Wordless Wednesday - Rosslare, Ireland.

 

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Wordless Wednesday, Valentia Island Ireland.

 On the road from Dingle to Cahersiveen we saw a signpost to Valentia Island and decided to cross the bridge to explore. There was a lot of slate mining done there in the past but it appears deserted now.

I have no idea what the white pentagon is in the photo. It wasn't visible when I took the photo so assume it was a light reflection. At least that is what I hope it was!

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Wordy Wednesday - Camp, Dingle Peninsula.

 Last week I had a couple of comments saying that they didn't know Ireland had hurricanes. They rarely do, but while we were there Hurricane Ophelia was racing across the Atlantic. It was originally losing some power until it went through an area of warmer air and quickly picked up strength again. We knew Ireland was going to take the brunt of it, particularly the area near Cork where we were staying. We were lucky to be staying in a substantial bed and breakfast when it struck. We stood in our bedroom and saw several trees uprooted. Soon the electric went out and the owner told us there were power lines and trees down everywhere. We were due to move on that day but couldn't get out, and of course her new guests couldn't get there, so we were able to stay another night. Thankfully she had a small back up generator so kept us well fed.

Next morning she told us some of the roads had been re-opened but not all. We decided to take a chance and drive on to our next bed and breakfast in the hamlet of Camp. We got there with no major hold ups but saw a lot of destruction of old mature trees on the way.

When we got to our bed and breakfast in Camp, the owner said they had been relatively untouched by the hurricane even though they were probably less than 50 miles away as the crow flies.

The day after the hurricane.

Driftwood washed up onto the beach.

He didn't seem to be bothered by the weather the day before!

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Wordless Wednesday Cahir Ireland.

 

Baylough, a glacier corrie lake

Knockmealdown Mountains. It was very misty but we were told when we got back to the B&B that it was actually a good day and we were lucky to see the mountains. We found out 2 days later how lucky we had been with the weather when hurricane Ophelia struck and caused widespread damage, then followed another 2 days later by a severe storm!

Swans below the mountains.

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Wordless Wednesday - Lough Derg and Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland.

 

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Wordless Wednesday, Adare, Ireland.

 Three views of the village of Adare in County Limerick, Republic of Ireland.

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Wordless Wednesday.

 Carrick- a - Rede rope bridge, Northern Ireland, and no, I didn't cross it!!

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Wordless Wednesday - Glendalough.

 

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Wordless Wednesday - Gefion Fountain, Copenhagen.

 

The Goddess who created Zealand

The powerful goddess Gefion - who according to the story originated from Norse mythology - was offered as much land in Sweden as she was able to plough during one day and one night by the Swedish King Gylfe. To fulfil this task she turned her four sons into strong oxen. Gefion and the oxen did their job so well that they were able to create Zealand the Island where Copenhagen is situated. This great work left a huge hole in Sweden - where Lake Vänern is placed. On a map you will notice that the outline of Zealand matches the outline of Lake Vänern.

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Wordless Wednesday - Bergen,

Rosenkrantz Tower, Bergenhus Fortress, Bergen, Norway.

"The tower was built in the 1560s by the governor of Bergen Castle (Bergenhus), Erik Rosenkrantz, and served as a combined residence and fortified tower.

The Rosenkrantz Tower is considered one of the most important renaissance monuments in Norway. Parts of the tower are from the 1270s, but it has been extended on several occasions for the purpose of fortification and as a demonstration of power.

If you climb up the narrow and dark flights of stairs you can climb right up onto the roof, which provides impressive views. The tower was the residence of King Eirik Magnusson, who was the last king to hold court in Bergen, until he died in 1299. Later the tower housed less fortunate residents – the cellar contains the notorious dungeon, which was probably in use well into the 19th century."

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Wordless Wednesday.

 A back street in Bruges away from all the tourists.

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Wordless Wednesday - Helsinki.

The statue of the Three Blacksmiths is a sculpture by Felix Nylund, located in the Three Blacksmiths Square at the intersection of Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. This realistic statue, unveiled in 1932, depicts three naked blacksmiths hammering on an anvil.

 Of the three blacksmiths depicted, one is a master blacksmith holding an iron on the floor. The other two blacksmiths are hammering the iron. Nylund used wrestlers from the Jyry gymnastics and sports club as models for the blacksmiths’ bodies. The face of the blacksmith is that of the poet Arvid Mörne, the face of the blacksmith holding up the hammer is that of Nylund himself and the face of the blacksmith holding down the hammer is that of the sculptor Aku Nuutinen. It is said that the mason Paavo Koskinen and the policeman Sundström posed as models.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

(Not) Wordless Wednesday.

We visited the Cathedral of Peter and Paul while in St. Petersburg.

The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family, who were finally laid to rest in July 1998.

Of the post-Petrine rulers, only Peter II and Ivan VI are not buried here. Peter II is buried in the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin; Ivan VI was executed and buried in the fortress of Shlisselburg or Kholmogory (alleged discovery at Kholmogory in 2010 currently under forensic investigation).

On September 28, 2006, 78 years after her death, Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, was reinterred in the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul. Wife of Tsar Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II (the last Russian tsar), Maria Feodorovna died on 13 October 1928 in exile in her native Denmark and was buried in Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark. In 2005, the governments of Denmark and Russia agreed that the empress's remains should be returned to Saint Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband. 

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.