Tallinn region was settled on the shores of the Gulf of Finland by the Finno-Ugric people already about 3500 years ago.
By the 10th century ancient Tallinn was known as a port and marketplace among Scandinavian and Russian merchants. To protect the port a wooden fortress was built on the limestone cliff.
1154 Arabian cartographer al - Idrisi marked Tallinn on his world map.
In 13th century the Knights of the Sword from Germany expanded to the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Estonia became christianised and part of the European culture and economic life.
The Danish Period: 1219-1346
In 1219 the Danes led by King Waldemar II, conquered Tallinn and Northern Estonia. Hence the name Tallinn was derived: Taani linn (Danish city). On Dome Hill (Toompea), the new stone fortress, and the Dome Church as a symbol of Christianity were built.
A populated city developed at the foot of Toompea. During the Danish period, a street network developed within the city walls that has remained to the present day. A town hall, guild houses, churches and convents, storehouses and defensive structures were built.
Finland is a country in northern Europe famous for its scenic beauty. Thousands of lovely lakes dot Finland's landscape, and thick forests cover almost two-thirds of the land. The country has a long, deeply indented coast, marked by colourful red and grey granite rocks.
Thousands of scenic islands lie offshore. Sweden lies to the west of Finland, northern Norway to the north, and Russia to the east. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia, two arms of the Baltic Sea, border Finland on the south and southwest. The northern-most part of the country lies inside the Arctic Circle, an imaginary line about 2,623 kilometres (1630 miles) from the North Pole. In this region of Finland, called the Land of the Midnight Sun, the sun shines 24 hours a day for long perlods each summer. Helsinki, the country's capital and largest city, is located in the south, on the Gulf of Finland.
Most of Finland's people live in the southern part of the country, where the climate is mildest, though the entire country is snowcovered from December to April. Finns love the outdoors and the arts. They have a high standard of living and receive many welfare benefits from the government. Most of Finland's wealth comes from its huge forests. They form the basis of the country's thriving forest-products industry, which includes woodworking and the manufacture of paper and pulp.
Finland's location between Russia on the east and Sweden on the west has played an important role in the country's history. In the 1000's, Sweden and Russia began to battle for possession of Finland. Sweden gradually gained control in the 1100's and 1200's, but conflict between Sweden and Russia over Finland continued for hundreds of years. Today, Swedish remains equal with Finnish as an official language of Finland. Russia controlled the country from 1809 until 1917, when Finland declared its independence. The country became a republic with a president and parliament. During World War II (1939-1945), Finland fought two wars with the Soviet Union, which was formed under Russia's leadership in 1922, and existed until 1991.
Pictures from my trip to Denmark
Amanda
(Nordic Folkboat)
Near Kastrup Airport
Dampskipselskapet Norden Aps.
The Nordic Folkboat was born in 1942 by request of the Scandinavian Sailing Association, which made a competition for a cheap Nordic ‘one design’ sailing boat.
Nobody won the competition, but the five best proposals were joined into one single boat by the naval architect Tord Sunden.
The Scandinavian Sailing Association owned the license to the boat and the first Nordic Folkboat was build in Sweden in 1942.
The Nordic Folkboat is the largest keel-boat-class in Scandinavia and in Germany it is also very popular with a big fleet of boats.
In the U.K. and USA the Folkboat is also a very popular boat - especially San Francisco has a fleet of Folkboats, frequently used for regattas.
So even though the Nordic Folkboat is over 60 years old, it is still a perennially young and popular regatta and touring boat.
The Nordic Folkboat is the obvious sailing boat for the family, as a touring boat and as a regatta boat, because it is a very fine boat for regattas.
The Folkboat has a very simple rigging and it sails prodigiously in all kinds of weather, but best of all by a fresh wind - by hard wind, when all other boats stop sailing regatta, the Folkboat sails out and performs the regatta without any problems.
Through all of its 60 years the Nordic Folkboat has been the type of boat many families started their sailing career in - and later chose to come back to again, if they ever left it - because the Nordic Folkboat goes directly into your heart - you just love it.
The Nordic Folkboat has continuously been optimised and has followed the present trends - without destroying the idea of a simple boat and rigging - an important factor in the popularity of the Folkboat, both in Scandinavia and abroad.
The fact that this Folkboat has conquered hearts as far away as USA, Australia and Japan, tells us a lot about the quality of this special boat.
Brandt-Møller’s Boatyard has built the Nordic Folkboat since 1946 and over 600 Folkboats of wood or GRP have left the boatyard.
Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company in Iceland, is currently building the 690 MW hydroelectric Kárahnjúkar project in eastern Iceland. Main construction started in the springtime of 2003, and full power production will be reached late 2007. The main dam is a 200 metres high CFRD dam, (concrete faced rockfill dam), the highest of this type in Europe and one of the highest CFRD dams in the world. Waterways are mostly by tunnels and the power station is underground. The total length of tunnelling is almost 75 km, of which about 55 km is drilled by three TBM (tunnel boring machines), 6.5 to 7.6 metres in diameter. The main rock condition for this large underground project is inclined basaltic lava piles. Total estimated cost for the power project including transmission lines is around 1.1 billion EUR.
KÁRAHNJÚKAR Hydroelectric Project – ICELAND (PDF file)
