Confused dog

I was just about to release the shutter with this happy dog in my window. The flattered fella, stopped briefly, posed, and then out of the blue came the photobomber. My model was really confused but nevertheless got an even better pose: "Who the heck are you man? We have a session here."

Following a good laugh for  me, the photobomber, and the owner - hopefully also for the model - we continued our stroll, happily ever after.

Ned in Krakow

...or nerds in Krakow?

Long time, no see!

We visited the Wawel castle in Krakow and Ned was with us. He didn't seem to enjoy a lot, as it reminded him more of the Capital rather than the North. Yet he wanted a picture.

Pity that the Dragon's Den was still not open - apparently the dragon is still in hibernation - but in May I am definitely visiting. 6 years already visiting Krakow, 2 years living here, and never been in the Dragon's place. Shame on me.

By the way winter is not coming in Krakow this year. What is going on?

LA pier

With a lot of gratitude to the wonderful people in my life, I continue to travel around the globe.
Here, I present to you the Santa Monica pier in Los Angeles.

As I learned, Los Angeles is a city of 18 million people! Almost twice the population of Greece!

Fun fact about Los Angeles, even though they do have a metro, they also call "metro local" the bus service. When I expressed my sincere "WHY???" to a local he seemed a bit puzzled. It was not strange for him at all :)

L.A. is a mosaic of cultures and people with beautiful weather. I will definitely go back one day!

Long time...

I walk past the field of the photograph twice per day, when going to work. I saw these plants grow from grass, to becoming almost as tall as myself. Now they have produced seeds and have d(r)ied.

Time flies, as they say. I have been in this part of the World already 4.5 months now. Strange place, interesting place.

I do miss you old friends...

Auf Wiedersehen, München!

 

Time to go...

This city has given so much to me the last 3.5 years. 

I leave you with one of the landmarks, the Frauenkirche. Unfortunately one the towers has been under renovation during all my time here, so I do not have a pretty picture. But, if you have a keen eye, you might spot me in the picture!

From the bottom of my heart a huge Thank You to all my friends for the wonderful time we spent together! I hope meet again soon somewhere in the World!

Sotiria

MUC-now WAW-KRK

Late flight to Krakow tonight. Chopin airport is almost empty already and being cleaned for tomorrow's passengers.

Since many years, when I spotted the lights of an aircraft in the sky, I envied its passengers. Tonight, for the first time I envied the lights of the cars in a random bavarian suburb. I feel I'm growing older.

Nevertheless, this blog has several more airports to visit. And I still like it.

Next is GVA. Stay tuned!

The Apostles

It's one of those moments that I think that I live in a movie. And the kind of movie I like most.

This is the church of St. Peter and Paul in the Royal Street of Krakow, just close to the castle, however all the apostles are there preaching on the fence. I really have no idea who the guy in the statue is. I don't know whether he knocks on the door or protests or preaches or he has no connection to the church at all. But it doesn't really matter. Still an atmosphaeric evening

 There is a Foucault's pendulum installed in the church. I haven't visited yet. It's one of the things I want to do but I postpone for "next weekend".

Wieliczka - the myth

Once upon a time, hungarian princess Kinga was going to marry polish prince Boleslaw. She was a kind princess and wanted to make a gift to the polish people.

In those times, salt was more precious than silver and the kind princess decided to give to the polish people a salt mine. While still in her country, she dropped her engagement ring in a hungarian salt mine and then left for Poland.

Once in Poland she knew exactly where the polish people would find salt. The workers started digging and the first rock of salt they found had the kind Queen's engagement ring inside!

This is the story depicted by these salt statutes. The worker (on the right) presents Queen Kinga (on the left) with the first rock of salt they found. They are carved within the Wieliczka salt mine, south of Krakow. These and more statutes, were carved by mine workers on their free time. As we learned during the tour (highly recommended), the life of a salt mine worker wasn't always bad and the pay very was good.

More info and pictures to come!

cookie: licking the walls is permitted, but don't touch the statues!

Writen in stone

Education is a social good. It should be neither sold nor bought. So, in the area of the Jagellonian University in central Krakow you can find bookshelves on the walls.

Of course, sometimes knowledge might be very heavy! But our heroine, the mighty scholar, fears not! And here she is! Digging in stone for the next piece!

cookie: The Jagellonian University is the second oldest university north of the Alps.

cookie request: Does anybody know who is this kind couple who oversee the bookshelf?

Arizona art

We had a discussion about Arizona today, and it reminded me of the nice ~10 days I spent there a few months ago. This sunset was a beautiful goodbye from the mountain.

Coming up... I hear that Krakow is amazing this time of the year!

V for Victory

Congratulations for Sotiria's triumphant doctoral defence today!

Photo taken in Paris, on top the Arc de Triomphe, from where several great avenues originate.

Bridges

A bridge to pass, and then a mountain to conquer.

I am proud of you.

Now: looking out the window

The view from my balcony!
Initially I thought it was natural light, but heck, it is still beautiful!
If you have a sharp eye you might notice that the clock's hands are missing. I used to glance over to see the time but one day I noticed the hands were gone! Who took them?

No one is Evil

How come suddenly no one has any responsibilities whatsoever and at the same time every one is trying to save the country?
Who are the bad guys, and where are they now?

The picture above seems most appropriate to describe these days.
It is the famous See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, located at the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan.

Fun random fact, the frieze of this temple depicts the life cycle of a monkey.

Now fool moon.

On the way to Zaganiari after a coffee with P. and M.
Tomorrow we are going to vote for a new parliament. I hope that it will not be full of fools like during the last decades.

Potatos

It has been quite a long time since our last post.
Spring is at its best in the Greek islands. My father is again proud of his potato plants.
This photo of his potato field is rather bad as it is taken with a cheap and dirty lens of a random mobile phone. However, for an unidentified reason I like it.

The way home

Spotted in Ueno, neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan.

Nostalgia kicks in when one sees a sign like this in a land far far away from home. To be honest, when Pierro sees a sign like this and translates it for us: "Munich City Germany".

Japan is a lovely place with many magnificent details to explore. I barely got a taste of its magic, but I will be definitely coming back, hopefully with the co-owner of this blog. :)

Many thanks to Pierro who always kindly answered our questions and guided us to the best places!

Η φωλιά

Τώρα εξηγούνται όλα! Χρειάζεται εκπαίδευση πλύση εγκεφάλου από τα γενοφάσκια για να είναι κανείς ακόμα πασόκος.

Spotted: στη χώρα του ανατέλλοντος ηλίου. Τυχαίο? Δε νομίζω!

p.s. Η φωτογραφία είναι 100% αυθεντική.

Ως πιστός και φιλότεχνος στρατιώτης. As a loyal and resourceful soldier.

There are some afternoons in the army camp when time passes slowly enough to be against all laws of physics.
A., a film director, has invented the so called lower-bed-theatre to have some quality time.

17/2/2012 Follow up:
A piece of A.'s (aka Sir Avrilios Karakostas) work is a documentary about Zagori in Epirus. You are strongly encouraged to watch it here.

And a question: Any ideas why when I post from my SE X8, the photo in the blog has all those small squares? They do not appear in the original photo in the smartphone!

Panorama

Next time you find yourself in LBT, have a look out from the window. You have a handy guide (click on image to enlarge) to spot all the visible mountain peaks including some useful information such as height and distance. :)

Such a cool idea!