Scandinavians & Baltics

DD Wins the Wild West

2007-04-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

I had already conquered several cities, so now it was time to saddle my horse, adjust my
Stetson hat, holster my guns, and journey into the wild west, the last frontier.

I started out in Nebraska looking for wagon trails at Scottsbluff National Monument.

Scotts Bluff National Monument. Here is Eagle Rock with a wagon in front. People traveled
across the continent in search of a better life in the West. The ones who were headed for
Oregon passed by this monument. Therefore, the trail is called the Oregon Trail.

Sentinel Rock on the other side of the Oregon Trail.

Dome Rock in the background and Crown Rock to the right.

Eagle Rock to the left and Dome Rock in the background.

Oregon Trail marker in front of Eagle Rock.

Saddle Rock.

If you look closer, you can actually see Chimney Rock in the background in the center.

The weather has shaped the rocks over the years.

Saddle Rock Trail runs along the side of the rock.

After Scottsbluff I rode a little further southeast to find Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock National Historic Site.

Chimney Rock functioned as a milestone. The pioneers could see it from afar, and then they
knew that they had almost crossed the boring plains but were in for a much tougher ride
through the mountains.

It was a rough trip across the plains, especially for old people. Some people didn't make it, and they might be buried at Chimney Rock Cemetery.

In Alliance, Nebraska they have made a replica of Stonehenge in England, but here they are
using old cars, so it's called Carhenge! Crazy Americans!

There are also other car sculptures. Here is "The Fourd Seasons".

I then rode north and entered South Dakota. The landscape changed drastically as I entered
Badlands National Park.

Sunrise at the Big Badlands Overlook in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

Big Badlands Overlook.

Pictures taken along the Castle Trail.

Pictures from the Medicine Root Trail.

From the Saddle Pass Trail.

Wild bighorn sheep.

From the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail.

Mommy Deer.

Her children.

Overlook.

To be continued.....>

Stockholm. Found some new amazing photos!

2007-04-29T21:00:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Stockholm, The HDR Edition!

2007-04-29T20:30:00.001-07:00

Creds: MalteR

Creds: Spajjs

Creds: GregerG

Creds: Clearspeaks

Auf Wiedersehen!>

Liseberg '06, GÃÂ¶teborg

2007-04-29T20:00:00.001-07:00

Biggest amusement park in the nordic region. During x-mas the park has over 5 million(!) sparkling lights.

>

Photos of Klaipėda (Lithuania)

2007-04-29T19:30:00.001-07:00

Not many threads with photos from third biggest city of Lithuania so I decided to post some. These photos were taken from www.flickr.com

Photos by Edmis:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

by bokutarik:
13.

by Andrea from MC:
14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

by GoodbyeKitty:
19.

by ~nikke:
20.

The end. >

SÃÂ¸rkedalen - A new Oslo suburb?

2007-04-29T18:30:00.001-07:00

Tens of thousands of apartments are currently under construction in Oslo, and there is room for a lot more if we allow people to build high-rises, even in the central parts of the city. However, not everyone likes to live in apartments, and families with kids usually prefer single homes, row houses, and Norwegian style terrace apartments.

Oslo has lots of uninhabited areas, for instance a 15 km long virtually uninhabited valley named SÃ¸rkedalen just a few kilometers from downtown. There has been debates for as long as can remember on whether construction should be allowed in this valley. The capacity of the valley is somewhere between 30.000 and 50.000 inhabitants with low-density suburban residential buildings. That means that the subway would have to be extended into the valley though.

Here is a map of Oslo, and the valley (which I have colored yellow):

This is what the lower part of the valley currently looks like:

The valley is home to a ski park:

The valley contains one important historic building that is worth preserving, Bogstad gÃ¥rd, which was the house of the richest family in Norway when timber was our main export industry:

This is the type of buildings that I personally think would make sense in this area:

Single homes:

Norwegian style terrace apartments:

Row houses:

What do you think? Should Oslo open this valley for suburban construction?>

Skyscraper debate on Norwegian TV!

2007-04-29T18:00:00.001-07:00

Look. A skyscraper debate on Norwegian TV:
http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/210963>

Two trips to LasnamÃÂ¤e in Tallinn

2007-04-29T17:30:00.001-07:00

I have done many beautiful pictures of my dear Tallinn, also in LasnamÃ¤e. I have done two trips to LasnamÃ¤e after the ones I've mirrored in these forums. The first trip was in 18.07.2006. I continued discovering LasnamÃ¤e from where I stopped last time.

I'll start again with this supernaturally fantastic view from Smuuli bridge.

This is seen from HÃ¤rma bridge, visible is Lindakivi bridge. I know, people who live in LasnamÃ¤e know their names without problems.

Nice building.

Moving forward. This is seen from the bridge which was seen in the picture before the previous picture.

I was quite surprised when I saw that right-side building: exactly the same ones exist in VÃ¤ike-ÃismÃ¤e district! So thay brought some of them here, or vice versa.

This is especially pleasant place: on the left and also in the middle can be seen the perfect style of mid-eighties. I don't know when was LasnamÃ¤e actually built (certainly I'll figure it out soon), but the style is exactly the one of mid-eighties.

Looking at the Varraku bridge. Somewhy my map shows that there are actually two bridges --- but I can't see the other one! Strange. But the second part of LasnamÃ¤e is there --- which I discovered for the first time today.

One more view from the Varraku bridge.

Now the pictures from today (12.08.2006) when I discovered the farther part of LasnamÃ¤e. I'll start with a series of pictures of two new buildings. Thay are very interesting ones actually. I saw them from a bus (19) when I went away from LasnamÃ¤e in the end of my previous trip. When I arrived today with bus 44 and saw them again, then I made a series of photos of these two buildings.

The other side of the black building in the previous picture is on the left in this picture.

Really strange view. These two and more two on my back and left form a micro-district!

The black part.

The whole building.

Nice view.

The final view --- alone. I'll put some more pictures in an upcoming thread about facades.

Now I left that little district formed by four buildings and more usual pictures of LasnamÃ¤e follow.

Near Varraku bridge.

Moving forward to the end of LasnamÃ¤e...

Cool effect --- like there is a huge long building near the middle left where the blue bus is.

Just nice.

Looking back --- the first part of LasnamÃ¤e.

!

After painting even gray buildings look better.

WOW! Now I reached the part called Seli, also this is the end of LasnamÃ¤e. Six tower buildings partly renovated. Very cool look!

Hong Kong came into my mind there...

This is my 5003. picture with my cheap Olympus camera! The 5000. one wasn't so good so I didn't put it here.

Wonderful view.

The beautiful TV-tower once again.

That's it. Of course I had much more pictures but I put here only the best.>

Futile attempt at night photography

2007-04-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

so tonight i headed out to try to learn some night photography and fiddle with settings.. my first photos were utter shit... so i won't post them... and once i had started to get a hang t it (i hope?) it started to snow... so i had to give up... anyways... here are 6 shots for ya

RÃ¥dhuset

Ahlbergshallen

gamla kyrkan

Stortorget

PrÃ¤stgatan

prÃ¤stgatan again

Over and out!>

designwise presents Helsinki my pics from today

2007-04-29T16:30:00.001-07:00

hopefully you like my photos!!!

Ice skating rink. In the distance the famous Helsinki central railway station.

The building illuminated in red is the Grand Casino Helsinki, beside it is the Fennia House.

riot police

Neo-classical architecture by Carl Ludvig Engel

The Presidential Palace

Some protesters in the distance surrounded by riot police. They were playing "public enemy" which is known for it's political hip-hop lyrics.

A crap pic of the xmas market on the Esplanade.>

Urban art in Copenhagen

2007-04-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

Little selection from flickr.com. If you got more street art pics worth sharing, don't be afraid to post them here.

>

Stavanger - Norway. Another tall building for Stavangers skyline. Nimbys hate it

2007-04-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

Long story short, alot of old houses has been demolished so a new 39m tall hotel can be buildt in the middle of all the other tall buildings. But the comunist nimbys are angry because of all the old houses was demolished because of a tall building. So now they complain in our local newspaper forum and write crap about how terrible Stavangers skyline look like. Please go to this site and say what you think about Stavangers skyline: http://web3.aftenbladet.no/kultur/article422606.ece
scroll down to "skriv din mening" and click on it. Tittel = title. Skriv ditt innlegg her = your comment. Fornavn = name. Etternavn = last name. Epost = epost. send innlegg = post comment.

Stavanger skyline:

>

Michelin restaurants in the region

2007-04-29T15:00:00.001-07:00

Copenhagen:

Copenhagen has 5 with 1 Michelin-star and 1 with 2 Michelin-stars.

Stockholm:

Stockholm has 4 restaurants with 1 Michelin-star.

Oslo:

Oslo has 3 restaurants with 1 Michelin-star and 1 with 2 Michelin-stars.

Helsinki:

Helsinki has 2 restaurants with 1 Michelin-star and 1 with 2 Michelin-stars.

Source: www.viamichelin.com

I'm sorry, but couldn't find any info about the Baltic states.

Peter Kragh>

The Danish Westcoast - A few photos

2007-04-29T14:30:00.001-07:00

I was in RingkÃ¸bing (town in western Jutland) today working, and had a change to go to the west coast and take a few pics. At the Danish westcoast, which is facing the North Sea, you'll find thousands of "Summer Houses", which are small houses, often wooden. Some are small and crappy, some are super luxurious, and the most are somewhere in between. Many Danes own one of these summer houses, and rent them out most of the spring/summer. In the winter most of the small towns along the westcoast are pretty much dead, but in the summer they're bustling with, mostly, German tourists.

Although I don't have that many photos, I thought it would be okay with it's own thread, since I doubt this place has been seen much here.

Here we go, not too many comments, since there aren't much to say about it:

Lyngvig Fyr (Lyngvig Lighthouse), built in 1906 after 24 people had drowned when their ship stranded close to the beach.It is 38 meters tall and still in use:

Thank you Germans, just what we needed at our beaches.

You can often see old junk at the beach, though it seems to be pretty well cleaned:

Anyone wanna play?

Finally a panorama, from the coast at "SÃ¸ndervig". Click for a larger version:
>>

After the deluge (Snowy Kristiansand)

2007-04-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

> After the deluge

Kristiansand and southern Norway has experienced its heaviest snowfall in a decade last week. Cities of Kristiansand, Lillesand, Grimstad and Arendal have reach snowdepths between 1m and 2m, and 2m to 3m have been reported just outside the cities. Here is a few snowy pictures from Kristiansand taken from a helicopter this week. The temperature is now higher, and the snow depth is decreasing as the snow is more compact.

Here's an aerial view of the parking lots at Kristiansand's airport.

Work continued to clear streets in downtown Kristiansand this week, but
many cars remained snowed in, making it difficult to get around them.

The Lund district in Kristiansand, pictured here, was all but closed after
several days of heavy snows.

Another shot of the snow covering Posebyen in Kristiansand.

Photographer Anders Martinsen took to the air to get a birdseye of the
amount of snow that covered the area.

Here's a view of the old part of Kristiansand, Posebyen.

Residents were warned to clear their roofs as well, but that's not easy.

Most of the snow cleared from the streets is being dumped in the River Otra.

The roof over the Europris grocery store at Lund in Kristiansand collapsed
under the heavy snow.

Seven persons were actually up on the roof, trying to clear it of snow, when
it collapsed. No one was hurt.

A community of small cottages in Lund was virtually buried by the snow.

Childred at the Roligheten Kindergarten were happy when it finally reopened
after being closed by snow.

Friends and neighbours helped each other to shovel snow, also off their rooftops, and dig out cars. This was the scene at Hannevika - just west of
downtown Kristiansand.

These new vehicles were supposed to be delivered to the Postal Service, but
remained parked instead.

Another view from Hannevika

Boats at the Bertes harbour weren't in danger despite the heavy snowfall in
recent weeks.

Construction of the SÃ¸r Arena in Kristiansand was delayed by the snowstorm.

This gang was in the process of clearing snow from the Shell station at Rona
just east of Kristiansand when the photographer flew over.

The tourist attraction of Kardemomme By at the Kristiansand Zoo was
inundated by snow.

An adjacent attraction involving the pirate figure known as Kaptein
Sabeltann also had to be clear of snow.

Crews were also clearing the roof over the shopping center known as
SÃ¸rlandssenter. The center was closed when the roof started to sag.

Clearing all the snow was expected to take several more days.>

>>DLL presents: HELSINGÃÂR... and later HELSINGBORG - DK & SE <<

2007-04-29T13:30:00.001-07:00

I went to HelsingÃ¸r yesterday. The weather was so beautiful i couldn't keep myself locked inside. I haven't been to Helsingborg yet (i wanted to go yesterday but it was too late). I'm gonna get there later on, in a week or so (or whenever we get this good weather again) then im gonna post those pics in this thread, so remember to check up!

Anyway... for now it's HelsingÃ¸r, so let's get going!

And we're there! (Damn that was fast... )

Closer look at the station:

from another angle:

First thing you see when you get out of the station are the fairies going towards Helsingborg:

Here you can buy cheap tickets:

View of HelsingÃ¸r, which is IMO a very "pretty" city:

Heja Sverige!

towards the city...

Yo what up Kronborg!

Kronborg Castle (also known as Hamlet's Castle, from Shakespeares "Hamlet")

Another ferry making it's way back to HelsingÃ¸r from Helsingborg:

New/modern train to Gilleleje:

The old one still runs (same destination):

Part 2 comming up in next post...>

Is the high-rise form a viable home for 'ordinary people'?

2007-04-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

I snapped this picture with my mobile while travelling on the urban light rail (i.e. "S-tog") somewhere between BrÃ¸ndby Strand and VallensbÃ¦k (i.e. suburbs south of Copenhagen). Although the conditions for taking the picture did not allow the photo to represent fully the impression I got from the train I think the motif still conveys well enough the environment that inspired me take the picture and subsequently to think about 'high rises' and their impact on the quality of life in their local community.

In the foreground of the picture you see an excerpt of the particular Danish phenomenon of "kolonihaver" (dictionary: "allotment gardens"). In short they are little parcels of combined garden and recreational use, which were meant to give workers of the 20th century the chance to escape the dark and damp confines of their small flat in the urban boroughs. With the economic boom of the sixties and the subsequent migration of the working class from the urban boroughs to the suburban 'standard house' with garden the "kolonihaver" lost a lot of their original purpose although the concept is still going strong among enclaves of afficionados undoubtedly related to the 'all season luxury campers'.

The kolonihaver in this picture are in an exceptionally apalling state. No hedges, no well-kept lawns and utility gardens, no flowers and no little cottages with freshly painted boards and flagpoles. The gardens look more like a derelict wasteland on the verge of being reclaimed by nature. In the background we have the looming towers of what forumers here would undoubtedly call 'commie blocks'. I.e. council housing in multiple levels - providing a financially viable way for the less well off to acquire housing of a reasonable standard.

With this picture I'd like to solicit your comments and observations on the potential of the modern high rise to offer a viable proposition for an improved quality of life as a dwelling for families with incomes less than 70.000€ per year?

The ambitions of the people who built the tower flats of council housing in the 60's and 70's now perjoratively rejected as 'commie blocks' were undoubtedly to use the form of the 'high rise' to make modern, functional housing available at a lower cost. In other words democratising the right to a high quality home by taking advantage of the economies of scale associated with building larger volumes.

When forumers today label these projects as 'commie blocks' do they not at the same time reject the idea that it is possible to use the high rise / tower block form as a vessel to offer non-wealthy people a good home?

To me a building is more than an aestethic addition to the skyline and urban landscape of a city. I view buildings as frameworks with a high potential for the unfolding of social, human activity and the shaping of community. From this point of view I have to say that for any high rise to be considered a success it has to incorporate somehow the idea of allowing accessibility by the majority of people and not just 'a few penthouse yuppies' and some professional services companies not yet big enough to build their own corporate headquarters. It has to contribute positively to the local community by channeling the surplus of increased urban density into a concrete and attractive benefit.

Is it possible today in Scandinavia and the Baltics to design high rises that cater to "ordinary people's needs" without such projects immediately suffering the stigmata of being considered 'commie blocks' that nobody in their right mind would want to live in?

In other words what are in your opinion the most successful S&B re-inventions of the commie block theme, which have contributed positively to a re-invigoration of the local urban community?

EDIT: Feel free to substitute "high rise" for "mid rise" in this text - and let me know if that leads you to arriving at different conclusions. In Copenhagen at least we're still so low-flying that it takes much less than >91m to be considered 'high rise' at least in the popular mind.>

Pictures from Carlsberg / Vores By Exhibition

2007-04-29T12:30:00.001-07:00

I visited the exhibition of the 250 international proposals received for redevelopment of the Carlsberg site in central Copenhagen along with my girlfriend this Sunday. We had to wait in line for 45 minutes and only had around 35 - 40 minutes to enjoy the exhibition as we were to attend a football match later in the day. I managed to take the following photos of some of the proposals from the exhibition. I apologise in advance for the lack of representativity in the selection of pictures and for the fact that most of the photos do not include the number of the proposals. Since time was lacking it was the best that I could do. I hope that those of you who were unable to attend the exhibition will nevertheless get an impression of the breadth of the submissions and also perhaps of the fact that many people seem to view the Carlsberg re-development as the opportunity to complement the traditional Copenhagen skyline with some new-thinking high rise architecture.

The pretty ugly high rise building, which I believe currently houses Carlsberg's administrative staff? Hopefully, this will serve as an example of how not to develop high rises on the Carlsberg site.

A more recent high rise on the site - which is in fact a converted silo. I imagine that this design inspired the subsequent conversion of f.x. the Gemini Residence on Islands Brygge.

The double port through which we entered the premises.

An interesting little tower, which we passed by on our way to the exhibition.

There were many of these little, peculiar details in the ornamentation of the buildings that we passed by on our way.

There were also some pretty ugly examples of ornamentation! This is the backside of the building in which the exhibition was housed. I imagine that the yellow dishes have some heat reflective function since the building was previously used for interim storage of brew or ingredients if I'm not mistaken.

An example of the signage directing us toward the exhibition.

The well known Carlsberg Elephants - with some hapless Sunday tourists in front.

It was a clear blue sky for most of the time during our wait although a busily working Thor was summoning rather strong winds undoubtedly hoping to shower us in thunderstorms.

We were finally let in to view the competition proposals. I'll let the remaining pictures speak for themselves, since I don't really have anything meaningful to add.

A bottle-opener? (Sorry couldn't resist it!)

Who said there were no proposals for a La Defense style borough? Clearly they overlooked at least one proposal!

Looks like somebody spent too much time in Second Life!

Even people who couldn't afford fancy 3D-modelling and presentation tools submitted their ideas. Great!

Wickedism? What have these people been smoking (or perhaps more aptly, drinking?)

These arches were called "landscrapers" and supposedly contain gondolas or elevators to allow people to admire the terrain(?)

Another La Defense-inspired proposal IMO.

There's a candle in the middle.

>

Helsingborg on a sunny day

2007-04-29T12:00:00.001-07:00

I was inspired by the HelsingÃ¶r/Helsingborg thread by DLL_4ever and took the opportunity to take some pictures on my lunchbreak. Im not a skilled photographer but i just could'nt resist on this lovely day.

>

MalmÃÂ¶ 3rd city in Sweden the home of Turning Torso

2007-04-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSCF1004.jpg

A new building of MalmÃ¶ University

FersensvÃ¤g/V. RÃ¶nneholmsvÃ¤gen

FersensvÃ¤g/V. RÃ¶nneholmsvÃ¤gen

FersensvÃ¤g/V. RÃ¶nneholmsvÃ¤gen

Sockerbolaget

MalmÃ¶ opera

FersensvÃ¤g/Regementsgatan

Slottsgatan/St Nygatan

Slottsgatan

Slottsgatan

St Johannes Church

Hilton

SÃ¶dergatan

Centralplan

Gamla VÃ¤ster

Kronprinsen and TT

Pildammsparken>

Baltic capitals -> Scandinavian capitals

2007-04-29T11:00:00.001-07:00

I have too much free time I guess, that's why I decided to create this weird thread.
The aim of this thread is to discuss what kind of developments are needed in Baltic state capitals to reach the level of Scandinavian capitals. All spheres can be discussed (housig, shopping, public transport, tourism, office space, various services...). I want to see some serious discusssions with numbers and stats, not just some crazy bashing of Baltic capitals. >

NÃÂ¼rnberg

2007-04-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

Has just returned from a trip on a route Vilnius-Praha-NÃ¼rnberg--Reims-Paris-Brugge-Brussel-Amsterdam-Vilnius.
Impressions remains much. Now I shall lay out photos NÃ¼rnberg.The city has very much liked me.
So.

>

Malmo Huge thing

2007-04-29T10:00:00.001-07:00

what is this???? a bridge a tunnel?????? it look it's not finished if the objective it's denmark why it ends in the middle??? can somebody tellm what is this??

>

Brugge

2007-04-29T09:30:00.001-07:00

Now I shall lay out photos Brugge. Certainly quality at them not so good as I hurried up and was not time for preparation. All on run.

>

Mr D does da Singapore thing... dah dah!

2007-04-29T09:00:00.001-07:00

Yo guys... I know you're all wondering why I was so quite this week ( right? )

Well here's the answer... I was busy sweating my ass off in the wonderful nation of Singapore...

It was hot and humid as hell... but the scrapers, amazing girls and sun made it all worth it..

Note: The tread is a bit picture heavy - if you are having trouble seeing all the pics you can try reloading the page or setting your browsers setting to allow more space usage.. ( this tread uses ~ 10mb )

Here's some of the pics... enjoy!

My hotel - a nice place with a great location...

Night time...

It's a great place... very multicultural an accepting... beautiful streets ( like a garden ) and very safe... I strongly recomend all to go ( just know that the heat can be a little much for us frozen Vikings ) >