The Fürstenberg art collection in Gothenburg

The first room in the Fürstenberg Gallery contains this large painting, "Scandinavian Artists' Lunch at Café Ledoyen" by Hugo Birger (1886)

The Gothenburg Museum of Art's  Fürstenberg Gallery contains an oustanding collection of Nordic art from the decades around the turn of the century. The collection was in 1902 donated to the city of Gothenburg by  the businessman and patron Pontus Fürstenberg and his wife Göthilda.

Pontus and Göthilda Fürstenberg. Etching by Anders Zorn.

In the 1920s the Fürstenberg collections was given a prominent place in the new museum building. The new Fürstenberg Gallery was pretty much a copy of the original gallery in the Fürstenberg palace. 

The Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt's "On the Sea" (1882) is another favorite in the Fürstenberg collection. 

"La Feria - the breakfast in Granada" (1883) by Hugo Birger  in the Fürstenberg Gallery. 

In 1885 Carl Larsson painted this watercolor of the interior of the  original  Fürstenberg Gallery. Pontus Fürstenberg is sitting in the foreground studying a graphic work, while Ernst Josephson is painting the portrait of Göthilda Fürstenberg in the background.

 

Cruise ferry Crown Seaways overtakes cruise ship AIDAmar in Øresund

Early this morning the DFDS cruise ferry Crown Seaways overtook cruise ship AIDAmar (253 m x 32 m) just before Helsingborg/Helsingør. Both ships were heading to Copenhagen. 

A canoeist in the Sound

Tonight this seasoned canoeist was paddling northwards in the Sound:

Moments later he was on his way back, probably to Helsingborg, about 5 km to the south from where I was standing.

On his way back, the paddler was overtaken by these swans, which were also on their way southwards.

Trolley buses or trams? - A hot topic already in the early 20th century

Electric trolley buses are again discussed as a possibility in mass transit systems, also in Sweden. Some academic mass transit experts e.g. at the University of Lund seem to prefer modern trolley buses over street cars (which are favored by most politicians). 

In 1905 these trolley buses were introduced in Hamburg in Germany on the route Blankenese - Marienhöhe:

At the time there were plans to introduce this type of trolley buses also here in Helsingborg. However, nothing came of these plans. Instead the city opted for trams (which were in use until 1967). 

Now there are plans to reintroduce trams in Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg as early as 2018 or 2020. The city of Landskrona (also in Scania) is currently the only city in Sweden with trolley buses.

The feeling after a dip

The water in the Sound is still rather chilly, but if you do not mind, a dip can be a rather refreshing experience:

Mallards enjoying seafood dinner in the Sound

These two local mallards were tonight busy with their evening meal:

After having finished their dinner, the mallards headed northwards in the Sound:

Birds sitting on chimneys

Crows and jackdaws like to rest on chimneys. 

This crow stayed for about 30 seconds. Then it made a decision to move to another location:

On another chimney nearby, this jackdaw rested for quite while:

PS
Observing birds on chimneys also makes one realize that there are chimneys possibly in need of repair ....

Magnolias

I now have the privilege to enjoy my neighbor's beautiful magnolias:

Three heavy duty tugboats towing oil rig Ocean Nomad in Øresund

The Norwegian tugboat Olympic Poseidon towing the Ocean Nomad this morning.

There have been several spectacular tow transports in the Sound this spring, but easily the biggest one was majestically floating southwards at about 6 A.M. today. 

A fleet of three heavy duty tugs - the Olympic Poseidon, the Mærsk Lifter and the Havila Neptune - are involved in towing the huge North Sea oil drilling rig Ocean Nomad from Aberdeen to an unspecified port in Latvia. The tugs and the rig left Aberdeen on May 1, and are expected to arrive in Latvia on May 10. 

The  80 m x 18 m Olympic Poseidon was the "lead ship".

The Ocean Nomad , is owned and operated by Houston based Diamond Offshore, with a fleet of offshore rigs  consisting of thirty semisubmersibles, seven jack-ups, and one drillship. In addition, four ulta-deepwater drillships and two deepwater semisubmersibles are currently under construction.

The Ocean Nomad is a Semisub type of drilling rig. It was designed by Aker H-3 Enhanced and delivered in 1975 by Trosvik Framnaes at the Sandefjord shipyard in Norway . It is currently holding a Marshall Islands flag. The Ocean Nomad can operate at water depths up to 1,200 ft and drill down to approximately 25,000 ft .

The Danish tug Mærsk Lifter (90 m x 24 m) was securing the tow from behind. 

The  227 ft long Ocean Nomad has accommodation for 105 people.

The Norwegian tugboat Havila Neptune (74 m x 16 m) was acting as a back up  in the rear.

The Ocean Nomad approaching Helsingborg/Helsingør

PS (May 19)

The Ocean Nomad will soon start drilling for oil in the Baltic: 

Ocean Nomad has arrived in the Latvian zone of the Baltic Sea and has been moored in the area of a licence owned by Balin Energy, a joint venture of PKN ORLEN (through ORLEN International Exploration and Production Company B.V) and Kuwait Energy Company Netherlands Cooperatief. On Sunday, contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. commenced the drilling of the first exploration well.

On May 10th the semi-submersible drilling platform 'Ocean Nomad' was towed to the site of planned operations in the Latvian economic zone of the Baltic Sea. Platforms of this type meet the most stringent safety requirements and are most commonly used for deep-water drilling, including in the North Sea.

The drilling takes place 132 metres below sea level and will continue for approximately 40 days. The well will be drilled to a total depth of 1,500 metres below sea level, 104 kilometres off the west coast of Latvia. The two licence blocks, which are covered by thirty-year exploration licences within the Latvian waters near the country's Swedish border, span a total area of 1,664 square kilometres. --

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis visited the Ocean Nomad a couple of days ago. Here are some nice pictures from the visit.  

The Norwegian Star was the first cruise ship to visit Helsingborg this year

Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Star (294 m x 32 m) was the first cruise ship to visit Helsingborg this year. Hopefully the (max.) 2348 passengers enjoyed the gorgeous spring day as much as the locals ....

This beautiful summer restaurant would have been the right place to watch the Norwegian Star depart for Copenhagen, but this early in the season, people have probably not yet quite realized that summer really is here:

A power glider

This is what you get when you have the wrong lense - a wide angle lense - mounted on your camera, and you try to capture a suddenly appearing power glider ...

The annual jumble sale

Yesterday was the day for the local jumble sale.