Uncle Henry´s Universe.

One early morning in Kovalam, just south of Thiruvananthapuram in southern India, when I strolled around in a wetland area and tried to photograph some Bee Eaters, I suddenly got an assistant by my side. A young lad with great curiosity and a thousand questions.

We talked about a little bit of each and I tried to answer his questions as best I could, the digital camera technology was new, and I did not understand it enough to answer his questions adequately. However, he seemed satisfied with the answers he received.

Over time, the interest in bird photography cooled and he wondered if I didn’t want to take a picture of him instead. Of course, I gladly did. We studied the results on the small screen on the back of the camera, the portrait was not a masterpiece but still seemed to delight him.

It took a while before he dared to ask, but finally came the question that hung in the air for a while. Could it be possible for him to borrow the camera and give it a try. Of course, I answered, and after a short lesson on how to hold the newly purchased Nikon D70 with 300mm telephoto lens, he set off with a jolt of joy through the woods.

I saw from a distance how he rushed up to his grandfather, shot some pictures and then returned to show the result. Gosh, I was overwhelmed! Of the hundreds of pictures, I took home with me after the trip, only one was really good, and it wasn’t mine. The guy was a gift of nature. I sometimes wonder what he does today, twelve years later, hopefully he got the opportunity to become a photographer.

Because of the prevalent corona pandemic in the world, humanitarian work and healthcare professionals have suddenly become heroes and are now receiving the attention and status that they reasonably should have enjoyed each day before.

Currently, the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is closed like so much else due to covid-19, but when it reopens, I recommend a visit. You will find it in Geneva, Switzerland. There are thoughtful and interesting exhibits about the work that is going on unabated around the world. I think it can provide some perspective about what we are experiencing now that the pandemic changes everything, even in rich and secure democracies in the West, which most of us who live there are completely unaccustomed to.

The Red Cross is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and employees worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to guarantee respect for all people, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The movement consists of several different organizations that are legally independent of each other but are united within the movement through common basic principles, goals, symbols, statutes and governing organizations.

One organization is the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) a neutral, impartial and independent organization founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Henry Dunant and Gustave Moynier. Its mission is to assist people affected by wars, conflicts or other violent situations with protection and humanitarian efforts.

Another organization is the International Red Cross-Red Crescent Federation (IFRC) founded in 1919 and today coordinates activities between the 189 national associations within the movement. At the international level, the Federation, in close cooperation with the national associations, conducts and organizes aid missions in large-scale crises. The International Federation Secretariat is in Geneva, Switzerland.

National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies are found in almost every country in the world. They work according to the principles of international humanitarian law and the charter of the international movement. In many countries, they are linked to the respective national health care systems by providing emergency care.

A museum well worth a visit, as well as so many other attractions in Geneva. A city I would love to return to when the opportunity to travel freely within Europe has returned.

When I did my military duty as a young man, I was given the opportunity to undergo medical training. This meant that during the coming years I worked as an orderly in hospitals with emergency care, in the district with home health care and in elderly care. An extremely rewarding time that enriched me in many ways, not financially in the first place but in terms of experience.

In the seventies, it was quite uncommon for a man to work in healthcare, (doctor except, of course) it was a typical women’s profession! Therefore, we were welcomed by our female colleagues who hoped that our attendance would automatically raise their low wages somewhat. Maybe even manage to change working conditions for the better …

I had a 35 km route to the hospital and often worked what we in Sweden call – shared tours. Work in the morning then 4 hours off (without pay) and then work in the evening. Four hours to kill every day, boring in the long run, there is always a lot you would like to have done at home instead.

A lot has happened since the seventies! Richard Nixon is no longer the president of the United States, we have become twice as many people in the world and Waterloo is not played as often on the radio as when ABBA won the Eurovision Contest … but health care professions in Sweden is still drawn with shared tours and in terms of wages, there is still much to be desired.

Applause, concerts and other events that pay tribute to the medical staff are of course genuinely nice, but when the pandemic is over, let us hope that it also be noted on the staff’s working conditions and wages.

Barranco del Infierno (“Hell’s Gorge”) is a ravine and a Nature Reserve where only 300 people can enter a day, in order to preserve the environment and not alter the development of the species, the flora and the fauna. To visit the ravine a previous reservation is essential. They open the entrance at 08.30 and it costs about 8.50 euros for an adult tourist. (Cheaper for children and locals)

When we visited Adeje in the south of the island of Tenerife, just over a month ago, we rented an apartment next to the reserve border. Ideal for exciting hikes in the mountains along winding goat paths. It was warm and steep, but the view was always seductive.

Canaries (Serinus canaria) and Canary Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis) sang everywhere, and African blue tit (Cyanistes teneriffae) was often seen among the bushes. Sometimes it rattles on the ground when a lizard ran away. Tenerife lizard (Gallotia galloti), an endemic species. The male is large and has a blueish stain on both sides of its head, the female is smaller with brown lines on the sides or molted.

The entrance to the ravine was just 100 meters from our accommodation so we took a chance and went there early one morning, hoping that there would be an opportunity to visit the reserve, but no! Only bookings are possible. The ravine is so popular to visit and only 300 guests are admitted per day. We bought tickets for a visit a few days later.

Then came Calima, the sandstorm and ravine closed immediately for visits. In 2009, a deadly accident happened, and the ravine was then closed to visitors for six years. Today, it is open again after extensive maintenance work to secure the trail. Our booking was moved forward a few days but, in the end, we got a clear sign.

The instructions are clear. All visitors wear helmets – all the time. No one is allowed to leave the hiking trail and on some extra risky paths one should not stop but be in motion all the time.

The further into the ravine you get, the steeper the rock walls feel. You are asked to be quiet during parts of the hike, a sympathetic condition that I would like to salute at all, but here is the idea that you should hear stones that collapse and be warned in time. We keep up the speed to keep a distance from a group of loud visitors who laugh, talk and shout to each other …

It was an exciting landscape and according to all the nice information boards there were lots of interesting endemic species of all kinds, both terrestrial and aquatic. For the invertebrate it should be around 416 species among which the groups of arthropods, millipedes, arachnids and mollusks stand out… I say!

The trail ended at the highest waterfall on Tenerife, about 200 meters high. Here water flows all year round and a small levada leads it via an old mill down to Adeje.

Wish we had a little more time to explore the gorge. Three and a half hours it was thought that the tour would take, and you knew that more visitors were waiting for the day. It did not get completely relaxing. Probably prefer “our own” nature reserves, where there is endless space, hardly a human and absolutely no cactus.

But as I said, very interesting and exciting. Well maintained! Well worth a visit.

No problems with the language, it’s universal. The Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) say, do you have a sandwich?

Adeje, Tenerife, the closest place for us Scandinavians to get really nice thermal flying, they said. Weatherproof, they said. No one mentioned hectares of cactus, the calima sandstorm or coronavirus …

My idea was to start the flying season a little nicely, to carefully train the skills for the season. When the local flight guide said that today we fly Jama, and the others in our small group of paraglider pilots – of horror erupted; Oh no – the cactus landing! I knew I was in trouble.

The landing site was quite small, but that was not the problem, it was adequate in other circumstances. But it was thermal, which means that you do not fully know where / when you land. Lifting and sinking relieve each other in an unpleasant way considering all the cactus that surrounded the landing.

If you came in too low, you got to hug the cactus. If it lifted and you went to the right or left, you got to hug the cactus. If you got too far, you got stuck in power lines, before you fell down and got to hug the cactus… I refrained, did not feel like a suitable first flight for the holiday.

I talked to an experienced German pilot and we agreed that the landings were safer at home, where greenery usually meant grass and not cactus like this. I really hate cactus, he said, and that was even before he made his flight and got his knees full of cactus thugs …

Taucho and Ifonche are two fantastic takeoff at Adeje, both with several big and nice landings. From Ifonche I got a nice flight in the area around the fingers and the flat rock. Great views of mountains, canyons, Adeje and the coast down by the sea.

Another flight I unfortunately had to refuse was the flight from the area at the volcano Teide. Too bad, it would have been absolutely fantastic, but security must go first.

I had not seen the landing and had to expect at least 3 minutes of flight through dense clouds before locating it. Without a GPS that you were used to and trusted, the flight was very dangerous. I had just downloaded an app with gps-function but had not gotten to know it yet. Thought it was a badly chosen opportunity to test it for the first time. If you get lost in the clouds, the risk is obvious that you will crash somewhere in the mountains, and so much worse vacation employment is hard to imagine.

The next day it started blowing hard, then came Calima, the sandstorm that burned like a jet engine in the skin. Hard to breathe, hard to see but exciting to experience.

The rest of the holiday was spent on hiking. Not bad employment either.

When the news began to report on coronavirus at a hotel down the coast, that 1,000 people were quarantined, I began to worry a little about the return journey. Being forced to remain in the cactus kingdom for another fourteen days would be a horror. But everything went well. Come home yesterday to bare ground, today the snow is winding down, seems to be tracking again in the coming week.

End of the holiday, wolves and eagles – watch out! I will be back.

The Arabic name Rub al Khali means “empty quarter”, and it is the world’s largest sand desert, located on the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and encompassing southern Saudi Arabia as well as parts of Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Last week, news came out that Qabus ibn Said, Sultan of Oman has died, 79 years old – after ruling the country since 1970. When my wife and I visited Oman in 2010, I got the impression that the Sultan was highly respected and loved by everyone I talked to. He seemed to care for the nation’s citizens and had apparently paid everyone’s debts on some occasions … (I don’t know the whole story, haven’t researched it further, think it’s such a good story that I leave it there) He has probably done much more than that, Oman has long been a safe and prosperous oasis in an otherwise quite troubled corner of the world.  

Qabus ibn Said is now succeeded by his cousin, former Minister of Culture Haitham bin Tariq Al Said. I don’t know anything about him, but he looks very friendly on the pictures available on the net. I hope and believe that he will become a wise and kind Sultan and wish this amazing country all the best for the future.

We rented a car and explored the area around Salalah, along the Indian Ocean with playful dolphins, rays and sea turtles, up the mountain towards Yemen with breathtaking views and out to the desert with sand and sand and sand.

Enjoyed the rich bird life around the oases, put on warning flashers as we stopped for passing camel caravans and tested the local cuisine. (dried camel meat rolled in dried camel fat gave the experience of fatty food a new meaning …)

With bare feet in warm sand, the desert is a breathtaking experience, especially as soon as you think of the scorpions … But it was amazing how fast the sand got cold as the sun went down. When dusk fell, several large beetles suddenly crept around us in the dunes, wondering if they were scarab beetles.

Slept under the open sky with only the blanket of the stars. (okay, you also needed a thick blanket around you, it got terribly cold). The starry sky was amazing, as everyone had said it would be in a desert far from civilization and its illumination. But must still admit that it did not differ in any remarkable way, from the one at home over our little cabin in the woods.

I froze from time to time and woke up several times during the night, followed the full moon that went up at my feet and passed over my head the last time I saw it. At dawn I was awakened by the insistent cry of a fox. Probably an Rüppell’s fox (Vulpes rueppelli) or maybe a Blanford´s fox (Vulpes cana). Both are quite small foxes with big ears, as the locals described them. Never saw it but heard the sound slowly diminish and disappear in the distance as the sun rose over the dunes.

If you are going to visit Riga, I really recommend some cozy hotel in the old town. Then you have lots of nice sights within walking distance. Something you should not miss are the five large market halls and the outdoor market next to them.

The market halls built between 1924 and 1930 were originally to consist of two German zeppelin hangars, Walhalla and Walther, but they were too large to heat. Instead, five brick buildings were built where the material from the hangars served as a roof. They are still large, 20 meters high, 35 meters wide and about 100 meters long. But still smaller than the Zeppelin hangars, they were 37 meters high, 47 meters wide and 240 meters long!

The five halls sell different goods. One for meat, one for fruits and vegetables, one for fish, one for dairy and I think it was one for bread. In addition, there were a few other goods in different places as well as a cafe. And souvenirs, of course. But overall, it did not feel like a tourist attraction, it is a place where ordinary people buy their goods. We were there quite early in the day, when the feeling was very casual and cozy.

Fresh vegetables and lots of other types of exciting things …

A huge selection of fish species and products! What a wealth! In the freezer at the grocery store at home, there are mostly square fish without eyes.

In the meat hall there was meat. Traders after traders sold meat of different varieties and of different parts. Everything, and then I mean just everything from the animal was taken care of. You could buy trachea, tail, cheek, intestines etc. Impressive!

Different types of honey and lots of beeswax candles were marketed.

Around the market halls and in the nearest neighborhood there is an outdoor market that sells everything you may need. An exciting environment that is also best suited to visit early in the day. At least I think so. Being crowded is not really my thing.

Damn, I regret it, I would have bought that t-shirt! 😉

There are times when I leave the forest and walk the streets of the city like a normal man… (old jungle saying)

When snow, mires and tracking sucks, and the longing for gray peas and yards of homemade sausage becomes overwhelming. Or when the yearning for architecture almost burns in your body, preferably Art nouveau … Then you go to Riga!

Or for any reason. All causes are good. Riga offers an abundance of interesting architecture, exciting history and food of the highest quality. We had some very pleasant days in Riga this week.

Oh, I always wished I had a sphinx at the cottage …

After twenty days of gray weather, rain, wet snow and even more rain … it’s probably no wonder the thoughts go to Madeira, an archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal, and with a fantastic summer all year-round weather!

We (My wife and I) were to Madeira for the first time in February this year and were not disappointed. Sunshine almost every day, mild winds and around 20 degrees. Stayed at a small charming hotel centrally located in Funchal, the equally charming capital of the island. No bigger than you easily get acquainted with it on foot.

Madeira lives on tourism, and the small population of about 300,000 inhabitants receives about 1.5 million tourists annually … Yet the island does not in any way feel as touristy as most other tourist destinations, at least that’s our impression. Everyone we meet was relaxed and pleasant, salespeople or those who want to make us eat at their restaurant, where anything but pushy. Just nice and friendly, apologize immediately when we told them that we have just eaten. Honest smiles, jokes and laughter.

A cable car runs from Funchal up to the tropical garden with panoramic views of the city and the bay. Recommended! In the morning the queue is insignificant but when a cruise ship has arrived it can extend along large parts of the boardwalk. So, choose the right time.

Another cable car goes halfway down again, to the Botanical Park. A given visit for anyone interested in plants. The floral splendor was not overwhelming, as I heard it is in the spring, but compared to snow and ice at home, so …

Some days we took a local bus up the mountains to the 27,000 ha Parque Natural da Madeira and hiked along some “levadas” in the Laurel forest. Levadas is constructed water channels which run through the forest following the contours of the landscape and clinging to the cliffs and steep-sided valleys. Wonderful hiking trails that offer everything from panoramic views to dense rainforest and where you hike through tunnels, along narrow paths and sometimes even under waterfalls.

The Laurel forest, also called laurisilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. A previously widespread laurel forest type, which covered much of Southern Europe 15-40 million years ago. Madeira Natural Park has today Europe’s largest area of original laurel forest and is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Smaller areas of the same type are only found in the Azores and the Canary Islands.

Laurisilva is extremely rich in species of all kinds and many are endemic. During our walks we had great sightings of both Madeira Firecrest and Trocaz pigeon, two endemic bird species for the area.

Our visit to the island provided many wonderful experiences, but endless remains to be seen and experienced. Hope we get the opportunity to come back.

Geneva with its jewelry, Rolex watches and chocolate are fucking expensive! A pizza and a beer cost at least twice as much as in Sweden. But with that said… End of complaint. The city is a fantastic gem that I hope to return to.

An attenuating circumstance is that local traffic is free for tourists. Tram, bus and even some boat lines on Lake Geneva are free. (We got a free pass from the hotel we stayed at.) This means that you don´t have to stay downtown, if it is close to a stop, you can easily and conveniently reach the entire city center. In addition, the city is no bigger than you can easily walk around the central parts.

One of the city’s most visible landmarks are Jet déau, one of the world’s highest water fountains, located in the bay where Lake Geneva flows into Rhone. It sprays five hundred liters of water per second up to 140 meters in height.

Geneva is one of the greenest cities in Europe, 20% of the city is covered in green areas. And there is liberating free from rubbish. I don’t think I saw a single junk anywhere! At one point, I saw a young man smoking a cigarette at a bus stop. When he was done, he looked for a trash can, found one further down the street, went there and threw his fag-end before returning to the bus stop! Hello, the rest of the world, please copy!

Mentioned in this context should also be the botanical garden, Jardin Botanique, created in the early 19th century. This fascinating park and “living museum” have 16,000 plant varieties and the world’s largest herbarium. Sculptures, theme areas, bird ponds, restaurants, children’s playground and lots of giant greenhouses filled with exotic plants and environments. A facility where it is easy to spend a whole day.

To the west of the botanical park is Adriana Park, an even larger park area (46 hectare) with about 800 tree species. There is also the Palace of Nations with the United Nations Office, the second largest United Nations Centre after the United Nations Headquarter in New York.

Geneva is really packed with interesting sights and lots of international organizations have their headquarters there. One of them is the Handicap International, which together with the Genevan artist Daniel Berset stands behind the monumental sculpture “Broken Chair” on the Place des Nations. Initially calling on all States to sign a treaty to ban landmines, but today with an extended meaning. This gigantic work of art, facing the United Nations “Flags Valley”, is twelve-meter-high and made of 5.5 tons of Douglas fir wood. A thought-provoking creation and a tourist magnet where selfies and group photos replicate each other.

In conclusion, I would like to mention that the city contains lots of exciting architecture, both modern and older. The old town, picturesque and genuine as they usually are, offers exciting hikes in narrow alleys. St. Pierre Cathedral is probably a given visitor’s destination for those who are interested in John Calvin, one of the leaders of the protestant reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin… Personally, I attach more importance to the Broken chair, but Calvin’s chair is probably a nice piece of furniture in its own way.

Although nuclear physics is not my strongest side, ? the visit provided at least some idea of what it is all about, and it’s an absolutely amazing world to discover!

If ever visiting Geneva, I highly recommend a visit to CERN. The CERN Laboratory was established in 1954 and the name is originally an abbreviation of Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire.

Their work helps to uncover what the universe is made of and how it works. They do so by providing a unique range of particle accelerator facilities to researchers, to advance the boundaries of human knowledge. And if I borrow some more information from their website: CERN’s convention states: “The Organization shall have no concern with work for military requirements and the results of its experimental and theoretical work shall be published or otherwise made generally available.” That’s nice and wise!

When you hear about CERN, I guess most people think about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, smashing particles together at unprecedented energies. These collisions enable physicists to study the phenomena that govern particles and forces. We got to visit an older model that has now been taken out of service, but with the help of a fantastic light and video show, the visit was very rewarding.

The researcher who led our guided tour was inspired by the story of the infant universe and all the research they conducted on the subject. We listened and were amazed, listened and were taken aback, listened and were amazed again … And in that way the tour continued.

Mysterious Neutrinos, The Higgs Boson, Antimatter, Dark Matter…“The possibility that dark-matter particles may interact via an unknown force felt only feebly by Standard Model particles motivated LHCb to search for “dark” photons, setting tight new constraints on the coupling strength between dark and conventional photons. Also exploring the dark universe is the CAST experiment, in which a large superconducting magnet is pointed towards the sun to search for dark-matter axions as well as solar chameleons (candidates for the dark energy sector) “…. WOW!  

Their website is very readable! There is a universe to discover for you too!

Even if you do not have time or manage to get a guided tour, their permanent exhibitions are so good that they provide value for the visit. It also describes some small side projects that happened to be created in connection with their research, such as computed tomography and the World Wide Web.