Nostalgy

A week ago, when the temperature was at its highest for several days, my AirCondition stopped working in my car. Excellent timing on behalf of the garage. They are looking at it tomorrow but I decided to leave it there overnight so I don't have to get up at six o clock tomorrow morning. I brought my bicycle with me because I wanted to take the boat across the sound to Öland, my island. 

From beginning of time you could only get to Öland by boat from the mainland. When the stream of tourists increased in the mid 19hundreds it was decided that a bridge was needed. The bridge opened in 1972 and since then tourism has developed more year by year. I remember spending holidays here with my parents in the sixties, then we got here by the normal car-ferry, the last time I came here by ferry was in 72, a month before the bridge opened.

There's always been nostalgia around the ferries and many attempts to run trips for tourists has failed to succeed over the years but some five years ago, when the bicycle started to gain power again, a bicycle-ferry started and it's still around in the summer season, it has financial problems on and off but get financial support from the local counties.

This is my first time on the ferry even though I've lived here three and a half years now. It felt a bit nostalgic to cross Kalmar strait by boat again, last time being  in 72. It takes about 25 minutes to cross the six km strait and it's quite relaxing, instead of the stressful drive over the bridge, where you don't get the same feeling of arriving to a totally different place, which it is.

The main shows three of the classic five silhouettes from Kalmar, the old water tower to the left, the rooftop of the Cathedral and the huge old Mill-house where they prepared all sorts of grains and flour. That factory made it possible for Kalmar to enter into industrialism. It is now a museum, restaurant and a huge conference/music centre. The two missing profiles is the new water tower and the old castle.
The extra shows the bridge looking north from the ferry. The gull was kind enough to enrich the picture with a classic marine element.