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EXIF: Sigma 16 mm f/8 1/250 ISO-100 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

I have never understand this sign, because every winter there is 3-4 boats laying on the grass.

HAPPY FRIDAY to all my readers!

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EXIF: Sigma 16 mm f/9 1/100 ISO-200 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY!!! and we are digging it!

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EXIF: Sigma 19 mm f/5,6 1/25 ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

IN A COUPLE OF DAYS:
The winter solstice occurs some time between December 21 and December 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere and between June 20 and June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere.

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EXIF: Nikkor 18 mm f/3,5 0,6 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

This is a model of the ship.
Vasa (or Wasa) was a Swedish warship that was built from 1626 to 1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (ca 2 km) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. Vasa fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century. She was located again in the late 1950s, in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. She was salvaged with a largely intact hull on 24 April 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet (“The Wasa Shipyard”) until 1987, and was then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions and, as of 2007, has attracted more than 25 million visitors.

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EXIF: Nikkor 40 mm f/4,5 1,5 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

Vasa was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, she was allowed to set sail and foundered a few minutes later when she first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze. The impulsive move to set sail resulted from a combination of factors. Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, who was abroad on the date of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see Vasa join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years’ War. At the same time, the king’s subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship’s structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the privy council to find someone responsible for the disaster, but no sentences were handed out.

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EXIF: Nikkor 18 mm f/3,5 1,8 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the hull of the Vasa by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship itself have provided historians with invaluable insight into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. No expense was spared in decorating and equipping the Vasa, one of the largest and most heavily armed warships of her time, adorned with hundreds of sculptures, all of them painted in vivid colors. She was intended to express the expansionist aspirations of Sweden and the glory of king Gustavus Adolphus.

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EXIF: Nikkor 18 mm f/4 1/60 ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

Just before Vasa was ordered, work at the Stockholm shipyard was led by Antonius Monier, with Dutch-born Henrik Hybertsson as hired shipbuilder. On 16 January 1625, Henrik and his brother, Arendt Hybertsson de Groote, took over the shipyard and soon signed a contract to build four ships, two larger with a keel of around 135 feet (41 m) and two smaller of 108 feet (33 m).

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EXIF: Nikkor 26 mm f/4 1/60 ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

Vasa’s hull was complete enough to be launched in 1627, probably during the spring. After this, work most likely began on finishing the upper deck, the stern castle, the beakhead and the rigging. Sweden had still not developed a sizeable sailcloth industry, and material had to be ordered from abroad, some from France but also from Germany and the Low Countries. The sails were mostly made of hemp and partly of flax. The rigging was made entirely of hemp imported from Latvia through Riga. The king visited the shipyard in January 1628 and made what was probably his only visit aboard the ship.

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EXIF: Nikkor 18 mm f/3,5 1,1 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

On 10 August 1628, Captain Söfring Hansson ordered Vasa to set sail on her maiden voyage to the naval station at Älvsnabben. The day was calm, and the only wind was a light breeze from the southwest. The ship was towed along the waterfront to the southern side of the harbor, where three sails were set, and the ship made way to the east. The gun ports were open, and the guns were out to fire a salute as the ship left Stockholm. Finally the great ship had begun her voyage.

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EXIF: Nikkor 18 mm f/3,5 2 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

After Vasa emerged from the lee of the city, a gust of wind filled her sails, and she heeled suddenly to port. The sheets were cast off, and the ship slowly righted herself as the gust passed. Soon another gust came, which again forced the ship onto her port side, this time causing water to flow through the open lower gun ports. The incoming rush of water caused Vasa to heel further, and she sank to a depth of 32 metres (100 ft) only 120 metres (390 ft) from shore. Survivors clung to debris to save themselves, and many nearby boats rushed to their aid, but despite these efforts and the short distance to land, 30 to 50 people perished with the ship, according to reports. The flags and the tops of the main and fore masts, still visible above the surface, leaned heavily to port because of ballast that had shifted during the sinking. Vasa sank in full view of a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly ordinary Stockholmers who had come to see the great ship set sail. The crowd included foreign ambassadors, in effect spies of Gustavus Adolphus’ allies and enemies, who also witnessed the catastrophe.

source: In English Vasa In Norwegian Vasa In Swedish Vasa

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EXIF: Nikkor 22 mm f/3,8 1/25 ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

This picture is from Stockholm and we didn’t quite get the ‘thing’ about these cars as we noticed that many of the children passing by did move the stickers on the cars. One thing is clear, I wouldn’t have parked here.

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EXIF: Nikkor 40 mm f/4,5 0,8 sec ISO-400 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

We are back from Stockholm and we did walk over this bridge several times. The workers did work on the rails between the passing of the trains and it did seems like a dangerous place to be, but there was always one who did have a lookout for the other two that was working so I guess that they had the right routines in place.

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EXIF: Nikkor 90 mm f/5,6 1/125 ISO-200 (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)

This picture is also from Amsterdam.

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EXIF: Nikkor 48 mm f/7,1 1/60 ISO-200

This is a little fun with Photoshop and all its amazing filters.

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EXIF: Nikkor 105 mm f/8 1/80 ISO-200

I took this picture when visiting Röe Gård (English, Norwegian) in Sweden this weekend.

This picture is from Amsterdam last autumn and I have never seen so many bicycles in my live, but then I haven’t been to Beijing……

The picture looks best in full size, just click on it.
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EXIF: Nikkor 31 mm f/4,2 1/60 ISO-320

I do think I shall switch ON the engine heater!
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EXIF: Nikkor 105 mm f/6,3 1/125 ISO-200

Weekend in Amsterdam.

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EXIF: Nikkor 62 mm f/5,3 1/40 ISO-400