Beach Photos

I am living up to my maxim of "take photos of random things 'cos sometimes you get what you want!"  Pie laughs at me... but it works!

These were taken on a beach walk in Galway,  it was a lovely day and trust me in Ireland you don't take those for granted.  It's green for a reason... RAIN!

 

 

I don't know what it is about rock that fascinates me,  I think it's the variety of colour and shadow that you get. it's hard but so pretty at the same time.

 

More photos taken on our Autumn walk.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Walk 2012 - Part 1

Went for a walk with my hubby on what will probably be the last decent day this Autumn.... camera's in hand to se what we could capture.  Hope you enjoy my pictures... and yes I do like to take pictures of weird and quite random stuff. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Pancras Station

I remember vividly walking past this building as a child, I can't remember why, possibly an eye appointment somewhere, but I do have this memory of this building when it was an absolute wreck, damaged from the war and falling down from neglect it was this horrible shell.

Today St Pancras Station is a magnificent delight,  the red brick and gothic mouldings give it a Hogwarts feel and the wonderful latticework and glass ceiling allow the light to flood in and make the interior warm and bright.

The restoration of this structure and the clever use of the building with the addition of eateries, a champagne bar and shopping venues,  make it somewhere to visit in and of itself not just for passing through on the way to somewhere else.

I really loved the statues inside the station itself, there is one of Sir John Betjamen and one of a couple tenderly holding each other,  you're not sure if they are saying a bittersweet farewell or exchanging a long loving greeting after some time apart, it works either way but you feel the emotion in the piece and I really liked that.

Malta - Bus Tour

We hopped aboard a Citysightseeing tour bus, this was a bit of an adventure for me, as I have never had the opportunity to travel much, this was a chance for a bit of time with my husband to do the "touristy" bit in between his many conference obligations.  The offer of a Harbour Cruise on the Captain Morgan boat was enough of a temptation to overcome his initial reluctance. So we booked up to go on a 90 minute bus tour called the Violet Tour with an immediately following hour long boat ride.  What fun!

I must point out that this was a close as we got to going on the Harbour Cruise as you will find out, I took this photo before we left on the bus tour whilst we were waiting for our bus to arrive.   We hopped on the Hop On Hop Off Bus and we set off, the sun was gorgeous and the open topped bus was just the perfect vehicle to let you take photos as you pootled about the main towns of Malta.

However, things went wrong about half way round our tour when the sound system of the bus was reported to the driver as not being working, so we were very quickly transferred onto another bus, except the bus we were transferred to wasn't doing the Violet Tour but the much much Blue Tour so instead of 90 minutes on the bus it was 3 hours on the bus!  Not what was intended but on the bright side we saw a lot more of Malta and got lots of great photos.  No Harbour Tour though, so when and yes I did say when we come back to Malta that's got to be on the list along with the Craft Village which was unfortunately shut it being a Sunday. 

These are some of the photos (only some, I took hundreds) from the tour.

Love the mix of old and modern architecture in Malta

Ultra Modern Conference Venue

As an island Malta is actually really small with only a small population of 400,000 (ish), but the history of the island is fascinating as it has been of strategic importance to so many difference conquering nations and each conqueror has left a piece of their culture behind especially in the impressive churches and fortifications.

A lot of central Malta is dedicated to farmland and growing the fruits and vegetables that we have enjoyed during our trip.  In particular the peaches and strawberries here are just divine.

Love the amazing scaffolding

Angry Birds in real life

Time to Build an Ark Perchance?

It's raining.... bet you didn't know that... it's like totally unheard of isn't it... rain in England! OMG!

I keep hearing people saying things like "How can we be in a drought when it hasn't stopped raining for a month?"  or "How can there be a a hosepipe ban when it's raining?"

I guess the truth is a lot of people don't understand things like water tables and saturation points.  OMG!!! Something actually did soak into my brain during those endlessly tedious geography lessons, my old teacher would be so proud. 

Anyway the lovely hubby and myself went out for a drive around our town "flood watching" in between downpours, it was obviously quite late and getting dark by the time we got out but I thought you never know so I took my camera and am I ever glad I did.  I snapped this picture of a mill (pure fluke and a good camera can do wonders). 

I love the way it almost looks as though it is floating on the water.  My hubby would be terrified living in that house, he as a mortal fear of flooding. 

I can see further trips flood watching... it was good fun, strangely!