Scenes from Vrango

 At the moment I am putting together a portfolio for stock photo sites in the hope that over the course of the year ahead I will increase the income from my photography. Whether I do or not remains to be seen but it will help me to focus on quality (I might have said this already in a recent post, I can't recall, I have been asleep since then) and improving as a photographer. As I have not been out much to get new pictures I am revisiting my older files and I am pleasantly surprised by many of the images I have put together over the years. I am also really pleased with the memories that come flooding back too. So most of the pictures I will share for a while at least will be from the archives.

These pictures were shot in Sweden in the summer of 2018. As I am writing this I am listening to the album Treeless Plain by Australian band The Triffids and the song playing right now is "Hell of a Summer" (click on the song title to listen for yourself).

I was on a road trip around Europe with my youngest son and we fulfilled an ambition to visit Sweden. We drove up from Copenhagen in Denmark across the Oresund Bridge which was a fantastic experience and then up to Gothenburg which was possibly the highlight of the trip (although there were several highlights to be honest) and while there we took a trip to Vrango, one of the islands in the archipelago close by. It was a really hot day and we had great fun walking around the island and enjoying the sun and the brightly coloured buildings that were all around the village and the harbour.

I have shared a mixture of colour and black and white images and while I like all of these photos and I would often prefer the black and white images today I much prefer the colour pictures because they are far mor evocative of the overall atmosphere on the island which although it was a quiet refuge from the busy city was still vibrant and uplifting.

Feathered Friends

 

Here are three different birds, the first is a Western Jackdaw, the second is a duckling (possibly mallard or possibly Rouen Duck) and the third is a Scania Goose.

All three were photographed in Gothenburg in the summer of 2018, more precisely in the Slottskogen which is a public park opened in 1874 with a free zoo. It is a really extensive park with so much to see and do (frisbee golf, beach volleyball, the zoo, a theatre and lots of walks) in the heart if the city.

I think the Jackdaw is quite a handsome specimen while the duckling is very very cute. The goose is a rare domestic breed native to southern Sweden apparently in 2011 there were only 172 registered birds of this variety so that does make them quite a rarity. 

Sunny Bee

I captured this macro shot of a honey bee feasting on a beautiful white Alium in the botanical gardens in Gothenburg. 

It was lucky that it was such a bright sunny day because the flowers were host to lots of bees and pollinating insects and because the light was so good it meant I could use a fast shutter speed which was essential as the bee was constantly on the move.

In A Rose Garden

Today's selection were taken in the rose garden in the botanical gardens in Gothenburg.

There are so many different varieties of rose and these are old wild varieties and getting in close you can really see the beauty within.  What you can't tell from these shots is how amazing these flowers smelled.

Criss Cross

Every city that we have visited so far on our roadtrip has had a really good public transport system with trams, buses and metro (with driverless trains) which has been great as it means I haven't had to navigate round the cities in my car.

The tram system in Gothenburg is quite old and you will see from my post yesterday that the rolling stock is fairly dated.

In places the roads and tramlines are separated by kerbs or barriers but at larger junctions it is much less clear, at least to a visitor like me who has to constantly remember to look left instead of right  before stepping off the kerb.

At some junctions the tramlines criss cross in a confusing jumble as you can see from today's picture. I had to stand in the middle of the junction to get this shot, assisted by my son who was keeping an eye on the traffic and listening out for the warning bells of approaching trams. I like this picture so it was worth the risk...

I'm writing this during a pause in our journey to Malmö from where we will be taking the overnight ferry to Germany. We have a good day planned for tomorrow so hopefully I will have something interesting to share with you tomorrow evening.

A Random Trio

So here are three random shots taken around Gothenburg today.

It has been scorching hot today with temperature of 31c so it was great being out and about. Tomorrow is set to be a little cooler at 29c.

I took the first picture on my way down to the tram stop. It made me laugh in a schoolboy snickering way after all farts are funny right. In Swedish fart means speed so obviously not as funny but it shows how funny different languages can be.

Our plan for today was to explore one of the islands in Gothenburg's archipelago. We went to Vrango the southernmost island and spent a few hours wandering the trails and clambering over the rocks around the shore. I got some really nice landscape images but I am saving those til I get home. Instead my selection from the island is of the lichen on the rock which is a brilliant yellow.

The final picture today is of one of the trams, I thought about posing the question "I wonder what's got him so cross?" because the destination says Angered, just another example of how words can mean very different things.

Tomorrow before leaving this interesting city we're going to see the famous fish market and the horticultural society's garden which apparently is stunning.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

So today you find us in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city and the most northern point on our trip. We are here til Thursday when we will be taking an overnight ferry from Malmo into Germany.

The drive up from Copenhagen was excellent as we first crossed the magniOresund bridge. We were greeted by a somewhat surly border guard but as we made our way into Sweden we were pleased to get another country under our belt. To start the scenery wasn't much different to that in Denmark but as we got further north there were more wooded hills and small lakes and lots of rivers and I felt there were a lot of similarities to driving in parts of Canada. 

My son and I chatted away giving each other little quizzes and having a bit of a lark. We spotted a few cranes in the fields, not a bird we would  see at home.

We spent the afternoon exploring a park in the city called Slottsskogen which is huge, there are lots of walks and different activities, there are fountains and cafes and even a petting zoo. There is also a wildlife park which is home to a variety of native species including seals, moose, elk and reindeer and a breed of pony that has been around these parts since the stone age. There was also the Scania goose (Skånegås) that is so heavy that it has difficulty flying.

While I was watching a dogfight between some beautiful dragonflies I noticed the rainbow in the spray from the fountain and I thought it would make a nice image to share with you.

The second of today's pictures is of a secluded lagoon just visible from one spot along one of the woodland paths and it was a good spot to pause along the way.

Tomorrow We will be heading out to visit one of the islands in the archipelago, there are quite a few, each with something special to offer so deciding where to go may be difficult but with the promise of more good weather I don't think we can go far wrong.