Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Shores and islands

The sun is rising over the runways of Roissy CDG (Paris) airport while my Arlanda (Stockholm)-bound plane takes off.
See which shores and islands I could see during this morning flight!
NB - Remember, you are invited to click on the images!

Roissy CDG - Boarding an Air France A319 (flight AF1762).

Jade Bight at ebb tide.

A KLM Boeing 747

Mouth of the Elbe

Western entrance of the Kiel canal, near the mouth of the Elbe (by the North Sea)...

... and eastern entrance, deep in the Bay of Kiel (Baltic Sea)

Fehmarn Sound Bridge

Fehmarn

Fehmarn Belt (Denmark left, Germany to the right)

Storstrøm strait and its bridges: Storstrømsbroen (rail and road bridge, 1937) and Farøbroerne (motorway bridges, 1985).

Visible only from high up in the air: Sweden (Scania, left), Denmark (Zealand, bottom) and Germany (Rügen, top right) on the same picture!

Copenhagen and the Øresund bridge.

Gåsfjärden and islands by the Småland coast, south of Västervik. Where does the sea end and where does the sky begin?

Fårö (left) and Gotland

Muskö and Utö, southern Stockholm archipelago. The mysterious faraway island is probably Gotska Sandön.

Stockholm, as seen from west

Drottningholm Palace

Upplands Väsby

Stora Wäsby Castle. The driveway is cut off by the railway linking Stockholm and Uppsala.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Wuppertal Monorail

At last I've succeeded to take the Wuppertal Monorail (Schwebebahn)!

No rails on the ground, but above the trains!

Inside, the trains look like (almost) any metro car...

The most spectacular is not to hover above the river Wupper...

no - that's when the train leans on curves (guaranteed effect!)

Above the streets of Vohwinkel.

Sonnborner Straße Station

Traffic jam? No problem!

Arriving to Vohwinkel terminus.

This is a switch

The renovated Vohwinkel terminus

I'm not dreaming, this must be...

... the "Imperial" car (Kaiserwagen) built 1900!

In the other end of the line is...

... Oberbarmen Bahnhof terminus, which looks like to be in original condition!

But the nicest monorail station is by the Wuppertal main (railway) station.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Bonn

Who are those colourful characters on Bonn's cathedral square (Münsterplatz)?

Beethoven statues inspired by the monument that stands in front of the Post office.

Bonn City Hall (Altes Rathaus, to be compared to last year!) and a market where French products were on sale.

Beethoven's birthplace (Beethovenhaus)

Koblenz

In Koblenz, a cable car link has been set up across the Rhine for the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Flower Show) 2011.

No time to visit the Flower Show. Nor to see the Deutsches Eck (where the Moselle joins the Rhine) either.
From a stop next to the church of St. Castor, I take the bus to...

... the main station (which is not very central)...

... where a McDonald's serves as a waiting room.

No Rain during the Rhine Cruise

A short cruise on the Rhine between Rudesheim and Koblenz on board a KD river cruise ship.

Ehrenfels

Lorch
Buoying of the Rhine

Lorch
Train enthusiasts should click on the photo for a closer look at the locomotives!

Bacharach


In front of a small island downstream from Lorchhausen.



Pfalz
An island castle!

Kaub

Ship and trains downstream from Kaub.

Oberwesel

A sandbank...

Rocks...

"Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten..."

Passing the Loreley

"Loreley-city St Goarshausen"

Even the ferry between St Goar and St Goarshausen is called Loreley.