Annual Friends Reunion

Today we are having our annual friends get together. We usually get together at a local resturant & bar for a couple of hours and sit around and chat and have a few beers. People come and go as they please. It is a nice time and convinient way to get to see everyone. This year we haven't gotten too much response so I don't know what the turn out will be.

For the first time this year we moved the meeting to the late afternoon instead of the evening. Now that more and more of our friends have kids we figured it would be simpler to do a late afternoon event in case people wanted to drop by with their kids.

As always I know there are a few people I would have liked to have invited but I don't have their e-mail addresses or contact information with me. It is tough to keep everything in one spot with all of the different communication tools we have today.

This year for the first time in addition to sending out e-mails to friends for which I had e-mails I also posted an "Event" and a couple of "Notes" on facebook. I did get some comments and feedback but overall the facebook responses were limited. I guess I'll have to wait and see this afternoon how the turn out is. Some times additional people that I didn't directly invite show up through word of mouth. It is those friends that I really enjoy seeing because I didn't expect them in the first place.

These yearly get togethers are usually a little strange at first in that alot of my friends know more about me that I do about them because of my blog. While it is easy for them to ask about something I did sometimes it takes be a little longer to warm up the conversation for me because I haven't been as in touch with them for a while. But in the end, catching up is exactly what these gatherings are for and thats what we'll do.

Christmas Continues: Day 3

For us today marks the 3rd day of Christmas. Since I missed a post on the 25th due to all of the family activities I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas today. I still have a few minutes before we pack things back into the car for another trip to yet another, and the final Christmas party of the season.

One striking difference between Europeans and Americans is the American capacity to drive what Europeans called 'huge distances' in a single trip. Today we will be making one of those such trips. We and driving a little over 100 miles (160 km) to visit family in the neighboring state of Wisconsin. The trip will take about 2 hours. And yes, we will drive home today.

One thing I do like about Wisconsin is their cheese. Much like Switzerland, Wisconsin is America's state known for making cheese. One of my personal favorites in the cheese ball. My wife's Aunt never fails to server a cheese ball with crackers and I usually attack it with a passion. First off because I like cheese and crackers, secondly, because I can't get yellow sharp cheddar cheese in Switzerland and I love it so.

So I have to run, I have about 2 minutes before we leave and I don't want to be late for my date with the cheese ball. Merry Christmas.

The difference in Public Transport: US and Switzerland

Yesterday due to a logistical issue with our car here in Chicago I decided to take a train from my parents suburban town, to the town of my in-laws to meet them for dinner. As the two towns are on the same train line about 15 miles apart you would think this would be no problem.

Well, think again, things in the U.S. aren't as smooth as I am used to in Switzerland.

The original plan was for my wife to take a train for a 1:00 lunch with a friend but the train schedule would only allow here to arrive at the proper destination at either 11:30 or 1:30, neither of which would work. It seems that outside of rush hour the trains almost completely stop running. This as compared to Switzerland where the trains run on the same schedule hourly from about 6:00 in the morning until about midnight.

So we reworked our plan and my wife took the car to go for lunch with me taking the train later in the day.

Of course when I got to the station there were no windows open to buy tickets, and we don't have ticket machines so I had to just buy the ticket on the train. That is one thing I do like about American trains. If you don't have a ticket when the conductor comes by he simply sells you one. On the Swiss system, if you don't have a ticket he'll sell you one too, for 80 CHF (about 70 USD). It is a fine for not having a ticket.

The other thing I noticed was that there are no signs or clocks anywhere to be seen from the train platform. You don't know which train is arriving at the station or what time it is unless you have you own watch. I have just become too reliant on the Mondaine train clocks in Switzerland and the fact that a brief glance overhead to the electronic sign will tell me exactly which train is arriving and where it is going.

All in all, I made it to my destination for a meer 3.80 USD. A similar ticket in Switzerland probably would have cost me 10-15 USD. So for the cheap price I get a mediocre experience. You get what you pay for I guess.

In general I think this experience highlights why personal transportation in the form of cars is so popular here in the U.S. It is just too difficult, and requires too much fore thought to use public transportation to go any length of distance in the U.S.

The Grocery Store

I was in a Dominik's grocery store this weekend. Dominik's is a local chain in Chicago that has stores across the area. Typically big, huge, American, grocery stores. With selection, lots and lots of selection. As this is the first time I have been back in the U.S. in about a year I found it a bit overwhelming.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the chip aisle, and the soda aisle, wow! I don't know why I was so overwhelmed. I guess it is because I am used to the largest grocery stores being about one sixth the size of anything I would see in the U.S.

All the selection and choice makes it a bit difficult to shop. What do you choose? What is the best? I can't tell there is just too much. And, as you go from aisle to aisle there is more and more that you can buy, more and more to take home.

At the end of the usual shopping trip in Switzerland I am usually walking out with 1 or 2 bags of groceries. In the U.S. things seem to multiple 3 or 4 fold. Gotta love it.

Some time before I left on vacation I was telling some friends about twinkies. As Europeans they had never heard of the things. I need to be sure to remember to buy a box before I go back to Switzerland. I just hope I will have room for them.

The 'Whale' a the Porsche Museum outside of Stuttgart

When I was younger I had a unhealthy fascination with Porsche automobiles. I don't know if it was the snob appeal, the speed, or the pure engineering that inspired it. I would like to think it was the idea of the high tech engineering since that was the discipline I choose to study in college.

For the longest time I used to spend hours in my basement as a kid meticulously constructing and painting small models of the Porsche classics. The 356, the 304, the 935, the 959, and the classic 911.

So when we were in Stuttgart for the Christmas markets I couldn't help but make a trip to my personal mecca and visit the Porsche production facility and museum just outside of Stuttgart in Zuffenhausen.

Porsche is in the processes of opening a new, huge museum that was supposed to be open in 2007. Unfortunately it is still in progress. So, we only got to visit the previous, and much smaller museum that only houses about 15 vehicles.

Of course the vehicles that are on display are all the most amazing models. All the ones that I have at home, just in 1:16 scale.

For the enthusiast the museum was great. The new larger museum is set to open January 31st 2009. So not to much longer to wait. Guess I'll have to schedule another trip to Stuttgart next year for the Christmas markets.

Getting And International Driving Permit In Switzerland

I had a recent need to get an International Driving Permit for an upcoming trip back to the U.S. Since my last visit to the U.S. my U.S. license has expired. Instead of going through the DMV lines when I get back and taking tests I decided to see if I could get an International Driving Permit.

These permits are essentially a paper that with translations of you driving privileges based on your current driving license and the permit is sometimes useful when trying to rent a car. I did some investigations and found that the Swiss Touring Club www.tcs.ch can issue such permits.

If you have a valid Swiss drivers license your local TCS office can issue you a permit very quickly. All you need to bring is a passport photo and your Swiss license. The permit will cost 25 CHF and takes about 15 minutes to process. Be advised that the TCS office can only issue International Drivers Permits for Swiss Licenses that were issued in the same canton as the office.

Watch For Falling Glass

Sign in Esslinger, Germany

The world has come to a sad state when we have to post signs asking people not to through glass bottles on the heads of others. That was my first thought when I saw this sign posted in Esslinger, Germany where we spent some time visiting a Christmas market this weekend.

What kind of behavior would warrant posting such a sign. Secondly, how often must this have been a real problem before the community requested, or the authorities decided that such a sign was necessary.

It is obviously a problem of epic proportions in Esslinger because even the man who is the target of the apparent bottle attack is depicted with one arm. He must have lost the other the last time he walked along the wall.

I was also thinking what would it be like to be the graphic designer responsible for designing this sign. Your boss comes in and says, "Hey, I have someone asking to make a sign to stop people from throwing bottles on people, can you put something together for me?"

As much as it is funny, it really is a bit sad.

Stuttgart Christmas Market

We spent a long weekend in Stuttgart, Germany this weekend to take in the Christmas market. It was an impressive event. Much larger than I had imagined. It was a great trip to kick off the Christmas season and get into the spirit.

Most of the time was spent shopping, eating, and drinking glühwein. More about that later.

How Many Countries Can You Name

49

Here is a fun little game to test your world geography skills. As my spelling is not good I got caught a couple of times just trying to get the names right.

Am I A Beer Snob?

One of Many Recently Sampled German Beers

So last week to celebrate the US election I bought a round of MGDs for some friends at work. I thought the imported American beer would be a fine way to celebrate the first tangible signal of the passing of the Bush era. Although the celebration in itself was good, the beer was terrible. This leads me to the question.....

Have I become a beer snob?

I remember when I was living the US and I was a genuine Miller man. Miller Light actually. Loved it. Much better than Bud. Yeah, I would really reach out once in a while and have a Michelob, or a Pabst Blue Ribbon if I was really feeling wild but I never understood all those Heineken types.

Why the heck would someone pay a couple of bucks more for that stuff from Europe. Beer is beer.

After moving to Europe I discovered the beer section at some of the big stores in Germany. Aisle upon aisle of half liter bottles in neatly stacked plastic crates. One can roam the halls and pick up a case, or if you so choose a single bottle from any case. And that is how it all began.

I took to the habit of grabbing a bottle here, and a bottle there. Always taking one bottle of something that I knew I liked, and a few others because the bottles looked pretty, or had funny names, or were from a region I had not heard of. This habit lead me on a path to try many different styles of beer over the last two years.

With all that experimentation I have found my preferred bouquet. I prefer beers in the Hefewiezen (Wheat Beer) style. Something like a Schneiderweiss or a Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier.

There is a bit of an art to pouring a good Weiss beer. There is a Spanish woman at a local tapas bar in in Baden that pours quite possibly the best weiss beer this side of the Rhine. It his difficult to explain the process but lets just say she puts every once of her concentration and effort into ensuring that you get the optimal pour if you so desire. When she serves you she asks you if you would liketo pour it, or if you would rather have her pour it for you. Only a fool would pass up the opportunity to have this seasoned veteran who has undoubtedly served hundreds of thousands of beers in her lifetime not pour you the most perfect, tall, cool, glass of weiss beer you have ever tasted. I found a fitting website that illustrates the practice. The best part about the site is it has pictures, and of course, the guy doing the pouring is wearing Lederhosen. (Note to those less informed, the part about rolling the bottle between your hands is key.)

I diverge briefly to speak fo Lederhosen. What a disappointing word once you learn German. I thought it would have some kind of great transaltion, like 'little funny pants that fat old beer drinking men wear on Tuesdays at Octoberfest.' Instead it just translates to 'leather pants' What a let down.

So after my continued sampling of some of those God awful 'European Beers' that I once despised I now begin to understand those guys. The beers here are a hell of a lot better than MGD, Coors, and I hate to say it, Old Style (sorry Mom). Ah, I fear it has happened, I have been transformed into a bit of a beer snob.

Schloss Hallwyl

Schloss Hallwyl

Swiss culture dictates that things must be celebrated with a fest. One needs not have a monumental reason to celebrate something. As long as you have a piece a paper and a pen, it seems you can draw up a little sign plaster it somewhere and people will come to celebrate something with you.

A few weeks back there were a series of chestnut and apple festivals. We had wanted to attend one of the chestnut festivals but most of them were in the Italian region of the country and were a little far for a day trip. Instead we opted for an apple festival at Schloss Hallwyl about an hour by train from Baden.

The festival was small, about 10 to 15 booths selling various organic produce and apple products. There was also a small outdoor cafe setup. Picnic benches if you will with several people serving various grilled items, baked goods, and one of my favorites, Aplener Macaroni (Swiss Mountain Macaroni). I found a recipe here, have not tried this one so can't recommend it but you'll at least have an idea of the ingredients. It is usually served with a side of apple sauce.

The Hallwyl Castle (Schloss) was one of the best preserved castles I have seen in Switzerland. It was really something to see and included the story book moat, and drawbridge. There is a small fee to enter the castle, 12 Francs for adults, itself but I believe you can wander through the courtyard for free. For the kids with your admission the kids can wear a knight costume.

We didn't have time to enter the castle itself but just wandered through the courtyard admiring the vendors.

About a 10 minute hike from the castle is a beatiful lake with trails around the preimeter. We spent an additonal 45 minutes walking along the lake as well. It was really a great place to spend an afternoon and take in the sights. I would highly recommend it for a weekend day trip.

Working From The Hotel

My seminar finished early this afternoon so I made the quick trip to a different hotel for the next couple of days to setup my laptop and do some work. I could have gone to the office but I needed some time alone to get budgets done.

The quick time in the hotel room was very productive and I am glad I made the choice to work from the room.

On strange event did occur though. There was something wrong with the shower so while I was here this afternoon there was some guy in the shower for about an hour and a half monkeying around with the shower. He was using some kind of crazy strong epoxy so now the entire room smells of chemicals.

I hope the fumes didn't affect my budgets, I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I will meet a fellow participant from the seminar for dinner this evening. He is from Cypress and we were discussing the fact that he didn't leave until tomorrow. We decided it would be fun to meet for dinner. Two non-French speakers is much better than one. I think it will be a good time. I'll go and meet him in a couple of hours. In the mean time I may sneak out for some photography before hand.

Traveling for Business Again

I am traveling for business again this week. I can tell already it will be a very busy week. I had to fly out on Sunday evening for some early morning meetings in Paris.

Last night there was a problem when I arrived at the hotel. I had an e-mail confirm a reservation, but the hotel didn't have the reservation. This seems to be a trend lately. Luckily, they were able to offer a room at a hotel very close by. So dispite a few minutes of stress everything turned out well.

I had wanted to do a little sight seeting while I am here but I fear I won't have much time for that. I appears that my evenings will be consumed by business commitments. Maybe next time.

Monet's Garden at Giverny

Water Garden at Giverny

After a long week in Paris for business I had decided to stay the weekend to play a bit of a tourist. Since I have spent a good amount of time in the City center with my wife, she decided that she wanted to take a day trip to Giverny. Giverny is a small town in the country that can be reached by a 45 minute train ride followed by either a short bus trip, or a 3 km bike ride. It is the home to Claude Monet's Garden, most notably his water garden.

I suprised by the size of the gardens. I was also surprised at the fact that much of the garden was still in bloom this late in the season. I had orginally thought it would not be a good time to visit but I was wrong.

The house and accomanying gardens were so large it left me thinking how on earth could an artist aford such a place. After a little reading I learned that he orgininally just rented the place and later purchased the house and gardens after he had become famous and was successful in selling his work.

In later September there were a lot of visitors and a tour bus or two, but I have to believe it was less of a crowd than you might see in peak season. At this time of year the main gardens by the house are still full of color, but the water gardens are not in bloom. The color there was a bit dull, but it was still a beautiful sight to see and I could really imagine how an artist could be so inspired by such a garden in peak season.

As a side trip from Paris I would recommend the trip if you have a day to spend. Transportation to and from Giverny was easy, and there were plenty of things to wander around and enjoy. If you are the type that likes little shops and touristy places Giverny might not be the spot for you. Aside from the Gardens there are only a few other little gift shops, and mostly small hotels and resturants where you can find a nice outdoor table to enjoy a meal and a view of the French countryside. If you enjoy to take a stroll and just take in the scenery it is a perfect place.

Returning Home (To Baden)

The last week I have been traveling on business. It was a bit of a long trip considering I am not a fan of business travel. The trip was prolonged by the fact that I decided to take advantage of a 4 day event in Paris and stay for a weekend. My wife had decided to join me in Paris Friday evening.

The weekend in Paris was beautiful, the weather was unbelievable for this time of year. Sunny and in the 70's (lower 20's for those on Celsius). Just a really great weekend to find a plaza, some grass to sit on, and hang out people watching.

This trip I feel like the dog poop issue was really under control. I remember a few times walking down the street when my mind was wandering and all of a sudden realizing I better snap back to attention and turn on my poop radar, but miraculously I didn't have a problem. I wonder if the city has been on a campaign to clean things up. With the poop issue apparently resolved
my only grip about Paris is that wherever you go it seems to smell like urine.

But after all that 6 nights away from home is a long time. Hotel rooms, business dinners, late nights working on presentations for the next day, it takes its toll. On the way home on the high speed train (TGV) some women got on at Strasbourg and began speaking to be in German asking about the seats. I didn't panic, I understood what they asked, and replied correctly. It was a strange experience. The reason being after a week of being surrounded by French, I was actually pleased, and somewhat relaxed to hear German. I never thought German could be so calming to the soul.

And for one of the first times, when I got off the train returning to Baden I had a sense of arriving home. Surely, not the same sense of the word when you arrive at your childhood home, but it was one of the first times I felt relaxed to arrive in Baden.

I was looking forward to jumping into my own bed, making my own dinner from that should surely include some form of Cheese, Pork, and potatoes, and getting back into the routine.

Sking in the Alps, Zurich Airport, Apenzeller Villages All At Swissminiatur

Waiting for a Train At the Swissminiatur Museum

When we were in Ticino last weekend we made a stop at the Swissminiatur museum. Swissminiatur is an outside exhibit of small models of the most famous buildings in Switzerland built at a 1:25 scale. The park also includes over 3500 meters (2.1 miles) of model railroad track.

I had not known quite what to expect when my wife announced she wanted to visit the park. I told a Swiss co-worker from work before we left that we were going to visit and he explained that a visit to Swissminiatur was a right of passage for Swiss children. It is a popular school field trip destination for those in the region.


With that in mind I was expecting something that was aimed towards children. In that sense the park was targeted towards a younger audience with train rides, bumperboats, and a few other activites for children. However, the models did manage to capture my attention and were interesting to see first hand.

As a photographer the park was a great opportunity to practice my skills. Depending on the angles and distances from the models I was able to get some facinating images that in some cases look almost as good as the real thing.

Exhibits featured boats cruising on miniature lakes, working trains that stopped at varios stations throughout the park and even several functioning model cable cars. There was even a model of a popular highway rest stop overpass in our region of Switzerland with a working 4 lane highway of cars passing underneath.

The park was opened in 1959 and the care takers are in a constant cycle of reparing and updating their models. Despite the revitalization efforts some models are clearly in better shape than others. We spent about an hour and a half wondering the grounds and getting lunch.

If you are in the area I would consider it worth a visit. It is good fun for both kids and adults and you'll go home with some great snap shots as well.

Where is the Compassion in Swiss Culture

I am continually reminded in daily life in Switzerland that the Swiss do not have the same sense of compassion, courtesy or respect for other people. There words and actions sometimes strike me as being self-centered and egotistical. Everything seems to be done for the benefit for oneself without a consideration for the greater good.

Go ahead, smoke, and blow it right in my face, please, I beg of you.

That would be fine, just run your shopping carts, and bikes into me and don't bother saying excuse me.

And yes, every seat in this train car is clearly reserved for you even thought there are 20 people standing in the aisle and your friends aren't getting on for another 4 stops.

I had an experience this past weekend where a gentlemen was being what I would consider so absolutely rude that I confronted him in German. I told him he was being discourteous. He acted like he did nothing wrong and I passed him and went on my way to find another seat in the train. My comment must have gotten the better of him because after a minute or two he changed his behavior.

So one small victory in building a bit of compassion and respect in Switzerland.

Ticino, Italy Swissified

Gandria, Switzerland

During our recent family tour we spent some time in canton Ticino. The small canton is right on the Italian boarder. Italian is the local language and the architecture, food, and tempo of life seem to be greatly influenced by the Italians.

However, there are a few things in Ticino that you will not find in Italy. Clean streets and timely and efficient transportation to name a couple. Having visited Italy and then Ticino I found myself thinking that Ticino had all the same pleasures as norther Italy (Como, Belagio, Milan) without the problems associated with those cities.

I wonder what it would be like to live in Ticino for a longer period of time. From a culural perspective it would interest me to find if there the people had more in common with the German speaking regions of Switzerland or their close Italian neighbors. If they do inherit some traits of there Germanic Swiss counterparts what other characterisitcs other than cleanliness have they adopted. Don't know that answer to that question, but it would be interesting to find out.

Getting Back From The Tour

Tour boat on Lake Lugano, Switzerland

This evening we just returned from a 3 night stay in Lugano with family. It was a big group, 6 of us in total. As much fun as it was, it is time for everyone to head back to the US tomorrow and for me to return to my normal work schedule.

I really do enjoy traveling with friends and family and showing them around our host country, but there does come a point when you spent too much time with family. I think 9-10 days is about my limit.

So tomorrow I will say good bye, head to work to decompress, and probably stop at the spa (thermalbad) after work to relax and get myself back in order.

Day trip to Rapperswil

Yesterday we took the family for a day trip to Rapperswil. My mother had wanted to visit the Polish museum in the castle there. The local Swiss Polish community had opened a museum in the castle the celebrate and commemorate the exchange of citizens between Poland and Switzerland.

The museum was large by Swiss standards and had captions in English, German, and Polish. The material was interesting for someone with Polish heritage but I don't know if others would enjoy it.

We stopped for lunch along the restaurant at a place called Marsala. The restaurant had a terrace just above the tree line along the lake so you had a wonderful view of the lake and the mountains across the lake. The food was a bit salty but I thought it was better than most Swiss food.

Visual Evidence Proving Why Americans Are Fat

5 Lake Hike at the Pizol Ski Area

On Sunday we took a train 2 hours out to the Pizol ski area to do a hike that my wife was interested in. While I was there I managed to capture some interesting supporting evidence to the American obesity epidemic.

Take a look at all the people in this picture. Yes, what you see are people, lots of people, for miles on end, hiking. And, I can assure you there isn't a McDonalds at the top of the hill.

What is really amazing about this picture is that this was one segment of a 5 hour hike in the mountains. For the entire time we were hiking the trail was more crowded than aisle 5 of Walmart on the morning of the Richmond NASCAR race.

This was not an easy hike either. And there were no parking lots or air conditioned rest stops along the way, so everyone on the trail had truly committed to marching for 5 hours in the blazing summer sun.

Even though it was crowded, everyone was having a good time, and people were generally quiet and respectful of others. I have some amazing pictures from the trip. But I'd rather post another entry after I have a chance to go through the pictures.

Reichstag Dome

Dome At the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany

I was working on some of my photographs this week and came across a picture that I really liked from the dome of the Riechstag. I liked the composition but when viewed in color it just didn't seem to really stand out.

I spent a bit of time to crop it and convert to a high contrast black and white. I think in turned out much better this way.

Just for comparison, below is the original, as shot image.

Reichstag Am Abend

Reichstag Building, Berlin Germany

Conceptually I go the picture I wanted. Not quite as sharp of an image as I would have liked though.

I blame the sharpness problem on using Canon's liveview feature which lets you use the screen on the back of the Canon 40D SLR like a point and shoot to frame your shot. Only problem is when you use the Liveview feature in disables the autofocus. The way around that is to be sure to focus on your subject before you enable live view, or manually focus while live view is enabled. I forgot to check the focus because I was lazy, tired and it was dark.

Still in turned out good enough for a blog post.

Shirts From The Gap Not Good In Airports

I got a special delivery from home a few weeks back from my Mother. She had sent a few things from the US with my wife including a few casual button down shirts from The Gap. The short sleeved shirts have been getting a lot of use in the hot weather here.

I do have one grip though. It seems that The Gap is now sewing security devices into the shirts. They are sewing the same RFID theft prevention devices that were traditional used for things like CDs, DVDs and computer software inside the shirts in a band of cloth ribbon.

The problem occurs when one forgets about this tag and doesn't cut it out of the inside seam of the shirt.

We'll today, I realized I had forgotten, as I was trying to go through several metal detectors. The first was at the Reichstag Building (German Parliment building) in Berlin. The Second was at the Berlin airport as I was trying to come home from a weekend trip. I hadn't yet come across a pair of siccors so I already new I was in for a good search at the airport. I got what expected.

Sometimes I am amazed at how far US stores will go to prevent theft. I have not done a formal survey, but if feels like there are much fewer theft devices here. I know that there are anti-theft RFID tags on electronics, but I see them much less frequently on clothing in Europe.

Royal Castle, Warsaw Poland

Royal Castle, Warsaw Poland

In all of Warsaw I think one of my favorite spots to photograph is the plaza in front on the Royal Castle. This last trip I had my first chance to try photographing there at night. I love the colors in the buildings and the people that are milling around. It is really a fun spot to setup up a tripod and just hang out taking pictures.

This is one of the better ones from my evening. The square is usually very crowded as it was when I took this picture. However if you use shutter speeds greater than a few seconds, the people walking around disappear in the image. This image was shot with a 4 second exposure at f/14 ISO 200.

Why I Love Warsaw, 2 Pounds of Meat for 15 Bucks

The Officers Special At Podwale Piwna Kompania, Warsaw Poland.

I love eating in Warsaw. Podwale Piwna Kompania in old town is one of my favorite spots. In what other city in Europe can you get close to a kilo of meat for 15 US dollars.

The beauty is in Poland a kilo of meat is a serving for one. This dish included pork, chicken, beef, liver, sausage, and blood sausage.

I enjoyed my dinner, but I surely didn't clean my plate.

Photography: Warsaw Poland, My New Favorite Place

This week I am doing some traveling to Warsaw. I brought my photo gear with me as I usually do. Last night after all of my work was done I headed out to the old town to for a small photography outing. I setup shop right in front of the royal palace where to my surpise about a dozen other photographers were also honing their trade. It appeared that it might have been a photography class from the local university.

The more time I spend in Warsaw, the more it becomes one of my favorite locations to photograph. There is such a neat collection of things to photograph here. The people are interesting, the history is interesting, and the colors are really amazing.

I hope I have some treasures on my memory card, but I won't know for sure until I get back home and load everything into lightroom. Until then. I will just have to wait, and so will you. I'll post some images when I get home.

Swiss Timeliness

A co-worker of mine is in the process of moving into a new apartment. He is still getting used to the scale of things in Switzerland. The fact that everything is small, and close and the quality of public transportation.

He was trying to figure out how long it would take him to get to the office from his new apartment and after looking at the bus schedule from the closest stop he found the bus should take around 14 minutes. Having not used much Swiss public transport yet, he thought that 14 minutes was wishful thinking.

We'll he decided to time the trip on a test run to see how long it would take. And, as it turns out his gut feeling about the 14 minutes was right. It did take longer. 6 seconds longer to be exact.

Three Gorges Project In China: Media Blitz

My parents-in-law recently took a trip to China. When my wife returned from her trip to the US she brought back with her a few souvenirs that the in-laws had purchased for us.

I received a book on the Three Gorges Project. It is an well constructed glossy photo book interspersed with quips about the dams construction, size, and immense power generation capabilities.

Reading the Chinese English made me chuckle. The translations reminded me of my days in college when I used to work with several Chinese graduate students. Some times they would ask me to read something they had written just to check the grammar. Reading this book really took me back to that time when I was looking over their papers.

As an example, I would like to quote a single..., yes SINGLE, sentence from the book.

The project change the masterpiece of nature the splendor Three Gorges, the water level in the gorges is rose to 175m, and form a huge reservoir with 39.3 billion m3 water; what is under the water is the history track of the Chinese civilization; it also submerged 2.8 thousand hectare plantation, orchard and woodland, which distributed over 21 countries in Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality; the whole project will resettled millions of people and cost astronomical financing.

What a truly original and fantastic grammatical structure.

It is interesting to read the book for another reason as well. The writing has a feeling of such biasness. You can tell this book is a sales tool, used to promote the huge benefits of the project. The fact that displacing millions of people is a good thing. The fact that the project will greatly reduce pollution and smog.

Yes the damn may be more environmentally friendly that a coal fire power plant in terms of carbon emissions but I think such a huge dam will of course have other environmental impacts. In the large scheme of things, 26 'clean' generators, which probably produce as much power as about 8 traditional power plants aren't going to have too much of an impact when you are talking about servicing a population of over 6 billion.

I don't want that last comment to sound like I don't support clean energy, as I certainly do. It's just interesting the way the book seems to declare that this single dam will change the world.

Its a fun gift, and I'm really happy to have received it.

Made It To The Top

Geiranger Fjord, Norway

I am very pleased to say that our vacation was a success. Not from a weather point of view for sure, but from a bike race point of view. My friend and I completed our race, from sea level to 1500 meters (4900 feet) of elevation.

I missed my target time by 2 minute ending the race in 2 hours and 32 minutes, but you now what, I am not going to complain. It was a nice personal victory to accomplish what I had set out to do many months ago, and best of all to do it with a good friend.

We both pushed each other to the top and I am sure I wouldn't have made it if he wasn't there.

I also have to commend my wife for complete the same course of foot. She did the hike to the top in a around 4 hours. That too is not an easy task.

The photo above was taken the day after the rest during a leisurely hike from up to about 500 meters of elevation (1640 feet). I was quite surprised that we actually made it that high up the day after the race considering the amount of physical exertion from the day before. I think we were still running on a bit of adrenaline from the day before.

If you can find the 2008 Geiranger Fjord to Summit race pictures here. Although I don't post pictures of myself on my blog you might even spot me in one of the photos if you look closely.

Race Day

Today is the bike race. I hope I am ready and that the weather holds up.

1500 meters, 21 km

Race Link

Photoshop Can Do Wonders

I don't spend too much time using Photoshop to edit my photographs. I spend most of my time using Adobe's Lightroom application which is a faster, organizational tool with some minor retouching features. However, once in a while I find a need to fire up Photoshop (in my case elements 4.0) and do some editing. This the images below were a perfect example of where a little Photoshop expertise goes a long way.

I loved the composition of the first photograph. But something was a little distracting to me.

Before a Quick Edit

Looking at the photo there is a distracting straight line down the side of the monument. This is actually a electrical ground wire running from the top of the monument in Trafalgar Square. I wanted to see if I could get ride of it to improve the composition a bit. Below is the retouched image.

After 5 minutes in Photoshop elements using the clone tool.

With a short 5 minutes in Photoshop elements I was able to remove the line using the clone tool. I think it looks much better now.

Photoshop Elements is currently on Version 6 and I am still using version 4. I am about 7 years behind in. I was considering upgrading but I am too cheap to spend the 100 USD. I keep telling myself I might by the full version of Photoshop. Since I am such an avid photographer and know how to use the tool, it would surely be something I would use quite a bit. But if I have trouble spending the 100 USD for elements I don't know how I could ever convince myself to spend the 600 USD for the full Photoshop suite.

My online stock photo sales are going well lately. Maybe I can allocate the money I make from that towards Photoshop. That may be a good incentive for me to keep selling my work on the internet. If I did that my own hobby would be feeding my hobby and that is a lot easier to justify than just dropping 600 USD on some software.

Another Airport Kielbasa

It has been a long week and a half. After my trip to the UK for training I had one night at home and then turned around to the airport for another business trip to Poland. I had to move a previously planned trip and the only place to fit it in the schedule was this week. So for the last week and a half I've been living out of hotels.

Every time I go to Poland I tell myself I'll get a good Kielbasa (Sausage) but every time I go I forget about it until I'm in the airport ready to go home. At which time I go to the 70's style cafeteria restaurant in Fredric Chopin airport and get my sausage from a round looking Polish woman with an hair net and and an Angelska name tag.

This time I didn't have might time to sitesee although I did go to a traditional evening business meal. Now what is a traditional Polish business meal? Lets just say after the 3 obligatory shots of Vodka, a couple of beers and about 3 pounds of meet each I had a bit of trouble wobbling home from the restaurant. The dinner was over the course over a couple of hours so I don't think it was the alcohol as much as it was the brick of food in my stomach that was giving me trouble.

When I got back I could not of course go to sleep with the medicine ball sized lump of pork knuckle in my stomach so I watched the 2nd to last episode of 24 season 1 before trying to drift off to sleep.

Luckily today is a public holiday in Switzerland and most of Europe so I am going to use today to sit around and do nothing. Ahh, to be at home again.

The Perfrect London Photo: Almost

To some degree you can set yourself up for success when taking travel photos. You know where the classic icons are. You know which side will be best illuminated by the sun and when. The weather is one potential cause for mishap. But, there can always be that something.

When I saw this image as a thumbnail I thought I had hit the jackpot on the postcard shot. Big Ben, A double decker bus, and the London Eye in the background. Perfect!

Ahh, but not quite. A closer look reveals a soft spot on the face of Big Ben. A rain drop hit my lens and blurred a small portion of the tower. Not meant to be I guess. Unfortunately the entire series from this spot was ruined by this drop of rain on the lens. I just didn't notice it. I still like the picture though, so for what its worth I'll still enjoy it.

Lesson learned, next time I am shooting in light rain, check the lens every once in a while.

Black Snot

I spent a week in London in 2004 I believe it was. We visited a friend there that was working as a teacher on a US/UK exchange program. We also went for my wife's work. She had an event in London so at the time it was a good excuse to go for a long trip across the pond.

This time around I had a few events that reminded me of that last trip. Mainly blowing my nose. Now how could blowing ones nose remind you of a past trip to a place? One simple answer. Black snot.

Yes it is gross, and it is not the typical memory that one wants to take away from a place but it explains quite a bit about British culture. Do you question that the world is polluted? Just blow your nose for proof. The British governments stance on global warming and reducing carbon emmissions now make sense. If the government officials 'see' the tangible affects of pollution every time they reach for their kleenex they obviously have a personal interest in cleaning things up.

Maybe we need to send a few US goverment officials to London for a day or two and let them see what happens. That might give them a little more reason to make some changes in their own policies.

English Breakfast

I woke up to a English breakfast this morning. Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and coffee. Considering I am in central London I guess that is not a surprise. I am here for 3 days of training.

I have expereinced a lot of sausage across Europe, but I have to say, the breakfast sausage in England is probably the most palatable. It tastes very similar to the breakfast sausages we have in the US. Thinking about this I wonder how much of the taste of American breakfast sausage is related to its potential direct decendant the English breakfast sausage. If there is a close historical tie that would explain my taste predisposition.

I am staying in central London not far from a University. Yesterday evening I noticed a bunch of Indian resturants on the campus as I was walking around so tonight I decided to head back in that direction to see what I could find. I found a small resturant next to a few residence halls and had a decent meal. On the way home I was walking past a few of the dorms looking in the windows. The sight of the cinder block walls and the heavy wooden doors brought back memories of my own college experience.

The cheap tacky posters, the three quarters drunk bottle of vodka on the window sill as a trophy of some kind of 'personal record' from last weekend. The greenish hue of the florecent lights. It was strange to be on a campus again. Part of me wanted to go back and enjoy that carefree lifestyle. The sensible part of me said 'What the heck are you thinking?!, how can living in a 10 X 10 foot prison cell be any fun.'

Alas I have tasted the fruits of the materialistic society and I have to admit I do enjoy having a paycheck.