Snowy Sweden

We hadn’t been to Sweden since 2011 so were very much looking forward to seeing this beautiful country again. Our last visit was during temperatures of - 18 degrees. Very cold indeed. 

Whilst very cold this time too of course it didn’t start snowing till the second day which was fine by us. 

This time we stayed with a friend, Annette Berglund, who lives in Borås about 40 minutes east of Gothenburg where we landed from our flight from London. Gothenburg is on Sweden’s west coast and is the country’s second largest city.

Borås is also known as the city of textiles being the home of the Swedish School of Textiles, part of the University of Borås. 

The Fashion Textile Centre was one of the first places we visited. 

Like an aboriginal dot painting - stunning.

The exhibition explained the connections between just about everything we use as being related to textiles of some sort from fire hoses to filaments.  Innovation with textiles was everywhere.

Tops of coffee bags!

Fabric made from fibre optic threads and light transmitted through the fibres - very effective

A special technique using rayon and indigo - the effect is fascinating

The same object side on

Cambodian Letters by Emiko Nakano 2009 

Japanese paper, silk, multi layered weave, clamped shrinking

Quite close to Annette’s is the oldest Stave Church in Sweden. The word stave refers to the method used to build the church. Located in the village of Hedared, 10 minutes from Annette’s, the medievil church was thought to be built in the early 15th century.

The tiny Stave church at Hedared

The quaint interior. The church was closed in the winter. This photo is courtesy of Wikipedia

The interesting construction of a stave building

Our Swedish friends, Perolov Thornqvist, Annette and Laurie at the Hedared Stave Church

 During our stay Perolov and Annette took us to a glass factory which was very interesting, especially the prices!!

The Glasets Hus at Limmared is south east of Borås. The display of glass was stunning and the demonstration fascinating.

The front of the glass factory modelled on a bottle. It started snowing as we left

The senior glass blower was keen on trying a new technique which involved rolling a bottle under production in previously prepared glass pieces. The pieces are blasted with a gas burner to make them hot enough to adhere to the bottle. It was fascinating to watch and worked out really well. We weren’t able to see the finished product as it had to be placed in the kiln to be brought down to temperature slowly to avoid breakage.

From a blob of glass to a beautiful vase

Gradually the blob gets blown larger and larger

The little glass pieces are heated so they will adhere to the vase

The vase is rolled over the hot glass pieces

The vase is rolled and rolled and continuously heated to make sure the 

glass pieces melt into the vase

The vase, when completed, was placed in a kiln to cool down slowly so when it was removed it would be shatter at the change of temperature.  Limmared has a long tradition in glass. The Limmared Glassworks was founded in 1740, and has been producing without interruption ever since. Today it is known as the main supplier of the world famous ABSOLUT VODKA bottle.

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Our last full day in Sweden found us in Gothenburg. After exploring the shops and picking up a few things we headed for the water tower high on a hill overlooking the city. After squeezing into a lift which only fits two people, (reminded us of the hotel lift where we stayed in Paris in 2011) we enjoyed a really nice lunch in a freezing cold wind. No seats  left inside!

The views were lovely and quite clear despite the cold. 

In the middle distance is a huge crane working near the Göta Canal which runs into the sea

Annette’s sister has a property on the island of Hönö which is west of Gothenburg. The ferry, (free) took only 10 minutes to take us to the island which is a very popular tourist destination.

Our ferry leaving the mainland on the way to Hörö

The island is very beautiful and we could see why it is a popular spot for holidays. Very close to Gothenburg too.

Despite the tourism aspect of the island the town is still a working fishing village

As picturesque as this boat is there’s a bit too much water in it for my liking!!

Returning to Gothenburg we collected Annette’s little dog, Agnes, from her Mum’s then drove home. It was beyond Agnes’s dinner time and she quietly let us know!

We were pleased during our stay to witness some native deer visit even into Annette’s back yard for a feed.  later on in snowed quite consistently so we’re not sure where they would find a feed.

Very cute.  And inside the fence!

Four hours later, not much grass to be seen.

Annette’s beautiful house near Bredared - still snowing. We were so lucky to be looked after by Annette and shown round by she and Perolov. It's so good to have a local connection.

The morning of our departure was even snowier than the day before. The ground staff at  Landvetter Airport, Gothenburg had to spend a large amount of time de-icing the wings of our plane.  The ice and snow was really quite thinck. We were sprayed with something that looked like anti-freeze used in your car radiator.  Despite the snow and these delays the flight was uneventful,  always a good result.

The snow partly-removed from the wings of our plane. The fire engine then sprayed an anti-freeze type liquid over the plane to remove the ice. Couldn't see much after that till we took off as the windows turned yellow!!!

Next we travel to Munich

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