Gudrun's photos

Semthokha Dzong ist the oldest dzong in Bhutan. It was built in 1629 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal .

Punakha Dzong, situated at the confluence of Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers was founded in 1637/ 38 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal . Until 1955 it was the seat of the Bhutanese government. A few days after this photo was taken, the royal wedding took place in the Dzong.

Bhavachakra mandala at Rinpung Dzong The wheel of Life en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavacakra

This is a rather unusual version of a cosmic mandala. Mount Meru can be seen in the middle and the movement of the planets.

Cosmic mandalas depict the movements of sun, moon and other planets around Mount Meru, the axis mundi. The elements are depicted in the blue circle: Wind or Air (blue) stands for the gaseous state; Fire (red) stands for transformation; Water for liquid, represented by a half-circle or circle; Earth for solid matter ( yellow square or cube). www.buddhanet.net/mandalas.htm www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/The_Cosmic_Mandala:_Celebrating_Tibetan_Astronomy_and_Cosmology

10.05 p.m.- Aurora over the skerries and islands of Vikna

Northern lights started around 9.30 p.m. at Rørvik, this was taken at 10 p.m. sailing south through Nærøysund ( Kp-index 5-6) . Also see inset picture! Some time after midnight the Kp-index rose to an insane 8-9. The auroras began flickering like disco lights, moving incredibly fast- impossible to photograph anymore.

Taken from Hurtigruten ship MS Vesterålen just off Berlevåg. In the circumstances -up to 8 Beaufort, we didn't manage to get into the harbour- this was the best I could come up with. One deck lower the camera got wet with sea spray.

5.10 p.m.- Golden hour at Brønnøysund, view south to the bridge and Torghatten

4.35 p.m. - the sky and mountain tops in the north have turned pink

Looking south to Brønnøysundbrua. The cantilevered road bridge is 550m long and has a maximum height of 30m so ships can pass underneath.

Brønnøysund lies in the middle of Norway at 65°28′30″N.

Winding through the maze of islands that make up the Helgeland coast.

The Seven Sisters are a mountain range shaped by glaciers. They are situated on Alsta Island south of Sandnessjøen. Like Hestmannen and Torghatten, the Seven Sisters are the stuff of legends bronn.no/engelsk/index.php/the-legend-of-torghatten Die Schwestern im Sommer: www.ipernity.com/doc/erhard.bernstein/53034122

Træna is an outlying group of over 100 small islands on the Helgeland coast, right on the polar circle, of which only 4 are inhabited. Archeological finds suggest that people have been living on the islands since the stone age.

Russian trawler Mekhanik Sergej Agapov at Kirkenes. Kirkenes is only 150km from Murmansk as the crow flies, but nearly 2000km from Oslo.

Panorama of Tromsø bridge and Arctic Cathedral EXIF: 1/15 sec. • f/4.0 • 73.0 mm • ISO 5000 Canon EOS 6D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

MS Vesterålen weathered a force 11 storm in the shelter of Tanafjorden. We met her - 8 hours late- just off Honningsvåg trying to catch up her delay.