Frost

I left London a few days ago to visit a friend and it happened to be the picture perfect winter frost that day. Every twig, every leaf and ever edge was covered in fine ice crystals. I finally got to take my camera out and I haven’t enjoyed myself that much in weeks.

Fireworks

It’s the 6th of November today and that means that yesterday was Bonfire night! Thanks to a reminder from Squeak, the Mister and I actually managed to go to one of the display. I was going to show you a number of pictures I took during the display but then I realised I had taken a very nice sequence of the finale. Enjoy :)

Luzern

I lived in Zurich for over three years but somehow never managed to take the less than one hour train journey to Luzern. My loss, I’m glad I finally managed to go there. Luzern is an incredibly pretty city and well worth a day trip with a camera. I just wish I had my normal camera with me but unfortunately, being the idiot I occasionally am, I left the charger in London. These pictures here were taken with a small pocket camera. Enjoy anyway :)

Up the Säntis

We hiked up the mountain Säntis last week. Most of it was a beautiful climb but towards the top, we ended up battling strong winds and temperatures just above zero. Luckily, we came across some mountain goats to cheer us up. It took us about 3.5 hours of walking time to get all the way to the top. The Säntis is 2502 m high but we only climbed about 1400 m up. It still felt like more than enough.

Fishy fish

As you can see on my first post back, I went SCUBA diving in Thailand. There are some absolutely gorgeous dive spots in the gulf of Thailand, the most famous probably being “Sail Rock” It looks quite inconspicuous from above the water, just this small rock sticking out in the middle of nowhere, but once you go underneath the surface, there is a 30 m high vertical coral reef just going down and down and down. It’s awesome.

 

 

I find diving a strangely mesmerizing experience. Your start off at the surface, feeling clumsy and totally out of place. The gear is heavy and annoying and one bobs about in the salt water, trying to swim somewhere without getting completely tangled. And then you have to just dive down into the blue, with nothing beneath you and just this bottle on your back to keep you alive. I have to admit, I then to panic slightly on descend. It’s scary and it knocks the breath out of me (which is bad. NEVER stop breathing when diving). And then you get to the reef, or find yourself in the middle of a huge swarm of silvery fish, just floating weightlessly in the blue. All you can hear is your own breathing, and the funny sounds the bubbles make when they get in contact with you. It’s one of the most peaceful feelings I know. The world down there is so far removed from the one up here, it’s incredible. The fish come incredibly close, almost close enough to touch. I find the movement of big swarms one of the most impressive sights there. It looks as if they think together.

I did not take these pictures by the way. Taking pictures even a few meters underwater requires special flashes and obviously a waterproof case for the camera. They were taken by my dive master but at the exact dive sites we went to. 

Tham Kao Lang

Tham Kao Lang is a big natural cave near Petchaburi, which is used as a Buddhist temple. I’m not sure how many Buddha images were scattered in every nook and cranny of this amazing stalactite cave but there must have been over a hundred.

As we were wandering about the cave, we were approached by a very excited Thai who asked if he can take a picture with us. We agreed so he just sat down in between us, had a friend take some pictures of all of us. Scenes like this have happened repeatedly while we were in Asia. I’ve had my picture taken with entire groups of students, large families, couples or just single people. We don’t know them, they don’t know us but they all asked for a picture. Somebody once told me that is has something to do with luck but I am still somewhat baffled by it. Does anybody have any theories? I guess it’s fair though. We take pictures of their houses and sometimes of them so they take some pictures of us too. ;)

Spitalfields City Farm

One of my favourite places in London on a Sunday afternoon is the London’s East End, especially the area around Brick Lane Market. It’s fully of little cafes, crazy flea markets ( I got some sunglasses for 2£ yesterday), the best curry houses in the city and a whole variety of people ranging from the stylish to the completely normal. It also hosts the Columbia Road Flower market which is probably my favourite market in the city.

Yesterday, I strayed a little from the busiest streets around the Brick Lane Market when I suddenly found myself in front of the sign above. The city farm turned out to be a crazy mix of somebodies allotment, an animal shelter, a kindergarden, a farmer’s market and every hippies favourite place to hang out. It was great!

The farm had pigs, sheep, geese, a donkey and a pony, guinea pigs, rabbits, ducks and a whole load of pigeons (I don’t think they were meant to be there). There are probably a few animals I missed. Apart from that, they had green houses, vegetable beds and flower fields left wild for the butterflies. They were also just trying out their new bread oven. No picture from that as there were too many people standing around, watching intently.

I especially loved the fact that they evidently did a lot of work with local schools. How often do city kids, which grow up between brick and concrete, get to stroke a sheep? Or see a live pig? Big cities need more places like these.

Tübingen

I spent the weekend in Tübingen, which must be one of Germany’s prettiest towns because most of its medieval structure still exists today. It even has its own castle, watching the city from a hill in the centre. I love how it is built along the rivers and canals and how all of its old houses are so lovingly maintained.

Congratulations your Majesty

So, the Queen has been a queen for 60 yearts. Quite impressive! Only Queen Victoria has ruled longer so far. Of course, that warants a big celebration and where would be a better place for a huge boat pageant in honour of the Queen than on the Thames, watched by half of London?

I unfortunately did not get a picture of the actual royal barge because by the time it came along, it was raining so hard that I did not want to take my camera out. However, I’m proud to say that I have now seen the Queen, even though I was too far away to actually make her out. I still think it counts. Despite the rain, it was great fun to watch the boats on the river. I was lucky to find a spot where I could actually see. It might have involved climbing up some barriers but we won't tell anybody about that.