By Larry and Joan Dolinski
We are beginning this update from aboard the world's largest automobile ferry which is transporting our entire bicycle group from Stockholm, Sweden to Turku, Finland, across the Baltic in a storybook setting. We are passing through what many believe is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world...islands as far as the eye can see. We are on an 11-hour journey on a placid sun-drenched sea, threading our way past and around hundreds of those tiny islands. First we passed through the huge continuum of islands belonging to Sweden. We stopped at the Aland Islands midway on the crossing and are now zigzagging our way through the Finnish portion of the archipelago which, according to the chart, has more than twice the number of islands as populate the Swedish waters.
The concert of light shimmering over the Baltic and revealing these small atolls has been subtly changing all afternoon. We have been enjoying all this from a huge glass enclosed observation deck on the stern of this mammoth 666 foot, 60,000 ton vessel with music from a live band drifting our way from a nearby lounge.
In this mellow hypnotic state let us recall these past memorable days since our arrival in Scandinavia. We began in Bergen, Norway and, without question, had the most enjoyable week of the trip, so far, as we traced a path along some of the worlds longest, deepest, and most beautiful fjords. The mountains rise in nearly vertical walls and, everywhere along these cliffs, waterfalls plummet to the fjord surfaces below. All this is enhanced by wild flowers along many stretches of road.
Although we have seen scores of lovely places during these months of traveling throughout many nations, we enthusiastically choose Norway as the most beautiful of all, by orders of magnitude -- it's truly in a class by itself. Not only do the physical pleasures of nature make its impression, but we have also found the Norwegians we have met to be be wonderful people.
Let us relate an incident resulting in our most cherished experience with the Norwegian people: Our automobile partners, David & Lisa, had the driving chores in a relatively remote area of the fjord region. Without warning, a freeze plug in the engine blew out and entered the timing belt area of the engine with the force of a speeding bullet, shredding the timing belt and causing the pistons to seize. The car, which had been on a 10 kilometer descent, coasted to a point next to a road leading to a farm house. Moments later, Larry completed a bicycle descent on that same stretch of road, which he described as the single most thrilling descent so far on the trip. It began amid the snow covered mountains and dropped for the next 10km along a dizzying mountain road through a sequence of sharp turns and switchbacks all the way to the fjord below. All the while the panorama was a delight.
So, Larry arrived at the stricken car, bringing the group in crisis up to four (Joan had been riding with David & Lisa when the incident occurred). At this point began an incredibly memorable experience of warmth, friendship and generosity. The family, whose farm house was nearby, was just returning home. The group included the couple who own the house plus four assorted relatives who had come for a weekend visit. Those lovely people took us in and assisted us in making a bevy of telephone calls as we searched for the predictably elusive solution to our automobile problem. After some hours we finally succeeded in obtaining a commitment (compatible with our insurance coverage) to have the car towed to a nearby town and to have a temporary rental car delivered to us by early evening.
We were literally "adopted" by the family.
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