Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Here are some photos from our Jeddah visit in December. These are all taken with my iPhone so don't expect anything of awesome quality.

Some of the traditional buildings in the historical district of Jeddah, the oldest dating back to the seventh century. Many buildings have fallen into disrepair and is sad to see how little the Saudi government is doing to restore the area. To the right in this picture is a building that has gotten a facelift, at least on the outside.

Walking through the historical district I felt lucky that I was not hit by an air conditioning unit, sattelite dish or other random object falling down from one of the half rotten wooden balconies.

My brother insisted on me taking a photo showing the price of the fuel. Not sure if I have posted one of these before. A litre of fuel costs 45 halalas, that's less than half a riyal. One riyal equals approximately 20 euro cents! Cheap as chips, cheaper than chips actually.

House hunting

So we are looking at buying a house in Australia. we are trawling the internet left, right and centre to find something that fits our budget and our taste. This house will be an investment property, so we are truing to not be too picky about it ticking ALL the boxes. Does that make it any easier? No.

While we would like something that looks like this

Our budget probably allows for something that looks a bit like this

Sorry for poor image quality

But then I realised that the house of houses was for sale. Check this out: you can actually by your own piece of the Sydney Opera House. and if you know me even the slightest, you are aware that I am a huge fan of this particular piece of architecture.So if I can "own" one of these tiles for a mere 100 Australian dollars, I say go for it!!! I know I have at least one friend who i with me in a heart beat. Not sure my better half is so keen on "investing" a hundred dollars on a piece of ceramic.

You can even check out what sort of view your tile has, what's not to love people?! Time to call the house hunting off? Errr... maybe not.

Have a fantastic Tuesday everyone!

Naantali - Nådendal

Just a few kilometres from Turku (my "home town" in Finland) is Naantali, or as we call it in Swedish, Nådendal. It is a quaint little town, where city councils does not allow development of buildings that are higher than 3-4 floors. The heart of town is a made out by a large collection of old (and some newer) wooden houses in a multitude of colours. There is also a nice little marina and an old church. The city is also home of Moominworld, and because of that hoards of Japanese, families with kids and other people who feel young at heart will flock to town each summer.

The church and the marina

In summer flowers are found everywhere!

I visited Naantali a couple of times, once with a friend of mine during a scorching hot day in early July. The second time was a couple of weeks later, I brought my husband, but it was windy and quite cold so I think the city's charm did not quite catch on to him!

The main street of Naantali

The president's summer house

Naantali is also home to the official summer residence of the president. Many Finns will have  a summer house, called mökki in Finnish, but they are usually quite small and quite basic in terms of the fit out. The president will also have her private summer residence somewhere else.

Under min Finlandsvistelse hann jag besöka Nådendal två gånger. Att besöka stan är en sak som hör sommaren till, det är en så pittoresk liten stad. Man önskar att stadsplanerarna Åbo skulle ha en liknande respek för gamla trähus som dom har här. Jag skulle kunna sitta på nån av uteserveringarna i gästhamnen i flera timmar! Det var också vad vi gjorde när jag var där första gången med min kompis C. Andra gången tog jag min man med mej, men det var blåsigt och kallt, så jag han blev kanske inte lika begeistrad som jag hade hoppats.

Det blev inget besök i Mumindalen, jag har inte varit där en endaste gång faktiskt, men det blev en liten plåtburk med Muminmotiv som nu står på min diskbänk!

Thursday quote

"It is never too late to be what you might have been" - George Eliot

Jorn Utzon dared to step out of his (and everone else's) comfort zone!

It's been a while since I posted a quote. I think the above quote rings true to so many of us. Mostly because we avoid moving out of our comfort zone. Rather than taking a chance on something we stick to what we know. Which is sad, because that way we might never realize our true potential.

I am one of those people, I rather suffer in silence than do something about things... Anyone feel the same? Or do you have a brave story about "seizing the day" to tell?

Magnitude 6.4

It seems there's no respite in this part of the world from the surprises that Mother Nature can throw at you. The photo above is the cathedral of Christchurch, New Zealand, one of the places is visited during an amazing trip in 2005.

The picture below shows the cathedral as of yesterday, following a devastating earthquake. This is the devastating effect on one building, my heart goes out to everyone that has lost one in this latest natural disaster.

Picture from abc.net.au

I still call it the Opera House

Over the past week Australia has been hit by Oprah-mania. The talk show host is in town jetsetting all over the country. Newspapers have been filled with headlines somehow playing with the name Oprah I think one headline included the word Oprahrama. During her stay she will be filming her show at the Opera House in Sydney, hence the buildings nick name has now become `the Oprah House`. No offence to Oprah, but I find this just ridiculous. How can you nick name one of the worlds most ingenious and daring piece of architecture after a talk show host?! Maybe it's just me, but it had to be said.

On that note, I will be going to Sydney this weekend and will most definitely spend some time admiring this structure, the trip would just not be complete without it.

Den senaste veckan har Australien drabbats av Oprah-feber. Varje dag berättas det i nyheterna vad hon har gjort idag, hon flyger ju land och rike runt i sin privata jet (jag undrar om hon kompenserar för koldioxidutsläppen).  Under tiden som Oprah är här kommer hon att filma sin show på Operahuset i Sydney. Men nuförtiden kallas byggnaden mest `the Oprah House` (Oprah huset). Jag har inget emot Oprah, men dethär tycker jag e löjligt! Att ge denna underbara, ståtliga byggnad ett smeknamn efter en TV personlighet är för mej ofattbart! Men högst antagligen är det bara hos mej som dethär nya smeknamnet väcker starka känslor.


Denhär helgen åker jag på blixtvist till Sydney, och kommer definitivt att slänga långa drömmande blickar i riktning mot Operahuset. Kanske ta en bild eller två ;)

How the other half lives

The other day (more like over a week ago)  we were driving around the Gold Coast and decided to check out a street called Hedges Avenue in Mermaid Beach. This street is home to a long row of absolute oceanfront houses. This means it's an exclusive address and the area is often referred to as Millionaires Row. Some of these houses are worth nearly 20 million dollars.

This is the view that you would have living here.

Some of these houses are massive, with immaculate facades and gardens.

Fancy that, even the cars have a view!

I like it when people put in a bit of effort on the small things.  How cute is this address plaque?!

Enough from me for now. I have the TV to myself and Masterhef is on! See ya!

Haromdagen korde vi onkring och bestamde oss for att kolla in Hedges Avenue i Mermaid Beach. Addressen for dom rika och beromda, Hedges Avenue kallas ofta for Queenslands mest valbargade gata. Att kopa ett hus har kostar miljoner, endel hus har ar varda narmare 20 miljoner dollar!

For den slanten far man en fantastisk vy over Stilla Havet och stranden som stracker sej tiotals kilometer bade norrut och soderut. Manga hus har massiva proportioner och fasaderna och tradgarden runt husen ar snudd pa perfekta. Till och med bilarna parkeras med utsikt over havet!

Nu e de hemmakvall framfor TV'n som galler for mej. Min battre halft ar inte hemma sa jag har fjarrkontrollen helt for mej sjalv! Vi ses!