Time Travel (On the Trail of Our Ancestors)

(3 August, continued)  

On our way back from lunch at the old mill café, I wanted (if possible) to check some distances between a few places in the neighbourhood of where our paternal grandparents grew up. Back in July 2012 we managed to locate both the farm where our grandmother was born and lived until she got married (easy enough to find), and the small wooden cottage on the grounds of a neighbouring farm where our grandfather grew up (more difficult to find the way to). But I forgot back then to make note of the distances. Over the years since then, I have been going through a lot more old photos and letters and family history; and often find myself wishing I had a better grip of places frequently mentioned.

However, this time we even failed to find our way back to the childhood home of our grandfather. Rereading my old post from 2012 again now, I'm thinking we probably made some of the same mistakes now as we did back then - and gave up quicker... On the other hand, as our last expedition was 12 years ago, even more thoroughfares on narrow dirt roads across farm land may also actually have been closed to the public since then. So we decided not to pursue. I did get one distance properly confirmed, though - between the farm house and the railway station (which back at the beginning of the previous century also served as post office) it's around 1½ km (or 1 English mile). Just about the same distance as my own walk into the town centre these days - so not really "all that" far.

We also drove a roundabout way (more car-friendly) to one of the other places often mentioned in my grandmother's letters (Komlösa). A hundred years ago, I understand there was a chapel there that she walked to sometimes. Nowadays there is a rural museum with a collection of old wagons at an old farm in that neighbourhood. They're the kind of museum that is only open occasionally, though - or on special request. Their website did say it would be open on Saturday afternoons throughout summer (June-August); but when we got there, it looked as closed as the last time we tried (also years ago). We wandered around a bit outside but no person appeared. Never mind - I got a few nice countryside photos, anyway!

 

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

The Church – Trollhättan (4)

On our way back from the locks, still in heavy rain, we stopped at Trollhättan Church to have a look inside.

Trollhättan – the town growing around the building of the canal and locks in the 1800s – did not get its own parish until 1857; and the church, in neogothic style, built between 1860-62, was actually a gift from the New Trollhättan Canal Company. The manager of the canal company, Nils Ericson, gained fame both as canal and railway builder, and was given a Swedish title of nobility corresponding to ‘baron’ in English. It was he who promoted the forming of the parish as well as the building of the church.

 

This stained glass window from 1896 (“The Shepherds’ Adoration”) used to be in the chancel but was moved to the western wall in 1962 when a series of new windows (by artist Ralph Bergholtz) were added at the front.

Altar piece by Albert Eldh from 1935.

Still raining outside…

Linking to

Through My Lens

Ruby Tuesday

Our World Tuesday

Medeival Church at S. Åsarp near Limmared

On our way back from visiting the glass museum at Limmared we took a little detour into the countryside to have a look at the church at Södra Åsarp.

The main part of the church is said to be from the 12th century. The wooden porch was added in the first half of the 19th century, and the sacristy in 1928.

Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly) the church was not open, so we were not able to go inside.

We did go round the back for some more views, though.

The cypresses in the churchyard are quite impressive.

Wikipedia does not say how old the present bell tower is, only that the bell inside is from medeival times.

Linking this post to Ruby Tuesday Too