European Trip Part one

The Trip. Part one.



Frankfurt.
Well not the most interesting of places, the old city is a tourist trap with over priced restaurants but still worth a look. The river cruise is somewhat a waste of time as most of it seems to go via the industrial area with the highlight being a modern coal fired power station. Relaxing on the boat though is not too bad.
We Took the car for a spin to re aquatint myself with driving on the other side of the road and also the size of the Volvo SUV. The destination was Wurzburg about a 1.5 hour drive but on reaching the place discovered a "Queer festival" (their words not mine) was on and parking was impossible so had to drive back.
Spent some time walking by the river dodging the maniac cyclist who seem to think they are on the
tour de France, apparently using a bike bell is not an option in this part of the world.

Rothenburg ob de Tauber.
What a fabulous medieval town this is, completely walled ( all intact) and about 4.5 km in length. The old town ( Alt Stadt) has no modern buildings and must be close to what it was originally. Plenty of tourists but not as much as we would have expected.
I came here about 5 years ago with my son and it is still worth a visit.



Vienna (Wien)
The trip from Rothenburg to Wien was quite long and instead of driving into the we city stopped off the Autobahn about 20km short to try and find a small village, we do not like big cities so found a small village called St Christophen. The Gast Haus was really good and mixed with the locals and found out about local issues, I was amazed to find out that the average diary farmer only owns about 20 cows and is subsidised by the EU.
Still averse to going into Vienna by car we moved on to Pressbaum and stayed in a nice 4 star hotel and after consulting the lobby decided to drive to a Park and Ride and take the train into Vienna.
It is always interesting to discover in different parts of the world how to use the local train service, especially when everything is automated, the same applies to car parks. Took the train to Stephen Platz ( the main square) only to be met with a hoard of tourists milling over every inch of the place. I can see why locals are fed up with tourism. we thenWent to a must do thing ie a cafe for cakes and coffee but did everyone else in the plaza I think. Just could not wait to get out of the oppressive atmosphere and pushy Hungarian waiters.
Visited several churches and a cathedral, the architecture inside and out is just beautiful.
The next morning at the hotel breakfast the Restaurant was full of long benches so just sat at the end of the French group, after starting the food a strange sight appeared before me, an Indian lady done up in a buxom Austrian national dress with a very stern demeanor ( and moving her head side to side in a typical Indian fashion) informing me that breakfast in that particular part of the hotel was not for me. The next moment her with my breakfast clutched in her hands disappearing into another room. It was really difficult not to laugh at the whole situation!

Decided to go for a walk and after a short consultation at the foyer drove to the woods at the rear of the hotel and went off for a jaunt in the forest. On the walk back an old man came from nowhere to show me an old carving of a mushroom he had made many years ago from a tree stump. I guess loneliness is everywhere these days.

On the way to Milford Sound New Zealand

A wonderful scenic drive before you hit the Homer tunnel and then on to Milford Sound

Cambridge University

Would be wonderful to have known this in medieval times

Walking along the White Cliffs of Dover

This is really a very nice walk even in winter. The air from the Channel is brisk and the sight is wonderful. The track does tend to become a bit wet in places.

A Viaduct over a river in South Wales

Nearly got run over by a teenager on a motor bike taking this shot

Petworth Part, West Sussex

Petworth park, a very pleasant place to walk on a winters day.

Bognor Regis Beach

Foot prints in the sand with the tide all out.
It was a lovely winters day, 14C ( hot)

A street in Salisbury UK

A side street off the main square. Salisbury is an old market town.

Brighton Pier UK

A fantastic Pier. Takes me back to the 60's. The beach is all pebbles though. Hard on the feet. I like Brighton, has a great atmosphere.

Early noe morning in Petworth ( West Sussex UK)

A lovely morning shot with the new days snow. Not too sure of the camera's settings but my new lens did the trick

Franz Joseph Glacier New Zealand

Next time I will go for a walk on the Glacier.

Routeburn Track New Zealand.

On towards the first Cabin after about 5 hours of trekking. Each photograph shows one side of where I was standing. The first shows in the background the swing bridge over the river. 

Notre Dame, Paris

Unlike the UK, entry is free. Another beautiful cathedral in Europe

Another part of the Canyon, Evans Look out

Less vegetation at this part of the canyon

First canyon at the bottom of Evans Lookout Blue Mountains NSW,

The walk down from the look out is a long series of steps. The first canyon has plenty of vegetation and a creek. The next level down to the final canyon is quite rugged 

Cotswolds Village

Yea Old England in the Cotswolds

Arlington Row: The picturesque Arlington Row cottages were built in 1380 as a monastic wool store

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, and one of the leading examples of Early English architecture.^[1] The main body of the cathedral was completed in only 38 years, from 1220 to 1258.
The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom (123m/404 ft). 

London Bridge

Oxford University

A short cut in between colleges.

More Mummies, British Museum

Always a people crush in this part of the Museum.

All Saints Church Wittering Circa 9th Century..

The church has Saxon and Norman arches. Built in the 800's AD.

Buckingham Palace On a Sunny October Day

Sunny day in London given it was in Autumn. Always busy here

Salisbury Cathedral

One of my favourite places in the UK if not in the world. A magnificent piece of work, just a joy to walk inside. Every time I come to the UK I visit here.

Roman Baths, Bath UK

First I thought the entrance fee of 14 pounds excessive but once inside I enjoyed the experience. 

Cleopatra's Mummy, British Museum

I believe,accordingly to x-rays, that she was only 17 years old when she died.

Wales: On the way to Snowdonia

On the road to Snowdonia. A lovely drive in North Wales with beautiful scenery

A winters day in Petworth

One does not expect to find an Indian restaurant in a old small town in the countryside.

The food was very poor, I do not know why Indian restaurants have to make their meals for UK citizens so differently from other places in the world. Over priced and frankly just not good enough

   

Moon Light over Terrigal

Taken by my son Kristiaan

The Walk Down to the Canyon

Nice Walk down form Evans Look out. The temperature tends to drop quiet a bit due to the lack of sun making photography challenging. A really nice walk though.

Stairway to Heaven. The climb out

Stairway to Heaven
the climb out of the one of the Blue Mountains canyons at Evans Look Out

This photograph is in the canyon after reaching the first level

Blue Moutains: Evans Look out Canyon Walk

17th July: Decided to go for a canyon walk in the Blue mountains about 80km from Sydney.
I had done this walk about 30 years ago and the walk out up the cliffs is quit hard at the end.
Not so easy 30 years later, I honestly wondered how was I going to make it.
This section shown is about half way down to the first canyon. From the canyon the walk actually drops down into the main canyon and is good hard walk.

The day was warm for winter here, about 12C in the canyon and about 19C on the plateau.
I walked with my son who was good company, especially when I missed a creek crossing and ended up bush bashing to a dead end at a cliff face.

Upper floor of the Chapel, Vesailles Palace Paris

Lower floor of the chapel , Versailles Palace, Paris

Shakespers Birth Place. Stratford Uopn Avon.
they charge 14 pounds to get in which is a bit much since he was only born there and lived else where. Apparently he had a house in Straford but the onwnere pulled it down as he was fed up with the vistors ( much later of course)

Another river view

One of the bridgs across the Seine. This river must have the best city views in the world.
Too many tourists though and this was not the summer!

Notre Dame view from the river seine. Since the Eiffel tower queue was too long we took the crusie

Cockatoo keeps eating nuts of my trees and breaking bits of the branches.

Watching life go bye for the madness of Humanity

Would love a better zoom for the camera. Shot in Warrickshire ( Autumn).

I believe the owl is not that old yet, but then I am no expert!

Major traffic in Chipping Camden, Cotswolds, England

A busy day for traffic in Chipping Camden!

A typical village in the Cotswolds, notice the standard stone used for the buildings.

Most villages in this area seem to use the same stone

Mosque at Lakemba NSW Australia

Lakemba Mosque. Very beautiful and a pleasure to visit it.

Photgraph taken with a wide angle lens so there is a bit of fish eye bend to the pillars.

Versailles Palace, France

Huge crowds fro a weekday but what a place!. What I like is they do not restrict photgraphy inside the building whereas elsewhere in the UK and germany they do.

I do not think there will ever be a place like this again

BlenHeim Palace

BlenHeim Palace. Birth place of Winston Churchill

Another Eiffel Tower from a different view

A nicer view I think!. Still a fantastic building since it was built in the late 1800's and was not expected to last more than 20 years.

Eiffel Tower, Paris

The Eiffel Tower is magnificent. The queues to go up are not though, they are just to big to bother with. I believe there is a time of day when they are not so long but decided to make use of the time better and do a cruise on the Seine.

Houses of parliament

Recent trip to the UK. Far to busy with people crammed every where on the river Thames bridge. It was difficult to take the required photograph with so many people around and this was a weekday in Autumn!. It is a shame one cannot visiti inside the houses but I guess security is an issue these days.

Hmm... I seem to have lost this blog site for a while. I could not remember my password etc. anyway found it again. I hope to add some phot soon but have not had much use of the camer as of late..

Empress falls National Pass Blue Mountains NSW