Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-10-10
THE INNS OF NORWAY

THE INNS OF NORWAY
PLAIN AND WHOLESOME AND WITH
OUT ANY FRlLLs.
The Meals Are Formidable Afnirs.
and Salmon Is Always Served.
| Guests Are Expected to Eat Heart
lily and to Wait on Themselves.
At intervals Of eight or ten miles
along the public highway, usually in
connection with the skyds stations, are
inns where the traveller will Invariably
find the comforts If not the luxuries
of life-plenty Of food and shelter bed
and board. There is no upholstered
furniture or velvet carpets or eggshell
china, but always neat lace curtains at
every window sometimes in the win
dows of the stables.
A luxurious American will have to
deny himself much that he is accus-
toned to at home and will encounter
experiences and customs that are new
and novel to him. But If he Is reason
able in his requirements and behaves
himself like a gentleman he will al
ways meet with hospitable although
a homely welcome. The Norwegian ho-
tel keepers measure our appetites by
their own and give you so much to eat,
particularly at the noon dinner, that
you are stupid and sleepy all the rest
Of the day and snooze in your carriage
when you ought to be admiring the
scenery.
There is no style about the hotels,
and the service is poor. The household
work is all done by the landlord and
his wife and daughters. There, are no
electric bells, and if you want any
thing you usually have to hunt for it
and help yourself. 1t is the custom of
the country for the travellers to make
themselves at home, and you are some
times compelled to look after your own
luggage or it is liable to be left. But
you will recover it again after time.
The people are honest, considerate and
unselfsh, but unpretentious in their
hospitality. There are no locks on their
doors, for none is needed. Burglars
and thieves are absolutely unknown.
The bedrooms are barren of orna-
ments and easy chairs that we are ac-
customed to at home. There are no
carpets and no rugs on the floor. ALI
the appurtenances are plain and SUBJ
stantial. without any effort at show
and very little idea Of convenience.
The beds are good, but usually the only
cover is comfortable seven or eight
inches thick and as heavy and I'M
wieldy as feather bed. You can't
tuck it In at the bottom or at the sides,
and it is always sliding off to the floor.
1t is too much covering for an ordinary
sleeper, and when the nights are warm.
as they often are you are compelled to
choose between a chill and suffocation.
The pillows are another nuisance.
There are usually a bolster of feathers
about the size Of a barrel and little
bit of by 8 pillow an inch or two
thick, with pretty trimmings upon it.
The big pillow is too big, and the lit
tie one is two small, and you solve the
dilemma by rolling up your overcoat
into ball and using that. instead.
There is plenty of fresh, heavy, home
made linen-large, square towels that
have been woven under the same roof
during the long winter days.
The breakfast is abundant ana often
terrifying. You are at first confronted
with FIVE on six different kinds Of
cheese, an equal variety Of cold meats,
timed fish, smoked herring and salm-
on, cold boiled ham, three or Pour kinds
of cold sausage, strips Of dried rein
deer meat and half dozen different
jams and preserved fruits. You are
expected to partake freely of that sort
OF provender and usually do so until
you learn by experience that dried fish,
boiled eggs, veal outlets and other hot
food will soon follow if you are pa
tient. The coffee is usually good, and
there is always an abundance of rich,
thick cream. There is no warm bread,
but five or six kinds of cold bread bak-
ed from wheat, rye and oat flour, be-
sides the national "fatbrod," which no
Norwegian table IS ever without.
The dinner is formidable affair aft
er the fashion Of the ordinary Eu-
ropean table dhote, with soup, fish,
roast, salad. preserves and pudding.
while for supper you get the same as
sortment of cheese, cold meats, fish,
sausage aud preserves that you have
had for breakfast and two or three hot
dishes. Fish is the staff of life and
salmon the mafnstay. 1t is served in
some form at every meal. fried at
breakfast and supper and boiled for
dinner, with strips Of cold smoked
salmon Of a deep rich color on the side
at all meals.
The lakes and rivers are we'll stocked
with salmon trout, which are caught
in nets and kept alive in tanks until
they are needed. You enjoy them the
first five or six meals, but after you
have had them seventeen or eighteen
times in succession they begin to lose
their relish. Beer is the ordinary bev-
erage. Everybody drinks it. Claret
Il