ElgaKoster Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Gamla Stan is the oldest part of Stockholm on a tiny island, Kia Nordström took me there today, the weather is great at the moment, sunny skies and cool but not cold, just nice and comfortable.Here are some of the photos I took.An inlaid door.Some of the really narrow little streets.I wouldn't even want to try to take a car in here!According to Kia this is the two most photographed buildings in the area.I was very fascinated with this building having massive pillars on the narrow side!Some nice iron work.The main tourist street was just a bit busy and too commercialized with souvenir shops, but there were some lovely antique shops and gift shops in the quiter streets, Stockholm is a beautiful city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeekendMiniaturist Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Thank you Elga for sharing a little bit of Stockholm with us. It is nice of you to take time to upload those photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclechicken Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I'm jealous! HA! These pictures are beautiful, thank you for posting--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Ronan Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Gosh those pictures are beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to share them. I hope we can look forward to more when you have the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 From Stockholm I went to Holum in Norway, the tiny town where my brother lives, here are a few photos of the area where his house is, it was quite cold and windy when I went for a short walk. I find it quite amazing that they build right on top or next to these huge rock formations, you can't see it in the last photo, but there are wire netting on the rock to help prevent the rocks damaging your house if one does get loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Next stop was Stavanger, my brother took me there by car which turned out to be a good decision, he suddenly had to go away on business a few days before I arrived and the time in the car ended up to be the only time I had to visit with him, we went for a short walk in the harbour area, it was raining by then and we got rather wet, going to Europe in autumn without a rain coat is probably not a good idea...The next day Janne took me to the old part of Stavager, the houses here used to be worker houses back in the day and not in a desirable area then, now they are all restored and protected, since they are rather small generally only single and retired people live here, it does get full of tourists in summer so I suppose it isn't for just anyone...I for one would hate people peeping in through my windows and Janne says the tourists do it all the time!And the smallest car I have ever seen...I think you could just get dressed in it, of course some of my friends with typical South African humour suggested that I bring one home in my suitcase, another one said it would make a nice key-ring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Later that same afternoon we went up to Janne's cabin in the mountains where the autumn colours were spectacular and much more intense than in the towns. This first photo is the view from the front door of the cabin. It was cloudy almost the whole time, on the last day of class sometime in the morning I suddenly noticed that the sun was out, so I abandoned the students for a few minutes and took these photos, I am glad I did because soon after it was completely cloudy again. The next photos I took on the way back to Stavanger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeekendMiniaturist Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Wonderful addition of photos Elga. I love the picture of the church, the stonework fences & streets and the ark... I never expected to see a photo of an Ark shaped wooden boat today! I would have had the strongest desire to get a tape measurer and bible out to see if it was an accurate model... Did the ark shape boat have any animals on it as passengers? Tamra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Tamra neither did I expect to see an ark shaped boat, I did a bit of research, this one was built by a dutch man and it a half scale model of the measurements in the bible, there are some small animals on board like bunnies etc. In the mean time the same man has also built a full scale version that is stationery In the town of Dordrecht in The Netherlands, here is the official website. http://www.arcofnoah.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 The last two days of my Europe trip was spent in The Netherlands, the first day was spent just relaxing and visiting with my friend Josje, the day ended on a high note with two surprise visitors for dinner, two fellow miniaturist friends from The Netherlands The next day was spent in the beautiful town of Utrecht south of Amsterdam, after going to the Centraal museum to see the 17th century dollhouse that I posted about in another thread, we explored the old part of town on foot, staying next to the old canal most of the time. The Utrecht canal is unique in that it has wharves where goods could be off-loaded from the boats directly to the warehouses, most of these are now used as restaurants with outdoor seating in the summer, since it was freezing cold and rainy no evidence of this was to be seen, here is a photo I took. And a 1900's photo I found online. Some of the buildings in Utrecht. Beautiful flowers on a lamppost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Utrecht boasts of having the tallest church tower in The Netherlands, that of the Domkerk, the church dates back to about the 7th century, it had a few reincarnations over the centuries as wars and fire destroyed it at times, the present church was started in 1254 build in the Gothic style but never quite finished, here is a paragraph from a website: "The construction of the Gothic St Martin's Cathedral was officially started in 1254, but is actually began in 1284 and was stopped in 1520. The Romanesque Cathedral was replaced piece by piece. The ambulatory, the rest of the choir, the tower, the transept and the nave were built in succession. But by the beginning of the 16th century, both money and enthusiasm had run out: influences of the Renaissance and of the Reformation made themselves felt. This explains why the nave was never completely finished: it did not have brick vaults, but a flat wooden ceiling, neither buttresses of sufficient height, nor any flying buttresses. Therefore, when, in 1674, town and country were hit by a tornado, the nave of the Cathedral collapsed. It was only in 1826 that the last debris were cleared away. Then, pulling down the entire church was even considered." Here is a photo of the tower. One that I got off the internet showing the tower and the remaining part of the church as it looks now after the collapse of the nave in 1674. Buildings were built directly onto both sides of what used to be the front entrance of the church in the tower. There is some more info on the history of Utrecht and the church here. http://www.domkerk.nl/domchurch/history.html And last but not least, a statue of Miffy (better known to me as "Kleintjie") the children's books of a white bunny that were first published in 1955 and written by Dick Bruna a resident of Utrecht, I remember reading the books in Afrikaans as a small child so it was a nice little surprise at the end of a long day. Utrecht is a town that I would love to visit again, it had quite a few antique shops as well as a quilt shop with really nice fabrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclechicken Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 These pictures are fantastic! Where to begin... the rock formations with thew houses are crazy! And the tiny car HAHAHA I expected to see many clowns emerge Beautiful scenery and history, what a great trip thanks for showing us--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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