The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-10

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rope last summer. My notes taker
crate and / cannot burden the editor
nor the public to read so much about
our sightseeing and experience i will
therefore, be very brief in describing
what we saw and only mention places
Iof the greatest interest and yet en-
deavor to map out the route we
travelled
After visiting relatives at Davenport
lIa., Rock Island and Tampico, ILL.,.
jamestown and New York, n. Y, we
sailed from New York the 9Th of May
lat p. IN. on. the steamer President
Lincoln of the Hamburg American line
and landed at Cuxhaven, Germany
May Is, at s a. m. The voyage was
to us, pleasure trip because we had
so clear and calm weather. Only a
few being sick. The orchestra played
every day. The time between meals
was spent in conversation, singing re-
lating stories, etc.
At 'CuXhaven our baggage was in
spected. Owing to the rainy weather
we would not travel in Germany at
that time, but decided to go to
Sweden by way of Hamburg, Lubbock
and Copenhagen.
| Lubbock is a specimen of a medieval
town. One of the old tower gates are
still standing as a memory from the
time when Lubbock belonged to the
\ HnnSaatia / hoo, no Iota
l477- 1871.
We landed at Malmo, Sweden, at 4
Up. m, the 18th of May. Our little
four year old boy, Lawrence, was the
first one out of our party of nine to
set his feet on Swedish soil. We left
MalmO the same evening, and the next
| day at one o'clock we came home
| to my parents at Wimmerby Smoland.
We were heartily received with Joy
and tears. We stayed at home visiting
neighbors and relatives, walking in the
pine woods and fowery meadows, lis
tening to the "ku ku" bird, rowing on
the lakes and fishing in the streams
and had splendid time at home I'M
It'll the 30th of June, when we left for
the north. We should have left be-
fore, but we wished to celebrate mid
summer at home.
In going north we wished to make
haste so that we could see the mid
night sun. However, we stopped at
the city of Lindkoping, visiting the
dome cathedral, the botanical garden
and walked two miles outside the city
to see how the gardeners raised tomatoes
and cucumbers in hotbeds. Coming to
Stockholm, the first time we visited
only the geological garden, and at
Upsala the dome cathedral, the uni
versity and the old and the new
market places; and at Old Upsala the
church, the mound of the court, and
the mounds of Odin, Thor and Frey.
While at Stockholm we bought our
tickets to Riksgransen 1.-THE boundry
line) good for sixty days with the
privilege of stopping off at any sta
ton, with an additional charge of half
la krOn for each ticket for any stop
we desired to make.
This is the cheapest and best way
to buy tickets in Sweden when trav
cling long distances. Be only sure
that you get ticket that reads,
Good on All Trains"
We left Upsala at 1928 p. m., July
y, on the Lapplands Express, which
stops only at the county seats. The
night was clear and beautiful and so
light that we easily could read our
newspapers. We did not sleep any
during the night and did not feel any
need of it either, as we were so en-
| thusiastic over the scenery. During the
next day we passed over the many
rivers and mountains, through tun-
nels and forests, arriving, ten min
utes of twelve p. m, at Luleo, the
greatest shipping center in Sweden
| of iron ores taken from the mines
at and around Malmberget. We re-
manned at Luleo the balance of the
night and the next day, Sunday, at
tended morning service at the cathe
dral. After dinner we visited the har-
Dor and took general view of the
city.
| On July 4 at 1870 p. M, we left
lLuleo, passing the seven forts on the
mountains at Boden and also the iron
mines at Gelivare and Koruna. arriv-
i ing at Abiskojokk, the headquarters for
all the tourists travelling in the region
about nine o'clock in the morning.
! Here we had to wait one hour for
an iron ore train that was stuck in
tunnel and if it had not been for
the haste made by the rescuing crew
both the engineer and the fireman
would have been smothered to death.
When. coming to Riksgransen-the
boundary line between Sweden and
Norway-we left our baggage at the
railroad hotel and continued our jour
ney to Narvik, Norway. Narvik is the
most northern railroad station in tine
world. 1t has also a fine harbor.
From the iron mines at Koruna,
Sweden, all the ores are shipped over
Norway to Narvik. Every hour comes
a train with twenty-eight cars loaded
with ores to be unloaded on vessels.
There were huge piles of ores await
ing shipment
Between Abiskojokk and Warwick are
| fifty-eight tunnels of which twenty-six
are blasted through the rocks and