The Helsingborg based pilot boat 211 SE

The pilot boat 211 SE , based in Helsingborg, I can observe in action several times daily. Here is a close up of the 17 m x 5 m boat, which was built in 2009/10:

PS

I added an image of this small coast guard boat, which is also based in Helsingborg:

Men of iron in Helsingborg

In the port of Helsingborg you can find this reminder of the fact that in olden days men were of iron and ships of wood .....

The Royal Swedish Navy's school ship HMS Gladan visits Helsingborg

The arrival of HMS Gladan always stirs up a lot of interest.

The Royal Swedish Navy's sail training ship HMS Gladan (40 m x 8 m) yesterday made called in Helsingborg on its first journey this season. From Helsingborg the schooner continued to Karlshamn, with 8 officers, 8 conscripts and 28 midshipmen in the crew.

The HMS Gladan's blog gives this information about the training on the Swedish Navy's two school ships:

Skonertdivisionen (The Schooner squadron) is a training and recruitment unit. The squadron consists of HMS Gladan and HMS Falken in which training is conducted with a focus on practical seamanship and navigation. Our training consists of practical and theoretical lessons that can be both physically and mentally demanding when they occur at sea with weather conditions. The special environment is brand new (sailing) for most of them. This helps to ensure that trainees can develop as an individual and as a group member

A young lady in the sunset

Last night I took this photo of a young lady who was enjoying the sunset at the Helsingborg beach together with friends:

AIDAcara passes by

Early this morning (at about 6 AM) the AIDAcara (193 m x 32 m ) passed by on its way from Gothenburg to Copenhagen.

Cargo ship Kasteelborg in Øresund

The Dutch cargo vessel Kasteelborg (130 m x 16 m) was tonight going northwards in the Sound on its way from Klaipeda to Antwerp. The photo below shows the Kasteelborg passing Hittarp at about 9.30 P.M.

Kaastelborg on its way to Antwerp.

PS
A few minutes earlier the Polish three masted schooner Zawisza Czarna  passed by:

The Polish three masted schooner Zawisza Czarna passing Hittarp.

Danish sail training ship Georg Stage "racing" with a container ship in Øresund

The full rigged Danish training ship Georg Stage was late this afternoon sailing northwards in the Sound. The ship, which is said to be the smallest full rigger in the world (54 m x 8,4 m), was on its way to Isefjorden. (Due to the prevailing athmospheric circmustances, it was not possible to shoot fully sharp pictures).

Close to Helsingør George Stage overtook the container ship Vohburg, which was on its way to Teesport. However, the "race" ended with the Vohburg retaking the "lead" just before Kronborg  Castle.

Georg Stage and container ship Vohburg approaching Kronborg.

Georg Stage and the Kronborg Castle. 

Georg Stage, with the Helsingør Cathedral in the background. 

Georg Stage north of Helsingør.

Ocean Dream - "the Peace Boat" - in Øresund

Ocean Dream, "the Peace Boat", approaching Helsingborg/Helsingør.

Tonight another seldom seen visitor, the "Peace Boat" Ocean Dream, was going southward in the Sound on its way to Stockholm. 

This is how Wikipedia describes the Tokyo based international NGO Peace Boat: 

Peace Boat (ピースボート Pīsu Bōto^?) is a global non-government organization headquartered in Japan established for the purpose of raising awareness and building connections internationally among groups that work for peace, human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development. 

Peace Boat's website gives some additional information: 

Peace Boat carries out its main activities through a chartered passenger ship that travels the world on peace voyages. Three Global Voyages and one short Asian regional voyage are usually organized each year. The three-month Global Voyages are each joined by around 800 participants and visit between 15-20 countries. 

The ship, as a neutral space beyond borders, becomes a floating peace village, encouraging a sense of community and enabling direct dialogue between those onboard and in the ports that we visit. 

Our programmes, both onboard and in port, explore the main aspects of Peace Boat activity - peace, human rights, sustainability and respect for the environment - and aim to develop travel as a tool for peace and sustainability.


The Ocean Dream, which is chartered by the Peace Boat organization, is currently on the "79th Global Voyage for Peace" which started on April 1 in Yokohama:

It will mark Peace Boat's first visit to the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia. 
As part of this voyage, the Onboard Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World is taking place at sea between Le Havre (France) and Stockholm 

Ocean Dream, with Helsingør in the background.

The "Peace Boat" and a castle - Kronborg - which has seen many wars.

The "Peace Boat" meeting cruise ferry Crown Seaways.

The Peace Boat website also has some information about the ship:

The Ocean Dream was built in 1981 in Denmark, and has operated mostly in the Caribbean and Pacific. At various times it has also sailed under the names of the Tropicale and the Pacific Star.

The Ocean Dream has a draft of 7.5 meters, length of 205 meters, and beam of 26.5 meters, while its total weight is 35,265 tonnes. The maximum passenger capacity of the vessel is 1422.
The ship is fitted with stabilizers and has the latest safety system based on SOLAS international safety standards.

"The city of dwarfs" - A human zoo in Paris in 1906

 Dwarfs in the human zoo in Paris in 1906.

The Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris, now a children's amusement park with a zoo, was founded in 1860 by Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie as a zoo. In 1877 the zoo was converted into  "l'Acclimatation Anthropologique", which until 1912 specialized in showing the customs and lifestyles of foreign, mainly African peoples. Nubians, Bushmen, Zulus and many other Africans were "exhibited" in the human zoo. These exhibitions were a great success, doubling the number of visitors.

Another popular exhibition was the "City of dwarfs" in 1906. The Swedish weekly Hvar 8 Dag included a brief account of the exhibition "concept":

"A rather peculiar exhibition will soon be opened in the Jardin d'Acclimatation. A colony of 300 living dwarfs has been assembled, for which a small city, with its own theater and church, etc., has been built." 

A dwarf greets a visitor in front of his "dwarf city" house . The door height was 1 meter.

A carriage with dwarfs coming from the dwarf city station.

PS

Fortunately, times have changed. This kind of human zoo is unthinkable now. However, to my  surprise, a Wikipedia article tells us that the concept of the human zoo has not completely disappeared:

A Congolese village was displayed at the Brussels 1958 World's Fair.^[15] In April 1994, an example of an Ivory Coast village was presented as part of an African safari in Port-Saint-Père, near Nantes, in France, later called Planète Sauvage.^[16]

An African village was opened in Augsburg's zoo in Germany in July 2005.^[17] In August 2005, London Zoo also displayed humans wearing fig leaves.^[18] In 2007, Adelaide Zoo ran a Human Zoo exhibit which consisted of a group of people who, as part of a study exercise, had applied to be housed in the former ape enclosure by day, but then returned home by night. The inhabitants took part in several exercises, much to the amusement of onlookers, who were asked for donations towards a new ape enclosure. In 2007, Pygmy performers at the Festival of Pan-African Music were housed (although not exhibited) at a zoo in Brazzaville, Congo.^[19]

Living history museums or living farm museums are somewhat reminiscent of human zoos. Living history museums seek to show patrons how people live in different times or places. Employees or volunteers dress up and perform activities of daily life in the way that another culture would. In America, living history museums showcasing pioneer life may demonstrate baking bread, raising and harvesting crops, and keeping chickens. Generally, these volunteers go home at night.

Cable-laying vessel Nexans Skagerrak on its way to Karlshamn

Nexans Skagerrak approaching  Helsingborg/Helsingør.

This morning the cable-laying vessel Nexans Skagerrak passed Helsingborg/Helsingør on its way to from Palma de Mallorca to Swedish Karlshamn.

The 112 m x 32 m Nexans Skagerrak was in 2010 lengthened by 12,5 meters in order to increase its cable handling capabilities. Among the cables the vessel has laid are a 400 kV submarine cable across the Strait of Gibraltar, a 576 km long HVDC cable between Norway and Holland, and a 275 km energy/fiber cable between Mallorca and mainland Spain.

Shades of green in May

Green in different shades is the dominant color here in the Øresund region in the middle of May ....

The Emerald Princess and the MSC Poesia in Øresund

The Emerald Princess and the MSC Poesia approaching Helsingborg/Helsingør

Last night, at about 8 PM, two large cruise ships, the Emerald Princess (290 m x 36m) and the MSC Poesia (293 m x 32 m) were on their way northwards in Øresund. The Princess was heading to Oslo, and the Poesia's destination was Geiranger.

The Emerald Princess and Hamlet's Kronborg Castle.

The MSC Poesia in front of Kronborg Castle.

A swan on the Swedish side of the Sound , with the MSC Poesia  in the backbgound.