[Leica] Hedonists, "Polka Pigs", and Leicas Part 3

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Through a friend in Wetzlar we had booked a hotel there for 3 days. If you 
ever go there I can heartily recommend it. "Wöllbacher Tor" is just a Nikon 
lens throw from the Dome in Wetzlar (with those cobblestones you would not 
want to throw your Nocti!) Modestly priced at about $80/night including 
breakfast. It also has the advantage of being less than 5 minutes walk from 
Lars Netopil's "Classic Camera" store. Great little store, filled with Leica 
stuff. Some is excruciatingly rare. Lars is a connoisseur in the field of 
Leica, as well as vice-president of the German Leica Historical Society. He 
is also a very nice guy, with a rather wicked sense of humour. The store is 
small, furnished with comfortable leather chairs, an espresso machine and 
cabinets of Leica stuff. Hey, if you are going to buy a black MOOLY motor or 
a Stemar kit, you need a comfortable chair. He also has some good user stuff 
(one M2 less after I had been there).
 I had a meeting with Leica/Solms for a day, but sadly I cannot reveal what 
we talked about. Sworn to secrecy and all that. Suffice to say, I am still 
making Rapidwinders and they are not! The non-secrets that can be revealed is 
that the 90 APO/Asph will be coming later this spring (I think they are 
hoping for a late spring in Solms) and Yes, there will be a motor drive for 
the R8 before the new millennium (now does it start on Jan. 1st 2000 or Jan 
1st 2001?). With one camera fixed at the source and after some really good 
German food and beer we headed for Sweden. 
 Fellow LUGgers Hans Pahlen and Martin Howard and Tuulikki and I had decided 
before we left Canada to have a Mini-LUG meet while we where in Sweden. 
Figuring out that we should meet somewhere equidistant from out respective 
bases, we settled on the town of Gränna, (about ½ way between Malmö and 
Stockholm, for those of you with a Swedish map handy). Gränna's claim to fame 
is twofold. The balloonist Andree came from there and there is a small museum 
dedicated to the ill-fated "Örnen" (Eagle)expedition of 1899. It was an 
attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. All the participants died and 
their last landing-place was not discovered until the 30's. For us 
photographers it is a significant museum as they also discovered several 
rolls of film, exposed and undeveloped and the work that Kodak put in to 
developing these rolls is remarkable. The images of the camp, the downed 
balloon and combined with the diaries of the three expedition members are 
haunting. They give a gripping description of the last days of the doomed 
expedition. The second claim to fame is the famous Gränna Polkagris (=the 
"Polka Pig"). This is a dentist dream come true and the bane for many a 
dental filling. This peppermint flavoured candy stick has the capacity of 
removing just about every filling in your teeth and if you were lucky not to 
have any before, you will after having consumed one. These are not wimpy 
little cute red and white sticks, these are the "mother of all Candy sticks", 
a good inch in diameter and 5-6 inches long. You suck on those for a while 
and not even Kenneth Starr could get a statement out of you!
 We tried to get in to the Andree museum but it was closed (on a nice 
Saturday afternoon?) and mindful of the high cost of dental work, we 
abstained from Polka Pigs and retired to restaurant Amalia for a long lunch. 
I had met Hans Pahlen before but not Martin and Tuulikki had met neither. It 
was a good Mini-LUG. Hans used an off brand camera to take some close ups of 
Softreleases, Rewindcranks and upgraded his web page 
(http://www.komvux.skola.mark.se). He did insist on a picture of me in it - 
under the pretext of showing how to hold the Rapidwinder/camera correctly. If 
anyone has a comment on my physical appearance, keep it to yourself. Remember 
that this is after 3 weeks of hedonistic living in the Gastronomical centers 
of the World.               to be continued in Part 4