SL-WEEK 37: Electricity

22 mars, 2016 / Leya / 4 kommentarer

Sylvain Landry this week – something essential in our high – tech society – electricity.

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River in China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest power station with a total electric generating capacity of 22.500MW.

The dam project was started in 1993 and completed in 2012,

As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River’s shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream. The Chinese government regards the project as a total success, However, the dam flooded archeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.4 million people, (See the post on Shibaozhai earlier.) It is also causing significant ecological changes, The Chinese river dolphin became extinguished and there is an increased risk of landslides. The dam was built in an area of potential earthquakes, and the consequences if – this would happen, would be disastrous.

There are two series of ship locks installed – each of them is made up of five stages, with transit time at around four hours. We passed during the night. Looking out from the balcony, this is what we saw.

Architecture and Giant Amazons

17 mars, 201617 mars, 2016 / Leya / 27 kommentarer

Den Blå Planet (The Blue Planet) opened in 2013 in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen. It resembles a whirlpool when seen from above, and was designed by Danish architects It covers a total of 12,000 m² (130,000 sq ft), including the 10,000 m² (110,000 sq ft) building and 2,000 m² (22,000 sq ft) outdoors.

The Blue Planet contains about 7,000,000 litres (1,500,000 imp gal; 1,800,000 US gal) of water divided into 53 exhibits. In the first year of existence, the aquarium received approximately 1.3 million visitors – twice as many as expected.

Just as the architecture is special and artistic, so are the giant freshwater fish from the Amazon. Look at those metal scales…and the intricate patterns on its head. Arowanas.

Surely man can never compete with nature in architecture.

CFFC: Things That Are Wet

1 mars, 2016 / Leya / 18 kommentarer

Things that are wet…great possibilities again from Cee. I came across an old picture …how wet is this?

For more things wet, click here.

WPC: Time

5 februari, 20165 februari, 2016 / Leya / 19 kommentarer

Time – we are all moving in it – and through it. And looking back…through what we think is a clear window frame, we realize the blur and the shadows. Time changes everything, and we can never know or be certain about the way everything looked or worked…

Not in Ostia Antica, Rome, and not even yesterday, at home. In our minds we can imagine or remember – but the moment in time is gone.

Travel theme: Gloss

30 januari, 2016 / Leya / 8 kommentarer

For Ailsa – Gloss – Copper and Brass

Travel theme: Future

23 januari, 2016 / Leya / 16 kommentarer

I hope for a green and brighter future, but alas…this is my potential scenario.

A Taste of Reykjavik

17 januari, 201617 januari, 2016 / Leya / 40 kommentarer

My greatest love in this beautiful city is of course the symbol of Reykjavik, Hallgrimskirkja (1937, 74,5 metres, and named after the Icelandic priest and writer Hallgrímur Pétursson.) by architect Guðjón Samúelsson. The church is spectacular in many ways – not only from the outside, but also the inside is serene and breathtakingly beautiful.

We arrived late in the evening this time, and walked slowly up to her in the freezing cold, Icelandic darkness.

In front of the church stands the Leif Eriksson statue. A gift from the US 1930 when the Icelandic Parliament, AllÞingi, celebrated its 1000 year jubilée. The Viking Leif Eriksson was the son of Erik Röde, who settled in Greenland. Leif himself was the first white man to discover America.

Let us go inside. My greatest love here is the magnificent organ.

Detta bildspel kräver JavaScript.

Houses in Reykjavik have to be strongly built for the rough climate. Some old wooden houses are being restored to show the old architecture – on which of course the new one is built. But I doubt any new house here has a wooden structure.

Restored old architecture

Not wood – but still beautiful

New materials – being repainted

The Concert Hall

Parliament and the Cathedral

What is difficult to see in these snowy pictures, is the typical Icelandic colourful houses. In my summer memories, Reykjavik looks like this:

Tjörnin is the lake in the middle of the city. There are always people here, playing, feeding the birds, or just walking and chatting.

The main shopping street ends with Hallgrimskirkja. And that is where we too end our snowy, first walk in Iceland and Reykjavik.

Cee’s B&W Challenge: Buildings

7 januari, 20167 januari, 2016 / Leya / 21 kommentarer

Buildings for Cee this week. Buildings do get a bit more character in B&W. Sometimes much more. These from Latvia, the outdoor museum in Riga.

For more inspiration, click here.

Cee’s B&W Challenge: Any Kind of Bricks or Stone Walls, Walks or Roads

2 januari, 20162 januari, 2016 / Leya / 8 kommentarer

The stone walls of this little hunting seat are orange with white window frames and decorations. For more of bricks and stone inspiration, click here.