Hubert von Goisern - a great musician

One of the nice things with music is that it never ceases to surprise. There is always something new to discover.

My own musical taste is rather conservative. Most of the popular or "classical" contemporary music I simply find boring. However, a couple of months ago I saw a program with Austrian singer and composer, Hubert von Goisern, whose music immediately struck a chord with me. Goisern´s music is a mix of traditional Austrian folk music - including yodeling - and rock music, and has been labeled Alpenrock (Alps rock).

I understand that von Goisern and his band are extremely popular in the German speaking countries of Europe, which is not at all surprising; it is difficult not to get into a good mood listening to their music!

Here a couple of my favourites:

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all old and new visitors!

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."
Benjamin Franklin

Another nice December sunset in Øresund

This afternoon we had another nice sunset in the Øresund area. (The land behind the water is the Danish island Zealand.)

S.S. Hendrick Hudson

The steamboat Hendrick Hudson was put into service in 1906 at a cost of almost a million dollars. She had an advertized length of over 400 feet and was able to carry 5,500 passengers.

The other day I found this picture of the Hudson Day Line steamboat Hendrick Hudson in an old picture book.  Quite a ship!

The Hudson River Maritime Museum page gives some additional information about a bygone era of steamships on the Hudson river:

Of the many Hudson River steamboat lines, the Hudson River Day Line was the most prominent and dependable. Their steamboats were known for elegance and speed, and provided the most enjoyable way to travel the Hudson River. No one could claim to have seen America without seeing the Hudson River, and the only way to properly see the Hudson River was from the deck of a Day Liner steamboat.
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For over 150 years, steamboats carried freight and passengers on the Hudson River, but in 1948, regular steamboat service by the Hudson River Day Line between Albany and New York ceased. On September 13, 1948, the Day Line steamboat Robert Fulton made its last run from Albany to New York City bringing to an end the era of gracious steamboat travel on the Hudson River

Nobody knows

Nobody Knows the Trouble I´ve Seen is one of the most touching spirituals that I know of, particularly when it is performed by the great Paul Robeson.

Ships in Shanghai on Christmas Eve 2011

Shipping is an industry that never stops. Thousands of ship crews spend their Christmas at sea every year.

On the image below you can see ship positions in the world´s busiest container harbour, Shanghai today on Christmas Eve at 4.05 A.M. (CET):

(image by Marine Traffic Com)

Altogether there were 893 ships in the Shanghai general harbour area at 4 A.M. (CET) this morning!
One of them was the huge Märchen Mærsk container ship (367 m X 42 m) on its way to Nansha.
Merry Christmas to all of you on board the Märchen and all the other ships in Shanghai!

Yangshan Deep-water Port in the Shanghai harbour zone (image by Wiki)

The Beauty of the Mariinsky Ballerinas

The other day I watched the 2007 Mariinsky Theater version of Tchaikovsky´s Swan Lake. What a wonderful performance!

The star of the evening is of course the great Ulyana Lopatkina, who together with the other stunningly beautiful Mariinsky ballerinas makes this an unforgettable performance.

The Madonna of the Mariinsky