Capri revisited:

BBC today reports the following as a one of the main headlines:

A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS. 

Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi's tourist office where they could find Capri's famous Blue Grotto.The car's sat nav system had sent them 650km (400 miles) off course to Carpi. "Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn't cross any bridge or take any boat," said a bemused tourism official in Carpi. Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.

Another "Die dumme Schweden" story is getting a nice global coverage!

PS: It wasn´t me!! DS

One early morning..

..my sister and I steal away from the wedding buzz and board the chair lift (at 8 Euro) to Monte Solaro from Anacapri. Monte Solaro is the highest part of Capri, towering 589 meters above sea level, and boasting a 360° panorama of the island of Capri with a wonderful view of the Faraglioni, the Amalfi and Sorrento coastlines and the Marina Piccola and the Gulf of Naples..
You have to kick off your sandals and carry them in your hand not to lose them during the long trip up the mountain. The hills below under the cable trail are studded with hats and lost sandals..
The bare feet shown here are mine!

Climbing up, up and away. Anacapri below.

Terraces and my sister in the front chair. She yells to me that she once had to jump from a cable chair in the snowy Alps when she got stuck many years ago when she was a ski instructor in Austria. Great! I yell back. Not easily scared by little sisters!Hideous burial shrines are built below on the slopes.
Here a spooky mannequin is neatly dressed (in the clothes of the deceased?)

When we arrive at the top, a heavy mist shrouds the Faraglioni rocks below at Marina Piccola.

As we devour one of the most wonderful ice sorbets - gelati di limoni- you can imagine, the mist gradually give way and and we get our money´s worth of sighting. The sun breaks through and the butterflies roams and beacons among the flowers of the mountain. Even the smells of the typical mountain bush is now released and I can smell the scent of thyme and oregano of the Mediterranian mixing with the strong Italian coffee from the small bar here on the very peak of Capri..
The Faraglioni. Photo from the following clear day´s boat trip around the island.
The newly weds (to the left) with some of the wedding guests have just been passing through the hole of the famous Faraglioni rock. Anders - Sweden´s ambassador in Rome and now the bride´s father-in-law - is donning the white Borsalino to the right .

Colors of Capri..

..as in Lina´s wedding bouquet..or in the Grotta Azzurra..or..

The lady above:
"Buurrrrp. Too much of that great Capriense wine last night!
I should have remember what happened a similar night about 9 months ago..
Why do we never learn!?"

Pontus & Lina´s wedding

The view from the location of the marriage act. Capri´s Marina Grande down below.

Part of the marriage act at San Michele, Capri.The 65 guests start to arrive at the wedding dinner..
Lina´s Papa Dag and the very first speech of many..A beautiful sunset over the Mediterreanean..
The wedding cake - La Torta Nuziale.

Now they are married!

Wedding dinner, just before sunset at San Michele.

Lina and Pontus on the Mediterranean the day
after their beautiful wedding
at Capri´s San Michele!

Volvo Ocean Race´s last leg..

Yesterday I watched the start of the end of an amazing journey
that took place outside Sandhamn on Thursday in splendid weather and with winds at 11 knots. After eight months and over 37,000 nautical miles, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet today is in the home straight, headed up the Gulf of Finland to the finish line in St. Petersburg. The weather conditions at the start couldn´t be much better and hundreds of boats followed the event at 2PM when the boats took of on the last leg of their long journey ending at St Petersburg.

See the video of the start of the last leg of the race outside Sandhamn on Thursday.

The Volvo Ocean Race is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world.
During the nine months of the 2008-09 Volvo Occean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain in October 2008 and now concludes in St Petersburg, Russia, the teams have sailed over 37,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm, Sandhamn. (I just happened to "sail" up to view to the start under Canadian flag!)

(photo: Pia Ehrenpreis)

Gotland presented itself..

..from its sunny best around midsummer when most of Sweden had quite lousy weather..

The old crowd I met in Nicaragua some years ago when I stayed in Managua for a month came together in Gotland for midsummer. We payed a visit to the small fishing port of Lickershamn where they have a great shop for smoked fish and shrimps. Here are Don Oscar - who used to work as a driver for the Swedish embassy in Managua and took me on many trips around Nicaragua -and Eva who was our former ambassador in the Nicaragua. Eva is presently stationed as Sweden´s ambassador in Chile.

Bo, Pia, Oscar and Eva in Lickershamn, Sunday. We are all great Nicaragua-friends..

Lickershamn fishing boat.

Sunday dinner. Dessert. Strawberries, melons and peonies.

Old beauty..

The cornflowers start mingling with the poppies in my neighbouring midsummer field..

Iran: It´s building..

Analysis
Jon Leyne, BBC News, Tehran:

"The opposition is keeping up the pressure. On the other side
I get the impression the government hasn't really worked out
a comprehensive response, instead they're sort of harassing
the opposition.
There have been more arrests of opposition
figures - not the most senior leaders, but still pretty well-known
names. They've been sending in their thugs, basically, their militia,
to attack student dormitories, and they've been arresting journalists.
At the moment, there's absolutely no sign of loss of momentum, in fact it's building."

What this election result has unleashed is just a deep frustration,
an anger that I've certainly sensed in the two years I've lived here.
People are so frustrated and angry with the system, which seems to
treat them with contempt.

"It is not easy being green.."

Lummelunda is poppy red.. June 16th, 2009

As time goes by...