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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

In keeping with the theme of the previous post, here is another row of Dutch houses. These are actually new, but built in the traditional Dutch style – as you can see from the gabled roofs.. These houses can be found in Volendam, an old fishing town north of Amsterdam. It is a great place to visit to get a feel for what life must have been like when fishermen made a living from the Zuiderzee (southern sea), as it was known in the past.

The Zuiderzee was a shallow bay of the North Sea. I say “was” as it was closed off from the sea by a major causeway built between 1927 and 1933. This body of water is now called the Ijsselmeer (Ijssel lake) and is now fresh water as the water from the Ijssel river drains into it (it is pronounced eye-sel).

You can imagine that this must have had a huge impact on the local fishing industry. Many of these towns (like Volendam) still have some fishing activity, but not like it used to be. And the fishing that is done is done out in the North Sea and boats have to go though shipping locks in the causeway.

Volendam is now a heavy “tourist trap” of course, but still has a lot of charm. Locals walk around in old traditional dress and you can buy Dutch “treats” such as smoked eel and herring.

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This is a shot of a row of cute houses seen at the Zaansche Schans, a stereotypical part of Holland with windmills, canals, and these type of old houses.

Also found there is the first store of (my namesake) Albert Hein. Albert Hein is now a large chain of supermarkets found all over the Netherlands.

I just love these old Dutch houses. They just ooze character and atmosphere. Add in a bit of water, the odd boat, flower pots and you have something out of a picture postcard.

Linda an I visited here last May with my sister and her husband, who live in Gouda, another great place to visit for some fabulous shots of an old Dutch town.

I miss Holland (but not the weather) and plan to visit regularly.

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I just got back from the annual Reno Balloon Race. What an awesome event. Last year was my first visit and thoroughly enjoyed it so I decided to return this year. And I was not disappointed!

While getting up at 3:30am is painful, once you are out on the field among all the activity and spectacular colors, the horrors of that alarm clock are quickly forgotten.

The event starts with a Glow Show, where several balloon are inflated in the pitch black. The burners light up the inside of the balloon like a lightbulb, providing a spectacular view. Then there is the Dawn Patrol where a few of the balloons ascend in the dark. Apparently you need a special license for this so there are only a few balloon that go up at this time.

The shot below is of one of those early risers that had drifted off towards the rising sun. In between bursts of the burners, I liked how it silhouetted against the sky with the hills forming an interesting line along the bottom of the frame. Whil eI realize this shot contrasts what I have just been saying about the spectacular colors of the balloons, I find this shot portrays the sense of peace and quiet that hot air balloons seem to exude. There is no sound other than the odd “whoosh” of the burner. It’s very peaceful.

Colorful Reflections

Last year I had seen some pictures of balloons reflected in water and I was determined to find out where those had been taken. Turns out there is a pond nearby that provides the perfect mirror-like effect, if the conditions are right! When I got there, there was a family of ducks floating around, seriously disturbing the water, causing more ripples than one can imagine and totally destroying any chance of nice still water for reflections! I seriously debated whether or not to go and fling a few rocks in their general direction to scare them off, but thought better of it. I do like animals and the poor ducks were just doing what ducks do. However, no sooner had I resigned myself to the idea of no reflections when the ducks upped and left, leaving the pond to settle into a glass-like state.

Colors Galore

So here is the shot with the colors I was alluding to earlier. Just spectacular reds, greens, blues, golds and purples.

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Ahhh . . . Paris in spring. What a wonderful time. When Linda and I were there in May, Paris offered us all the sprint-time qualities you read and hear about. Mild sunny days, moderate temperatures, fluffy clouds and blue skies with white fluffy clouds. People are out and about enjoying the sun, enjoying walking around without heavy coats and, of course, enjoying the vibrant city that is Paris.

I feel this picture sums it all up beautifully. The river of course is the Seine and on the left is THE famous Notre-Dame de Paris also known as the Notre Dame Cathedral. I’m sure you all know that Notre Dame de Paris means “Our Lady of Paris”.

There are many famous films that are set in Paris. A few that come to mind include “An American in Paris with Gene Kelly and music of George Gershwin”, Walt Disney’s “Aristocats”, “The Pink Panther 2” and of course, “Ratatouille”. And I am sure there are many more.

The Notre Dame survived the French Revolution in the 1790s, but only just as many of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. Some very historic events occurred here at this cathedral. The Third Crusade was announced here way back in 1185 and it is also the place that saw the coronation ceremony of Napoleon.

Anyway, Paris is a wonderful place to stroll around and enjoy the sites, like Linda and I did on this day.

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On our trip through Scotland, we stayed a night at the Achray House Hotel along the North Eastern shore of Loch Earn in Scotland. What a treat! Achray House is a boutique hotel offering a rejuvenating stay to people who want to get away from it all. It’s not a big hotel which is a good thing as the level of service goes up and the owners, Jane and Alan Gibson, have time to meet with you personally. They offer comfortable and spacious rooms (I had the room with that window you can see way on the left of this shot), many of the room have views of the Loch. Too bad we could only stay for one night as the area offers many beautiful sights. I understand that no less than 35 golf courses can be found in the vicinity!

Their dining experience is also top class and we enjoyed some of the local offerings for dinner (I had lamb and my son had venison). After dinner, the owner, Alan and I had a taste of some 6 different single malt Scottish Whiskys as a night cap. What else does one do when in Scotland?!

By the way, to make sure I did not insult the Scottish, I made sure I could spell the word “Whisky” correctly. In looking this up, I found out that the Irish spell it Whiskey while the Scottish spell it Whisky. However, it seems that the jury is still out on how the plural is spelt. Whiskies, Whiskys and Whiskeys are all acceptable it seems. Anyway, I digress . . .

Achray House also offer a fine traditional cooked Scottish breakfast, which is included by the way, personally prepared by Alan. Again, it was delicious and made sure we were well nourished for the day ahead.

Early Morning on Loch Earn

The views of the Loch are simply breathtaking and I got up early the next morning to get some shots of the low hanging clouds clearing the surrounding hills. This view is from the jetty right in front of the hotel. I’ve been to Scotland many times and it is views like this that always stay with me.

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Along road B976 in Aberdeenshire, in the Scottish highlands, lies this beautiful valley. I don’t know its name (or even if it has one), but towards the end of summer, the heather turns purple, covering the hills in a stunning blanket of color. I was probably there about 3 weeks too soon, but, as you can see in this picture, there was already some purple around.

I find this place hauntingly beautiful. It is so different from other beautiful places such as mountains or forests. This is . . well . . . .  just different, but beautiful never the less. To me it represents one of the classic “views” of Scotland, rolling hills, no trees, heather . . . . and usually, rain. On this day, we had glorious weather however. Blue skies filled with white fluffy clouds, warm, sunshine . . . just perfect.

It was a favorite picnic place of my parents, both of whom have now passed away and whose ashes lie scattered in this beautiful valley . . . They are together again, for all eternity. . .

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This is Taymouth Castle in Scotland. It stands at the eastern end of Loch Tay, just outside the village of Kenmore.

This castle has some significance to me as I can trace my lineage back to the Campbells of Breadalbane, the Scottish clan that built this castle in the early 19th century. It seated the Campbell Earls and Marquises of Breadalbane for a while.

This heritage may sound strange coming from a guy with such a Dutch name, but my mother is Scottish so I can lay claim to being 50% Scottish. My mother’s grandmother was the illegal daughter of the daughter of the guy who owned this place . . . or something like that, it’s all very mysterious and the details have been lost over time – along with any formal claims to this place of course

If you look closely in this picture, you can see the castle is surrounded by a wire fence. When I was there (August 2010) it was empty and all restoration work on the place had stopped. Apparently, there was a plan to turn this castle into the first 6 or 7-star hotel in the UK, but work stopped in 2006 and the company restoring the place was declared insolvent in 2009. The future fate of this place is still unknown at time of writing.

When looking at this place, which is huge by the way when you are up close, it is hard to imagine what it must be like to own and run it. Mindboggling in fact and I can not even begin to guess at the cost. Anyway, it is good to get lost in dreams about being the “Lord of the Castle” and money “not being an object” – ha!

One good thing though, the grounds have been turned into a golf course which is open to the public. So, while I might not be able to ever live here, I’d like to go back one day and have game of golf . . . .

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Spent a day nosing around the Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California. You might be interested to know that this is the site of the USA’s very first environmental law, it was issued by the federal government.

Malakoff Diggins was home to the country’s largest hydraulic gold mining operation. Using high pressure jets, huge sections of the country side were literally washed away, in an effort to get at the gold. The subsequent release of the mud, gravel and debris clogged streams and major rivers all the way from these foothills to the San Francisco Bay! Sacramento farmers complained and filed a law suit and in 1884 a law was passed declaring hydraulic mining to be illegal. Today, there is a mighty big “hole” in the cliffs, which has, thankfully, been reclaimed by Mother Nature.

Malakoff Diggins can lay claim to another first. In 1880, electric lights were installed in the mine and the world’s first long distance telephone line was developed to service the mine.

What you see in today’s picture is one of the few buildings left of the old town. It is the main office of the Historic Park.

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I am enjoying the results of converting an HDR image to black and white.

The strong colors and tonal range of an HDR image seem to be a perfect base for B/W conversions. As I have several B/W Lightroom presets on my site for free downloads, it is worthwhile having a play with several of them.

The results you see here stem from the Red Filter Preset. The HDR was processed in my normal fashion, in this case using Photomatix, then blended in Photoshop with the original to tone down noise and get a more realistic look. The coulds in the sky get accentuated in this process which is one of the effects of HDR I really like.

After trying several of my B/W presets, I decided I liked this one best. It presents good blacks and contrast and the sky looks awesome (IMHO).

About this picture

You are looking down onto the Sydney Aquarium, that building in the center with the curved roof (the sign that says “aquarium” sort of gives it away too). It is located on the edge of Sydney’s famous Darling Harbour, a fantastic, cosmopolitan part of the city. Great restaurants, cafes, a park and the location of many activities during the year.

The aquarium too is awesome and is one of the best in the world. They have two underwater walkways through enormous tanks. One is full of giant rays and grey nurse sharks. The other is where you can see seals. They also have a Great Barrier Reef display complete with coral and beautifully colored fish. If you are every in Sydney, make sure you visit this fantastic aquarium.

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Many people think this is the London Bridge, but it’s not. This is the Tower Bridge and is close to the Tower of London from where it gets its name.

The real London Bridge is the next bridge upstream and is quite ordinary as far as bridges go. It also never fell down despite the nursery rhyme.  There is a popular urban legend that, in 1968, Robert McCulloch, the purchaser of the old London Bridge that was later shipped to Lake Havasu City in Arizona, believed that he was in fact buying the Tower Bridge, the one in this picture. This legend was denied by McCulloch.

The story is however fascinating. McCulloch had previously purchased a large section of land along Lake Havasu and opened a chainsaw manufacturing plant there. This was in 1964. Within two years there were three plants with over 400 employees. This was the start of of what is now Lake Havasu City. McCulloch went in search of some unique attraction for his new city and ended up in London. The 1831 London Bridge was gradually sinking into the river Thames and the City of London decided that a new bridge would need to be built. Rather than demolish the existing bridge, they decided to put the historic landmark on the auction block.

The rest is history. McCulloch bid and won the auction. It took three years to complete the project. The bridge was dismantled block-by-block with each block sectioned and numbered. The blocks were shipped through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, California and then trucked 300 miles inland. It was opened in 1971. The opening was attended by the Lord Mayor of London.

Cool story huh? 

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