Trying to catch up

Oma and I have been so busy, we haven't had a lot of time to update this. It may take a while to catch up. On Saturday we went to a small, local celebration of the Bergslagskanalen, the canal built in the mid-1800s to transport iron products from the smelter to the bigger port south of here. The event took place at the site of three locks (slussar in Swedish) on the canal, where the boats were raised 11 meters in elevation. They had food, music and games and probably 200 people attended. One part we particularly enjoyed was the brass quartet that played music from the early 1900s using instruments that looked like they came from that period. The photo above right is of the locks from the bottom, looking upstream. The other photo on the right is a Swedish hot dog on a length-challenged bun, which is what we had for lunch that day. Oma was fascinated by the huge key in the picture on the left. We were visiting the site of an old iron smelter and found an older gentleman holding the key. He had made the key and it actually opened a rather large lock on one of the old buildings. He took us on a tour of the facilities where the iron was produced before being transported down the canal. The lock it opened is on the right. We've learned that the Swedes have been world leaders in working with iron and steel for centuries.

On Sunday, we went to church in Orebro and met a Brother Sven Luthman, who is an expert in Swedish genealogy. He spent Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society time with us then invited us over to have dinner with him and his wife. After dinner we went downtown with them and walked around the castle. This is the same castle I saw the picture of on the internet.

Yesterday, Tuesday, he took us on a tour to the Undenas area and we explored the village of Kungsbacken, where John Andreas Anderson's grandmother was born. I have a lot more to tell, but not much time at the moment. We've been having internet issues, too. We have taken a lot more pictures, which we'll share later.