Myth Sphinx - Kate Moss in Oslo

British artist Marc Quinn has designed and created his naked, yoga-contorted sculpture of Kate Moss, which presently is to be seen in "Folketeaterpassasjen" outside the old Opera in Oslo, and called it Myth Sphinx - Kate Moss-
The model´s beauty and her miraculous body control is far outside my ability, but with my camera I can present it to you here.
A lifesize gold statue of Kate Moss as a "modern-day Aphrodite" with her legs tucked behind her head has also been unveiled at the British Museum. Siren is made entirely of 18 carat gold and was displayed in the museum's Nereid Gallery among statues of Greek goddesses including Aphrodite.It is the largest gold statue made by man since ancient Egyptian times, weighing 50kg, around the same as its subject.

Inspiration from a Winner

Today´s first winner in David´s Post of the Day Janet with Evanescence inspired me to publish two rain or raindrops photos.The first photo taken at my summer residence when the heavy drops was pouring down, and the second from the fountain in the center of Oslo. More controlled this time, but Janet´s post covering this too.
Visit David´s Authorblog for more blogs of high quality.

Rikke 28 years and waiting for a girl

Happy Birthday Rikke Arnedatter.My daughter Rikke is 28 years today, and pregnant in her 33rd week and 2 days.

Looking forward to be grandparents once more in May.

Aker brygge in April

Yesterday I told you about my favorite dish when visiting Brussels. However, Moules Frites is absolutely obtainable at restaurants much closer than Belgium, and my Saturday lunch at Cafe Sorgenfri was delicious. The buffet salad for my wife was also good according to her own judgement.
Yesterday they assembled the outdoor restaurant in full snowstorm. The wet snow was still covering the tables when I arrived today, and no guests (except smokers) was seen outside. End March may be a little too early for an outdoor beer, but Easter is just around the corner and then the season begins.
The waterman in the old Drydock of Aker Yard is on his way out to the Oslofjord, ready for his first party this year. Yes, spring is coming closer. And in the evening the homemade Saturday Pizza is according to requirements. Just another reminder of holidays in Italy.
Have a nice Sunday Photo Safari

Indoor decorations - East and West

Due to the bad weather and heavy snowfall yesterday no post was ready for all of you visiting my blog early in the morning. We celebrated my sister´s birthday before she started her 16 days journey to Peru and Machu Picchu, and after a great dinner and good wine at Cafe Christiania, my posting had to be published late this Saturday morning. Hopefully Brit will send us some photos from South America for later postings.

Yesterday I published the decorations found outside on walls. The +20 cm wet snow yesterday made me go indoor, but there is always great motives for a camera at these walls too.
This one is from the Shanghai Municipal History Museum downstairs at Oriental Pearl Tower. The painting is remarkable, making different view dependent of which angle you choose when looking at it.But you do not need to go to the far east to find intriguing wall decorations. In a very good restaurant- La Roue d’Or in Brussels, Belgium, a great imitation or variation of Magritte´s Bowler paintings covers one of the walls. No better place for Moules Frites
In Berlin, Germany at Hackescher Markt (a cultural centre and famous for its nightlife) close to the Museumsinsel and Berliner Dom you may find a cafe with this painting at the wall.
But do not forget to look further up. The ceilings can also hide beautiful artworks like this in the music pavilion in Montecatini Terme, Italy. If you climb up to Montecatini Alto be not surprised to be served on plates like this.Have a nice weekend and bring your camera wherever you go on the weekend photo safari.

Decoration of walls in southern Europe

A lot of bloggers have been looking up to find motives in the sky for publishing posts this Friday. Between the clouds in variations of colors and the empty blue or black sky behind, many beautiful objects are worth more focus, and at least I am very interested in what I can find at walls. My first photo covers a section of the oval walls in the music pavilion inside the Grand Bath at Montecatini Terme, a spa town in Tuscany, Italy. The first baths were built here in 1540, but was destroyed fifteen years later. Recovering started from the 18th century, when the first bath resorts were built. In the 20th century it became one of the most renowned health resorts in Italy,and one who took rest in Montecatini was Giuseppe Verdi,
Not far from Montecatini Terme to the west, we find the small town Lucca. Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. Lucca is the birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini (La bohème and Madama Butterfly), and the composer´s statue is located below this church wall.

Going further west, over the Mediterranean Sea and to the center of the Iberian peninsula, you reach the capital of Spain. This houses, at the entrance to the La Latina (a neighbourhood in the very city centre of Madrid.) are covered with interesting paintings. La Latina occupies the place of the oldest area in Madrid, the Islamic citadel inside the city walls, with narrow streets and large squares. From Madrid, to the south-west and Andalusia, you come to the city Seville where wall paintings can give you great experiences. Seville is more than 2,000 years old and have a mix of cultural expressions. The tiles on this photo are at the wall of the entrance of the restaurant Meson de la Infanta In Portugal and Lisbon, the tiles are usualy more blue and white, often showing heroic scenes. This one is made to pay tribute to Saint Valentine, a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.

Thursday Doors

Under the Doors logo I present today some entrances to historical important areas and buildings.

A gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls, or an opening in a fence. Other terms for gate include yett and port.

A door is a moveable barrier used to cover an opening.
(Definitions and sonme text according to Wikipedia)

Some of these barriers are not covered anymore due to time running and the need for hindering somebody to pass has been removed due to other reasons.
My first entrance is from the ancient city Matera, a town and a province in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera. The city was allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, with the name of Metheola. Matera is the only place in the world where people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago. The entrance above is to the very old chapel at the top of the ancient city located close to a small canyon, which has been eroded in the course of years by a small stream, the Gravina.
My next entrance is to the first Irish Public House or ‘pub” ever recorded in 1198, located in Dublin, Ireland: The Brazen Head.
The United Irishmen planned the 1798 Rebellion, James Joyce penned Ulysses and Van Morrison wrote Brown Eyed Girl all within the historical walls of The Brazen Head.
Another writer has a special relation to the entrance of Cafe Franz Kafka in Prague.
Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Austria-Hungary, presently the Czech Republic.
The final contribution under the Doors logo this Thursday, is the famous Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, Germany. The former city gate and one of the main symbols of the capital of Germany. The Gate is located west of the city center at the intersection of Unter den Linden and Ebertstrasse, immediately west of the Pariser Platz
Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve Doric columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two. Atop the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.

From Algarve to Vesterålen

Yesterday I published some of my flower photos from southern Portugal. One couple (Inger and Rolf) friends and colleagues from many years during my career in DNV, was in Portugal together with us. Last month they made a voyage with Hurtigruten (The Norwegian Coastal Express) on a return trip Bergen / Kirkenes.
After our meeting yesterday they sent me some photos from their voyage through Vesterålen and Sortland. I found these photos so beautiful that I wanted to share them with you. The Costal Express travels in good and bad weather every months of the year, but in the last week of February this year the winter storms was not present. Only clear sky and silent water.
For many years the Coastal Express has been the most important communication link between the north and south. Translating as ‘fast route’, it was the quickest and most reliable passage into the remote lands of northern Norway, regardless of weather conditions. Indeed it was not until 1983 that the mail delivery was finally entrusted to road and air routes. It is this heritage and experience that marks out Hurtigruten as one of the most professional and proficient expedition voyage operations on the planet.
There is no better way to experience the Northern Lights than by sailing through the sheltered coastal waters on board a ship from the Hurtigruten fleet. With the Aurora Borealis set against a dark sky, free from artificial light, you will have several once in the lifetime experience.
Vesterålen with the beautiful Sortland Bridge ends this photo voyage. Maybe we will copy Inger and Rolf and take the tour or part of it within short. If you too want to visit the Norwegian coast with "Hurtigruten", you may find offers here

Flowers in Portugal

This morning we have participated in a meeting with other pensioners from DNV. First we heard one of Norway´s most well-known reporters Bjørn Hansen (URIX NRK) talking about "Obama - where goes USA", and then we had a nice lunch with people we joined on a tour to Portugal last year.
This tour have been covered before, but since spring and its flowers are a repeatedly published theme in other blog this time of the year, I will here show some of the flowers we saw at the southern cost of Portugal and on our journey to Lisbon.First I show the beautiful blue Jacaranda from Faro. This flower can be seen all over the world and in many parts of the world, such as Mexico and Zimbabwe, the blooming of this TREE is welcomed as a sign of spring.At Ponte da Piedad close to Lagos at the Algarve coast, the original Aloe Vera is blooming.and the white and pink succulent flowers above the caves is there for you to see and enjoy. Behind the horizon you find America. Going north by bus or car you need to have some body regulated stops, and at a petrol station on our way to Evora, these pink carpets was unable to let go without photo shooting.In the south the oranges can be harvested at least twice a year,and the Nesperas, also known as Loquat or Japanese Plums, are a very common fruit in Portugal at this time of year.

Thanks to Belkin_G_Plus_MIMO_8C...

I have my communication with the world secured. I use router and Airport Extreme, Passwords and WPA2 to build walls between my computers, the internet suppliers and the chaos out there.
However, this security system is dependent of electric power. Although my MacBooks are working on Battery, the routers are still connected through our internal house distribution of electrical power. This morning the el-power is cut because reconstruction of the fuse-box in the apartment upstairs. Between 9 and 13 my network is expected dead and my computerized life in trouble.

What do I do. How can I read my mails and look at the newspapers, visit all the blogs in my daily round and produce and publish my own blog post this morning.
Yes! I am searching for an OPEN (not secured) network and connect to the one giving highest speed access (3300K down and 480K up = not bad). Therefore "Belkin-G-Plus etc." is worth a post for not being so concerned as myself about security.It is only a short period that I am "stealing" communication power from someone out there, and I see all the problems that can happen. Therefore I give you the link to Cert Coordination Center and their advice to Home Network Security.

The document gives home users an overview of the security risks and countermeasures associated with Internet connectivity, especially in the context of “always-on” or broadband access services (such as cable modems and DSL). However, much of the content is also relevant to traditional dial-up users (users who connect to the Internet using a modem).

The document is absolutely worth some minutes of reading.

The Sunday Roast

As the 60th in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world, David McMahon a Melbourne-based journalist and internationally-published photographer present an interview with me.
I am honored being on the list of interesting bloggers, and use the opportunity to recommend a daily visit to David´s Blog: Authorblog
Have a nice weekend

Sculptures on Saturday or any day

Strolling the streets of Oslo or any city in the world, my eyes always search for sculptural objects. Yesterday the spring-cut Poplar trees in Skovveien (which is one of the Capital´s fashion streets), with the silhouette against the blue sky, was a natural sculpture,
and the street (Forrest street) is full of themOther more "normal" sculptures you may find in Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai where the Lion King really rules.
In Singapore the Abacus seems to be used (and it does some places) although top modern card payment systems are in preferred operation everywhere.
Being in Asia or more specific in Oceania and Australia, the sculpture in the center of Manly outside Sydney had to be documented, and I don´t think my wife is of any deterioration to the sculpture even if it is almost a fifteen years old photo.In Copenhagen. Denmark this sculpture outside Peder Oxe became an interesting toy for children, and maybe it is good they finish their playing with cigarettes at that age.
In Portugal and the city of Evora this sculpture draw my attention, and I do (not?) think it represent an ancient bath-tub.
Back to Oslo and the melting dirty snow. With fantasy I have no problem defining these forms as animals (Sea-Lions?), but there is why nature is perfect. The human mind are able to see what it want.
And the same can be said about culture called Embracement by the artist Per Ung. Use your imagination and fantasy. Bring your camera and open your mind to the forms around you. There are many of them out there.