Rosslyn chapel- a scottish wonder

Rosslyn Chapel is a 15th-century church in the village of Roslin, seven miles from Edinburgh in Scotland. The beauty of its setting and the mysterious symbolism of its ornate stonework have inspired and intrigued artists and visitors ever since. The chapel is famous both for its decorative art and its mysterious associations with the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, and the Freemasons (Those were references in Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code").

The chapel was founded by Sir William Sinclair, of the St. Clair family, a Scottish noble family from Orkney who descended from Norman knights and, according to legend, linked to the Knights Templar. The foundation stone of Rosslyn Chapel was laid on St. Matthew's Day, September 21, 1446.

Rosslyn Chapel is relatively small and has an asymmetrical shape, owing probably to intended further construction. The arched stone ceiling of Rosslyn Chapel is finely decorated in squares with five pointed stars, ball flowers, tablet flowers, roses, a dove with an olive branch:

On the three pillars standing between the east aisle and the east chapel is a choir of 13 angels with musical instruments, representing the host of God. On the ribs of the intersections on the north and south sides are representations of various occupations in life.

Rosslyn Chapel is the home of the famous Apprentice Pillar, a decorated pillar that gets its name from a legend involving the mason in charge of the stonework in the chapel and his young apprentice.

The base of the Apprentice Pillar depicts eight dragons, from whose mouths emerge the vine that winds itself around the pillar. In Christian mythology, this represents the Tree of Life, but it probably was inspired by Norse mythology. The Norse Tree of Knowledge, Yggdrasil, holds up the heavens from the earth and the dragons of time gnaw at the roots of the Tree.

http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/

Location of Rosslyn Chapel

The Eskimo ball

The samples of a ball were found in archeological excavations of 1,5-thousand-year old inuit sites. The Eskimo ball was a symbol of the Sun, the image of the Universe for the indigenous people of northern Siberia, Alaska and Canada.

In earlier times the ball had basically sacral meaning, and people started to play the ball with arrival of a new hunting season.

The appearance of the ball symbolized the beginning of the new year. The game with ball was most important in ceremonies. To throw a ball in game to each other still symbolizes a message of goodwill and warm feelings, and the sound that the little stones make inside of a ball means repel bad luck and evil.

The remarkable Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), a planetary nebula (Hubble photo, NASA)

Belgian station in Antarcticaa Thule for the future

The Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica.

Coordinates 71° 57’ S, 23° 20’E

The belgian Princess Elisabeth Station was officially inaugurated on the 15th February 2009.

It's the first "zero emission" station ever, the world's first polar station run entirely on renewable energy.

The Station has been pre-built in Brussels, where it has been on show before it gets shipped down to the Antarctic.

http://www.antarcticstation.org/

The Princess Elisabeth Station will also offer a certain level of comfort which will, after a tough day of work, surely be welcomed.

Utsteinen, a village of tents

The Belgian station on Antarctica is situated 300 m North of Utsteinen nunatak, on a small relatively flat granite ridge, sticking out of the snow. The ridge is 700 m long and a few meters large and elevates 20 m above the surrounding snow surface in the accumulation zone. Closeby is the so called Ulsteinen village, a camp where the scientific crew used to live and work.

The local pub

Princess Elisabeth station in the sunlight

Unalaska, Aleutian islands

The Aleutian Islands are a streched archipelago of volcanic islands that reach far into the Bering sea. That remoteness is also the source of their income: fabulous fisheries, mainly crab and halibut...

The islands have frequently changed sovereignty, but they were integrated in U.S.Alaska in 1867. The main settlement is Unalaska / Dutch Harbour, a community of about 4 000 residents.

Unalaska is located at 53°53′ N, 166°31′ W

The city enjoys a strategic position near the center of the nation's most productive fishing grounds and is the hub of the transshipment of cargo between Pacific Rim trading partners.

Nine thousand years ago, the Unangan people, ancestors of the Aleuts, settled here and throughout the Aleutian Islands. Russian explorers arrived in 1759 and the Russian influence has remained strong ever since.

The Cathedral

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Ascension, built in 1896, is the oldest cathedral in Alaska.

Some bald eagle is always sitting on top of the cathedral’s crosses over the ognions.

Bald eagles are all around town and harbour.

The Harbour

Dutch Harbor, the official name of the city's port, is often applied to the portion of the City of Unalaska located on Amaknak Island, which is connected by bridge to the rest of the community on Unalaska Island .

The ships and their crew are the true stars and heroes in Dutch Harbour.
Many of the fishing vessels became famous in the TV Discovery documental series “Deadliest Catch".

"Sheila´s B&B”, a 1897 wooden house on main street.

Isaalux bridge (meaning “safe crossing”) goes over a little stream from main street to the library.

Museum of the Aleutians
http://www.aleutians.org/

The museum is a must see for both locals and visitors. Perhaps the best small town museum in Alaska, it has a great archaeology collection, Unangan crafts, WWII memoriabilia, and historical displays.

Aleut hat of walrus whiskers

The volcanic ring

Mt Shishaldin is a moderately active volcano on Unimak Island with nearly 40 historic eruptions, which have been brief and explosive.

The most symmetrical cone-shaped glacier covered large mountain on earth, the volcano's topographic contour lines are nearly perfect circles above 6 500 feet.

http://www.unalaska.info/

20 000 visits - Thank you!

Slowly and few, like life in the arctic, the visits to Ultima Thule reached the twenty thousand. I am rather happy, in fact, this is not for everybody's taste. I´ll keep on travelling and discovering, and I thank all those who came ashore hereby, and, particularly, my followers ♥ !