Timetravel

This is a bit of a different post than the usual, but for me a very special one! I have always known that my grandfather had sailed the world when he was younger. On of the reasons I know is that I was always in awe when he told little snippets about that time. And I simply could not believe the places he had been. Maybe the seed of my wanderlust has been planted by him? Or it could be the genes.

My grandfather is the lovely young sailor on the right

Anyway. A few weeks back I learned from a Facebook post that my grandfather had made some photo albums of  his sailing period, and that my aunt had those!  She was kind enough to let me borrow them, and I spent my afternoon looking through them. Really amazing. All he countries he has been to: Mexico, Cuba, India, China, Japan and the Philippines to name a few.

Shanghai. If you look closely you recognize the clocktower in the middel of both photos

Now... my grandfather was born in 1903, and he travelled in the 1920s and 1930s. A truely exiting time. In his albums are progress pictures of the Sidney Harbour bridge and of the Bund in Shanghai without skyscrapers.
But the photos of his life on board are fascinating as well. The interiors of some of the boats!

Both my grandfather and I started travelling outside Europe in our early twenties, but that is an eighty years time difference. I am just humbled and exited at the same time to see how many places we have both visited, but almost a century apart. I keep looking at his photos and than at mine. Finding the differences and similarities.

Nagasaki. Suwa shrine entrance

I loved seeing his photos from Japan: This was the country he talked about most with me, and I am sure my fascination for Japan came from those chats. I visited  Japan last year, and it turns out we have both visited quite a few the same places.  And then I saw the photo from Nagasaki, and it suddenly hit me: he visited before the A-bomb.

As it happens his only photo from Nagasaki was from the only shrine that has not be damaged during the war.