Testing...

Working on "how to" -tutorials...
Searched the web and found that a better (?) version
 of this quote could be "Ire necesse est" 
(=(to) travel is necessary) Comments?:)

I like this!

Found this in my friend's Facebook, totally stealing it! ;)
(Hoping not to offend anyone, I do not own the rights to this picture)

In september Princess Victoria of Sweden and her spouse, Prince Daniel, came for an official visit to Turku. They arrived by boat ("Tre Kronor"), and I thought that they actually had sailed from Stockholm to Turku. But alas! They had not. They came by plane, jumped onboard the ship outside Turku and then graciously sailed into the city harbor - waving in a very royal manner!:)

As the school where I work is close by the harbor, I took my students to see Her Majesty. Here are a few pictures!

Children sang a Moomin song for the Princess. Here in her red costume, Little My.

Press people were there, of course.

First glimpses at the Princess!

Royal wave! :)

The little girl that was to be the flower girl.
Later she threw a temper tantrum! :D
Oh boy, will she hear that story when she grows up! :D

Meeting and greeting Turku representatives.

She is so sweet! Daniel was by her side at all times.

The Princess gets her own seal!
The seal is a symbol for the environmental work that is been done for the Baltic Sea.

Her Majesty points out the place where her name plate is going to be.

Paying close attention...

"I wonder if they can do the work properly?"

Tall Ships' Regatta 2011, Turku

Because of the European Culture Capital year, Turku also had the big ships visit this autumn. This event is usually during the summer and it's (usually) called Tall Ships' Race. So, to avoid any misunderstanding, this event was called Tall Ships' Regatta 2011...

Whether the name was a good choice or not, I leave it up to you to decide, but here are a few photos from when the ships were leaving (28/8/2011)... It was such a grey day, so it's only appropriate that the photos are B/W.

Russian "Akela" leaving (click name!:)

Decorative (Russian "Shtandart").

Russian "Shtandart" behind the pier on the left leaving (click links on the names:).
Right ahead/in the middle, Russian "Sedov".

Sails down.

Curious people with a view to the river Aura.

Note to self: Remember Alice!

I've been doing quite a lot of blogg surfing recently and I've found a lot of inspiring and beautiful blogs. I like reading diary-like entries, but I'm mostly fascinated by different photo blogs. Maybe I'll make a list of them once I've established which I really like - like for a longer period of time :)

So. Just now I found this wonderful photo blog, and I want to share it with you. This particular entry is about Jessica/Silversaga having an "Alice in wonderland" theme party (I love theme parties!). The best pert is that it's from HERRÄNG (Sweden) where they have these legendary dance camps (I love dancing!), mostly for lindy hop dancers, but maybe even other rock n' swing dancers go there? My friends from Turku have been there, and if this is the result (dancing AND photographic inspiration), then I MUST go there next summer! Take a look at this beautiful blog called "Once upon a time"!

World of Tango, Tampere (17-18/9/2011)

Quite awesome to have tango dancing friends!
A car full of tango dancers (aka 4 people:) took off to Tampere for the World of Tango Festival main weekend. We had a lot of fun!

I stayed with a friend, and what a good thing that led into: Riikka talked me into going to London with her and her friends! On Saturday we ate tasty burgers at restaurant New York, on Sunday we had coffee at café Runo.

As usual, here are a few photos!

Putting on some contact lenses and tango shoes and we were good to go!

Silla & Jere, Saturday day milonga at Telakka.

Charming lamp and ceiling at Runo.
Upstairs on the balcony more seats.

Runo café.

Rikkaa having coffee, chocolate treat and fashion :)

Me at Runo.

Summer adventures vol. 8: Man on a trapeze

"Panem et circenses!"(*)  

Again, one show that was organized on the behalf of the Turku 2011 Culture Capital events. Too bad that there were no good places to take photos of the acts that they had on the Theater Bridge. It was a bit too bright for the guys juggling with torches and also the railings of the bridge were in the way. Luckily the main act, the guy on the trapeze (Viktor Kaiser), had a spotlight, which made him easier to shoot.

Here, take a look and tell me what you think!

People by the river Aura.
Viktor Kaiser is going to walk the trapeze over to the rock, somewhere above the hole.

Experimenting with shutter speed.

Shutter speed pt. II.

Shutter speed pt. III.

Harder to keep hands still if the object is far away..

Viktor Kaiser on the wire.

You can see the old mill in the background..

Kaiser is about half way... 

Here you can see the masses watching closely if Kaiser will fall or not!