WPC: Admiration

29 april, 201629 april, 2016 / Leya / 26 kommentarer

I admire many people. People who struggle hard to get a decent life, people who save other people’s lives, people who have accomplished great things… But there is one man I admire perhaps the most of all. The Dalai Lama.

We all know his story, how he was taken from his parents at an early age – being the chosen one. How he had to flee his country from the invading Chinese, and how he has managed to survive and be the leader and role model for so many people in the world. His gentle wisdom, his smiling eyes, his message of peace and nonviolence is recognized worldwide.

The Dalai Lama has my deepest admiration .

In the header is a picture from Malmoe, when he visited in 2011. I had listened to him once before in Lund, but this time I also happened to be right at the entrance just when he left the building.

After the interesting and joyful interview, he walked out to the waiting car…

…saying his gentle goodbyes to all of us. For this time. In my heart, I hope to see him again. Some day. Somewhere.

SL-WEEK 39: Candle

11 april, 201611 april, 2016 / Leya / 28 kommentarer

Candle light in Sweden is perhaps mostly connected to winter and Christmas time. In the header, the wreath of box and candles I make every year for our dining room.

For Sylvain Landry – Candle.

Medieval restaurant in Riga – only candle light.

The chandelier in Frösö Church, Jämtland, Sweden.

A simple candle at my winter table.

Travel theme: Sensory

26 mars, 201626 mars, 2016 / Leya / 10 kommentarer

Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack ? wants us to use our senses – and one of the places where most senses are at work is the Jokhang temple in Tibet. The dense smoke and all the people – eating, waiting, praying…

…and the Tibetan landscape…its vastness and immense beauty, Its total silence is overwhelming.

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.

WPC: One Love

11 mars, 2016 / Leya / 22 kommentarer

One love refers to the universal love and respect expressed by all people for all people, regardless of race, creed, or color.

—The Urban Dictionary

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.

Cold and Hot Shocks – Gullfoss, Pools and Coffee

1 februari, 20161 februari, 2016 / Leya / 40 kommentarer

Gullfoss (the Golden Falls) has its origin in the glacier lake Hvítávatn (the White River Lake) at Lángjökull glacier about 40km north of Gullfoss. The river Hvítá flows into a wide curved three-step ”staircase” and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice, seemingly vanishing into the earth, 32 m down. The crevice is about 20 m wide, and 2.5 km in length, and the average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime.

Over the years, there has been much speculation about using Gullfoss to generate electricity. However, the investors’ attempts have been unsuccessful, partly due to lack of money. The waterfall now belongs to the state of Iceland,

Legend has it that Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of the former owner of the falls, Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve Gullfoss as it had always been, and even threatened to throw herself into the waterfall. The story of the saviour of the falls is unfortunately… not true. But beautiful it is – there is even a statue made of Sigríður, standing close to the site.

When visiting Gullfoss, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland, we were in for one of the most icy cold shocks ever. The air temperature maybe 8 degrees below zero – but the strong wind made it feel like -30 something.

Three of us ventured out of the car, well prepared, but faces and fingers still suffered severely. Not the best circumstances for good shots – despite sun and clear sky. We ”fired” for about five minutes, then tried to reach the car without breaking any arms, legs or cameras.

Fortunately the path to the cliffs was closed – trying to reach the ”platform” could have ended your life. During summer this spot offers a spectacular view of the falls.

But, surely you can see the golden light of the Golden Falls…even in winter?

The walk to reach the rails was not successfully made by more than 10-15 people during our short stay. It was not possible to come closer for another angle of the crevice.

Trying to regain some body heat, we were delighted to dive into the warm car and follow the glacier river Hvitá down stream.

The sunset painted the surrounding landscape using mostly short sweeps of the brush…

…leaving only few white light spots around the corner of the hills. Soon the Icelandic evening was upon us.

Our plan was to go to The Secret Lagoon for a hot bath – the perfect ending of any day. In fact, every day was ended off with bathing in hot pools – which is a great habit with the Icelanders. Their bathing culture is strong, and they make it clear to every visitor that they have to take off their clothes and shower thoroughly without swimsuit. This is a must before entering the pools.

Here a gallery of hot pools and earthen baked bread and hot coffee…I hope you are inspired!

100 degrees, 24 hours later

Rye bread, butter and cheese

Laugarvatn Fontana

Laugardalur, Reykjavik

Inside out…

Fresch vegetables and fruit

Most famous cafe – Mokka…

…interior from the 50’s

Facts on Gullfoss: Wikipedia

Strokkur, Ice and Horses

30 januari, 201630 januari, 2016 / Leya / 40 kommentarer

Heading for the Geysir area in the cold of the morning. There is not much traffic in Iceland, and they do not sand or salt their roads.

This is post number six on Iceland, and there is one or two more to come. If you have missed out on the other ones, here are the links.

A Taste of Reykjavik, Heading for South Iceland, More South Iceland Magic, Land of Ice and Fire, Landscapes of Iceland, Thingvellir.

As usual- click the pictures to enlarge.

Open sky, and the coldest day so far…my hands were quite stiff from the start. Strong wind and we were told not to open more than one door at a time …

Slowly the sun opened up the landscape. – 12 degrees and no possibility to leave the car because of the icy road, the wind and the cold.

The small farmsteads all awake – the horses too.

All of them a bit far from the road –

– but we waited patiently…

The Geysir area was not crowded with people today, so we gathered around Strokkur – that spouts every 8-10 minutes, 20-30 metres, sometimes with a double puff.

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After warming up our hands and faces inside the restaurant, we talked about Geysir being the first Geysir in the world – and giving name to all existing Geysirs. He is no longer active, even if he came back to life for some months after the last volcano eruption.

Sadly enough it was impossible to walk up to Geysir this time – As you can see in the header, the ice made it nearly impossible without risking your life…

In the heated car, we headed for Gullfoss and the river Hvitá – White, in English. Many glacier rivers are named Hvitá because of their colour.

On the road we finally met Icelandic horses close-up. They were standing quite still with the tough wind coming from behind.

These horses came to Iceland with the Norse Vikings, in the 9th-10th century, and there has been no cross breeding for 1000 years. This means that there is no purer breed anywhere in the world. The Icelandic horses are small, long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases. In fact, Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return.

I think you agree with me that they are also extremely beautiful!

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.

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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.