When I was up north for the Peterhead game in August last year we took the chance to visit Pitmedden Garden as it’s always been somewhere the good lady wanted to see.

In the formal garden there’s some odd topiary:-

A fountain:-

A pond:-

Some geometric planting:-

An upper terrace with a semi-circular sculpture at the far end:-

The terrace gives a good view of the formal garden:-

Statue of William Wallace in Aberdeen. This stands near Union Terrace Gardens. It is inscribed, “Willam Wallace, Guardian of Scotland” and in addition, I tell you a truth, liberty is the best of all things, my son, never live under any slavish bond, and was paid for with funds left for the purpose by John Steill of 38 Grange Road in Edinburgh, the son of James Steill sometime of Easter Baldowrie in Angus:-

Aberdeen’s Old Market Cross dates from 1686:-

On a plinth at Seaham’s harbour there is a memorial, titled The Coxswain, to the Lifeboat crews of Seaham:-

Head-on view:-

Reverse view:-

Memorial Plaque:-

Verse, “The Coxswain’s Cry.” Like Tommy, the memorial was sculpted by Roy Lonsdale:-

Seaham, County Durham, used to be a coal-mining town. There were three pits in the area, Seaham, Dawdon and Vane Tempest.

The Miner’s Memorial is on the main road through the town:-

Reverse view:-

Information Plaque:-

Seaham is a town on the North Sea coast in County Durham.

The statue of Tommy is on the seafront in an area known as Terrace Green by Seaham’s War Memorial. It was erected in 2014 to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Great War.

Detail:-

Side view:-

Reverse:-

Its sculptor was Roy Lonsdale:-

Dedication plaques. The sculpture’s proper name is 1101, to reflect the minute of peace at the Armistice which ended the war:-

Other side view:-

There are more pictures of Tommy here.

Jellyfish in Limfjord:-

The eastern side of Aalborg has some striking modern architecture:-

A water-skier was practising in this inlet:-

Modern Buildings and older tower:-

Taking an underpass below the railway we found a nice park in Aalborg: the Kildeparken.

There were two small thatched buildings there. One seemed to be a public convenience, the other may have been a caretaker’s hut. Pity about the grafitti:-

There was also a walkway with statues along its sides. This one is of the Three Graces:-

The park is also home to the Singing Trees. Each performer at Aalborg’s Concert Hall is asked to plant a tree alongside which is a device containing a recording of a sample of their music.

Sadly during our visit none the playbacks we tried were working. Here’s a clip from You Tube where they were:-

It was a longish walk out from Helsinki city centre to this. Unfortunately we arrived just after three tour buses had disgorged loads of Chinese tourists, each of whom wanted a selfie in front of it. It took ages before I could get a people-free shot.

I must say that face reminded me of weel kent Scottish literary figure Hugh MacDiarmid.

From reverse:-

Some of the other tourists:-

So here’s a bit of Sibelius for you. Finlandia, Op 26:-

In Ostrovskogo Square, just off Nevsky Prospekt.

The building in the background is the Alexandrinsky Theatre:-

A lamppost nearby:-

Planting in Ostrovskogo Square:-

More planting, between the statue of Catherine the Great and the Alexandrinsky Theatre Building.

There are two Egyptian sphinxes by the banks of the River Neva in St Petersburg. Our tour guide was quite proud of these. They stand on what is known as the Quay of the Sphinxes. It wa sthe first stop on our first tour.

Sphinx Ornamentation:-

The sphinxes are close to the Blagoveshchensky Bridge Over The River Neva:-

Next we stopped to see the Rostral Towers (or Columns) once beacons for St Petersburg’s original port and another symbol of the city:-