“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.”
— John F. Kennedy
“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.”
— John F. Kennedy
They eat pink shrimp to get pink…so they tell me.
It’s Sunday – NY Times day. Having just read an article by Eric Weiner about thin places – in summary, spiritual yet not holy or touristy – made me think about where I am, GPS wise. And spiritual? Maybe. I like to think of it as a place that you can go to and “feel” it. Yes?
So is Disney a thin place? No. Too touristy. Are the beaches around New Smyrna thin? – well, yes, if you can get yourself into a thin frame of mind by walking along the water’s edge while it plays “you’re it!” with your toes.
A thin place, according to Eric Weiner, is not necessarily a holy place. St. Patrick’s Cathedral for instance is not thin. Too many people there just to see the cathedral. Yet in India there are places that tourists know very little about and the places are “thin.” Kind of Zen-like I imagine.
Could one be thin if placed in an airport terminal, like MCO? In a manner of speaking, yes, because you are suspended between earth and air for a period of time. Is this a spiritual suspension? Are you closer to the upper atmospheric spirituality? Can you “feel” it?
Hmmm. Something to think about as a traveler. Where have you been where it has actually been a “thin place?”
Swarski crystals in stem of glasses Zurich 2011 |
So festive |
This was my Christmas card photo this year 2011 |
Cold rainy day in Zurich |
Swiss Train ON TIME Zurich 2011 |
Zurich Tram 2011 |
Christmas toys Zurich 2011 |
Swaroski crystals 12 in. across Zurich 2011 |
Pretty window Zurich train station 2011 |
Zurich Christmas Market 2011 |
candy |
Inside decorations – Montreux |
Seems that ferris wheels are regular things at Chrismas Markets. Montreux |
Pouring us some nice warm Gluhwein! yum – Montreux |
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Sunset in Montreux along lake |
Christmas trees and stuff -Vevey. |
Very nice shot of Christmas decor – Vevey. |
Nice design – Vevey. |
Saw many businesses with trees on both sides of the doorways. Vevey. |
Florist with lots of color – Vevey. |
Yes that is a giant fork. Why? Who knows…I liked the mountains in the background. Vevey. |
GLobes in Vevey – thought of Evan when i did these |
Vevey by the lake |
Vevey with mountains in the back. Beautiful scenery |
purple flowers still growing in the cold weather |
Looking down a sidestreet – this was a fun street with lots of little stores. |
Window design in a “bed and bath” kind of place. Very pretty |
Christmas Circus |
Despicable swans all over the place. If they didn’t look so pretty I would totally dislike them. |
Baked beans in Montreux – cooked in big pottery on a pipe filled with burning wood. Traditional. |
Just a little note I found while looking for stuff to put on here. Don’t remember when i typed it.
the z is a y and the y is a z. i will try to remember this when tzping. it`s not easly. i have to keep going back and retyping or stop when i know there is a y. plus this is a mac platform. havenàt done this in over 4 years.
Train station at St. Niklaus. A snack machine in case St. Nik needs a quick treat.
Streams formed by glaciers melting. Right now there isn’t enough snow to supply the reservoirs with water, so the glaciers are the only source. You can see that the water level is quite low. |
One of my better photos. You may be seeing more of this one. It has good focus, center of interest, linear quality, bokeh and depth of field. You may be getting this as a Christmas card when I get back….
There was some snow on the mountain peaks, but not much to ski in yet. Skiers are very disappointed.
Through the chalet rooftops you could see the Matterhorn peeking above everything. It really is huge and a person who might be climbing it would not even look like a dot in this photo.
Signs of Christmas trees and decoration. They really aren’t much into the sparkly things here. It is more nature related.
Another shot of the Matterhorn. The wire looked like my initial “D” The town tree was in the process of being decorated when I took this photo.
The pink stripe at the top is actually a reflection in the train window. I could take it out, but I like how it looks actually…
Sharp pointy mountains = young mountains. Although in a photo you cannot get the scale of the size of these pieces of earth, a person who was standing in the foreground would be a dot.
Train station in Visp which is the point to change trains to go UP the mountains. I had just been on a train for 3 hrs. from Lausanne. I was also very fortunate that Christopher ‘s teacher friend offered her ticket for that day so I was able to travel the whole day on it. Much grateful.
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Zermatt’s Village Christmas Tree in the process of decoration. If you look to the right of the tree, there is the infamous Matterhorn. There are photos, paintings, sculptures, drawings, etc. of this famous place.
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In another couple of weeks this place will be covered in white stuff. Meanwhile, the mountains were a little short of snow this time of year, but it certainly was cold.
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On the way back down the alps – photos while moving. The dark areas get sun maybe 2-3 hrs. a day because the mountains block it.
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The following photos are not good. They are my throwaways. But being from New England, I don’t throw ANYTHING away. I’m a collector. So here are my very bad photos that hopefully are saved by their totally unrelated titles. You can skip all this by the way. It was just a fun thing for me to do.
So I discovered this random title selector that was suggested by another photographer who also has problems ‘naming’ his photos. And these are the photos and their titles that are now designated to these particular (bad) shots because I only wanted to name these bad ones…
The titles you see in black were written after the photos were placed. The gray lettering is actually on the photo itself and is my signature plate
FORGOTTEN SERVANT |
GUARDIAN IN THE PAST |
THE HEART OF ILLUSION |
THE BOYFRIEND’S LEGACY
(had a lot of comments on this one)
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THE FAIRY’S TEACHER |
RAGGED ACADEMY
THese little dolls were in a flea market in Lausanne. They were haphazardly thrown into this box. Do you recognize any of them? |
SILKEN DESTINY
Colored hair is really in here for the younger set. Old people (those over 40) do not do this kind of thing. |
THE WHISPERING WORDS
Very sad to see grafitti like this in such a pretty town. Some of it is well done however. I did take other photos of “good” grafitti.
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Looks like a booboo town – but it is pronounced OOO-SHEE. And it is very popular with the tourist set, particularly those who like to spend their time on the Switzerland Rivieras of Montreux and Ouchy. These are just a few pics from my visit yesterday which was a beautiful day to just travel about near the water. Mountains still a bit fuzzy, but eventually they do clear.
Be sure to go back to the older posts to see more of my travels here. These below are not my best photos but they do document yesterday’s adventure to Ouchy. I also took the metro north to Croisettes just for the ride and to see what was there. It was cute town but didn’t explore it much as it was late in the afternoon and the trains get very crowded on the way home. And on Friday it seems that everyone has a suitcase and is escaping to somewhere in the Alps. Not bad, eh?
Click at the end of this post for ‘Older Posts’
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Lunch at a little place on the lake – had crepes Basquaise with vegies and good stuff. And a glass of wine to wash it down. LOL |
The park |
It was actually quite cool (cold to me) but a great afternoon to just enjoy |
So many swans here – beasty little birds. |