An Old Autumn Chestnut

How do you like your chestnuts:
Alone on a lonely road?

With a red car passing by?

Or just with another person strolling by?

PS A nice week-end to all who passes by this blog :-)

"Sitting on the dock of the bay..."

The title may not fit precisely, but I could not resist the temptation when I met these two students who had a pleasant evening at the quay while watching Hurtigruten's ship MS Nordnorge getting ready to leave Bergen.

"My" beautiful ship is burning! - Updated

At 09.30 this morning the ship MS Nordlys, belonging to Hurtigruten (The Norwegian Coastal Voyage) caught fire. It happened just outside the city of Aalesund on the western coast of Norway, so that help was close at hand. The passengers were speedily evacuated, bur I'm sorry to have to tell you that two of the crew are dead and about ten are in hospital with fire related injuries. At the moment the fire (in the engine room) is not under full control, but one hopes to have it soon. The local Fire brigade, with reinforcements from other cities, the Navy and Coast Guard are assisting, as well as medical personnel, police etc. The photo above is from NRK (The Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation), and more can be found here.

I feel I have a personal relationship with this ship: Two and a half months ago we travelled all the way from Bergen to Kirkenes with this ship. We had a wonderful trip aboard a wonderful ship (the photo below was shot at Kirkenes). In addition, it has passed beneath my windows innumerable times. It is a sad day.

Updated! The fire on the ship was luckily extinguished and all the passengers were evacuated without any large problems. However, shortly after the fire the ship developed a bad list to the port side - more than 20 degrees - due to the fire. After extensive work by competent personell, they managed to stabilize the ship. It is at present still in Aalesund awaiting repair.
I hope some day to make another trip.

At the same time I wish to thank you for all the nice comments!

Red Toadstool - "Rød fluesopp"

The official name of these visual beauties are Amanita muscaria. I found them this morning while out walking, and I couldn't resist the temptation of taking a few photos. However, I didn't pick them since they are NOT recommended for eating. BTW, this is supposed to be the "grown-up" version. I thought I might start with a photo from a somewhat unusual angle.

A more usual way to look at it.

Or maybe one should look at it from the top?

According to Wikipedia, this is a slightly younger version of the one above.

Including a view from the top.

Bounty

The sailing vessel "Bounty", made after the drawings of the original "HMS Bounty" for the famous '60s movie, is visiting us at the moment. She is clearly leaving an impression.

Autumn monochrome

Need I say more?

Autumn Light

The autumn has formally arrived, at least according to the calendar. And with September comes the Autumn Light. The evening light gives colours that is almost unbelievable to people who are not used to them. I took these shots yesterday evening.

Above is one of our "sacred" mountains, Fløyen, basking in the evening sun.

This is our currently most famous ship, Hurtigruten's M/S Nordnorge, just leaving Bergen.

This is not a church, but what is known as Corps de Garde. The name is due to its former use as a watchtower for the local militia during the Napoleonic wars, and was built in 1794.

The church silhouetted against the sunlit clouds is called Nykirken - literally The New Church. However, it was initially built in 1621, but has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt a number of times. The last destruction was during ww2.

A nice week-end to all who passes by!