Saturday 29 September 2012

My 100th Helsingborg - Helsingør ferry crossing

This afternoon I documented my 100th ferry crossing between Helsingborg and Helsingør. The trip, which takes only 20 minutes, is always a pleasure, with the added bonus of beautiful arrival panoramas at both ends. And the ever changing Øresund scenery never disappoints:

One of the Scandlines ferries arriving at Helsingborg
View from the Aurora towards Kattegat

The medieval cathedral is always clearly visible on arrival at Helsingør

Hamlet´s castle - Kronborg - is being renovated
A tourist coach on board the Aurora 
The Tycho Brahe on its way to Helsingør
The approach to Helsingborg, with one of the ferries waiting for the Aurora to arrive  first
The old lighthouse welcomes seafarers in the Helsingborg harbour


Friday 28 September 2012

A beautiful private garden in Sweden

I have long admired a small private garden in the coastal town of Höganäs in southwestern Sweden. Today, when I visited Höganäs, I took these photos of the magical garden for you to enjoy:






PS
From a Swedish gardening blog I found out that this garden belongs to artist (painter) Simon Arne. When Arne and his family moved into the house in 1982, he began planting boxwood cuttings, which he had acquired from several Swedish castle and manor gardens (there are many of them in southern Sweden!). First he had cut the boxes into different figures, but soon he found out that rounded shapes were more suited for the relatively small garden. 

Thursday 27 September 2012

A portrait of a black cat

This black neighborhood cat posed nicely for me this afternoon. He seemed to be somewhat cautious at  first, but a few nice words was enough to convince him/her about my peaceful purpose:





Tuesday 25 September 2012

Ducks in Helsinborg

Ducks are nice - also the ones I found in a pond in Helsingborg today:



The historic Pålsjö cold bath facility in Helsingborg


The Pålsjö cold bath facility has been a Helsingborg landmark since the beginning of the 1880´s. The present y-formed construction, which includes a number of bathing huts with ridged roofs and a sauna, was built in 1909. A study made in 2008 showed that the pillars supporting the buildings are severely affected by corrosion, and the entire facility has to be rebuilt, retaining the old architectonic shape. The rebuilding work is expected to start early next year.




Monday 24 September 2012

Autumn pictures

The summer is gone here in southern Sweden. But autumn colours can also be nice:







A peaceful bunker hideaway in southern Sweden

There are over 1000 bunkers and other types of protection in the Skåne (Scania) Line - a 500 kilometer long line of light fortifications erected during World War II around the coast of southern Sweden. During the cold war the line was further strengthened. Almost all of the fortifications are still standing, although emptied of military equipment. A number of the fortifications are now managed by the Military Preparedness Museum ("Beredskapsmuseet") and have been undergoing an extensive renovation.



This particular bunker, which I found on the shore of the Kulla-Gunnarstorp Nature Reserve, has not been renovated by the Preparedness Museum. Instead some enterprising person has converted a corner of  it into a peaceful hideaway, with a nice little bench and an open grill. 



And the text on the "wall decoration" is something for all of us to remember: 

"Small, small words of love, said every day
will fill your home with sunshine and enjoyment"