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."

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

 

Wordless Wednesday.

 A back street in Bruges away from all the tourists.

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

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.