We have arrived in the town of Svendborg at the home of my brother Rene and his wife Vivi. They offer a restaurant dinner and I remember a restaurant from way back when, when I was in Svendborg on the good ship "Oklahoma" in either late 1961 or early 1962.
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| M/V "Oklahoma" of the DFDS company in Copenhagen. She was built in 1956, a modern diesel cargo ship with a crew of 31. I was on her from September 1961 to about the same time in 1962. |
So off we are to the restaurant and I ordered a dish I had not had in a very long time, smoked eel.
http://www.therural.co.nz/hunting-and-fishing/how-to-prepare-and-smoke-an-eel
I would encourage those of you who may not have tried this dish to give it a try. It is very good when prepared correctly. It is still very good if not done quite correctly, but the eel will be a bit greasy (Omega 3's which is good stuff). I do not remember what Norma, my brother and wife ordered, but regardless, my plate had way too much food on it, and my stomach was way too small.
And here occurred one of those "situations" that makes one realize that although you may be in the country of your birth, you are no longer home.
Being conditioned by almost 50 years in the US I asked for a "doggie bag" for the leftovers and everyone looked at me, except Norma, as if I had just arrived from another planet. "What do you want that for?" was the question from the waitress and my sister in law. "I want it so I can give it to some poor hungry homeless soul on a street corner" was my reply. The answer came back, and it shouldn't have surprised since we are in the "from cradle to grave welfare state", but it did. "There are no homeless hungry people in Denmark!!!! What gave you such a crazy idea?" Oh well, live and learn. But this little event was the first of several small cultural shocks to come in the next couple of week, but I should have suspected that after the incident with the credit card a few days ago.
In that restaurant hangs a platter of the good training ship "Georg Stage", a full rigged square rigger, on which I was a junior officer in 1963.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Stage
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=georg+stage&qpvt=georg+stage&FORM=IGRE
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=georg+stage&qpvt=georg+stage&FORM=VDRE
http://www.apparent-wind.com/georg-stage-visit.html
The next day, after a good breakfast, we went to the island of Taasinge which, in Old Danish, means Thorsbed or Thorsmeadow (Thor in this context is the Norse god) , which we crossed yesterday on the bus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A5singe
Here are several points of interest; The Taasinge Museum among them which I visited in 1989 http://sights.dk/english8x6/skipper.asp. Today we are off for Valdemar Slot (Valdemar Castle). http://www.valdemarsslot.dk/
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=valdemar+slot+taasinge&qpvt=valdemar+slot+taasinge&FORM=IGRE
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12688832
We do not drive over the bridge and to the castle, rather we take an old "passenger island packet" that roams between the string of islands just south of Svendborg. This little vessel is named "Helge" and may have been steam powered in her past based on the size of the stack, she was built in 1924.
Here are a few links with information on this antique vessel, some of the information is in Danish so translate using Google Translate. Some of my photos are below.
http://www.geolocation.ws/v/P/23570584/ms-helge-af-svendborg-bygget-1924/en
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=%22Helge%22+svendborg&qpvt=%22Helge%22+svendborg&FORM=IGRE
http://www.svendborg.biz/veteranskibet-ms-helge
The castle has an interesting history; Valdemar's Castle was built 1639-44 by King Christian IV for his son, Count Valdemar Christian from whom the castle takes its name. The King's construction on Taasinge began when Valdemar Christian was 17 years old , and the king spared no expense to give his son, the prince, an abode of great significance. With Steenwinckel as the architect and builder, the king built a splendid Renaissance chateau in the style of and larger than his own Rosenborg. But Valdemar Christian never got the benefit of its castle - he preferred to go around Europe as a commander and never settled on Taasinge. In 1656, he died on a battlefield in Poland, 34 years old. During the wars with Sweden (1658-1660) Valdemar's Castle was occupied and badly damaged, and it was the naval hero Niels Juel, who saved the castle from ruin. In 1678 Niels Juel began an extensive renovation of the castle and rebuilt it in Baroque style, as the fashion prescribed. Naval hero Niels Juel 's grandson of the same name, Chamberlain Niels Juel lived in the castle from 1723 until his death in 1766 , he was a very energetic man . He summoned the Holstein architect G. D. Tschierscke who created the beautiful castles that we know today with the stately gatehouses, the artificial lake in front of the castle, carriage and shed wings along the lake and the pretty tea pavilion which is the focus point from the beach. Since 1974, the castle has been open to the public. For most of the year one can walk the beautiful halls, admiring the decor and all the historical details, and also welcome the fact that this wonderful, historical place is still full of life. The owners live in the house, and let visitors see themselves as the house's personal guests, making the visit a special experience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Juel
http://www.admiralnielsjuel.dk/index.php?page=4
The public road goes right through the buildings.
Note the speed limit 15 km / just a bit over 9 MPH
One of the barns.
This building is 22 years older than the United States.
The actual castle - the servants lived up in the 3 story attic.
One of the gate houses.
My brother Rene (left) and I
It is now time to get back on the "Helge" and head back to Svendborg, a city steeped in maritime history. Here are a few photos from the harbor.
In a shed where someone is building a Viking ship replica
A look inside the hull of the Viking ship
A two masted schooner entering port
This boat, the "Hjortø", was the "mailman's / postman's" means of the delivering the mail, as well as a few passengers, to all the island south of Svendborg. On the youtube video you can hear the reliable old slow turning single cylinder diesel just "chuck" away, but you wont see much of the boat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au7G6gUiLNo, the following link contains a few images of the boat http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hjortoe+svendborg&id=8831180C6A664921007D3397562E8F53BAD0B588&FORM=IQFRBA
and this last link is another image of the Hjortø
The video on the link below is of new noisy twin diesel boat on the same run, this run in the winter. The video is 9 minutes long and all the conversation is in Danish.
A fantastic looking little launch.
Two schooners in port.
Yesterday evening we had the "doggie bag" episode. This evening we arrived at another culture shock. Knowing that Europe is expensive and that for Europeans to come to the US is like for them to come to a giant "dollar store" we knew that from time to time we would be surprised by the prices; as in when I filled up my sister in laws little Toyota, but there was more to come.
Yesterday I had seen a little Italian restaurant and I suggested we go there for dinner and my brother said that place is way too expensive; why don't we go to this "hamburger" place just opened up by a former ships cook. So we did and ordered 4 cheese burgers, french fries, 2 beers, a glass of wine and a softdrink. A young man brings the order to the table together with the bills, Danske Kroner 456.00. I almost fell out of the chair, that amount is roughly $84.00 US / EU 61.00. I had to ask what in the world made these burgers so expensive, since in the US we could have had 4 burgers with fries and soft drinks for about $40.00. They replied; "The young man who brought these to our table is making about $16.00 per hour, not the $5.85 as the minimum wage was in the US at the same time. That explains it.
That most expensive hamburger.
Then it was time to drive back to the house for a nightcap but on the way we drove by a "historical" building; the building where the worlds largest shipping company, Maersk Line, can trace its humble beginning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Maersk
A short walk along the waterfront before calling it the night.
More to follow in the next post, which will be in January so here are the wishes for a Blessed Christmas and a Most Happy New Year.
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