Go to Cee for more buildings!
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Buildings
Go to Cee for more buildings!
Byggnader
Thursday Thoughts – Bunratty?
The name Bunratty, Bun Raite (or possibly, Bun na Raite) in Irish, means ”river basin” of the ‘Ratty’ river. This river, alongside the Bunratty Castle, flows into the nearby Shannon Estuary. We visited for some hours and really enjoyed its genuin feel.
Bunratty Castle Plaque in Irish and in English
The first recorded settlement at the site may have been a Norsemen settlement/trading camp reported in the Annals of the Four Masters. in 977. But several castles were built – and lost – here.
The fourth castle, the present structure, was built around 1425. In 1956, the castle was purchased and restored by the 7th Viscount Gort, with assistance from the Office of Public Works. He reroofed the castle and saved it from ruin. The castle was opened to the public in 1960, and with its genuin 16th-17th century furniture, tapestries and works of art it has become a great tourist attraction.
The Great Hall
In a tiny room upstairs – a grand lit!
Surely they did not bring it up the narrow stairs…
Intricate and detailed woven structures
Interesting clockworks(?)
…flying over the spectacular tables
Nationaldagen!
Our Swedish National Day – has to be something blue and yellow then!
CFFC: Gardens
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Gardens
My favourite garden is here in Sweden…but I can sometimes dream of having a really grand garden…with big trees and open grounds with perfect lawns. And of course, in my dreams there is always a giant greenhouse with rare and exotic plants.
Yes,,,you can always dream…
Thursday Thoughts – A Kindred Soul
In Dublin there are many capturing buildings, but never did I imagine myself trying to photograph shopping centres…and with such relish.
St Stephen’s Green felt like a rather newly built, modern place, with all the light and all the windows I could dream of.
So, we went inside to explore. And I truly found a dream of white and green – the same fresh green colour dominating many of the interior decorations we saw in Ireland.
Quite the cake! We walked through the whole building and found the architecture fresh and matching in every detail.
Then we walked up to one of Dublin’s oldest shopping centres, Powerscourt. I wanted to see the old mahogany staircase – original from the 18th century.
Live piano music filled the air with dreams from another century…
…and the open court was an old style dream – filled with lovely tea drinkers chatting away…
But nowhere was the mahogany staircase to be found. We marvelled at old hat shops and new hat shops, colourful furniture, jewellery stores and old, wooden floors. Where was the staircase? When we had given up trying – we finally found it on our way out, at the back of the store.
I first saw it in the mirror, and was so taken in by it, that I found myself in the mirror as well…
In the 18th century…the wood carvers were very skilled. The smooth feeling of the wood, the beauty of colour and shine, the intricate patterns… I wonder how long it took them to finish this magnificent staircase.
I guess I loved both shopping centres – but only in one of them had a kindred soul.
Thursday Thoughts – An Eternal Love Affair
My lifelong relationship with books and literature makes me visit every library I come across. Going to Dublin meant I would be able to visit one of the most fantastic libraries I know of –
Trinity College, Dublin – I had seen the Long Room in some photos before – and of course the Book of Kells. This old library makes a perfect Harry Potter setting….and already walking through the gates, into campus, sent pleasant electrical shocks along my spine… Soon I would enter the magic…
The long Room is the main chamber of the Old Library, and is nearly 65 metres in length, housing around 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books. It also contains the oldest surviving harp in Ireland.
Just to the left of the Shakespeare bust, is the magnificent spiral staircase. And then –
So many great men and women have walked this wooden ground…
…and forever left their footprints in our world…
All books are handled with the utmost care
And the marble busts in each row – are all famous men (yes…men, of course…..)
This is indeed a remarkable Old Library – The Long Room
CFFC: Autumn – Metal
More Longings..
CFFC: Looking Up at Things
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Looking Up at Things
They were fixing our roof…and I looked up at one of the guys – who looked down on me…
Thursday Thoughts – Moving a Town
Kiruna is the northernmost town in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland in Norrbotten County. Inhabitants – about 20 000.
Esrange Space Center was established in Kiruna in the 1960s, and they also have the Institute of Space Physics.
The re-development of Kiruna is a reconstruction project, as the Kirunavaara mine, run by LKAB, undermines the current town center. Several buildings, including Sweden´s most beautiful church and the famous Town Hall, are to be moved or demolished. The whole town center is to be moved 3 kilometers to the east.
The ground deformations became apparent in 2003, and the redevelopment started in 2007. The moving of the town was started in 2014 and is expected to be finished by 2100. According to the plan, there will be a denser city centre with a greater focus on sustainability, green and blue infrastructure, pedestrians and public transport rather than automobiles.
Walking the empty streets at night, the snowy silence is almost visible, touchable, embedding you in cotton cold. I wonder how the people here really feel…knowing most of them will have to leave their homes and their familiar surroundings for something they have not chosen themselves. A great piece of history will be lost, and I guess a piece of Lapland´s soul as well.
Leya 
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