WINGS TO VIKING LAND

this is a focus leader if we hear movies look like this do your soundtracks sound like this or like this and so you need this a focus leader first set your lens so that these lines are sharp and clear on all parts of the screen now set the volume control on your projector the sound level should be adjusted until my voice can be clearly understood in all sections of the room you are now ready to participate in another Pan-American travel Adventure la this story began one morning with the arrival of two letters one for John Ericson that's me with a mouthful of toast and one for my wife Mary who was getting through that breakfast without burning the toast now my letter was from my cousin Stig in Sweden and Mary's was from her Aunt Clara in Norway both urging us to visit them that summer it seemed a strange coincidence until it occurred to me that Mary had plotted something behind my back and then Mary said it why put it off we' planned a vacation that year and flying Pan-American Airways we could be in Stockholm in less than 24 hours obviously my wife had been investigating on her own but I must admit the same idea had been running through my mind I guess both our minds had been made up for months when we first caught sight of the double- deck panamerican Clipper that we were to board Mary said well we finally made it this was to be her first flight but she dreamed of it for so long that everything seemed quite familiar we felt at home too in the solid comfort of the Clippers interior we settled down into wide roomy seats and our vacation had begun before we even took off [Music] Once In The Air I flipped open pan amic's guide book to the world I stretched out in that man-sized sleeperette seat and began to dream up the Final Touch to the three-part vacation that we planned Denmark Norway and [Music] Sweden just about the time we were feeling hungry our steers turned up with a steak dinner prepared by maxims of Paris and served sizzling hot from the Clippers kitchen even Mary had to admit that she couldn't have done better and to prove that we were really on vacation a glass of vintage champagne downstairs in the double decker Lounge we spent the last part of the evening chatting with our fellow passengers comparing itineraries and boasting just a little about our own plans and here Mary remarked that paa had even provided a substitute for my midnight trip to the ice box we lingered over that last little midnight snack while on the upper deck our Steward was making up the wide bedsize births in which we would spend the night after a good night's sleep we changed at London to Pan-American special Scandinavian flight and before we knew it we were over Stockholm traveling any other way our whole trip would have taken more than a week of our vacation but we had flown to the capital of Sweden in less than 24 hours this was the first time we'd ever seen stockhold and as our plane started in for a landing I could tell that Mary was getting more excited every minute my cousins Stig and ingred senson were to meet us at the airport and Mary her eyes glued to the window kept saying look there they are I think I see them and there they were the spenc had been urging us to make this trip for years and now well I could hardly believe we were really there it was just a year since the senson had visited Us in America and ingred and I had talked about this trip I didn't think there was a chance of it then but now ingred whispered in my ear you see John's not so stubborn after all ingr and I were off on a shopping tour early the next morning and there there was Stockholm exactly as I'd expected it bristling with two wheelers we'd arranged to meet John and Stig at lunchtime on the observation platform of the Katerina Tower but by the time we finished our shopping and dodged through the Noonday traffic we were out of breath and at least half an hour late for our appointment I could just imagine John up there getting hungrier and madder by the minute and grumbling to himself the way he does whenever I'm late women women he complains they never seem to worry about the [Music] time as it turned out the view from the tower was so magnificent that the men hadn't even noticed how late we were to my surprise there were no complaints at all now I saw For the First Time The breathtaking color and beauty that the Pan-American folder describ the city stretched South beneath us like quote some incredible sparkling Jewel [Music] unquote if ever there was a perfect setting for a restaurant here it was right on top of a tower high above the city while we were waiting for lunch I couldn't resist showing off the beautiful Swedish glass that I'd bought that morning and of course I had to boast about the money I'd save [Music] then lunch was served and I forgot all about my shopping and the beautiful view and everything but that wonderful smogus board John's supposed to be the big eater in our family I'm the one who watches my waistline but after one look at that assortment of food I'm afraid I forgot about it cold meats and fish salads and cheese and that was only a starter after lunch that day Mary and I walked along the water's edge to the town hall famous for its blend of modern Simplicity with traditional Elegance that was a combination that we came to expect as we got to know Stockholm better everything modern and up toate but always with a sort of blend of tradition and Grace the warmth and beauty of the old world take the ceramic shop that we visited here every design is carefully applied by the artist brush everything is shaped by hand and by the centuries of tradition that go to make the Craftsman skill the result is the world's most beautiful modern pottery and one more addition to the Ericson collection I must admit it was hard to resist the same traditional skill goes into Swedish glass making and their glass of course is world famous having bought some for ourselves we were particularly interested in a demonstration of the ancient hand blowing techniques I was doubly impressed with the skill that goes into this when I got a chance to handle the blowing tube myself for some reason I always think these things are going to be easy and it always ends with Mary saying she told me [Music] so in stock home you get the impression that everyone owns a bicycle and everyone owns a boat the senson had promised to finish off our visit with a tour of the city in their sailboat and that's how we spent our last afternoon with them you see Stockholm is a city surrounded by water the Venice of the north they call it but here the water is clear and swiftly flowing and nearly everyone does have a boat of one sort or another sailing through the heart of Stockholm was a wonderful way to spend our last day there a wonderful way to say goodbye to the landmarks that we had come to love in our short stay but we were determined to see all that we could and our next stop was visby on the island of gutland the great trading center of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages a fact that you'd never guess from the modern steamer that brought us there or the luxurious Resort Hotel that we stayed at one of the most famous in all Scandinavia and there was certainly nothing medieval about the hotel swimming pool or the lovely scenery that surrounded [Music] it just to be friendly I struck up several acquaintances around the pool but somehow that didn't impress Mary very favorably [Music] well Mary's the one who always says that we should try to meet friends when we [Music] travel Mary likes the RBA too but she didn't seem to be in the mood for it that day I got a kick out of this unexpected touch of the Latin so far north but I had had a feeling that Mary was a little impatient about something well there were so many other things to see at visby the hotel and the swimming pool were very fine but even John had to admit that what we carried away from visby was a sense of the past our tour of the island was almost like riding back into history and of all the things we saw I think we remembered most these skeleton arches still tracing the beauty of a powering Gothic Nave that stood there eight centuries [Music] ago not quite so old but still holding memories of the past was this country Church in delala the heart of Sweden where midsummer night is celebrated every year as it has been since the days of the Vikings and John was very insistent about not missing this Festival well this was something I'd heard about from my family ever since I was a child something I'd always dreamed of seeing you can imagine how it felt to be there at last to see it with my own eyes just as I'd always pictured it only better first the villagers coming to church from across the lake in the traditional longboats Echoes of the ancient Viking ships [Music] dressed in the intricately embroidered costumes that were everyday wear for their ancestors the women and children braided garlands of flowers for this celebration that is close in spirit to our own mayday the sound of the Fiddlers tuning up served as background for the ceremonious raising of the mapole symbol of the Swedish midsummer night [Applause] festival and finally the moment we'd been waiting for the Fiddler struck up dance rhythms Melodies handed down from generation to generation and though we hadn't meant to do any dancing ourselves we ended by joining in with the [Music] [Applause] rest frankly after all that exercise it was good to get on to to a nice comfortable train and rest my aching muscles we knew that we were getting pretty far north now and then that whistle told us that we were crossing the Arctic Circle it was quite an occasion for both of us we'd never been that far north before and right on top of that our first herd of reindeer we were in lap land now and these colorful clothes were not put on for a special occasion that was Daily Dress for these deer hurting Nomads of the north Mary and I were lucky enough to visit a lap settlement and see something of life in the northern tip of Sweden This Grass had been put out to dry and will serve as insulation in the family's boots during the winter to come we learned that the L Hut is only a part-time home for the deer must be followed in their search for grazing land and that explains something that reminded Mary of our American Indians this mother with her portable [Music] bassinet this young man playing a game with his sister reminded us of an American youngster playing Cowboy but here the boy's game is also serious practice for the work that he must do when he grows older [Music] the yearly Roundup is the high point of life in laand just as it is on our own Western ranges for reindeer mean everything to the lap food clothing and livelihood his deer herd represents his life savings and when it comes to hurting it into the Corral even the youngsters must play their part [Music] traveling across from Sweden to Norway Mary and I saw the Midnight Sun as we'll always remember it setting and then Rising again without ever quite touching the Horizon and then that wonderful steamer trip down the Norwegian Coast to Bergen snowcap Peaks and Glaciers made us realize For the First Time The Magnificent variety of a scand mayia [Music] vacation of course I had my own reasons for being excited during that trip I knew that my Aunt Clara and Uncle Eric would be waiting for us when we landed at Bergen we never seen each other except in snapshots but the Hansen knew us the minute we came down the gang Plank and we knew them it seemed almost like a [Music] homecoming seen from the surrounding Hills Bergen is one of the most beautiful cities in the world this is Norway's second largest city a great Seaport where every street breathes a memory of sailing men of the past Aunt Clara had planned a dinner party to welcome us on our first day served as is the custom here at 4:30 in the afternoon and I'm afraid that John wasn't quite prepared for all the formalities of a big Norwegian dinner I want to welcome forly our guests from America to tell them how happy we are to see them at last we have looked forward to this many years now Welcome to our table welcome till Boos SCH John wasn't prepared for this either but he soon got used to it we were a little sad to leave Bergen and The Hansons behind us but ahead of us stretched The hardanger Fjord perhaps the most majestic of those twisting waterways that indent Norway's coast of course we had always thought of Norway as a country of great scenery but you can never really know what that means until you experience the silent drama that surround you in the heart of the Fjord to break that silence the Fjord is punctuated here and there with a thunder of falling water plunging down over its Rocky [Music] Ledges the best thing of all was to explore the Fjord on our own poking around until we discovered something wonderful and [Music] unexpected beneath the white snow of harder's apple blossoms we saw Mountain Farmers coaxing every inch of tillable ground into service not far from the carved steeple of a little Country Church We Came Upon A group of brightly dressed school children rehearsing the measured steps of the Region's folk dances on the slopes of the hardanger we seem to be surrounded by Perpetual Springtime every field was an invitation to stop and stay a little [Music] while even in the fiord that was the time of year for weddings and we were invited to one of the these Mountain [Music] ceremonies this wedding meant a great deal to me my own mother had been married in just such a ceremony at a little church in the hardanger fiord I even remembered her description of the elaborate headress that's still worn by the mountain brides and afterwards everyone lined up for a group picture just like the one we have in our album at home [Music] Mary would have been happy to spend the rest of our vacation in the hardanger but we'd already discovered that in Norway every new thing is just as breathtaking as the last so on we went up into the snowy mountains into ski [Music] country skiing was born in Norway and nearly every Norwegian seems to have a pair of skis whether he's a Prof professional or just a lover of the sport out for a little fun and with snow that never seems to melt skiing here might almost be called a year- round activity on our first night at the lodge we saw movies of the annual winter contest at the famous Holman colon ski jump an event that draws 100,000 Norwegian ski enthusiasts to witness their favorite sport it seemed to us that those soaring bird-like flights were just as spectacular as any of the scenery that we'd witnessed in this remarkable country [Music] Holman colon is the world's most famous ski jump and naturally it was chosen as the site for the greatest sporting event of the 1952 Winter Olympic Games hman colon is situated just above Oslo Fjord and it was from near there that we had our first bird's eye view of Oslo set like a crown at the head of the Fjord [Music] here in the capital the young folk celebrated Norway's Independence Day with a spirit that reminded us a little of our own 4th of July young and old turn out for the parade and the streets are filled with a wonderful sound of band music and marching [Music] feet everyone in Oslo takes this day off even the Prime Minister and the Royal Family [Music] when things had quieted down a little we got a chance to see the city itself where such striking buildings as the town hall Express an adventurous Spirit a spirit as old as this Viking ship preserved in a museum and beside a fountain in one of the city's Parks we found a present day Viking who had substituted Ingenuity for a ship of his own our last memory of Norway is a walk we took at Sunset along oslo's Waterfront and already our thoughts were beginning to turn to the next stage of our trip across the water to Denmark we knew that we hadn't seen all of Scandinavia until we'd seen Denmark's charm and gayy and because we flown Pan-American we had time for everything to begin with kronborg the famous castle of Elenor almost 400 years old which Shakespeare used as the setting for his Masterpiece Hamlet each summer that great drama is reenacted beneath the Castle's ancient battlements by a famous International cast from kronborg we travel down to Copenhagen where the harbor is watched over by a figure from Hans Christian Anderson's Immortal Legend The Little Mermaid before long we knew why Copenhagen is noted for its towers and Steeples [Music] Mary has only one word for a city like this she just says isn't it wonderful and of course she's always right Copenhagen must hold the world's record for bicycles even the chimney sweep travels on Wheels and after a while we took to it ourselves and this incidentally is not a fire box as we thought at first well as Mary kept insisting it was a wonderful town perhaps the most alive and colorful that we'd ever seen Copenhagen is another water-bound seagoing city and down by the Wares a granite statue pays tribute to the town's paper hated fishwives out on a tour of the city we came across a restaurant that offered now you won't believe this 172 different kinds of sandwiches chopped beef with caviar and salmon roast pigeon with mushrooms poached egg with lobster salami and egg yolk ve and cucumber salad 172 including a simple Ham on Rye Mary decided that Copenhagen is called the Paris of the north because it's such a wonderful place for shopping and I was particularly fascinated by the signs that hung over the shops the Oculus the barber a seafood restaurant the wine maker glove maker glass maker hat maker boot maker the butcher the baker the Candlestick maker and something for the brand new baby under the sign of the St this is a land of stalks as we discovered once we got into the Danish Countryside somehow that part of the country reminded us both of childhood and we guessed the reason when we came upon this house with youngsters playing at the doorstep the home of H Christian Anderson Denmark's great spinner of tales for The Young and the young in [Music] heart from then on it was like turning the pages of a beautiful oldfashioned picture book sailing back into a wonderful legendary world this part of Denmark would have been called fairy tale country even if Anderson had never lived to make it [Music] Immortal Denmark's bathing Resorts also had something of the old world about them although our hotel at foo was Modern enough before breakfast on our first morning there we went down to the beach to discover the oldfashioned Victorian bathing machine a sort of bath house on Wheels after you've changed into your suit a fellow with a horse draws you right down into the water a fairly bumpy ride but Mary just couldn't resist service like that and it was worth it in the end as I had already discovered the water was perfect even that early in the morning of course not all of the beaches are so quiet and uncrowded here you'll find whatever kind of water sport you want for the Danes love the sun and water and Denmark Sea Coast is famous for its variety we spent the last days of our vacation touring the country's golden outer rim of beaches and then back for a last glimpse of Copenhagen at night the flashing lights of tivoly Park the gayest and most elaborate amusement park in all of Europe we even had time for a performance at the ballet on that last wonderful night and then something a little more lively a toast to scandinavia's brightness and Sparkle a toast to our Pan-American flight and a promise to fly again to the gleaming lights of Viking Land [Music]