Captured moments, frozen memories, digital expressions of my interpretation of the world we live in. This is a compilation of my attempts, at looking into things, that people usually only look at...
St Michael's Mount in South Cornwall, bears resemblance to the one in France as they were both built by monks from the same monastery. Both were then expanded due to change of ownership and different parts were added on to diversify its usage. Had we arrived earlier, we would be able to walk on the pathway of stones laid out on the shallow seabed leading from the coast to the island. However the tide was high and we needed to take the boat instead.
The trip itself would have been plain if not for the fact that it was situated on top of the mount on an island, coupled with interesting viewpoints outside the castle. It took some effort to reach the castle, trekking up steep slopes of cobblestoned walkway after a light rain. The castle interior was littered with artifacts and corresponding articles, which kept us occupied only for a short while as we were not historical fanatics. Photos do the place no justice though: the castle, the viewpoint, the landscape, the sea, it all works perfectly to bring out the best of Mont St Michel's twin castle.
Reluctant photograph subject.
Who dares approach the island with all these cannons?
Link to YouTube Video used.Use arrow keys for volume control.
It took me long enough, to really see Plymouth for the beautiful place it can be. It always is the companion you have with you, who makes the biggest difference.
When the sun was out, we decided to explore the small city. Apparently we were not the only ones with that in mind. In the midst of rainy days, a sudden break of sunny day drove throngs out of their couches and beds to bask in the warm sunlight. The Hoe Park was again filled with activities.
This particular location was chosen by her. For me, it didn't look really spectacular, just plain overgrown weeds, I told her. How wrong had I been. It turned out to be a great choice indeed, considering the amount of photos we took.
Funny that I can still find new photo spots after months here in Plymouth. Shows how much I actually went out to explore this place in the past. We walked around the city, choosing alleys and streets less traveled and amazed ourselves finding out that it linked us to another familiar part of the city.
Getting a parking in the city area proved to be a great hassle. We drove around the streets looking for one space for nearly an hour. So little time to explore the city as this was the very morning that we were supposed to meet up JF in the afternoon in Windsor.
Sigh... I didn't know that this was the famous bridge, and was wondering why she wanted to take a photo of it. Nothing special, that was what I was thinking. Little did I know that this was The Bridge of Sigh. Credit given to JF for posting the photo of the bridge and including the name with it, else I would not have known for a long, long time.
We took our lunch on a bench, sandwiches, shortbreads and smoothies, while wondering if everyone who walked past us were bachelor's degree holders, master's degree holders or on the way to permanent head damage. Felt smarter sitting on the streets of Oxford, inexplainable feeling. Seeing the number of tourist purchasing shirts, jumpers, sweaters with big, bold letters that spelled the city's name, we wondered:- those guys must be tourists, I would never have worn any T-shirts, with the three letters, U-Tee-Emm...
Boo...
She's now very fond of the natural-pose photos, although it took a lot of memory space, clicking, "look natural la..." and onlookers who thought we were crazy (think one person looking around, but not at the camera, and another clicking away mumbling posing instructions) to actually capture the staged-candid moment.
Apparently Radcliffe Camera is a library, it made me wonder why the word 'camera' was used instead of simply naming it Radcliffe Science Library. The buildings were great to look at, feeling was nice. Alas we had too little time to spend in this city, we had to move on. We would have jumped onto a open-top bus for a tour of the city.
This time, I'll back-blog-track the journey, starting with the Castle by the airport first.
Windsor was last on the itinery during her vacation in UK, to meet up with JF. We missed out meeting his other half, and almost didn't make it to meet him. He just came back from a great trip as well, traveling around Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
I forgotten though, what we were looking at... No wonder the half day spent in Windsor felt so much shorter, we were looking at something so insignificant I can't remember what. (Now that HW reminded me we were looking at the flag, here's the self-explanatory photo)
When guys meet up, all we do is chat on mobile phones and make funny poses for others to look at and to photograph.
There are so many of them here that it gets on my nerves with their excretion all over the road and on car roofs. Though seagulls are native to the coast, however I guess it must have been our activities that encouraged their growth.
I would never have dared look up and take this shot, if not for the fact that I was standing in my kitchen, void of any surprises from above.
With Summer slowly fading away, giving way to cold showers and noticeably shorter day, activities around the Hoe, however, intensified. Maybe everyone is squeezing all that is left from the good weather to be out and rowing.
I still remembered the times in university when I took up canoing as an activity with another friend. We went for canoing practical test out in the open sea, not that far though, just off the beach of Desaru. The good old times in university.
The plethora of water vehicles were eye opening. When the weather was really good, with the sun up high above, they form an amazing picture. Boats such as these dot the sea with their vibrant colours while yachts paint with triangles of white and major vessels dashes of grey on this vibrant blue canvas.
A view of the sea from the kitchen, apparently is slowly becoming something I take for granted. Nowadays, I spend less time by the opened windows. Gone were the days when I would sip a cup of coffee while looking out to the sea. It made me wonder how long have I longed for a change of landscape.
This was the third Eddystone Lighthouse. It was first erected further south of Plymouth, in the middle of the sea on Eddystone Rocks. However after persistent crushing from the waves and periodic erosion of the tides, it was deemed unsafe and replaced. The top part of the lighthouse was moved to Plymouth Hoe as a memorial to the designer and renamed Smeaton's Tower. Such a landmark it evolved into, that it became synonymous with the city itself and was featured prominently in various media.
Summer in Plymouth was not short of events. Race for life 2009 brought another surge of visitors and participants to the Hoe. This so-called "race" was to gather funds for cancer research, however, it was only opened to ladies. This made me wonder why can't men go help out with cancer research by running... hmmm...
In this event, there were a total of 4 categories: - running, jogging, walking and handicapped. The categories might have doubled with the participation of males, hence their exclusion maybe. Women from all walks of life converged to take part in this event, each completing the 5km track in their own ways.
Some came with their children, still in the baby tram, others old enough to walk by their parents, some on a wheelchair, some with crutches and most of them in pink. All of them had a note behind them, bearing the reason for which they took part in this event. "For Gramps", "For everyone", "For Uncle Bob" just to name a few.
Their enthusiasm was really something worth commending. Long after the race has finished for the runners, who did it in almost 10minutes, the rest were seen jogging, walking and strolling, making their way to the finishing line. I had never seen such a mix of participants in events such as this.
I eventually tried to take a photo of them right in front of the line, while they ran past me, however they ran into me, knocked me down and my camera landed onto the road, hit the shutter button, and produced this photo O.o"
p/s: It wasn't true, which you might have guessed, same as the lighthouse being painted pink.
There were many who were like him, braving the cold breeze, waiting for bait to bring something in. I wonder if he caught anything, however I doubt it would be anything bigger than your palm. Maybe it was all in the fun of anticipating.
This made me question, why was he wearing a high visibility jacket. Was it because that you have to show yourself to everyone and not appear as a 'shooter without consent'?
Heartwarming shot of three generations together on a stroll by the sea. This was a special one, as most of the time, I saw couples of all ages, kids with parents, kids with siblings, not like this.
The trip itself would have been plain if not for the fact that it was situated on top of the mount on an island, coupled with interesting viewpoints outside the castle. It took some effort to reach the castle, trekking up steep slopes of cobblestoned walkway after a light rain. The castle interior was littered with artifacts and corresponding articles, which kept us occupied only for a short while as we were not historical fanatics. Photos do the place no justice though: the castle, the viewpoint, the landscape, the sea, it all works perfectly to bring out the best of Mont St Michel's twin castle.
Who dares approach the island with all these cannons?
Princess of the castle
