Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred 150714

Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred. 150714
© NF Photos 150714

Two days ago we took the car and went to Gripsholms Castle. It is located in Mariefred at the lake Mälaren. It takes about an hour and a half to go there by car. It is an old royal castle. The first parts was built in 1370:s.

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The first view of Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred when we arrived.

A little bridge leading to the  greenhouse with a nice fence and sky reflections in the water.

 One side of the castle and a part of the park surrounding it.

The same area as above looking from the castle. You find another, smaller one, on the other shore. It is named Gripsnäs. It is a private mansion.

One of the rooms in the castle. Seem to be one of the bedrooms.

On the third floor the Castle have a theater. On a rare occasion's they still use it. I would love to go behind it and see how it works. 

 Three mirrors between decor pillars reflects the opposite side of the wall above the spectator grand stand

And outside the Castle area is another interesting thing. You can go with a steam engine train on a narrow track. It is a working museum. :)  Steam train

The trip back home was not all that fun. Started to rain as soon as we left Mariefred. And sometimes really hard showers. I had to stop twice as I did not see the road.  :(

Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred Sweden
© NF Photos 150714

This is just a brief note of what there are to see. The castle host a large collection of paintings of royalties from all over Europe. So the walls are all covered with more then 4000 paintings. All portraits of kings and queens and other noble people.


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Tåkern 150509 exploring the area

Tåkern 150508-10

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© NF Photos 150509

Today we gathered at 6.30, before breakfast, for a walk in the gardens and the surrounding area. To watch and listen to the morning music of nature. It was a beautiful, sunny, morning. Blooming spring flowers, new arrivals of birds and a fresh breeze from lake Vättern. And nobody could suspect we were 48 women walking around. A great way to start the day.


But there were more things then bird too look for. Like cottages burried in flowers. Forgetmenots to be exact.



After breakfast the bus picked us up and we headed out to explore Lake Tåkern and the National Reserve.





Our first stop was at the Ramstads bridge to look for birds of prey and what else would be there. It was a good view point for both raptors, swans, geese and smaller birds. Lots of bird song could be heard in the reed. This swan seem to say, look out,
I´m coming your way.






After that we drove to a place called Bankängen (Bank meadow). We were hoping for Eurasian curlew  (storspov) but we did not see any. It was probably a little too early for them to have arrived yet. But it was a nice walk and I found other things to capture on camera.

As people have a habit of eating a lot it was now time for lunch! So we headed for Tåkern hostel where we ate in the beautiful gardens.





From the hostel, done eating, we could chose weather we wanted to walk to Naturrum Tåkern or take the bus. I think most of us walked in the reeds and meadows. Most of the time the path was on narrow boardwalks as it was very wet. We heard Bearded Reedling but did not see it. But we did see a Red Kite. It was a nice walk in the reeds.
Svanhals äng

Along the road there was also stations for children to investigate the lake and it´s inhabitants.

Arriving at the Naturrum Tåkern, Glänås, we saw more open water and then ducks, terns and other waterfowl. Not to mention the center itself. It was cool to check out the design of the buildings and towers.

Naturrum Tåkern was built from the reed surrounding it. That´s why they are weathered and grey to the color. I did take a quick look inside. But we will ahve a Grand Tour tomorrow so I went out looking for whatever birdlife there was. It was not as much as I expected it to be. The usual sucks, swans, terns and  few raptors.






A view from the birding tower. The boardwalk we walked is seen to the left in the image.


At 16,00h we were back at the hostel for a break. I fell asleep.

Then we took a walk by the lake to get to the restaurant where we had dinner.

During the time we ate the weather turned grey and it started to rain. So when we left for the evening session, listening for night singing birds it, rained. Some of us stayed in the bus during the session, the others positioned themselves below the deck for cover. Birders are a hardy bunch :) Sorry, to dark for images at that time.

Back at the Hostel around 22.00h and everyone went to bed. Last day tomorrow with an, as usual, early morning.

Seen from the tower some young people taking a break. Same place we did but this looks very romantic. :)

Tåkern on NF Photo

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140923 Queensland, Canungra to Brisbane and the Airport

Queensland, Australia 2014-09-05--09-25
140923 day 19 Tuesday

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© NF Photos 140923

After packing my bags for travelling back home I had my breakfast in the room. I needed help again to bring my luggae down the stairs. It is rather heavy with spotting scope, spare cameras , books and everything else. 

We left the motel at 07.00h to go to Brisbane. We came right in morning traffic and was rerouted to smaller roads as there were some troubles ahead of us.  But our guide was used to this so we ended up at Port of Brisbane. A bit later then planned but still. We made a stop at the office in charge of the hide in  Port of Brisbane wader roost pond to get a key and went there. The place seem to be known as Lytton Roost as well.

It was a great place for waders, ibises and ducks. I finally could see the Red-necked Avocets I´d been waiting for. There were lots of different birds in this pond. More then I would have thought. It was fun. We could walk all around it and get good views of the birds. Both the small ones and the larger ones. They will all be in my Aus  birdblog when time comes.

 After that we drove to a wetland that was rather dry actually. It was located at "Hamilton Pine Rivers Wheelers cycling club" and we had to watch for bikers all the time. There was an asphalted track for the bikers and small ponds and streams here and there. The area obviously is flooded every now and then as there are poles marking the depth of water level.

Now our Swedish tour leader started to get a bit stressed as the group were about to split up. We found a restaurant in town were we had our last lunch and then they drove us to the airport. We were four that would leave, two for Sweden, two for Melbourne and the rest of the group continued inland for additional days. This was not fun. The two of us going to Sweden was left at the airport at 14.30h and our flight would not go until after midnight :(  Almost 10 h at the airport and you were not even sleepy. But time passes and we got airborn on schedule. When we went to Australia we had three very short  days now we had one very long day to take us home.                                                                                        Brisborn from the airport

Below, the last thing I saw of Australia was the bridge in Brisbane, just after takeoff.

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140528 Blue Lagoon

ISLAND 2014-05-28--06-04
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© NF Photos 140528 at Blue Lagoon

The first thing to do in Iceland is to visit the Blue Lagoon and take a swim.

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