How do you Hoodoo?

 When I was planning my US road trip in May/June of this year I think the part I was most looking forward to was the couple of days  I would be camping in the desert in Arizona. Of course the trip as a whole was amazing and each day had something special but I was so excited to camp out, see the unpolluted night sky and experience the desert scenery that I remembered from the Saturday morning westerns I had watched as a kid. I was definitely not disappointed especially by the night sky (see previous post "Natural Wonder" from 26th June) or by the views of the Grand Canyon.

On researching the route from Page AZ to Bryce Canyon UT I noticed a marker on the map for the Toadstool Hoodoo Trailhead just off Highway 89 outside Kanab, Utah. I was intrigued and thought it would be a good spot to break up the journey and explore. Even though it was only late May it was blisteringly hot and walking along the dry river bed there was no shade so I was glad that the walk from the highway to the hoodoos wasn't actually too far.

I have picked a few shots for today's post, the first shows part of the trail and you can see how flash floods have carved a path through the sandstone creating an ever changing landscape.

In the other shots we can see a couple of my favourite hoodoos, remarkable structures caused by millions of years of erosion. These are quite different to the more conical structures in Bryce Canyon since they have the harder capstones that look a bit like hats. I think there is a very definite face in one of them too, I could almost imagine it speaking in a deep voice to tell tales of the many things that must have happened in its "lifetime". They certainly give a literal meaning to the term "rock face".

I was definitely pleased to have stopped here, it left a great impression .

Iconic Views

 I wasn't able to do what I had originally planned to do today so I took a little time to have a look at some of the photos I took during my US road trip earlier in the year. There are lots of good memories associated with the pictures I took but most of the images won't get shared on here. I thought however that a few images of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco were worth sharing. 

Growing up and watching movies such as Dirty Harry and Bullitt, and TV shows like the Streets of San Francisco I often saw shots of the bridge and the steep hills and streetcars so being in the city for the first time and seeing these iconic sights invoked a mixture of feelings. I didn't have enough time in the city to get some of the shots I would have liked to get but I was keen to get some nice views of the bridge. It felt a little unreal driving across it the first time and I was excited to drive up to the various viewing areas to get a good view of the bridge and the city in the distance.

Of course being such a well known sight there are millions of images widely available and so I was hesitant to add mine since they won't really add anything new. However I think that they are good images and I have tried to make the best of them. Some were taken from Hawk Hill and others from Battery Spencer. It was about 7pm when they were taken and the low sun in the west gave a nice light to the structure and the high rise buildings in the city. It was incredibly windy but at least there was no fog, although a little mist might have added a different atmosphere to the images. 

There is a lot of haziness in the far distance which may have been caused by wild fires, although I cannot be sure. When I drove back to San Francisco a few weeks later, driving down from Lake Tahoe and across the Oakland Bay Bridge I drove through an area where fires were burning on the hills along the freeway.

All aboard...

I stumbled across this picture of a tram in Vienna, I had forgotten the city had a really good tram system. It looks like this one has been around for a long time but what a clean transport solution it is. I read today that Liverpool might be getting an electric tram system. I can imagine it will cause a lot of disruption but could be a real boon for the city.

Two Sides of the Story

So I want to make it clear, this is not a political post. 

I am going through some of the pictures I took on my last European road trip with my youngest son, sharing some that I didn't get round to posting at the time.

One of the things I had hoped for was the opportunity to do some street photography which is something I would like to develop in contrast to my normal focus of wildlife and nature. 

These images were captured in Vienna, we had gone to look at the Hofburg Palace (the offices of the Federal President and other secretaries of state) and the nearby Volksgarten.  As we approached it was immediately obvious that something out of the ordinary was taking place although at first it was not clear what it was. There was a lot of security and several TV news crews at work. A quick online search revealed that President Putin was making an official visit to meet with the Austrian President and then to attend the opening of a new Exhibition at the World Museum.

Outside the main entrance to the Hofburg Palace was a pro-Russian "demonstration" which was getting a lot of media attention and it was interesting to watch. It was fun watching the secret service guys too although I am not sure they liked me taking their photo, they walked past us a few times trying to work out if we were anything other than curious tourists.


Walking around the square we found a counter demonstration with a small group of people protesting the occupation of Georgia. They were getting more attention from the security services and they were being carefully managed in a spot where they were unlikely to be seen by the visiting Russian President, unlike his fans who would have been in clear sight.

As I said at the start, this is not a political post but the events did given me an opportunity to take some candid shots of people and the pictures tell a story. It was interesting to me however that although there were definitely two sides to this story the person at the centre of it would only ever see one side...

Inner Courtyard

This morning we drove from Vienna to Graz. I decided to stay off the motorways again and drove through the mountains and forests. There were some good roads with switchbacks up and down the mountains so it was never dull along the way.

To add interest to the journey we could see a storm building in the distance and we drove into it with impressive flashes of lightning tremendous crashing thunder and the heaviest rain I have ever experienced. At one point we were up in the clouds as the thunder crashed around us.

By the time we got to Graz however the storm had passed and we enjoyed a walk through the old town and up into the Schloßerg park overlooking the city. There were some great views and as it was so hot we enjoyed a few moments in the shade before heading back to town where as well as wandering the streets we walked along the river Mur and we poked around in hidden corners discovering some wonderful little courtyards that could so easily have been overlooked.

The pictures I have shared today were taken as we sat down to eat in a quiet restaurant in one of these hidden courtyards.  It had a lovely atmosphere and these may be among my favourite pictures of the day .

After dinner and an ice cream we sat and watched a game of foot volleyball, part of the European championships hosted by the city, something I don't expect to see again but it was obviously very popular with some of the locals.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Venice, Graz was really included in the trip just to break up the journey from Vienna to Venice but I have to say I'm really glad we included it as it has turned out to be a real gem.

Ups And Downs

When we drove into Austria yesterday I was blown away by the stunning scenery. I pulled over briefly to capture the first of today's pictures of the rolling green hills. The scenery will change tomorrow as we head through the mountains to Graz but for now enjoy the fresh greens of the mountain pastures.

It is a different story here in Vienna too with all of the high buildings with such great heritage. We have spent some of the day caught up in the preparations for the visit by the Russian President Vladimir Putin and managed to get a sight of him as he went to open a new exhibition at one of Viennas many museums. We didn't let that spoil our day however as we got to enjoy many of the sights as well as relaxing in some of the city's parks and gardens.

The other two pictures today show first ly the floor of the Votivkirche and the second shows the dome of the Hofburg showing that everywhere that you look in Vienna there is something beautiful to see.

The Old Republic

 I  was torn between a musical reference (Bohemian Rhapsody) or a Star Wars reference for the title of today's post. In the end as you can see Star Wars won, the reason being that these photos of old Bohemia are a fine example of the historic legacy of the Czech Republic.

We have spent a couple of days in Prague and have been totally impressed by the beauty of the city with it's fine architecture and rich character. We didn't see half of what is there but time is short and other places wait for us on our road trip. A friend from the Czech Republic told me that there are many beautiful towns away from Prague and she suggested Český Krumlov in Southern Bohemia as a fine example. I had made a point of avoiding the motorways and trying to see as much of the country as possible even though we are really just passing through and it really paid off because the scenery in places is absolutely stunning as you can see from the panoramic shot at the top of the page. I am not entirely sure if this is a lake or a stretch of the Vltava river. Whatever, it is a beautiful spot. There were several great crested grebes swimming and hundreds of fish rising,  at one point further along several local fishermen were hauling in a big net which promised a good catch.

Then onto Český Krumlov which as I was promised was a real gem. We didn't really have long enough to take everything in but the medieval architecture, narrow cobbled streets and the castle at the top of the hill made the diversion well worth it. Sitting for a few moments in a quiet courtyard near the church we learned that the prelate in charge of the region was authorised to brew beer and that in this town they brew a famous smoked beer.

After our all too brief visit we set off again, this time our destination was Vienna. The Czech Republic gave way to Austria and on our drive to the city we were treated to yet more stunning scenery as we again avoided the motorways and lost ourselves among some of the mountain villages en route. 

So starts our second week. This really has been a wonderful trip so far, we're missing family and friends at home and frequently think we wish you were here but we are also glad that we could get away to enjoy some of the best that Europe has to offer.