Visiting

En av de saker vi såg mest fram emot att göra i Göteborg var att få gå på gudstjänst i Kvillebäcken. Det var jätteroligt att få träffa vänner och få se den nya församlingslokalen (fast den är väl inte så ny längre, när de redan har varit där i ett år). Johanna o Paki var också i Göteborg den helgen, så fick tillfälle att umgås lite mer med dem efteråt. På måndag åkte vi in till FFG, ett annat mycket emotsett besök. Det var roligt att få se de nya lokalerna där också, men framför allt att få träffa mina gamla lärare och kolleger. Det är en nåd att ha fått tillbringa tre år av mitt liv där. Jag har lärt mig så mycket, och är så tacksam över allt jag fått.

Two of the things we really were looking forward to doing in Göteborg were visiting my church there, and visiting the seminary were I studied and did my intership. The congregation is wonderful, and the seminary is an amazing place. I'm so thankful for three years I got to spend there. Unfortunately we don't have any picture from those places, but we really enjoyed visiting with the people there.

Johanna and Paki were also in Göteborg that weekend, so we got to spend a little bit more time with them.

Utflykt

Ännu en vacker dag i Göteborg. Vi gjorde en utflykt till det mysiga samhället Rönnäng på ön Tjörn. Jättefint område. Jag var nog mer ut i solen under de här dagarna i Göteborg än jag varit under hela sommaren, så jag fick en liten solbränna till sist.

On another beautiful day, we took a day trip to a little town, Rönnäng, on an island named Tjörn north of Göteborg. It was a wonderful, relaxing day, visiting with my sister and her family, hiking around in the town and enjoying the views.

This is actually the two of us, even if you barely can see us in the gray clothes against the gray rocks:

Lots of bright purple heather:


Hiking up to the highest point above the town gave us great views of Rönnäng and the surrounding archipelago:

Hakefjord, between mainland and Tjörn:


The bridge, Tjörnbron, between mainland and the islands. The old bridge was destroyed in 1980 when a ship hit it, killing 8 people who drove off the bridge.

Utsikt över Göteborg...

...från Ramberget.

View over Gothenburg from one of the tallest hills, Ramberget.

Lundby Old Church

En annan gammal kyrka, Lundby gamla kyrka från 1300-talet.

Here's another old church, Lundby old church, from the 14th century.

Björlanda Church

Här är bilder från den andra medeltida kyrkan, Björlanda kyrka, som troligen är från 1300-talet.

Here is the other medieval church, Björlanda church, a so called Mary church, in the parish. It is unknown how old this one is, but probably from th 13th or 14th century.

Part of a wooden altarpiece from the 16th century:


The paintings in the ceiling are new (from 1950s), but really neat. They are painted in the same color scheme as older paintings in the church, and tell the salvation story. The Fall is illustrated by war, and God's salvation with fishing nets and harvest workers.

These murals on one of the walls were found in the 1930s behind whitewashed walls. They are from the 13th century.

Another baptismal font from the 13th century:

The back of a tombstone found in the cemetery outside of the church:


Björlanda church from the outside. Stonewalls like these seem to be pretty common in this area:

Torslanda Church

Vi besökte naturligtvis också några kyrkor, eftersom ett av Weslies största intressen är kyrkokonst och arkitektur. Stadsdelen där Kika o Martin bor stoltserar med två medeltida kyrkor, Torslanda och Björlanda. Här ser vi Torslanda kyrka. Man tror att kyrkan är byggd på en gammal hednisk offerplats till asaguden Tor, som tecken på Jesu seger över det mörka och onda. De äldsta delarna av kyrkan är från 1100-talet.

We took of course the time to visit some local churches. The suburb where my sister lives is proud to have two medieval churches. Here is the first one, Torslanda. It is thought to be built on an old place of sacrifice to Thor (who also is thought to have given name to the town, Torslanda). The oldest parts of the church are from the 12th century.

An angel with a trombone. A gift to the church, from some time before 1737.


The altarpiece from the 15th century depicts God the Father surrounded by the 12 apostles. However, Judas is replaced by King Olav II of Norway to symbolize the triumph of Christianity over paganism in Norway (this part of Sweden used to belong to Norway):

The pulpit is from 1627:


The baptismal font made of granit from 1250:

The crucifix is also pretty old, from the end of the 15th century:

Sailing

En perfekt dag ute i Göteborgs vackra skärgård. Solen sken och det var ca 20 grader. Vi njöt av en fin seglats, och stannade till på ön Knippla för picknick och bad.

One of the things we wanted to do while in Gothenburg was to go sailing with Kika and Martin on their sailboat. It was a beautiful day with perfect winds (not too strong) and sunshine. The archipelago is gorgeous and we stopped for picnic on an island, Knippla.

Martin is trying to get the engine to start so we would actually be able to get out of the marina...

Lukas is not afraid of boats...maybe even a bit too confident sometimes:


Our cute godson Adam:

Weslie, the master sailor:

Esther had a good time too:


On the island we found a "ljugarbänk", a bench were you would sit and tell your fishing stories...

On the highest point of Knippla, looking out toward the sea: