Well, since I am at it anyway, I might as well add a few other stories.
The day I left was extremely stressful. I left on friday the 16th in the afternoon, right after work (we finish at 13.00 on friday, but I could leave at 12...). I had a lot of work to finish that day and I was stressing to get it done in time.
My boss was also leaving that day and I should be there to say goodbye to him I think. Luckily they held the goodbye ceremony before I had to leave. I thought that was fair enough. However, I didn't join into getting pissed and clubbing the night before. The secretary told me I have no excuse. My excuse is I had to pack that night and since I hadn't had a chance to do that before (I had been working until 23.00 each night that week), I said that was teh only time available. She said it was a poor excuse. I told her the other option was not to sleep at all and she said that was perfectly acceptable. Well, that's when I walked off. I guess some people are just too narrow minded to understand someone else's position...
Anyway, at some point Linda walked up to me (a collague) and she asked if I shouldn't go to heathrow. I told her my flight was at 6 so I was leaving at 12 to get a bus at 1. She then said that I better leave now (it was 10 in the morning) because they were holding protest blockades on the M4 to heathrow. Ofcourse! just my fuckin luck! So I started calling some people to ask about the situation on the road. The AA (breakdown/traffic info services) told me a little about the blockades in wales on the M4 but didn't know if it would come between Bristol and Heathrow. So I searched for a phone number of the police in Bristol/Avon. Hahaha! ofcourse the first 100 hits are all useless!!! I finally decided to call a small town office just outside bath and they were very informative. They said that the blockade shouldn't leave Wales. They then told me to contact Avon constabulary headoffice for more details. So I did, and guess what... I get a Bristolian cop on the phone (yes, he was from headoffice) and he didn't know anything. He said the police never knows anything about traffic information... Can you believe that???? In any other country the police is numero uno to know about traffic situations, especially when there are protests against fuel prices, blocking major motorways! But no, not in england. In despair I tried to get to one more road service: the RAC. Their website was as good as any other: crap, however, I did manage to find a traffic information number. It is an 0900 number so my company ofcourse blocked it. So I had to make a 1GBP/minute call with my mobile. The service is actually quite good and I got to hear exactly what I wanted to know, and I could stick to my original plan.
So, I left at 12.00, arrived at 12.20, leaving me 5 minutes for last preparations. Luckily this time I hadn't forgotten anything. I was waiting for the taxi and when it was 5 minutes late I called the taxi service. Since Friday is the worst day for driving in Bristol I figured I would be late for my bus as well...ofcourse... Luckily he arrive 3 seconds later and dropped me off with about 5-10 minutes to spare. The bus arrived in time, so I had 3 hours before departure.
I checked in at 1st class (which they themselves suggested to speed up the checking in process). The most funny thing happened. I thought I was over weight with my luggage, both cabin and check in luggage. At home I was using all my tricks to be able to bring everything I wanted to take with me, and to stay within limits of teh luggage allowance. Actually Cathay Pacific is quite inconsistant with this. They have a huge list of things you can take nxt to a maximum sized one-piece cabin luggage of up to 7 kg. Apparently you can take in addition to that, a laptop up to 4 kg, a briefcase up to 4 kg, some personal affects, a coat, diapers, baby food, a baby seat a camera binoculars... in total I think 20 kgs or more... So I called them because I wanted to put my photo gear in a photo backpack, but that would exceed 7kg. They said that was not allowed, because of the weight for one piece luggage. Not a surprise. Then I told them that I could take all taht stuff with me if I used multiple smaller bags to spread the weight and they again said no, I could take only one bag. I told tehm about what their website said and they said that the list meant only one of those items in addition to my one piece luggage of 7 kg. This is not what their website says.
Anyway, I managed to be clever and use just my shoulder bag to pack 10kg of photo equipment in (lenses are heavy...) and a very small backpack with some drinks, snacks and reading material.
I estimated my check in luggage at 22-23 kg, using the scales of my flatmate.
When I came to check in, they never weighed my cabin luggage and my check-in luggage was weighed at 11,5 kg!!! I think there was something wrong with their scales. Anyway, I'm not complaining. I know it is definitely not 11 kg, much heavier.
Then after check in, I waited a while, got some greasy shit for dinner, which was actually quite nice. I made some photos (with which you have to be very careful about in London these days...). Then I boarded my plane when it was time. Later I found out that I had formatted the card in my camera and so I lost all these photos... How stupid can you be...
Following that we were stuck at the gate for more than half an hour. When we finally taxied out, we had to taxi for at least 30-40 minutes or so: rush hours at heathrow.
The flight was ok, although the quality of the monitors wasn't exactly stunning. But at least I had my own in-flight entertainment console. I chatted a bit with my fellow passengers. Then we got an anouncement of the stewardess, requesting a qualified doctor. I though, oh, hell there goes my connection to Taiwan... We were already 1 hour late when we left heathrow, which meant I had zero minutes between landing in Hong Kong and take off with the connecting flight (connection time was exactly 1 hour). The stewardess assured me the plane would wait for transferring passengers.
After that anouncement my hope sank to my feet. If a doctor was required it must be serious. If someone dies or is critically ill, the plane should land at the next available airport, which would result in another 3 hour delay or so. Luckily that never happened, so apparently they found their doctor and solved the problem.
When we landed I had about 5 minutes to get to the connecting flight, so I ran up and down stairs and corridors, and luckily for me the had only just started checking in for the connecting flight.
This was an A330 by the way. Sounded a little big for such a trip, bu I don't mind, that is yet another airplane I can put on my list (I managed to get 2 more during my stay in Taiwan) of airplanes flown. This A330 was obviously configured for asians as I had zero leg space. That flight was quite uncomfortable, and by the time I realised they had switched on the in-flight entertainment, we had only 20 minutes left. And all the programs they had on were very interesting actually! All about culture in Taiwan, south east asia, okinawa, etc, very interesting and all at the same time...
When I landed and turned on my phone, I got a text message from Tina that she was a little late and if I could wait a few minutes. She was stuck in traffic because of moon festival that weekend. Well, not being able to speak or udnerstand any chinese, where was I supposed to go on my own? Anyway, a few minutes turned out to be almost 45 minutes before she arrived. Hmm, all in all actually not that great a flight...
More to follow...
September 28, 2005
Yes! Another update!
First and foremost an appology to the people that have been hoping for an update.
Unfortunately I have been soo busy with work that I have had very little time to attend to my blog. Now I'm on holiday I have some time to make some new posts again.
A lot has happened these few months. Tina visited me for 5 weeks last summer. Now I am in Taiwan, visiting her for 3 weeks.
Actually I am very glad to have a real holiday again. Work has been a nightmare, so it's good to have a break of things.
Unfortunately I have been soo busy with work that I have had very little time to attend to my blog. Now I'm on holiday I have some time to make some new posts again.
A lot has happened these few months. Tina visited me for 5 weeks last summer. Now I am in Taiwan, visiting her for 3 weeks.
Actually I am very glad to have a real holiday again. Work has been a nightmare, so it's good to have a break of things.
May 04, 2005
The fat lady swings...
Well, it finally happened: First Flight!
It was a wonderful day, a slight breeze cooled an otherwise blazing hot day (for a late april morning). The sun was shining, not a cloud on the horizon. A perfect day for flight...
Ok, I am a little late. First Flight occured last wednesday (27th April 2005). The event was largely publisised. Actually I think that was a great risk. What if things didn't go as planned? But they did, and even I king of sceptics was amazed! I work on Landing Gear Systems of teh A380 so I am pretty knowledgeable about what has been going on with the design of A380. And until the aircraft actually lifted its Nose Landing Gear off the runway, committing itself to flight, everyone was holding his or her breath. 4 hours later the lady wiggled her tail again and after a flyby passing over the runway at low altitude, it came in to land.
Both take off and landing were the best I have ever witnessed. And I am not exaggerating!
Ofcourse I got some images of the aircraft.
The aircraft is moving on its own for the first time!
Close up on it's nose...
"Foxtrot-Whisky Whisky Oscar Whisky, you are cleared for take off."
F-WWOW, also known as WOW... (yep, pun intended...)
A good image of the climb out of the fat bird. Note the
corvette that escorted the plane during it's first flight.
All systems go, gears up!
Time to head back...
And a smooth landing
It was a wonderful day, a slight breeze cooled an otherwise blazing hot day (for a late april morning). The sun was shining, not a cloud on the horizon. A perfect day for flight...
Ok, I am a little late. First Flight occured last wednesday (27th April 2005). The event was largely publisised. Actually I think that was a great risk. What if things didn't go as planned? But they did, and even I king of sceptics was amazed! I work on Landing Gear Systems of teh A380 so I am pretty knowledgeable about what has been going on with the design of A380. And until the aircraft actually lifted its Nose Landing Gear off the runway, committing itself to flight, everyone was holding his or her breath. 4 hours later the lady wiggled her tail again and after a flyby passing over the runway at low altitude, it came in to land.
Both take off and landing were the best I have ever witnessed. And I am not exaggerating!
Ofcourse I got some images of the aircraft.
The aircraft is moving on its own for the first time!
Close up on it's nose...
"Foxtrot-Whisky Whisky Oscar Whisky, you are cleared for take off."
F-WWOW, also known as WOW... (yep, pun intended...)
A good image of the climb out of the fat bird. Note the
corvette that escorted the plane during it's first flight.
All systems go, gears up!
Time to head back...
And a smooth landing
April 10, 2005
April moon
Hmm, I really should make an efford to updating my blog more regularly. That way I can make the posts smaller.
Lot's is happening these days, not all good though I'm afraid... WIthin the next 2 weeks the aircraft I have been working on, the A380 will take to the skies for the first time. I'm sure everyone will be holding their breath as it is quite a landmark in aviation history.
However good Airbus may be, Boeing managed to secure their position in the market once more. Apparently their 777ER (extended range) has taken to the skies. Though it is not exactly a brand new aircraft, it does have one huge feature over all airbus aircraft: Range. It is now the longest range aircraft in the world, beating the A340-500 with barely a couple of thousand miles. One slight problem I think they made, is that the 777ER has a longer range than their new dreamliner, the 787. The 787 has a smaller range than even the A340-500 I believe.
These days I find myself watching Manga more and more. Manga is really not a good term. I should say Japanese animations. They can actually be quite good you know? I'm following a series called Ghost in the Shell. So far so good. There is a longer storyline in there but most episodes are standalones. I like the music though. My favorite however, is Noir. It is about a girl who suffers from amnesia and she discovers that she is really good in one thing: killing! She goes out in search of her own background. That series also has good some real good music. Too bad that these animations tend to be pretty expensive.
Tina gave me an animation before. It is called "Castle in the sky". It is from a fairly famous animation writer/producer. He also produced an animation called "Spirited away"
April has arrived, with the dubious weather it tends to bring. Sunshine and rain simultaneously! At least the weather is slowly improving and I can take out my cameras again. Recently I bought an Olympus OM1-N, probably one of the smallest SLRs around. The size is not my main concern though, it's the quality. Apparently it is optically of very high quality and mechanically it is pretty good too. WHat I liek about this camera is that it is fully mechanical! No more messing around with batteries! Ok, I admit it does use a battery, but only for the light meter. It works fully without batteries though (except lightmeter ofcourse).
This is the Camera I bought. Well... Almost anyway. I have an f1.4 50mm lens on it while this one has an f1.8. I like it a lot! I already bought extender tubes for it so I can do some macro photography.
I also bought a Bronica S2A recently. It's a 6x6 camera. I lik ethat one too as it is very rigid, but it is very VERY noisy when you press teh shutter release. It is like a bomb explodes! So when you photograph models warn them in advance. I'm keeping an eye out for a Mamiya TLR C33. These are supposed to be very very quiet (no mirror slapping around) and it has a build in bellows for close-ups
Bronica S2A. I will need to order the extension tube as well. I saw it for sale and it was pretty cheap, so gotta have it! I'm not gonna build on this set though. I want a 50mm lens (it came with a 75mm and a 100mm f2.8 and 2 magazines) for landscape, and that's it really. I'm mainly gonna use it for landscape. The mamiya I could buy if I can get it very very cheap. Won't spend more than 30GBP on it though. One thing I want for the Bronica though, is a winding crank. It only has a knob and that just isn't very comfortable to me.
The mamiya...
Now it's time for some pics I think. These have been taken with my Canon 10D, not with any of my new all mechanical analogue kit. I first need a GOOD scanner for that.
This girl was aware that I was making this picture because she was walking pretty fast down the hill. Could she have been afraid? Doesn't make sense though. Who would be intimidated by a 6'4" (1.90m) 15 stone (95 kg) dutch guy carrying cameras around his neck with telelenses that exceed his own height?
A window... yes, a win-dow...
Well... I gues they're leaves arend they...?
Another lodge... Actually the area I live in is pretty nice. Many fancy-pants houses WOrth only a few million pound sterling... In fact, teh area is soo posh that we actually have our own dedicated police patrols 24/7. While I was making these images a police car pulled up from behind and the constable inside asked me what I was doing (apparently observation and awareness weren't his best subjects during training as I was quite obviously pointing my huge zooms in all directions and had about 3 cameras on my neck!). So I gave him an answer that matched teh intelligence of his question: "Oh, I'm observing houses and police patrols sir. I'm planning a big burglary operation and I need to know teh details of the houses, What their owners do, if and what alarms are installed, you know the usual...". He looked at me like ... Then I said That I was making some close ups of plants and features and I showed him the pics I had on my 10D. That seemed to satisfy him and he drove off again...
One of many flower close ups I made. I don't have extension tubes for my canon. I might buy some cheap tubes (no optics inside so what can go wrong???)
A typical english phonebooth. And no, it is not the tardis. The tardis is green! I actually quite like what I did with this image. B&W with a red phone booth... Thank you adobe!
Close up of a daffodil. Not too bad I guess... I think this is one of the few flowers that I know the name of (well, in english anyway)
Well, I'll have to keep it at that for now. Lets pray I will make some more updates to my blog in the future...
Lot's is happening these days, not all good though I'm afraid... WIthin the next 2 weeks the aircraft I have been working on, the A380 will take to the skies for the first time. I'm sure everyone will be holding their breath as it is quite a landmark in aviation history.
However good Airbus may be, Boeing managed to secure their position in the market once more. Apparently their 777ER (extended range) has taken to the skies. Though it is not exactly a brand new aircraft, it does have one huge feature over all airbus aircraft: Range. It is now the longest range aircraft in the world, beating the A340-500 with barely a couple of thousand miles. One slight problem I think they made, is that the 777ER has a longer range than their new dreamliner, the 787. The 787 has a smaller range than even the A340-500 I believe.
These days I find myself watching Manga more and more. Manga is really not a good term. I should say Japanese animations. They can actually be quite good you know? I'm following a series called Ghost in the Shell. So far so good. There is a longer storyline in there but most episodes are standalones. I like the music though. My favorite however, is Noir. It is about a girl who suffers from amnesia and she discovers that she is really good in one thing: killing! She goes out in search of her own background. That series also has good some real good music. Too bad that these animations tend to be pretty expensive.
Tina gave me an animation before. It is called "Castle in the sky". It is from a fairly famous animation writer/producer. He also produced an animation called "Spirited away"
April has arrived, with the dubious weather it tends to bring. Sunshine and rain simultaneously! At least the weather is slowly improving and I can take out my cameras again. Recently I bought an Olympus OM1-N, probably one of the smallest SLRs around. The size is not my main concern though, it's the quality. Apparently it is optically of very high quality and mechanically it is pretty good too. WHat I liek about this camera is that it is fully mechanical! No more messing around with batteries! Ok, I admit it does use a battery, but only for the light meter. It works fully without batteries though (except lightmeter ofcourse).
This is the Camera I bought. Well... Almost anyway. I have an f1.4 50mm lens on it while this one has an f1.8. I like it a lot! I already bought extender tubes for it so I can do some macro photography.
I also bought a Bronica S2A recently. It's a 6x6 camera. I lik ethat one too as it is very rigid, but it is very VERY noisy when you press teh shutter release. It is like a bomb explodes! So when you photograph models warn them in advance. I'm keeping an eye out for a Mamiya TLR C33. These are supposed to be very very quiet (no mirror slapping around) and it has a build in bellows for close-ups
Bronica S2A. I will need to order the extension tube as well. I saw it for sale and it was pretty cheap, so gotta have it! I'm not gonna build on this set though. I want a 50mm lens (it came with a 75mm and a 100mm f2.8 and 2 magazines) for landscape, and that's it really. I'm mainly gonna use it for landscape. The mamiya I could buy if I can get it very very cheap. Won't spend more than 30GBP on it though. One thing I want for the Bronica though, is a winding crank. It only has a knob and that just isn't very comfortable to me.
The mamiya...
Now it's time for some pics I think. These have been taken with my Canon 10D, not with any of my new all mechanical analogue kit. I first need a GOOD scanner for that.
This girl was aware that I was making this picture because she was walking pretty fast down the hill. Could she have been afraid? Doesn't make sense though. Who would be intimidated by a 6'4" (1.90m) 15 stone (95 kg) dutch guy carrying cameras around his neck with telelenses that exceed his own height?
A window... yes, a win-dow...
Well... I gues they're leaves arend they...?
Another lodge... Actually the area I live in is pretty nice. Many fancy-pants houses WOrth only a few million pound sterling... In fact, teh area is soo posh that we actually have our own dedicated police patrols 24/7. While I was making these images a police car pulled up from behind and the constable inside asked me what I was doing (apparently observation and awareness weren't his best subjects during training as I was quite obviously pointing my huge zooms in all directions and had about 3 cameras on my neck!). So I gave him an answer that matched teh intelligence of his question: "Oh, I'm observing houses and police patrols sir. I'm planning a big burglary operation and I need to know teh details of the houses, What their owners do, if and what alarms are installed, you know the usual...". He looked at me like ... Then I said That I was making some close ups of plants and features and I showed him the pics I had on my 10D. That seemed to satisfy him and he drove off again...
One of many flower close ups I made. I don't have extension tubes for my canon. I might buy some cheap tubes (no optics inside so what can go wrong???)
A typical english phonebooth. And no, it is not the tardis. The tardis is green! I actually quite like what I did with this image. B&W with a red phone booth... Thank you adobe!
Close up of a daffodil. Not too bad I guess... I think this is one of the few flowers that I know the name of (well, in english anyway)
Well, I'll have to keep it at that for now. Lets pray I will make some more updates to my blog in the future...
March 13, 2005
It's about time!
I really need to make an appology. I haven't updated my weblog since December (as you surely will have noticed). Unfortunately with the holidays taking 2 weeks, and after that work picking up rapidly, I haven't had much time to do any blogging whatsoever. Today I have a very lazy day, so I thought it was time to create a new post.
Work is very stressful, and will be for another 2 or 3 weeks. the A380 is about to take off at the end of the month and I need to make sure teh paperwork convinces the top level engineers and the authorities the aircraft is actually fit for flight.
Last x-mas I spend in Holland, visiting my family and friends. After reading the news every day in the morning over a cup of coffee (strong, black, 2 sugar ^_^), I was expecting I wouldn't enjoy being back in the country. However, nothing could have been further from the truth. Having been away for a whole year, I realised again how much better things are in good old Holland. Things are so much easier to obtain, people are friendlier. You actually get customer service when you go shoppinG! I forgot about that completely. Normally in Bristol I enter a shop, look around (the shops being so small and so lacking of stock I often spend no more than 5 minutes in them).
I remember going to a huge book store called Donner in Rotterdam. They have soo much. They have all the Brittish magazines, PLUS many american magazines, German magazines, sometimes even french!!! I decided to pick up some of the newer magazines on digital photography. When I left I remembered there were two major dutch photography magazines and at the time I left they merged as they pretty much covered the same subjects in a very similar style. I picked up this magazine, remembering how it lacked in advertisement and was cramped with actual articles! And guess what... It still is... As I said I also picked up some of the newer magazins on digital photography. I expected something similar as the british magazines, but again, it was filled with actually useful information! Ofcourse there are advertisements in there, how else would they be able to publish??? There was one magazine, fairly small, but about the best info I had ever seen! It is called 'Digitales' and is, obviously, about digital photography. It appears about 4 or 5 times per month, and it seems to be published by a photography school. It has a fairly lengthy section on equipment listing, which for me they can do without. Unless I happened to have picked the one, I think they should stick by publishing such a list once per year, after photokina in germany. Other than that it actually had very useful information in it. And lot sof it! Despite it's A5 size, it is a fairly bulky magazine, and it saved me from 4 hours of boredom on Schiphol Airport while I was waiting to check in.
I also got my best x-mas present ever (though I paid for it myself): a 70-200mm f2.8 USM IS L zoom lens from Canon. What a gem!!! needless to say I tried it out. Having Tina over from Taiwan I had to play tourist in my own country, which also meant lots of photo opportunities. I made many many pics, of which I will only show you some...
I think this photo came out pretty well. I was visiting a friend of mine and while he and his wife were out of the room, I made this close up shot of these tea lights.
This was a fairly common view during the holidays. We went to a couple of Zoo's This photo was made in Diergaarde Blijdorp, a fairly victorian-style zoo. there were a surprisingly amount of animals outside though! We had been to Arnhems Burgers zoo, which is many times bigger and more enjoyable for both viewer and animal than Rotterdam's Blijdorp. But in Arnhem most animals were hybernating or were in the stables. The weather was better when we went to Rotterdam too. Most animals displayed as much energy as this Tiger.
Actually I'm not too sure if this is an austridge I photographed in Rotterdam or its smaller cousin in Arnhem. Both animals are very arrogant and cocky! You don't want to stand near these 'birds'.
Playing a tourist, obviously I needed to visit the Euro Tower in Rotterdam. The whole day had been splendid with miles of visibility. We were a bit hesitant to go because it would be dark by the time we would get there. We decided to do it despite the freezing cold. And we were rewarded by a beautiful nightly sight of city lights. Tina was becoming an icecream as the wind was blowing rather hard and being used to 20 degrees at night, she really was suffering. Luckily the tower went all the way up, which is done by an enclosed elevator, and the sight was amazing. I took an interesting 360 dgree shot of the town, but that one is so unconventional I suggest you look it up in my album on flickr.
Believe it or not, but this little gritter was classified as a prarie dog... If they called it a guinea pig I would have believed it as well...
Komodo Dragon. Blijdorp had quite a few of those, big ones too! Don't want an argument with this guy...
Blijdorp is known for its collection of reptiles
What's a zoo without baboons...
Pretty colors...
Hmm, where did I go again?
Can you believe it? The trains actually have nicer signs than teh aircraft do! Please not this is not standard practise in Holland...
A quick stop at the observation terras. Quick in this case means 2 hours... Had a lot of time to kill...
Well, guess that is enough for the first post in the new year...
Work is very stressful, and will be for another 2 or 3 weeks. the A380 is about to take off at the end of the month and I need to make sure teh paperwork convinces the top level engineers and the authorities the aircraft is actually fit for flight.
Last x-mas I spend in Holland, visiting my family and friends. After reading the news every day in the morning over a cup of coffee (strong, black, 2 sugar ^_^), I was expecting I wouldn't enjoy being back in the country. However, nothing could have been further from the truth. Having been away for a whole year, I realised again how much better things are in good old Holland. Things are so much easier to obtain, people are friendlier. You actually get customer service when you go shoppinG! I forgot about that completely. Normally in Bristol I enter a shop, look around (the shops being so small and so lacking of stock I often spend no more than 5 minutes in them).
I remember going to a huge book store called Donner in Rotterdam. They have soo much. They have all the Brittish magazines, PLUS many american magazines, German magazines, sometimes even french!!! I decided to pick up some of the newer magazines on digital photography. When I left I remembered there were two major dutch photography magazines and at the time I left they merged as they pretty much covered the same subjects in a very similar style. I picked up this magazine, remembering how it lacked in advertisement and was cramped with actual articles! And guess what... It still is... As I said I also picked up some of the newer magazins on digital photography. I expected something similar as the british magazines, but again, it was filled with actually useful information! Ofcourse there are advertisements in there, how else would they be able to publish??? There was one magazine, fairly small, but about the best info I had ever seen! It is called 'Digitales' and is, obviously, about digital photography. It appears about 4 or 5 times per month, and it seems to be published by a photography school. It has a fairly lengthy section on equipment listing, which for me they can do without. Unless I happened to have picked the one, I think they should stick by publishing such a list once per year, after photokina in germany. Other than that it actually had very useful information in it. And lot sof it! Despite it's A5 size, it is a fairly bulky magazine, and it saved me from 4 hours of boredom on Schiphol Airport while I was waiting to check in.
I also got my best x-mas present ever (though I paid for it myself): a 70-200mm f2.8 USM IS L zoom lens from Canon. What a gem!!! needless to say I tried it out. Having Tina over from Taiwan I had to play tourist in my own country, which also meant lots of photo opportunities. I made many many pics, of which I will only show you some...
I think this photo came out pretty well. I was visiting a friend of mine and while he and his wife were out of the room, I made this close up shot of these tea lights.
This was a fairly common view during the holidays. We went to a couple of Zoo's This photo was made in Diergaarde Blijdorp, a fairly victorian-style zoo. there were a surprisingly amount of animals outside though! We had been to Arnhems Burgers zoo, which is many times bigger and more enjoyable for both viewer and animal than Rotterdam's Blijdorp. But in Arnhem most animals were hybernating or were in the stables. The weather was better when we went to Rotterdam too. Most animals displayed as much energy as this Tiger.
Actually I'm not too sure if this is an austridge I photographed in Rotterdam or its smaller cousin in Arnhem. Both animals are very arrogant and cocky! You don't want to stand near these 'birds'.
Playing a tourist, obviously I needed to visit the Euro Tower in Rotterdam. The whole day had been splendid with miles of visibility. We were a bit hesitant to go because it would be dark by the time we would get there. We decided to do it despite the freezing cold. And we were rewarded by a beautiful nightly sight of city lights. Tina was becoming an icecream as the wind was blowing rather hard and being used to 20 degrees at night, she really was suffering. Luckily the tower went all the way up, which is done by an enclosed elevator, and the sight was amazing. I took an interesting 360 dgree shot of the town, but that one is so unconventional I suggest you look it up in my album on flickr.
Believe it or not, but this little gritter was classified as a prarie dog... If they called it a guinea pig I would have believed it as well...
Komodo Dragon. Blijdorp had quite a few of those, big ones too! Don't want an argument with this guy...
Blijdorp is known for its collection of reptiles
What's a zoo without baboons...
Pretty colors...
Hmm, where did I go again?
Can you believe it? The trains actually have nicer signs than teh aircraft do! Please not this is not standard practise in Holland...
A quick stop at the observation terras. Quick in this case means 2 hours... Had a lot of time to kill...
Well, guess that is enough for the first post in the new year...
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