Archive for July 2012
Following on from yesterdays post, we spent about 15 mins inside the church, not really long enough but still nice to get away from the heat, there is no talking allowed on the lower floor which was a nice break from our tour guide, the church is constructed from cement pillars, floors and celling, and left in a very raw state, this is so you can tell it’s new.
This is the upper floor where a service was ongoing.
A lot os stained glass can be found, this is the window above the front entrance, seen here from inside,
And outside.
The front of the church is amazing, but i had to crop it as the front is concave and without a wide angle lens it looked a bit odd, I also changed the exposure so the doorways were completely dark, adding a bit of mystery. Let me know what you think?
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I finally got around to my photo’s from my Nazareth visit last month, this was our last stop of the tour and in the 40 degree heat I was pretty glad of that, although it was nice and cool inside the church I think I could of found an equally cool pub.
The church was established at the site where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the Annunciation took place. Greek Orthodox tradition holds that this event occurred while Mary was drawing water from a local spring in Nazareth,(photo below, the water from the spring is coming down the wall behind Mary) and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation was erected at that alternate site.
The current church is a two-story building constructed in 1969 over the site of an earlier Byzantine-era and then Crusader-era church. Inside, the lower level contains the Grotto of the Annunciation, believed by many Christians to be the remains of the original childhood home of Mary. Under Roman Catholic canon law, the church enjoys the status of a minor basilica. A historically significant site, considered sacred within some circles of Christianity, particularly Catholicism.
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of JC.
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Here are two mistakes I made and which would normally be in the trash by now, but then I thought, Hey you learn by your mistakes.
The first is pushing the button by accident, I was on deck late at night to try and capture this Platform we were moving along side, I knelt down to steady myself against a hand rail, took the shot, as I was attempting to get back on my feet I clicked the button, as it worked out it was better than the first shot.
The second is moving out of a cool air-conditioned room and into the heat of a summer night in Israel, then taking a shot of a AHV towing us with my lens fogged up, I could see this through my view finder but thought I’d give it a go.
“And bad mistakes, I’ve made a few” Queen-We Are The Champions.
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It’s nice to be home again, it was a long day travelling yesterday but I did manage to get a great view of London getting ready for the Olympics as we flew into City Airport, which is only a hammer throw from where it all kicks off tonight.
Would like to say good luck to Gemma (my son’s girlfriend) who is dancing at the opening ceremony tonight. ‘Good luck’
I don’t know what today’s photo has to do with any of this, it was taken next to the rundown house so that is the only link I can think of.
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Just a quick follow on from yesterday’s post, this nice boat house was just along the coast from the rundown house, maybe the owner spent more time here than at home. I’m just about to jump on a helicopter so will catch you all later.
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This job is coming to an end, all going well in the next couple of hours and I should be on a chopper to dry land tonight, a night in Stavanger and then home tomorrow, it’s always a shame to leave Norway, it’s such a beautiful country.
This was a shot I took last time I was here, we came into Kristiansund by boat and I saw this old rundown house and I thought to myself, that looks like my house.
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These are some photo’s I took on my recent visit to Israel, we had a day tour to the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan and finishing in the City of Nazareth. I’ll post more soon.
The Jordan River is considered to be one of the world’s most sacred rivers. It originates approximately 200 meters above sea level on the slopes of Mt. Hermon, Israel. It ends its course at the lowest spot in the world , the Dead Sea , at 420 meters below sea level. Along its course, the Jordan feeds two lakes: the Hula (now almost completely drained) and the Sea of Galilee.
I decided to have a little paddle myself.
I’m glad I didn’t see these Cat fish until after my paddle.
Even scarier was this thing, I don’t know what it is but check out its webbed feet, actually looking at it now, it’s pretty cool.
Mark Twain
In 1867 a local San Francisco newspaper funded a trip to the Mediterranean for Mark Twain. During his tour to Europe and the Middle East, he wrote a popular collection of travel letters which were compiled into a book called ‘The Innocents Abroad in 1869. These were his impressions of the Jordan River:
“With the first suspicion of dawn every pilgrim took off his clothes and waded into the dark torrent, singing
‘On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
and cast a wistful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy landWhere my possessions lie’
But they did not sing long. The water was so fearfully cold that they were obliged to stop singing and scamper out again”
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Yes I’m still on this flotel, my colleague left this morning so it’s just me now, just here to monitor the anchor survey and re-lay any anchors if needed, so I’m now in the ‘Sleep until you’re hungry, eat until you’re tired’ mode.
Here is a few photo’s of the rig, all taken with my iPhone and processed with Snapseed.
This was my first view of the Flotel, I arrived just after midnight.
These are the steps I had to climb, carrying my kit, it wasn’t easy.
Once onboard I was met with a typical Norwegian rig, clean and very spacious.
After a good nights sleep I made my way to my fav place, the mess hall.
Stopped off at the shop for some supplies.
Then found this room, not sure what it is but it had a whole lot of equipment in it.
In the evening I relaxed in the cinema, it was nice and dark with comfortable seats, would of been great if they had put a movie on though.
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This is our new dog, his name is Archie and he’s a Labradoodle, yeah that is a real breed, it’s a mixed breed, I think you can guess which two dogs are used.
He’s a designer-Dog first created in Australia to be the ultimate doggie companion and guide for people with sight impairment or total blindness.
He’s 4 months old and very playful, here he has just chased our cat downstairs, he then lost sight of Sid, gave up and sat down.
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Finally found an room with wifi that works, just finishing another rig move, we moved a Flotel next to this platform, the Flotel is a large floating hotel, hence the name, it’s sleeps 483 people or double that if you share a room, we’ll move it very close to this platform and extend a bridge so people can work on the platform and rest and play on the Flotel, it’s equipped with a cinema which seats about a 150 people and a great gym with his and hers saunas.
The platform is built into the seabed and has a lifespan of around 40 years, it’s built higher than most platforms due to the fact it’s sinking at 300mm a year, lower the platform shorter the lifespan.
This shot was taken with my iPad though my office window, nice view.
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