aPhantom.net Part Three - Swedish Roots
After ten days of living in the lap of luxury aboard the Queen Mary 2, we decided we couldn’t just stay at any old hotel in Hamburg so we chose the luxurious Hotel Hafen Hamburg. Hafen is a German word for harbor and true to its name, the Hafen is right on the harbor in the heart of Hamburg. And quite a busy harbor it is. A giant containership operation was right across the river, along with an industrial shipyard, a huge dry dock operation, and a forest of cargo cranes. The busy river was teeming with tour boats, ferries, cruise ships, large and small cargo ships, and even an occasional pleasure boat. The best place to watch the activity was the lovely hotel patio where a delicious brunch was served every day.
We had arranged to meet some friends from Germany for brunch on our second day in Hamburg and the weather was perfect for dining on the patio. Our friends live in Travemunde, about eighty kilometers north of Hamburg. After brunch they drove us to their home on the Baltic Sea to show us the sights. Travemunde is quite the tourist destination. It is a beach town, a sailor’s paradise, and also a hub for many of the large ferries that run to Scandinavia, Russia, and other Baltic Sea ports. Our friends own one of the old “sea captain” houses that are the trademark of Travemunde. On this day, it seemed that the best part of owning a house here was that you had a parking place. Our friends gave us the insider’s tour of this charming town and also of the marina where they kept their sailboat. We spent a lovely afternoon watching the busy harbor and the steady stream of tourists in town.
We spent the next day visiting the docks and museums in Hamburg. There were many sights to see just within walking distance of our hotel. One of the more interesting possibilities was a theater that was playing “Rocky, The Musical”. Upon investigation, it turns out that it is the story of the famous fighter. Somehow, the idea of Sylvester Stallone bursting into song and dancing about made us hope that it was really a comedy, but instead it was billed as serious drama. We passed on that one.
Our next destination was Frankfort where we would take possession of our new leased car. Through some quirk of taxation in France, we were able to lease a brand new Peugeot for two months with a new car warranty, full insurance, and road side assistance for about the same price as a regular rental car. The only catch was that we had to pick it up at the Frankfort airport, about five hundred kilometers south of Hamburg. It seemed that the easiest way for us to get there was to book a regular rental car in Hamburg that we would drop off at the Frankfort airport. After navigating our way to the main Hamburg train station to pick up the rental car, we set out for Frankfort and our first taste of driving in Germany.
We always thought of the “autobahn” as a highway somewhere in Germany where there was no speed limit. It reality, all of the “A” motorways, the main controlled access highways, have long sections where there is no speed limit. A small round sign with a diagonal slash lets you know you have reached the end of a speed controlled zone. If you miss seeing the sign, it will become obvious very soon that there is no limit as you will be passed by a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes flying by at over one hundred eighty kilometers per hour. Driving in the “fast lane” means keeping a constant watch on the rearview mirror. You rarely see anyone driving in the left lane unless they are going at least 160k (about 100 mph) or passing someone else. We saw no texting or talking on the phone happening at these speeds and no one passes another vehicle on the right. Interestingly, most people drive at about seventy or eighty miles an hour even where there is no speed limit.
Our rental car did not come with a GPS so we were glad that we had brought ours from home with its new data chip for Europe installed. We knew our leased Peugeot would come with its own GPS that they had promised would speak English to us but we were taking no chances as we knew we would be on the road for about two months. Armed with the latest technology, we were able to find the place to pick up the Peugeot and also to drop off the rental car. We now had two working GPS units so we optimistically thought we would never lose our way. Time would be the judge of that.
We next made our way to Wertheim, just south of Frankfort to visit a friend from Atlanta who now lives in this charming village. We were invited to a German picnic at the old farmhouse where she lives. Like many backyard summer events in any country, this one ended up being rained out by a rather fierce afternoon thunderstorm. After rescuing the tents and umbrella shades, we ended up having dessert and friendly conversation inside the house. Our friends invited us back for a tour of Wertheim the next day which we accepted immediately. Our personal tour of Wertheim included a lovely lunch with our friends and a recap of some history of the town. Like many European small towns, it had its castle, its church, and its cobblestone streets. We were to see many more of these towns and villages in the next few weeks.
One of the main reasons for us making this trip to Europe was to visit Sweden and the places where Jim’s grandparents had been born. From the family history, we were able to determine the names of the towns where they had been born but little other information. As far as we knew, the only person to return to Sweden from America had been Jim’s aunt who visited “someone” in Sweden about 1953. Because of the Swedish custom of sons and daughters taking the first name of their fathers as part of their surname, research gets quite interesting. (The son of Anders becomes Andersson, the daughter of Lars becomes Larsdotter.) We also discovered that some children were given a surname that indicated the village where they were born. When you add the fact that Andersson is probably about the most common name in Sweden, the task becomes quite daunting.
We finally decided that we needed research help so we hired Yvonne, a genealogist in Sweden, to see if she could trace any of Jim’s ancestors. Using information we had about the Anderson family and some photos from our family photo collection, she had managed to locate some relatives of Jim’s grandmother who were living in Sweden. We had contacted them and made a plan to meet in Kristinehamn where Jim’s grandmother had been born. On our way, we stopped to visit Yvonne and collect the latest family facts. Her recent research had found an ancestor who was quite the shipping magnate but had ultimately lost his fortune through several missteps in the shipping business. Unfortunately, it did not seem that there were any lost rich uncles we could contact. We spent the rest of the day with Yvonne learning about the genealogy business and getting the tour of Ulricehamn, the charming village near her home.
The next day we made the short drive to Kristinehamn to meet Jim’s Swedish cousins and visit his grandmother’s birth place. Jim’s cousins had scheduled a whole day for us to visit several locations in the area, all having to do with family history. We also enjoyed some real Swedish cooking, drinking, and an amazing amount of Swedish hospitality. We spent several days comparing family notes and pictures and just getting to know our new relatives. We copied family documents and made many more entries in the family tree. One of Jim’s cousins remembered her mother saying how sad she had been to see her sister (Jim’s grandmother) leave for America as the rest of the family would never see her again. It must have been a scene that was played out in many families at the time. 
One of Jim’s cousins lives in Stockholm and invited to spend some time with them in the city. While there we met more relatives and were treated to a personal guided tour of the area. We saw the palace where the King of Sweden lives and the many waterways and harbors of Stockholm. It was like having the insider’s tour of all things of interest in the area. One of the highlights was the Ship Museum which contains a sixty-nine meter restored sailing ship “Vasa” that sank in 1628 in the Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage. It seems there was a minor flaw in the design. After several days and much food and drink, we reluctantly said goodbye and finally left our new relatives in peace. We were headed for the southern part of Sweden where it was rumored that there was sunshine and warmer weather.
We had some beautiful weather for exploring the Skane (pronounced Sko-na) region in southeast Sweden. We found some charming beach towns and seaside villages, mostly closed for the season even though it was only late August. The wind-swept beaches and small villages reminded us of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We even found that Sweden has its own version of Stonehenge on a windy cliff near a place called Ales Stenar. This is actually described as a stone ship that was likely erected by Vikings about 1400 years ago. It’s quite a tourist attraction for the small village at the foot of the cliff where there are many small “fish” cafes and souvenir shops. The small harbor surrounded with substantial rock jetties made us think that the weather here is not always as benign as the day we visited.
Our next destination was Vasby, a small village in the western part of Sweden where Jim’s grandfather was born. With some help from the local historical society, we found the church where Jim’s great-grandparents are buried. One of the ladies who works in the church office turned out to be a local historian and she graciously provided us with some old maps and emigration information about Jim’s family. Armed with a copy of an old map and our duel GPS units, we set out to find an address in the local countryside that should have been the house where Jim’s grandfather lived as a child. We were cautioned that the old addresses were maybe just an area, not necessarily a specific location.
There were a few farms and houses in the location indicated but nothing where the map specified. Just as we were about to give up the search we met two people walking along the road who had lived in the area for many years. When we asked them about the address we were looking for they thought they might be able to figure out where it was. They invited us back the next day to look at some old maps and property records and to meet one of their neighbors who had lived in the area for most of his life. We poured over the books and maps but could not pinpoint the exact location we were looking for.
In the end we decided that perhaps the house we were seeking was no longer standing. Our new friends gave us a tour of the area and showed us some examples of the older houses that were probably quite similar to grandfather’s home.
We reluctantly said goodbye to our new Swedish friends and promised to keep in touch. We headed south once again across the several bridges that comprise the land route across Denmark and eventually back to northern Germany.
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Part Two Life at Sea