Journal Entries
In the way of statistics…
8 countries
Bike…1000
Hike…2714
Train…2280……..5000
6000 by land
6000 by water
June 10- landed in Rotterdam - left much behind- much unanswered.
Stayed with fine family- one night- then bike to Amsterdam for a 6- day stay- to Arnhem, a distance from Rotterdam of 75 miles. It is now June 21.
Stayed in Arnhem 3 days for Mylpaal ’50- a Dutch presentation of past, present, & future economics. Many Dutch think that wrong things are sent. Also, of course that influence is necessary evil- but think perhaps we send things we don’t need. Dairy country and they have very little butter here- also send gin and drinks “Coen-coela” in puppet show- special English speech for us by Harry Truman.
Puppet in puppetshow:
“We sent you Coca-Cola. Razor blades for your safety razor. A contract from Kaiser-jazer and many copies of “Forever Amber” “.
Germany
We were surprised at the sudden change in crossing such an arbitrary thing as a border…things here in hard contrast…countryside no longer storybook…horses are thinner…have smaller heads and more spirit…many dachsunds and German police dogs…trees are more matured and over-matured…separations by fences are further apart and some of the land goes untended…more objective less compelled to friendliness…holds many old people, wan people, sad people…and also many fine-featured and self-assured…buildings are mostly brick, taller, more austere…one of the most apparent changes is in the color or the lack of it…Germany seems to be black and green…houses are brick, or gray, or old brown, or any other color the material happened to be…or how the building happened to age…
Denmark
In contrast, Denmark seems almost to have been planned by some master exterior decorator…in buildings and country side a richness of subtle colors…unified by a general light quality…into shades of yellows, ochres, oranges…with contrast of blue…maybe to compensate for the subtle color, the people, out on holiday, at least dress in very bright colors…bright watermelon red, heavy cad. yellows…and they go to extreme color to keep white white…in the youth hostels…tennis shoes…
The sky is a washed out blue, roof tops are a gray of the same value…some of the lighter colored dirt takes on almost a lavendar shade…and white lamp shades in the daylight take on a definitely purple cast…
The people are brown, tow-headed, look up to date and healthy…architecture is plainer…the windows without accent…almost repeat the face of the people…a great sense of light over all.
Copenhagen. Cap. 16, 575 sq. miles…4,146,000 pop. Danish dairy products world famous …country in normal times exports more butter than any country except the USA…had a notable success with cooperatives…started in 1886
370,000 households, 45% of pop. and employs 21,000 workers.
Many turnips…