State Capitol murals

Three pictures taken inside the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, during our holiday in the U.S. last September. It is the house of government for the state of Utah, located on Capitol Hill and overlooking downtown Salt Lake City.
Much of the so-called 'rotunda', floors and stairs are open to the public. Our visit was on a Saturday so it was very quiet inside, but the interior was magnificent!

From 2004 the capitol underwent a major restoration. The project added 2 new buildings to the complex, while restoring many of the capitol's public spaces to their original appearance. There are 5 floors: 4 main floors and a basement. The interior is decorated with many paintings and sculptures depicting Utah's history and heritage.

The building is 123 m (404 feet) long, 73 m (240 feet) wide, and the dome is 76 m (250 feet) high. Very impressive! If you would like to read more about the capitol in Salt Lake City click HERE.

Linking to Monday Mural.

Midwinter tradition

A still very much alive tradition in the eastern part of the Netherlands is called ´midwinterhoornblazen´ or ´blowing the midwinter horn´, that takes place during the period from Advent through Epiphany on January 6. More than 2,000 years ago people believed that the sound of the horns would scare off evil spirits that came in the darkness, but later it was used to announce the coming of Christ.
On this first Advent Sunday the midwinter horn group from the village of Zuidwolde organised a midwinter horn walk. Along the route of 11 km there were 15 different groups like the one on the photo.
It was wet, it was muddy, but a wonderful tradition to experience!

Black with some blue

A photo taken in Yellowstone Park (Wyoming, U.S.A.), last September. I'm no expert though: is it a crow or is it a raven, or ...? Because of its bluish black colour and shiny feathers I think it's a raven, but please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

I'm linking to Saturday's critters.

Lines and stripes

Going downstairs in Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle.

Weiert

The Weiert shopping-centre in Emmen.

My cappuccino in... Eelde

View from inside Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde to the museum café, across one of the ponds...

...where I ended my visit with a cappuccino, served with a piece of home-baked speculaas. Speculaas is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit, very Dutch and traditionally eaten this time of year, but of course it also tastes delicious the rest of the year!

More Autumn colours

There is so much to discover in the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, with its many walkways, ponds, and sculptures. Beautiful in all seasons, though I must say nothing beats these Autumn colours. This photo was taken last Friday.

Bovine Metropolis

Back to September and our holiday in the U.S. for this mural on the Bovine Metropolis Theater in downtown Denver (CO).

The words painted between the upper and lower windows are: DANCE, DRAMA, FILM, MUSIC, POETRY.

It appears to me that the building has been there for some time, and I believe the colours used in the mural, the round shapes and flowers look very Art Nouveau-style.
According to their website, Bovine Metropolis Theater on Champa Street is "the first dedicated school and theater for improvisation in the Rocky Mountain region and teaches the art of accepting the unknown gracefully".

I'm linking to Monday mural.

From London to Venice in one photo

This 8.1 meters long panorama photo is part of the current exhibition 'Portraits of Nature' in Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, and pictures the flight that Japanese painter/sculptor/photographer Hiroyuki Masuyama (1968) took from London to Venice.
Here Masuyama describes the movement of time and space as it is experienced in flight. He mounted his camera onto the window of his airplane and took a photo every 20 seconds. With several hundreds of photographs he then composed a single, monumental montage of the journey.

I cannot imagine what a difficult job this must have been to create, but I really like the idea!

The pond

Another view from yesterday afternoon, taken in the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde. The sculpture in the pond is ´Atlas´, a bronze by Dutch sculpturor Lotta Blokker (1980). In Greek mythology, Atlas was the Titan who held up the sky. This sculpture however shows Atlas holding up another man.

I am linking to Weekend Reflections.

Autumn sun

In the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, earlier today.

"Self Portrait of a Dreamer"

by Joseph Klibansky (Cape Town, 1984). It is made from fiber-reinforced plastic, resin, fiberglass, silk flowers, acrylic and iron. The sculpture is part of the exhibition 'Nick & Simon - OPEN', currently in Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle.
It caught this lady's attention!

Inside Waanders

For me a trip to Zwolle includes a visit to Waanders; the modern bookstore inside the 15th century Broeren Church, aka 'Waanders in de Broeren'. (I posted a few photos of the interior before in March of this year, if you would like to see them you are of course very welcome to click on the label below this post.)
This is another image taken last Saturday.

Leaving

Sassenpoort (2)

The gate, built in 1406 as I mentioned yesterday, had to be wide enough for carts and carriages to stand underneath. Then all would be examined thoroughly by guards before they were allowed to enter the city. The Sassen Gate was a so-called 'inner gate', so everybody was 'checked' at an outer gate gate first as well.
In the 17th century the Sassen Gate became a prison.

Sassenpoort (1)

The Sassenpoort (Sassen Gate) is the only left gatehouse in the city wall of Zwolle. It was built in 1409 from 101,000 stones, and by its size the wealth of the city was shown. At the end of the 19th century the gatehouse was renovated and became an important Dutch heritage site.

Lunch view

This is the view through the window that I had during lunch on the third floor of V&D Department Store in the city of Zwolle today.

My thoughts are with the people in Paris, and those who lost a loved one in the attacks of yesterday.

A motorised hot dog?

I am not used to bring my camera when I go shopping for groceries, but maybe I should! This funny van disguised as a sausage was parked in front of our local supermarket today. Luckily I had my cell phone with me to take a photo :)
The Dutch 'knaks' or 'knakworst' are similar to hot dogs. At first I mistook the van for a food truck but it was a slide instead. The kids were happy with it!

Behind the city walls

A view into a narrow one-way street in the heart of Zwolle, with on the right a renovated part of the historical city wall. The wall was originally built at the end of the 15th century.

Flooded

The word 'fietspad' is Dutch for 'bicycle path'. Ehm....maybe for pedal boats?  ;)
I took this photo on the island of Schiermonnikoog, earlier this month.

Linking to Lesley's signs, signs.

Molenveld

Our Autumn weather has been unusually warm so far, days and nights. But of course it's November and trees are rapidly loosing their leaves now, as the birches on the photo show. The picture is from last Sunday and was taken in a nearby nature area called Molenveld. We come here often for a walk in the forest or along the heather fields.

Monday mural

Street art in the old city centre of Zwolle, near the Goudsteeg. I tried to find some information about it, but I haven't been able to find anything. There seems to be a story behind it though..

Update: so I learned that these murals were created in 2012 by Dutch artist Henk Nyenhuis. (Bedankt s.c!)

I am linking to Monday Mural.

Callicarpa

Wandering around the garden yesterday afternoon I found this long-legged spider on the purple berries of the Callicarpa. In Dutch this plant is also called Schoonvrucht. During Summer the Callicarpa is "just another" green plant, but once the leaves fall off in Autumn the eye-catching berries appear.

Schiermonnikoog sheep

A flock of black-headed sheep on top of a dike in Schiermonnikoog, at the Wadden Sea side of the island.

I´m linking to Saturday´s critters.

The red lighthouse

A green door in a 44 meter high red tower: this is the entrance of the Schiermonnikoog lighthouse. We have never had a peak inside though as the lighthouse is not open for visitors.

Schiermonnikoog village (2)

 Two more views from typical Dutch homes that you find in Schiermonnikoog village.

Schiermonnikoog village

The island of Schiermonnikoog has one village, also named Schiermonnikoog with just over 900 inhabitants. The oldest houses date from the early 18th century. Whenever we visit the island and the beach, we also enjoy wandering around the streets and footpaths. Even in the grey and gloomy weather that we had last Sunday! :)

More to follow tomorrow.

Sea fishing

During our walk on the beach of Schiermonnikoog we saw these two fishermen constantly busy replacing and preparing their fishing-rods..

..while they probably better should have moved their 2 chairs and parasol to dry sand..

St Egbert chapel

The Roman Catholic St Egbert chapel at the Badweg on the island of Schiermonnikoog was built in 1915 in a rationalism architectural style. It then belonged to a children´s colony home next to the chapel, also called St Egbert. Here so-called 'bleekneusjes' (lit.: 'whitenoses'), meaning children who were weakened by war, malnutrition, or medical reasons, could get stronger during a period of 6 weeks.

The chapel is in its original state and is still in use today. The building was declared a national monument.

Beacon Kobbeduinen

The Beacon Kobbeduinen on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog is a marker for ships that sail on the Wadden Sea. This is a picture from this morning; arriving on the island with the 9:30 ferry this was the first thing we headed for on our hike. As you can see, the sun was just coming through the clouds. I may have posted photos from the beacon before but it is really a nice spot.

The wooden beacon is located at the edge of the National Park Schiermonnikoog. The word Kobbe is related to Kove which means 'seagull', and the Dutch word duinen means 'dunes' in English.