An Italian Easter feast

Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed!

And at the risk of being slightly blasphemous, my gut has just risen as well. After taking a long walk around the docks in Walhamm Sweden this morning while the dockhands were busy loading KIA cars made in Slovakia, and Hyundai's made in India, we entered the officers dining room expecting the normal three-course lunch. Boy, were we in for a surprise!

First there was a wine and fruit drink with crackers and potato chips. The came smoked salmon, followed by a large plate of boiled shrimp. Then came fetuchini with shrimp, followed by three different kinds of baked and boiled fish. The next course was a citron cake, then a melon slice, and finally a small cup of expresso. Oh, did I mention that during all this we had three different kinds of red and white wines, and finally a glass of champaign! The Captain made several toasts during the two hour lunch, and the officers of the crew took a number of photos of each other. These people know how to celebrate Easter, or at least how to relax. This was the first time we have seen the crew having wine at a meal, company rules we were told.

It was cold last night, there was ice on the surface of the harbor when we went ashore at 9:00am. We walked around the thousands of Volvos being sent everywhere around the world, many to Japan. And we saw Kia's, Hyundai's, Fiats, and yes, Fords. But the Fords tended to be small delivery vans, and not any we have ever seen in the US. In deck #10 right behind our cabins there are probably fifty or more Ford sedans going to Southampton, but also not a model we have ever seen in the US.

At one end of the harbor there is a big green canvas covered building out of one end of which there is a long black tube that goes into the water and heads for the channel for many hundreds of feet. I stuck my nose into the building and found out that it is a plastic pipe making machine that is making a potable water pipe for Russia that is about 16 inches in diameter and about two inches thick. The finished section is sealed at both ends and is floating in the water, and we suppose that since they are too big to roll up and too long to stack on a barge, when they are finished a tug will tow them around Norway to Russia.

In this harbor there is also a fiberglass boat manufacturer, and alongside a locked warehouse is a set of aluminum masts for what must be one humongous sailing ketch, the main mast is over 120 feet long and the stainless steel cable stays are over 1 inch in diameter. I would love to see the hull that they belong to, but its all locked up and it is Easter weekend with no one around.

On the way into this Swedish fiord we saw a number of windmills up on the stoney ridges, and right outside Esberg Denmark about 5 miles offshore we passed a "windfarm" with 96 windmills. We were told by the Danish port agent for Grimaldi that wind power produces 20% of Denmark's electrical needs. We were also told that they were out in the North Sea because the Danes don't want them messing up the scenery onshore. I remember hearing that the good folks of Nantucket not wanting windmills offshore for the same reason. O well, what can you do with humans?

We are due to shove off for Antwerp at 9:00pm, which means we will be there sometime early Tuesday morning if all goes well, but you cannot count on a schedule on a freighter. One more thing we finally figured out, you can book shorter sections of this voyage directly with the Grimaldi Line throught their website, you don't have to use a booking agent like Maris. Looking back on it I think we might have saved some money by flying to Rome or Pireaus and catching a freighter there. It would have been cheaper to stay on shore, and it certainly would have been warmer!

Bye till the next time we can find a computer to send a post to the blog,
Lynn & Linda