Skansen (Cont.)- The Animals!

Video available at: http://bayhillventures.com/video/videos.html



Energetic and sleepy seals.


A playful otter.




Great bears.



Two creatures you don't usually see together- the lynx and the brown bears (video on the video site: http://bayhillventures.com/video/videos.html)


Bedtime in the pigpen.



The Eagle Owl- the largest owl in the world!

Skansen

Not Skansen, but another Stockholm picture of Stacey and her parents eating at the Art Cafe, an underground restaurant built in 17th-century tunnels underneath the Old Town (Gamelstan). Very cool and excellent curry!


The Skansen glassblower at work in his shop.


Skansen is a huge outdoor museum opened in 1891, featuring buildings brought in from all over Sweden. Here are some of the old time Swedish musicians featured at one of the farmsteads. You can check out video of them at the video website!

The Vasa Museet- Stockholm

Stacey helps out the crew in the reconstruction of the ship's cabin.


The entire ship.


And the centerpiece of the back of the ship as it looked in 1628.


The centerpiece of the back of the ship as it looks today (unrestored)


The back of the ship above the rudder- the woodwork is amazing, and I can hardly imagine what it must have looked like when painted in bright colors.


Stacey with the diving bell that was used not long after the Vasa sank to recover some of the cannons. Claustraphobics beware!


The Vasa Museum is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of The Vasa, a Swedish warship which sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628 (dramatized in the photo above). It sat at the bottom of the Baltic sea until it was rediscovered by a man in a boat in the 1960s. It was then brought to the surface intact and was restored- it now sits in the museum, preserved for posterity. An absolutely amazing museum.

The Eden Project

The original reason I was fascinated with the conservation efforts at the Eden project- they compost 1.5 tons of leftover food and rubbish produced by visitors each day during peak season and recycle all the bottles and cans. Bottles are made into really neat glasses using a very simple process- check it out!


With Stacey's Dad, Jim, close behind.


Stacey's Mom (black jacket, green shirt), coming down from the canopy inside the rainforest dome.


The robot sculpture at the Eden Project which is made up of all of the electronic gadgets that one person (British) will go through in a lifetime (probably more for Americans!). For an idea of how large the sculpture is, find a washing machine in it.


Visited the largest botanical garden in the world (in Cornwall), which features two giant geodesic domes containing the only tropical rainforest canopy "in captivity." A very cool place committed to education and conservation.

So Much Catching Up to Do!

The only "United Methodist Church" I've seen in England. Definitely not UMC, but sure looks like one!


Had to take a picture of this building as a proud Methodist. Maybe I can find another sign for my house someday? ;)


An old farmstead on the road to (from?) St. Ives, with goose.


Jim (Stacey's Dad) and the lighthouse.


The beautiful scenery at the lighthouse in Cornwall on a brief trip with Stacey and her parents.