Thursday 24 July 2008

Monday 21 July 2008

Odd Shots Monday # 15

Having a pee.



Just having a nap.

The Odd Shots concept came from Katney. Say "G'day" to her.

Sunday 20 July 2008

Blaafarveværket Museum - Modum # 1


The Cobalt Mines
The Cobalt Mines on the ridge of Skuterudåsen stretch three kilometres from north to south. Visitors can walk along the side of enormous open-cast mines in a remarkable man-made landscape. They can also take a guided tour into the mines and experience the special atmosphere of tunnels and chambers inside the mountain. The small museums in the mining area give visitors an insight into the working methods and tools used by the miners, and archive material from Blaafarveværket provides information about wages, welfare schemes etc.. There is also a school museum here, with a display about the three schools operated by the Glass Works. You will also be able to visit the Theodor Kittelsen Museum, which exhibits many of the artist’s writings, furnishings and marvellous paintings. And the Cobalt Mines themselves are surrounded by a beautiful but bewitching landscape, reminiscent of Kittelsen’s pictures!
Source: Blaafarveverket








































Haugfoss
Blaafarveværkets old general stores and inn, both steeped in tradition, are at Haugfosstråkka (the open area near Haugfoss) close to the magnificent Haugfossen waterfall. The 300-year old general stores offer an enormously varied range of goods, including freshly-ground coffee, old-fashioned sweets, wooden ladles and leather bags. There is also a jewellery shop here, selling baskets, wrought iron and fine jewellery made from different minerals. The Thranestua is Blaafarveværkets inviting coffee house and pastry shop. In good weather you can take your cake and coffee out on to the terrace and enjoy watching and listening to the magnificent waterfall. A delightful spot for a rest between the different exhibitions, and a good place to stop on the way to Eggedal and Norefjell.There is also a jewellery shop at Haugfoss, selling baskets, wrought iron and fine jewellery made from different minerals.












































Thursday 17 July 2008

Sky Watch Friday # 18


Some sky shots captured this week.

Immediatly before sunrice ( CET 04.00)





The King`s ship "Norge"



A little piece of the King`s farm at Bygdøy.



Oslo fjord




Heggholmen Lighthouse Station.


Heggholmen lighthouse stands at the end of an ashlar jetty by Heggholmen, innermost in the Oslo Fjord. The Swiss-style wooden lighthouse has one and a half stories. The station has a corner light with a 6th order lens and a tower for the fog bell on the roof, plus a nautophone. The lighthouse station includes the jetty, lighthouse building with side wing and pier. The lighthouse forms a part of the island and harbour environment of the inner Oslo Fjord. The lighthouse station lies in an area regulated as a special area for preservation.Heggholmen lighthouse station, with its richly decorated Swiss-style building, has a costly and refined character that distinguishes it from most other wooden lighthouses. Its location in the inner Oslo Fjord means that the lighthouse station is also of important environmental significance. Although the actual bell is missing, the bell-tower and parts of the mechanism to the fog bell are still intact and of interest in the context of lighthouse technology.





Peacock



Haugfoss - Modum









For more Sky Watch photos, visit the Sky watch site - hosted by Sandy, Tom and Imac.




Monday 14 July 2008

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Yatch


One of only two remaining Royal Yachts in Europe, HNoMY Norge (in Norwegian, KS Norge, or K/S Norge) is the Royal Yacht of the King of Norway. The ship's name Norge is Norwegian for Norway.
The Royal Yacht Norge was the Norwegian people's gift to King Haakon VII in 1947. The yacht is owned by the King but maintained and manned by the Royal Norwegian Navy.
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.
Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for
steamship, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often used inconsistently, and frequently not at all. Sometimes a slash is used to separate the letters, as in "M/S".
Naval prefixes came into use as abbreviations for longer titles, such as "His/Her Majesty's Ship" in the
Royal Navy, abbreviated "H.M.S." and then "HMS". Earlier uses often included the type of vessel, as for instance "U.S.F." ("United States Frigate") for frigates of the United States Navy. Today the common practice is to use a single prefix for all warships of a nation's navy, and other prefixes for auxiliaries and ships of allied services, such as coast guards.

Some generic prefixes:

S/Y Sail Yacht

M/Y Motor Yacht

M/B Motor Boat

M/T Motor Tanker

S/S Steam Ship (eller D/S på norsk Damp Skip)

T/T Turbin Tanker

R/S Rescue Ship

M/F Motor Ferry

S/V Sailng Vessel


Aker Brygge




Nesøya Bridge and two old Colin Archer boats.




Colin Archer (22 July 1832 - 3 February 1921) was a naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. He was born of Scottish parents who emigrated to Norway in 1825.
Prior to his career as a naval architect in Norway, he spent time in
Queensland, Australia, with his brother, Thomas. While there, he sailed with a cargo up the Fitzroy River, Queensland "when it was almost if not quite unknown".
He and his
shipyard were known for building durable and safe ships. The most notable single ship built by Colin Archer was the Fram, which participated in expeditions to the North Pole, and later Roald Amundsen's historic first expedition to the South Pole. He also designed a sturdy sailing vessel class for the Redningsselskapet (The Norwegian Lifeboat institution) which was used for many years and now is referred to as a Colin Archer. Fram is now preserved in the Fram Museum on Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway. The prototype lifeboat "Colin Archer RS 1" is still afloat and in use as a floating museum.
Archer spent a lot of time calculating how an efficient hull should be designed. Even to this day, people still consult his work when designing new ships. He is credited with over 200 vessels.
Two rescue ships were named after him; the
Colin Archer of 1893 and a later Colin Archer.
Archer's designs were adapted to pleasure sailing in the 20th century. In 1928 William Atkin scaled down Archer's 47-foot Regis Voyager, a pilot boat, to make the 32-foot Eric. This design went on to become very influential in ocean sailing, with boats such as
Vito Dumas's Lehg II and Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili making notable circumnavigations. In the 1970s, the design was adapted to glass-reinforced plastic by William Crealock, and became the Westsail 32; this famous cruising boat has, in turn, inspired many imitations, so that the "Archer double-ender" style of boat continues to be popular to this day.
The Colin Archer Memorial Race sailing race is named in his honour. The race starts in
Lauwersoog (The Netherlands) and finishing near Larvik in Norway, organised every two years. The distance is about 365 nautical mile and -depending on the weather and the type of ship- the sailing time generally amounts to 3 to 5 days.















Christian Radich is a Norwegian full rigged ship, named after a Norwegian shipowner. The vessel was built at Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, and was delivered on 17 June 1937. The owner was The Christian Radich Sail Training Foundation established by a grant from a cavalry and officer of that name.

The vessel is a full rigged three masted steel hull, callsign is LJLM, its homeport is Oslo, and the IMO number is 5071729. The class society is Det Norske Veritas, DNV, and its built to +1A1, E0.


The vessel is 62.5 m long, with an overall length of 73 m including the bowsprit and a maximum width of 9.7 m. She has a draught of about 4.7 meters and a displacement at full load of 1050 tons. Under engine power, the Christian Radich reaches a top speed of 10 knots, while she can make up to 14 knots under sail.