Friday 27 April 2012

Container ship Komet III and the less lucky tanker Green Forest in the Sound



Today at about 16.20 PM the Antigua/Bermuda registered conctainer ship Komet III passed Helsingborg/Helsingør on its way from Gdansk to Gent.





Just  behind Komet III you can see the Danish tugboat Switzer Nerthus towing the less lucky oil/chemical tanker Green Forest, which must have experienced som kind of engine or other technical problems.


Thursday 26 April 2012

AIDAsol and Pearl Seaways in the Sound

The flagship of the AIDA fleet, AIDAsol, this morning at about 07.45 slowly approached Helsingør/Helsingborg on its way from Oslo to Copenhagen. There are cabins for 2192 passengers on the 253 x 36m ship, which was built by the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg in 2011. On May 12 AIDAsol´s successor as flagship, the sister ship AIDAmar, will be christened in Hamburg, with great festivities.

AIDAsol on its way to Copenhagen

Moments later the Oslo - Copenhagen ferry  Pearl Seaways was ready to pass  AIDAsol

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Prins Hendrik greets Hamlet´s castle



A Dutch prince, the LPG tanker Prins Hendrik (153 x 24m), passed Hamlet´s Kronborg castle late this afternoon on its way from Gdansk to Göteborg.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Offbeat humor

Sometimes it is nice to relax a little by reading, listening to, or looking at something funny.


" 'There's threepence for you and Master wishes you'd move on'. 'Threepence indeed!! I never moves on under sixpence - d'ye think I doesn't know the walley o' peace and quietness' " caricature by Robert Seymour, published in Seymour's Humorous Sketches by Henry Bohn, 1878. 
 

"Doorman, call me a cab."

Sir, I am not a doorman. I am an admiral in the U.S. Navy."

"Fine - then call me a boat."


"A Pic Nic. O lawkes, theres that nasty cow walking all over our dinner! ..." caricature by Robert Seymour, published in Seymour's Humorous Sketches by Henry Bohn, 1878. 


Man on plane: "Look, the people way down there look like ants."

Wife: "They are ants, stupid. We´re still on the ground."

xxx

"Your beef stew was delicious. May I have the recipe?"

Chef on the SS United States: "Certainly. First you take 3000 onions ...."


"Gent in a soft voice: A small portion of veal and ham, well done! Waiter in a voice of thunder: Plate o'weal, an damn well done" caricature by Robert Seymour, published in Seymour's Humorous Sketches by Henry Bohn, 1878

"Welcome to Pago."


"I thought it was Pago Pago."


"It´s not half the place it used to be."




PS

The jokes above are from "The Best in Offbeat Humor" by Paul B. Lowney, published in 1968.
(I noticed that there is now a sequel to the book available.)

The caricatures are for sale at Steve Bartrick´s wonderful collection of old prints and maps.

Monday 23 April 2012

Container ship Sandy Rickmers passing by




Another container "workhorse" - the Sandy Rickmers - passed by tonight on its way to Antwerp. The 159 x 25m ship carried a rather large load of containers, which should make the owners happy.

Helsingborg - The (also cultural) pearl of the Sound

The characteristic roof of the Dunker cultural center is easily recognizable from a long distance when you arrive e.g. by ferrry  from Denmark.
Helsingborg, the city located at the point where the strait between Sweden and Denmark is the narrowest, is often called the Pearl of the Sound, not without reason. What is maybe not so wellknown is that this city of 130.000 inhabitants also is a cultural "pearl".

There are not many cities of this size which can offer the same high quality cultural facilities and programs as Helsingborg.

The Helsingborg Concert Hall is a functionalistic masterpiece

The Helsingborg Concert Hall - the home of the internationally acclaimed Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (HSO) - is  recognized as one of the best concert halls in northern Europe. The hall, which was inaugurated in 1932, was was designed by Sven Markelius, one Sweden´s foremost 20th century architects.




This year the HSO, with the British violonist and conductor Andrew Manze as its Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, celebrates its 100th anniversary. Manze and his orchestra celebrate the centenary with a much lauded box set containing the symphonies of Brahms:

This is a remarkable new Brahms cycle: one of the most fiery, original and thought-provoking sets of the symphonies to have appeared in the digital era and one that is infused by historically informed evidence, played on modern instruments… for a wholly stimulating alternative view of Brahms, Andrew Manze and his Helsingborg orchestra are inspiring -- IRR OUTSTANDING --International Record Review, April 2012




A much more recent cultural building is the Dunker culture center, which was inaugurated 10 years ago. The house, beautifully located on the seafront, was designed by the world famous Danish architect Kim Utzon. It offers excellent facilities for exhibitions and small scale music and theatre performances. The city tourist office is also located in the Dunker building.

Ingmar Bergman was once the manager of the Helsingborg City Theatre

Finally, among the city´s main cultural facilities, we have the Helsingborg City Theatre, offering oustanding theatre productions. The City Theatre, which was founded in 1921, is the oldest municipal theatre in Sweden. The new building is from 1976.

Among the previous theatre managers Ingmar Bergman is without doubt the internationally most wellknown:

Sweden's oldest city theatre decided to appoint the untested 26-year-old Ingmar Bergman as its new manager in 1944. Thus he became Sweden's youngest ever theatre head, and was given free hand to choose his staff. During the two seasons he held the position, the theatre was transformed from a forgotten provincial stage with tiny audiences to an institution of national repute playing to full houses.

"For me this was paradise on earth"
- Ingmar Bergman


There are, of course, a number of other interesting cultural venues in Helsingborg catering to a variety of cultural tastes.

Beautiful sculptures are part of Helsingborg´s cultural ambiance