A day in Trollhättan

Finally the eagerly awaited day, a visit to the SAAB Museum,  but first a walk.
How much excitement can a women have not only a car museum but also old locks and canals & hydro power stations to inspect ! Oh  happy days.
First a walk out along one of the tributary of the river that feeds the power station,  then down to the old locks , then the new locks .
The Trollhätte Canal was built early 1800's and is part of the Göta Canal.  The first locks built in 1800 were replaced in 1840 with larger locks and again in 1916 larger locks put in ( can carry max 88mt long 13.4 mt wide)  The Göta Canal joins Göteburg on the west coast with Söderköping on the east,  total of 614km , a number of large lakes incorporated along the way.

Flood gates

Trollhättan Kyrka, what a pretty location

Old locks

Gorgeous Autum colours

More old locks

Finally the moment we had all been waiting for.......THE SAAB MUSEUM  .To be perfectly honest we were a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience, I guess we have been really spoilt with other state of the art car museums that offer interactive displays, well displyed vehicles,  lots of information etc.  Well its not actually like Knud needed more information as he is s walking encyclopedia when it comes to Saabs but we felt it was a lost opportunity  considering what a great product it was. 

The Sonett prototype 1956

From Left to right... 93 from 1959, 96 V4 from 1970, 95 station wagon, 96 1978 -1980, 99 from 1968

96 from 1962, this car won the 62 & 63 Monte Carlo rally driven by Erik Karlson

Now it was my turn to get excited,  some 'gorilla knitting '

We had a quest, to find a specific childrens playground so off we set and on our way crossed over a double track railway bridge that could be raised when high canal traffic passed. As we had seen no sign of any shipping activity we never expected to see it rising.  We were thrilled when along came a big boat and we could see the lift bridge in action. ( doesn't take much to entertain us does it) 

Going up

Up higher

And they are through

Isn't this wonderful!  It was a tough job keeping Knud off it, not sure if the other parents would have appreciated him  kicking their kids off

Trondheim Norway to Trollhättan Sweden

Knud on Trondheim station 

John, Denese & Knud 

A civilized start, train leaving just after 8 from Trondheim so no need to rush the massive smorgasbord breakfast. The Norwegians & Swedes really know how to do a breakfast,  helps if you love herrings , which we do.
So onto the train, again more stunning scenery, train travel really is the best.
Got into Oslo and had 3 hour wait for train to Trollhättan and what better way to pass the time than with our friends Denese & John Brittain.  We originally met Denese, John and their boys Martin & Paul when they came out to Australia 30 years ago, John had a year working with the Perter Till Laboratory in Thurgoona  on some sort of a university exchange. So we have kept in touch, visited each other and so today  we caught up again for a couple of lovely hours.
6pm and time for next train to Trollhättan. 3& half hours latter we arrived, not much to see so far as it was dark on arrival however Friday has dawned, not bright and sunny but at least not pouring with rain.
Today is the day we go to the Saab museum,  guess who is getting excited about the visit? 

Postcards from Trondheim

Trondheim,  situated where the Trondheim fjord meets Nidelva River.  Founded in 997 as a trading post it was the capital of Norway during the Viking age up until 1217.  Population of just under 200,000 it is Norways 3rd largest city.
A very pituresque city so we had a lovely day wandering about

Outside Nidaros Cathedral

Nidaros Cathedral 

Old Town Bridge

The Wharves

The Wharves

Old Town

Old Town, lots of wooden houses

A Saab 93  built about 1959 , Knud fell in love

A walk around suburbia,  lots more wooden houses

Narvik to Trondheim

Our 4 days with Kaj flew past, what a great time we had.
So bright and early ( 7am ) we set off from Narvik by bus. A 5 hour bus trip to Fauske  ( including a half hour ferry trip ) then an hours wait and onto the train for Trondheim. 9 hours latter at 10pm we were finally in Trondheim. BUT what a fantastic  trip. Jaw dropping scenery.  Had tried to do another blog post from train as first one I did went so well but then all turned pear shape, maybe something to do with the countless number of tunnels we were going through. So fingers crossed the photos can load up now.  Keep in mind most photos taken from a moving train with the added distraction of reflections from glass but I'm sure you get the idea of how truely beautiful this trip was.

On the ferry

On the ferry

From train

The highest point, 680 mt above sea level  the train goes on this leg and the marker shows where we cross back across the Artic Circle

Nearing sunset so no more photos.