Day: November 20, 2011

Next stop was the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

 

This is the Sibelius Monument, or the “Love of Music.”  It’s an abstract work of 600 pipes (like a pipe organ) to commemorate Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius.  Apparently, the artist only wanted to include the pipes as a monument to the composer, but critics forced her to add a bust of the man… which adds a striking contrast.

 

Inside the “Love of Music.”

 

It’s one of the most popular tourist sites…

 

As Rick Steves says, it’s a forest of pipes in a forest of pipes.

 

In Wisconsin, we have Frank Lloyd Wright’s House on the Rock.  Well, this is the Church in the Rock.  It was built in 1969 and blasted out of solid granite.  Underneath the church is an air raid shelter for 6,000 people.

 

The center of the roof, which is made up of 13 miles of copper coil.

 

A typical house.

 

The Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral (that’s Finnish Orthodox … answering to the patriarch in Istanbul).  The cathedral was built in 1868 for the Russian military… back when Finland was a part of Russia.  There are 12 onion shaped domes (in orthodox fashion) that represent the 12 apostles.

 

Food in Market Square.  Delicious and fresh.  I love street food.

 

Anchovies.  Yumm.

 

Grilled salmon with berries.  We tried this and it was spectacular.

 

This is the Three Blacksmiths Statue.  It was built in 1932 and although I can’t find an officially intended meaning, I would say it seems to capture the spirit of hard work and cooperation pretty well.  Those are of course good Finnish traits as well.

 

That wraps up our brief stay in Finland.  Next up, the land of ice…

 

Until then…

 

–Jim

After Olso, we headed to the furthest Northern point we’ve ever been … inside the Arctic Circle in Norway, and it was very beautiful and well worth the trip.  Although when we first arrived, it threatened to be overcast most of the time, the sun eventually come out.

 

 

We based ourselves out of Harstad in order to be able to access all the amazing natural wonders nearby.  This is Trondenes church and its claim to fame is that it’s the northern most medieval stone church in Norway.  It was preceded by a stave church (like the one we saw in Oslo), and this one was built in the 15th century (although there is claim that it was built in the 13th century).

 

We decided that since the town of Andenes is one of the best places to see sperm whales, we wanted to go out and look for Moby Dick ourselves.  Fortunately, our captain was no Ahab.  The crew aboard our Whale Safari was all about studying and learning from these immense animals, instead of hunting them.

 

Sperm whales are so named for the large amounts of spermaceti found in their head.  This fluid looks somewhat similar to sperm and was therefore initially mistaken as such.  However, the actual function of spermaceti is uncertain.

 

Although they aren’t as acrobatic as the humpback whale, these creatures of up to 20 meters (for males, at least), are certainly impressive.  On our trip, we encountered four of them.

 

Ironically, this sperm whale was called Ishmael.

 

In the land of the midnight sun, twilight has a great color.  This photo was taken at 9:30 PM on a coastal road that was simply breathtaking.

 

These beautiful flowers were in full bloom almost everywhere we went.

 

A typical Norwegian barn.  However with the Scandinavian influence in the Midwest (particularly Wisconsin), this could easily be an image from there too.

 

More of the wild coastal road.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lofoten Islands are some of the most spectacular in the world and one of the main reasons we chose this area to visit.  Here are handful of pictures from our time on the islands.

 

Quintessential.

 

Although it looks great in the summer, I’m not sure how I would feel living here in the eternal darkness of winter.

 

The fishing village of Henningsvær.

 

We drove to the tiny village of Eggum next.  On the way, we encountered some sheep who had taken over the roadway.  As you can see, they also marked their territory.  🙂

 

The coastline was beautiful and the three of us took a hike out along the remote trail.

 

The landscape was a unique mix of alpine and maritime.

 

 

Markus Raetz sculpted this head to be seen in 16 different ways as you walk around it.  The idea is that everything is a matter of perspective.  I agree.

 

More sheep … and X preparing his attack.

 

I’m coming to get’cha!!!!

 

The village of Eggum with billows of clouds forming on the mountain top.

 

More views of the Lofoten Islands.

 

 

 

 

Another gorgeous sunset in an Arctic paradise.

 

That concludes our forray into the Arctic.  Next stop, Finland.

 

Until then…

 

–Jim

Over the summer we took a little trip to Scandinavia…  We began our voyage in Olso.  The Norweigan capital was still reeling from the tragedy of the mass murder by a domestic terrorist.

 

 

The juxtaposition and symbolism struck me…

 

One of our first stops was the Norwegian Folk Museum.  This is very similar to the folk museum we visited in Sweden.  There are 140 buildings gathered from around Norway in this open-air museum.  It was fascinating to wander through the spectrum of Norwegian architecture.

 

This is one of the highlights of the museum, the Stave Church.  It was built in the 12th century, with remodeling done in the 17th and 19th centuries.  The church was moved to its present location in the museum in 1884.

 

These are a couple of the stabbur, or raised store houses.

 

Alexander had fun on the slide.

 

A self portrait.

 

We also stopped by the Viking ship museum. This is a view of the Oseberg ship.  It was used in the 9th century by the Vikings.  In 834, it became a burial chamber for two women.  It was relatively common practice to equip the burial sites with everything that was thought to be needed in the after life.  As such, this ship also became an important source of Viking age artifacts.

 

This is the hull of the second intact Viking ship, the Gokstad.  This ship was also built in the 9th century, but slightly later than the Oseberg ship.  It’s an impressive ship… it’s built to be rapidly reconfigured for use with sails, oars and in deep and shallow water.  A replica of the ship sailed from Bergen in Northern Norway to Chicago (via the Great Lakes) in 1893.  Seeing a ship like this, it’s clear how the Vikings were able to reach North America, hundreds of years before Columbus “discovered” the Americas.

 

Anna with a sleeping Alexander on her back.

 

 

Perhaps our favorite park in Norway was the Vigeland Park, where the work of artist Gustav Vigeland is proudly displayed.  His works highlight the range of human emotion … in its purest forms, without the cover of clothing.  This is the world’s largest sculpture garden by a single artist.  It was executed between 1939-1949 by the artist himself.   There are over 200 sculptures included in this masterwork.

 

 

 

Even the iron gate is a work of art.

 

This is the monolith that is the center piece of the park, but more on that later.

 

As you might imagine, we liked this family sculpture.

 

As with this couple.

 

There are numerous couples and groups of people.  Not all were happy, and all had deep symbolic meaning.  Vigeland’s idea was to capture the whole range and we feel like he was very successful in doing so!

 

This is the monolith.  It’s a huge carving from a single block of granite.  There are 121 figures carved into the block and it stands a mighty 17.3 meters high.

 

A group of smiling girls in front of the monolith.

 

Some of the figures from the monolith.

 

This, to me, depicts the constant struggle of life.  We can help and hinder those near us, and the repercussions travel throughout the whole society.  Everything is interconnected.

 

The grounds of the park were quite beautiful.

 

A carefree girl in bronze.

 

Break free of the endless cycle of repetition.

 

We also took a little break from the sculptures to let Alexander explore by himself.  As you can see, he loved it.

 

 

 

Hey, what are you guys doing over there??

 

And with a little smile, he made a couple friends.  As you can see, he seems to be drawn to pretty girls.

 

Anna’s touching the Sinnataggen or the Angry Boy … apparently, the sculptor was depicting a young English lad in a particularly ill tempered moment.

 

 

 

After the park, we headed out to see the Holmenkollen Ski Jump and Ski Museum.  This is a view that the ski jumpers get right before they plunge head first down the steep ramp.  In the short amount of time it takes to reach the launch zone, the skiers have accelerated to about 95 km/hr (60 MPH).  Although the platform is only 3 meters high, they skiers can fly for about 4.5 seconds and can end up traveling another 130+ meters before touching the ground again.  Talk about a rush!

 

Looking back up the hill.

 

The steel ski jump with a K-spot of 120.

 

That completes the first leg of our journey… next up, into the Arctic Circle.

 

Until then…

 

–Jim