Chapter 3

If you're old enough for this; I remember little model planes at the Five and Dime that were marked USA ... not U.S.A ... just USA. USA Japan: America wasn't buying ANYTHING made in Japan after the war. A massive industrial complex was centered around a town that changed its name to USA. It worked.

Malmö had great Swedish food. It was a lot like eating at home with interesting spices in the mix. The smörgåsbord, a Swedish word for buffet ... but not really. Smörgåsbord is buffet writ large. In Sweden ... it's amazing.

Finland has lingonberry jam and it's widely used to accompany a variety of dishes, from meatballs and pancakes to porridge and black pudding (blodpudding). Unlike Finland, in Sweden it is rarely used on bread. Many Swedes grow up picking lingonberries in the forest, and using these tiny tart red fruits to make a jam-like preserve.

At the restaurang (restaurant) we had meatballs (köttbullar), mini sausages (prinskorvar) and cured salmon (gravad lax) rather than smoked, pickled herring (sill), along with boiled potatoes, sour cream, chopped chives, sharp hard cheese, boiled eggs and crispbread, all served with heaps of lingonberry jam, and beverages; coffee, beer, tea and watered wine.

I'm allergic to grape so I had the beer ... the kids had the wine. There's not enough alcohol in it to get them drunk but enough to make sure the water doesn't produce the shits. Coffee after with choklad, ost, och små ökenfinger (chocolate, cheese, and tiny desert finger foods) to fill up the corners.

After visits to the room to make room for the new load, we found the Authorities and informed them officially of our intent. We got the same spiel; stay longer than three days and we had to report ... by noon of the fourth day. Then we would be subject to inspection. The Authorities directed us to the sewage pumpers. Rather than having a dockyard system, there were 'honey wagons' that came to the boat and pumped us out. Fuel was by delivery, and the water maker had three days to make water.

We were invited to a ball ... just Wendy and I. The kids actually accompanied us but were shuffled off to a holding pen with teenage guards ... it was a zoo.

"Better them than us," Wendy said, referring to the guards.

We are 30 ... a terrible age. We had been dreading it since 29 ... the last year of trustworthiness.

Wendy hasn't changed much and the slinky blue silk dress she wore fit her well enough to tell any interested male that the dress was IT! There seemed to be a few interested females, too.