Skywatch Friday

This shot of a dramatic Arctic sky was taken
from a zodiac as we made our way
to a spot where polar bears had been spotted.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"open space"

No trees, no people—nothing but
350-million-year-old
mountains off in the distance.
This open space is Faksevagen, at
80°N latitude, up in the Arctic.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—Z is for "zodiac"

Fellow travelers in one of the zodiacs on
our August Arctic expedition.  This 
was well into the trip—when we were comfy
enough in these shallow rubber craft to 
stand up in them (not the case at first!) and
to get in and out of them in choppy seas.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I'm ending 2016 with this image of an
 old whaling boat up in the Arctic, a
part of the planet I visited for the first time
this year and that surprised me with its
interesting history and incredible beauty.
Happy New Year to all of you!

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—S is for "stream"

And also for the island of Spitsbergen,
and Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago where
it's located.  And for surprised—I
never expected that the Arctic would be
as beautiful as it is.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Skywatch Friday

I was fortunate enough this past August and
September to get to travel quite a bit
(by plane, train, and boat).  The air miles
alone logged between Aug. 19 and Sept. 23 
were just under 17,000.   And I caught
some beautiful skies too—this one as I left Oslo.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

The Arctic—beautiful, peaceful, unspoiled.

[To see more b/w images,
visit Dragonstar's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—N is for "Norway"

We'd be coming in for a landing soon
in Oslo—and you'd hardly know you were
a quick train ride from the city.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

art-a-potties

These three French automated toilets from 1979 
are actually an art installation in Oslo.
It's called "Liberté" and there are sound systems
inside each one that play recordings of
speeches from WWII by Roosevelt, DeGaulle, 
and the Norwegian king Haakon.

(If you're confused, it might help a bit to know 
that one of the lesser-known goals of the 
French Revolution was supposedly to provide
public toilets for les citoyennes.)

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday 
and Our World Tuesday.]

Thursday Challenge—sun (#2)

At +/- 80° north latitude, this is what
the Midnight Sun looks like.
Toward the end of my recent journey in 
the Arctic, the sun did (sort of) set—
then rose 10 minutes later
in the exact same spot (and I still
don't quite understand how that works).

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, go here.]

inSPIREd Sunday

The Svalbard Church is in Longyearbyen, on Spitsbergen,
and is the only church in The Svalbard Archipelago
of Norway.  (This wooden church was built in
1958 to replace the former one, which was destroyed
during WWII.)  Its real claim to fame is that at 78+°N latitude,
it is the northernmost church in the world.

* By the way, this is my 3,000th post (!) *

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

Downtown Oslo

Oslo is a beautiful city, very walkable
and very friendly, with lots of
gardens, fountains, and sculpture to
admire and enjoy. 

[Linking back to Pink Saturday at
How Sweet the Sound.]

Weekend Reflections

This is one of our guides on the Arctic expedition; 
she did most of her studies in Ecology and Environment
in the Himalayas.  When I took this shot of her goggles
(in a place where we hiked called Faksevagen), she said,
"Why does everyone want to take a picture of me like this?"
Maybe I wasn't the only Weekend Reflections 
maven on that trip.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—J is for "jellyfish"

This fairly large (+/- a foot across) flower-shaped 
jellyfish (can you see the clear "petals"?) 
must be one hardy specimen . . .

because this is the next picture I took.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Akershus Castle

It's also a fortress, and has been successfully
protecting Oslo since sometime in the early 1300s.
 It's open to the public but is still a military area 
(don't when these cannons were last used though).

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Up, up, and away (again)

I'm off tonight, this time to a slightly warmer
place.   Should have Internet, unlike
 in the Arctic, so I'll post ahead and hope 
you'll visit while I'm on the road.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Blue Monday

Coming in to Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) at the end of an
incredible journey.  This is about the point in the
year when the sun begins to set and the residents of this
northernmost Norwegian town enjoy the
"blue hour" 24/7 until the sun disappears altogether,
to reappear sometime in March.

[To see more Blue Monday posts,
visit Jeanne ay Backyard Neighbor.]
 

inSPIREd Sunday

This is one of the spires of the Domkirke, in Oslo.
I tried to get inside to take pictures twice
and never did manage to do it.
The first time there was a concert going on, the
second time it was a funeral.

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Am enjoying some major jet lag here and
still trying to get back on track.
Here's a curious Norwegian bird that
I found in Oslo.  Later I would see hundreds
of thousands while visiting the
Svalbard Archipelago.

[To see more b/w pics, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Waaay Up North

I chose this photo (taken by my daughter Katie)
for today for a few reasons:  It's up above the Arctic
Circle and that makes me think "cold" and that
reminds me that today is the first day of winter;
it's barely 20 degrees from the North Pole
 and that makes me think of Santa, who'll
be here soon; and in one week Katie and her
sister Lila will be headed in the polar opposite
(so to speak) direction on their way to Antarctica!

[To see more Skywatch Friday pics, go here.]