Yarmouth Natural Heritage Area

In early November, we had some serious frost and nice colours.

Budapest, Hungary

A city that I've long wanted to visit.  I don't really know why but maybe it had to do with the fantastic postage stamp they used to issue.  Beautiful city at night.  Again, seeing the old buildings and impact of WWII followed by the Soviets was amazing.  So difficult, so many generations.

 

Vienna, Austria

Vienna is a classic city that is full of elegant buildings and palaces.  You can see the wealth is tiny nation once controlled.  Our 34th anniversary was spent in there.  Before we attended an evening Baroque classical concert in a palace we had coffee and dessert at Cafe Central, where Freud and Trotsky often dined.

Cesky Krumlov

A middle ages town in a hilly region of Czechia.  For us, it was a very wet afternoon.  The good news was that the dinner restaurant had schnitzel platters and smoked beer on tap.  Oh ya, the rain clouds broke in early evening and wow - some of my best shots of the trip.

Prague, Czechia

Our hotel in Prague was classic Soviet architecture.  Square.  Block.  On the light side the bath tub was only about a step of 24 inch or 60 cm to get into and out of.   We were a 10 minute tram ride to the old centre of the city.  Beautiful old buildings and one of my highest step days ever.  The cemetery was across the road from the hotel. The place was amazing.

Auschwitz and Birkenau

During WWII Jews from across Europe were rounded up and transported to concentration camps.  Ninety percent of the arrivals to Auschwitz and Birkenau were sent directly to the gas chambers.  The other 10% endured slave labour, medical experiments, disease, starvation and a life expectancy of about 2 months.  It is estimated that 1.1 million people died here.  The images below show green grass but during the war there was no grass, as the prisoners would eat anything they could find.

In such polarized times such as we seem to find ourselves in, currently, this tour seemed appropriate.  Appropriate in that we must never forget what hate, false or otherwise, can lead good people to do.

Krakow, Poland

Our next stop was Krakow, Poland.  A wonderful old city.  As a tourist it seems like a magical place and I wanted to spend more time there.  No need to mention how good the pierogies were.

Berlin

In September, we started our vacation by visiting Berlin, Germany.  Everywhere we turned we were questioning whether we were in the old East or West Berlin.  Berlin was the surprising union of history and modern buildings (Sony Centre).  Our first night we spent dining with the other 11 members of our tour.  Then instead of catching up on our lack of sleep, we walked around shooting historical buildings at night with June who is a great photographer and was trying her hand at mastering her iPhone's camera.

A Shoot with Lindsay Whitham

A Facebook group I belong to organized this evening/night shoot with Lindsay Whitham.  She was a great person to work with while our group blinded her with multiple flashes per camera (paparazzi style).  The shoot was all about trying out new things and practicing techniques.

Cottage in August (3rd Milky Way shot of the summer)

Spent a week then another weekend at Six Mile Lake in August.  Was a photographically productive time, I think.