Thursday 9 December 2010

Liefdefjorden Svalbard


The card attracted my attention because of the rectangular pieces of ice floating on the surface of the sea because I've never seen anything like that before.  After I read the message on the back, I had to buy it:
From time to time while I'm walking on a mountain, the Liefdefjorden is indescribable - white, blue, ice, wherever you look - lots of islands - the sun never goes down - surrounded by light - 13 people live together in a research station - there is a great variety of social interaction - you are only alone in the ladies - we are working the whole day outside on the ice, snow, and rock - coming home then is something very important - warmth, socialising, good food - the very basic feelings.
Such a wonderful picture drawn in the short message on the back of a postcard.

The Liefdefjord is thought to be named after the ship the "Liefde", meaning "love".  Svalbard is a group of islands, the most northern part of Norway.  Research is one of the three most important activities there, along with coal mining and tourism.  Norway allows any nation to set up research projects there.  It is also the place where the Global Seed Vault is situated, where they store a huge number of plant seeds in an abandoned coal mine, duplicates of seeds stored elsewhere in the world.

The card was written in June 1991.  I would love to be able to find out what research was being carried out there at that time.
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4 comments:

  1. I really liked this one a lot Sheila. Hope you have a great weekend.

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  2. Beautiful card, I think it's a bit to cold for me to have a walk around there.

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  3. I think I would remain inside, preparing the evening meal for the research associates....brrrr, too cold for my Geogia born bones!

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  4. These postcards are breath-taking!

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