There I visited the Radhuset (city hall) and the Akershus castle and fortress. Norway is home of the Vikings so I took the ferry across the harbor to Bygdoy to see the Viking Museum. It has old Viking ships dug up from the local area. Surprisingly the elites were buried with their ships.

There is also a museum with Thor Heyerdahl’s ships Kon-Tiki and Ra II. The Kon-Tiki was the balsam-wood raft that Heyerdahl built and sailed to show that ancient South Americans could have traversed the Pacific and colonized the Polynesian Islands.

I took the night train from Oslo over the snowy Norwegian tundra past fjords to the west coast port city of Bergen. There I walked around the Torget harbor district and ate at a restaurant where I had to choose between reindeer meat and whale blubber. I chose the reindeer. Tastes like chicken of course. I had to stay overnight because the return train didn’t leave till morning.