Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-09-28
THE INNS OF NORWAY
PLAIN AND WHOLESOME AND WITH
OUT ANY FRllLS.

The Meals Are Formidable Affairs,
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
frl the comforts II not the Injuries
Of llfe-plenty OF food and shelter, bed
and board. There is no upholstered
aurniture or velvet carpets or eggshell
china, hut 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 lie Is accus-
toned to at home and will encounter
experiences and customs that are new
and novel to him. But II he Is reason
able In his requirements and behaves
himself Ike gentleman he will al
ways meet with hOspitable although
q 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 ii you want any
thing you usually have to hunt for 1t
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 1t is liable to be left. But
you will recover 1t again after time.
The people are honest. considerate and
unselflsh. 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 &C.
customed to at home. There are no
carpets and no rugs on the floor. All
the appurtenances are plain and sub
stantial, without any effort at show
and very little idea Of convenience.
The beds are good, but usually the only
cover Is q comfortable seven or eight
inches thick and as heavy and IN
wieldy as q feather bed. You can't
tuck 1t In at the bottom or at the sides,
and 1t 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 bolster of feathers
about the size Of barrel and little
bit Of a by 0 pillow an inch or two
thick. with pretty trimmings upon 1t.
The big pillow Is too big, and the lit
tie one is two small. and you solve the
dilemma by rolling up your oyercoat
into q ball and using that instead.
There Is plenty Of fresh, heavy, home
made hnen-large, square towels that
have been woven under the same root
during the long winter days.
The breakfast is abundant and often
terrifying You are at first confronted
with five or six different kinds Of
cheese, an equal variety Of cold meats, |
timed fish, smoked herring and salm-
ON, ceh boiled ham. three or Jour kinds |
of cold sausage, strips Of dried rein
deer meat and half a 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
table is ever without.
The dinner is a formidable affair aft
err the fashion of the ordinary Eu-
ropean table d'hote, with soup, fish,
roast, salad, preserves and pudding. |
while for supper you get the same as
sortment Of cheese, cold meats, fish.
sausage aid preserves that you have
had for breakfast and two or three hot
dishes. Fish Is the staff Of life and
salmon the mainstay. 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 well stocked
with salmon trout, which are caught
10 nets and kept alive in tanks until
they are needed You enjoy them the
irst five or six meals, but after you
lave had them seventeen or eighteen
times In succession they begin to lose
their relish. Beer Is the ordinary bev-
,rage. Everybody drinks it. Claret
md Rhine wine can be had at the lar
ger hotels. but never any whisky,
brandy or other strong liquors. Local
option prevails throughout Norway,
md in the country districts the sale of
'pirituous liquors Is forbidden.-W. L.
Curtis In Chicago Record Herald.