Photomarathon November 2018 (III)

“Can you come over real quick, just want to check if I have the pictures in the right order”, said M., after downloading my submissions to the computer. Haha, that shows how well they fit the topics. NOT. Oh well. These are the pictures I chose: 01 Amadeus 02 La Paloma 03 Imagine 04 O…

Photomarathon November 2018 (II)

We’re meeting at a playground in a park for the mid-day break, soon the next 6 songs are ready to entertain and challenge us for the second half of the day. While they’re downloading, I play the first one: 07 Don’t worry, be happy (Bobby McFerrin) A few kids swinging, one playing in the sandbox,…

Photomarathon November 2018 (I)

For this photo marathon I’ve decided to use the small old Nikon V1 on the big 70-200 F4 lens, giving me a long 190-540mm reach. Miraculously, the little black camera that stopped working in Rome started working again, after repeated shutter presses, firmware reinstalling, battery taken out… I don’t know what did it, but I’ll…

Slope 45

I’m eager to take slope 45, down from the very top to the nice 8-seats chairlift. We missed it last time, but now we turn right at the proper spot. The wind is very strong, it’s a struggle to get to the edge of the slope. We’re hesitating. B. asks – “which direction is the…

NFL Fantasy and the availability heuristic

I’d heard A. rave about the NFL Fantasy over the last few years, so I thought I’d give it a shot this year. I nearly missed the start, but one Sunday afternoon I read somewhere that the first game of the season had happened on Thursday. I checked the website – there was about an…

Turn in turn

I can take a train at 15:48 or another one at 16:48. Hmm, I could go up with the cable car one more time, ski down and catch the later train. I go out of the restaurant – the mountain is lost in fog, it’s snowing, the ski-chairlift is empty. Why is NO ONE going…

To ski, or not to ski

Where’s my wallet? Oh, dear. Seemed sunny this morning, and it’s forecasted to snow tomorrow, so I decided to go for a spontaneous half-day skiing trip. It’s 12:30, I’m in the Flumserberg parking lot, have just arrived to a very lucky just-in-time parking opening in an otherwise full house; just when I wanted to put…

MANA – pursuit of quality

It was pretty obvious from his blog that Ovidiu writes well. But from a blog to a full-fledged fiction book there’s a long way, at least theoretically. In reality it took one year since he promised himself and his daughter Sofia that he will write a book. Interestingly, he’d started with a completely different subject,…

To Antarctica, with love

It’s been 6 months, the detailed story is documented here (in Romanian), but I just remembered I’d made a summary in English shortly upon return. I guess i belongs here too: ————– Presentation: Movie:

Hala Madrid

16-18 october 2009 A swift 3.5 hours away from Barcelona by the new fast train, Madrid is not what I expected. Had imagined a yellow city in a deserted landscape, donno why, maybe from looking at the yellow color on the map in central Spain. Yet what I found was a monumental, green city, busy,…

Gauding

13 October 2009 The most “visible” of the Barcelonean geniuses is no doubt Gaudí. Because you can admire his work from the outside (as well). Probably the most…different architect that ever lived. He took the Jugendstil in fashion during his time and just ran away with it, to completely new territories. The easiest way to…

Barcelona, such a beautiful horizon

12 october 2009 We left at 5am, dark, 7-8 degrees Celsius, and reached sunny Barcelona with some 20 degrees. The easiest way to get to the centre from the airport is via the blue bus, which left us at the University, not far from Hostal Central. Very well located, 5 minuts walking from Plaça Catalunya,…

München

End of September 2009 As I was heading towards the car I thought it was strange it doesnt react to my remote opening attempts. “The remote control battery must be done”, I thought. Turns out the car battery was done. Shit. I had all the luggage with me, was heading to meet O. in Munchen.…

Trois Troyes

September 2009 Troyes (read: “tro’ah”) was one of the nicest surprises this year. On the way back from Champagne I stopped just to check it out, had no idea what to expect. Had read that it has an interesting old town, but I didn’t expect… this: I had read there are old wooden Fachwerkhäuser, but…

Champagne

September 11, 2009 I had no idea that Mr. Moët invented the champagne drink, sometime around 1743 on a Wednesday. Or that Mr. Chandon was his son-in-law. Or that the black Pinot Noir grapes give white juice, unless you leave the shells in the mix. I didn’t know much, but I learned a lot visiting…

The Lucerne Festival

eluded us. There were flags in the city, but when we arrived there was nothing special going on, except lots of tourists around. But to start with the beginning, we did a “classic” tour by now, through central Switzerland, Einsiedeln, where we can still not take pictures inside, but we arrived right before mass, which…

Baseling

August 22 Since S. was based in Basel, we decided to check out Van Gogh, since he had a concert in town. Nice, not all songs, but some of the hits were on, plus some songs I didnt know but liked. I didnt even ask if pictures are allowed, I guessed no. Van Gogh has…