Brest, 8/26/1935
Yesterday we started bound for Brest from a little French. harbor “L’Abervrack” where we had arrived from Falmouth. According to the plan and from informative sources with the local knowledge the sail-trip should last 6 flours so when we started at 3 in the afternoon with the tide we thought that we could lay in our bunks at 10 o’clock in the evening but when you sail with a sailboat you must never permit yourself definite appointments neither to yourself or busybody journalist. When we had come 20 km away the wind disappeared (went for lunch) and we were laying and rolling terribly and we did not reach with the tide through a narrow entrance where it’s running 6 knots and even if the wind had shown up again and would hate been really good stern wind we only made very little progress and we sailed the whole night long for to reach Brest this morning at 7 o’clock and when the anchor was thrown over both of the blessed kiddies woke up full of life (Morning Freshness) and happy and then Peter and I could forget about sleeping. We were looking forward to a real Noon nap. Peter picked up the mail but then good morning my shiny polished morning shoes, the sleep was completely lost by the exciting notices about this around the world sailing, Atlantic crossings and Germans who sailed under Danish flag. The last is almost the most angry thing because supposed they find out about it here in France that Peter is German and wouldn’t allow him entrance to the yacht harbors and clubs. They do that in Belgium but not with Peter but with Other Germans. In any case he will be as German in advance, looked at with suspicion, but how they also have discovered all that! The picture from “Ekstrabladet” we got in Plymouth, thanks. It was not so bad even if it at that time took us by surprise. Now we are accustomed to more. It was not so had even at that time it got us sit down for surprise. There have been pictures of us in the London Newspapers and Pariser magazines so when we came to France people knew who we were, although not that we were Germans, they waved us welcome and in Falmouth we were stopped in the streets and asked for autographs. That really sounds amazing but it was only one, a little boy who thought he recognized the family from the newspaper, yes, that’s how it can go. the newspapers would not pay for a little travel story and then a journalist sits and puts something together and earns money on us. We will now send a justice (story) (Rechtfertigung / justification) to Berlinske Abend Zeitung. Will you mail it to us when you see it? Here we also got a message from Peter’s parents that they do not want the piano so let Andreas Christensen get it for 300 and our blessings as an extra token. Will you be so sweet as to arrange this for us also?
That Lars needs someone to read aloud for him you should not believe. He himself reads aloud for Hallo about our doggies, Riau cats, and many other funny (remarkable) things. Hallo has now started to run around without support so we let the wagon stand in Poole and have made a carrying chair so we can carry, her when Mademoiselle gets tired. Lars has found a collection of seashells that he thinks would fit on Marie’s shelves so that it will be a little more difficult to dust them off. One evening in Falmouth we had a visit of a Dane who was living there. During the coulee of the conversation he told us that he in his young days was a sailmaker apprentice down there in Newhavn by Halmo. Halmo, I asked? Yes! And then of course we were old friends. Now I better finish up so the letter can get off today with everybody’s most loving greetings,
yours adoring Lars, Anna, Peter, Else.
Today Peter locked himself in on the W.C. so he could answer his magazine BT! (Berlinske Tidene) without getting interrupted, so I suppose it will be an answer with the same teeth in it, and when it doesn’t come out well that’s just because of the bad interpreter, this is also the reason why you couldn’t read anything about us in the Vikingen, but what takes long will finally be good. Now thanks to the reporters we became known in Europe and this can also be good. Besides such defaults of the B.T. but this might be just an emption, otherwise here these are heaps of newspaper articles and press photos one friendlier than the other and this is fun and challenging.
Friendly greetings,
Peter
P.S.
There is strong competition with pictures of us, so therefore we have decided to give away some of them but we would like to have them back when you have a chance to find the negatives someday and take a stroll to the photographer and pay him my big bill, these are the ones we are talking about, number one with me and the main train station before I left to Afrika an 1931, number two Lars and I on the Cabin roof on “Restmore” before we sailed from Copenhagen in august 34, I am wearing the long blue pants, No. 3 is Hallo with someone unrecognizable in the cockpit, number 4 is Mary Mette, Lars and I in Katemindegade.