Along the Canal – Trollhättan (7)

The sky cleared up again in the evening of our rainy day in Trollhättan, and we were able to go for a leisurely stroll along the canal at sunset.

That white thing you see sticking up on the other side of the canal we had seen up close earlier in the day. Some kind of water gate:

Linking to: Outdoor Wednesday

Engines & Automobiles – Trollhättan (6)

After our visit to the Falls, we decided to also pay our respects to the Saab Car Museum – located at the Innovatum Science Center, on premises that back in my youth used to house another of Trollhättan’s historic heavy industries – Nohab, manufacturer of things like turbines for power plants, railway locomotives, and also aircraft and ship engines.

If we hadn’t had a car, we could have used the new cableway (400 m long, 32 m above ground) that nowadays connects this area with the tourist attractions on the other side of the canal (power plants, falls and locks).  

I was glad we did have the car, though – and not just because of the rain! Have to confess I’m not keen on dangling in a little cable cabin up in the air myself… Even if I suppose it really is a rather clever solution in a town where they can only have a minimum of bridges because of the boat traffic in the canal.

As tribute to all the locomotives once produced at Nohab, there is still one standing outside to be admired.

I’m afraid my photos from the Saab Museum are rather random. Apart from never having been very good at telling one car apart from another, I was very tired by the time we got there. I just strolled around a bit and pointed the camera at a few things that caught my eye; and then I sat down and waited for Per, who probably had a better idea of what he was looking at. He told me afterwards, for example, that some of the cars were prototypes that never actually got out on the market. Whether that includes any of those I happed to snap with my camera, I dare not say…

Linking to:
Our World Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday Too 

The Waterfalls - Trollhättan (5)

The waterfalls at Trollhättan have a total height of 32 metres, making up a large part of the 44 metres total fall of the river Göta älv from Lake Vänern to the west coast. Before the hydroelectric powerplants were built, the discharge of the falls was 900 m³/s, and the lower part of the fall was known as the "Hell” falls.
 
The name Trollhättan, by the way, may be translated troll’s hat, or could also refer to a troll’s mountain. With a bit of imagination it’s easy enough to see strange figures both in the steep cliffs and in the waterfalls.
 
These days the river is only allowed through its original course on special occasions, to regulate the waterlevels of Lake Vänern, or as tourist attraction. The discharge is then 300 m³/s. There is a special waterfall festival celebrated every year on the third weekend in July; but the falls are also let on for a few minutes every afternoon in July and August (the main tourist season).
 
So on our day in Trollhättan, at 3 pm we were waiting with all the other tourists on the bridge with the best view of the show. Even with heavy rain falling from the sky as well, it is a sight worth seeing...

Waiting...

 

Still waiting...

See that bit of white in the middle? Here it comes...

No mistake now!

LOTS of water

This is what we've been waiting for!

Time to rush over to the other side and see what's happening there.

The Bold and the Fast run down the stairs to the lower levels to get closer.

Others like me stay on the bridge and just zoom in...

By now, people are running to and fro across the bridge to see Everything at once.
You have to watch out for traffic as well, though, as cars are allowed on the narrow bridge too...

  

Still full flow

Can you see the trolls?

"The Trolls of Trollhättan" - by Ingegerd Lindbom
(a postcard I've had for not-sure-how-long)

Now they're shutting off the water... Troll shower time over!

Linking to: 

Through My Lens

FMTSO: Favourite Corner

Yesterday offered perfect weather for a Folk Music/ Dance/ Arts & Crafts festival in our Museum Park – with something going on in every nook and cranny, so that it was really hard to choose a favourite corner…

 

A nyckelharpa ("keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp") is a traditional Swedish musical string instrument with keys.

Friday My Town