Category: Travel

Tokyo, April 2013

Images from the Tokyo portion of my April 2013 travels, finally posted! Pictures are below; click on any of them to start a full-screen slideshow of all of them. (Note that there are descriptions below each image in the gallery.) Below the gallery are the videos; click a video to start it.

  • Tokyo buildings. It seemed like around each corner was a completely new city.
2013-04-21 Akihabara interior
2013-04-22 Stores at night
2013-04-23 Blimp over Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
2013-04-23 Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden fish
2013-04-23 Daikanransha

San Francisco, Sequoia & Kings Canyon/Yosemite National Parks trip

Below are the pics/videos from my May 2018 Central California trip. Enjoy!

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New Year’s Eve 2014: Times Square

I spent this last New Year’s Eve in Times Square. I hadn’t done so before, and wanted to do it at least once just for the experience and spectacle of it all. Notes from the event, as well as pics and video, follow. (Click on an image thumbnail to view a slideshow of all of them; click on a video title to begin watching any of them.)

-They say to get there early, so I did: I arrived in NYC, a few blocks from Times Square, at about 2:30 p.m., and was at my spot by 3:30. Times Square itself is bordered on its north end by 47th Street; I was about 25 feet from that street. I had a pretty good spot, then; I could see (at least part of) the stage, and where the ball would drop. Perhaps, though, if I had shown up twelve hours early, instead of the 9.5 I did, I would have been able to have been in Times Square itself. :) In any case, aside from three 10-15 minute breaks kneeling at my spot (there wasn’t room to sit down), I stood for 8.75 hours, and was on my feet for 11 hours. It was demanding, but worth it.

-The NYE Times Square guides did say to bring something to do while waiting for midnight, so I brought three books; I finished one, and started a second.

-There are no public bathrooms in the area, and if you have to leave to use one elsewhere, or to get something to eat, you probably won’t be able to return to your place. Proper planning is therefore vital; you don’t want to eat so little you faint from hunger or thirst, but also don’t want to eat or drink so much that that you have to leave to use the bathroom. I had an additional issue; my two-can-a-day Cherry Coke Zero habit meant that I had to had some caffeine, or potentially suffer a withdrawal headache during the celebration. I went with, then, for the entire day, three hummus sandwiches, and 24 oz of caffeinated Crystal Light. I apparently planned well; I didn’t have to leave my spot.

-No backpacks are allowed into Times Square during New Year’s Eve, so one has to carry/wear everything they need. The guides also said to dress warmly, in layers if possible, since weather can of course be variable, and there’s no place to get away from rain/snow/cold without losing one’s spot. With the clothing layers, food, drink, and books, the sum total of what I carried/wore was: coat, long-sleeve shirt, short-sleeve shirt, long johns, gym pants, jeans, two pairs wool socks, boots, keys, wallet, phone, glasses bag, paper, pencil, change, glasses, sunglasses (in another bag), earphones, watch, water bottle, two sandwiches (in a bag), three books, earplugs (those were very handy; I had them in the entire time I was in my spot), gloves, and earband. I may have looked like a pack mule, but I was prepared. :)

-Many of the billboards were dynamic, but those that were were only on a 1-2 minute loop. There are some commercials I may never get out of my head. :)

-The performance stage actually faces away from Times Square; there’s only room for about twenty people (all of whom, I assume, were Very Very Important People) between the stage’s apron and the closest building. I wasn’t sure why this was; I assume it was for security’s sake, or because an overenergetic reveler had thrown something at a performer in the past. In any case, from my vantage, the only thing I could see, and then only very occasionally, was the back of a performer’s head. It’s a testament to video editing prowess that I probably would never have noticed this unless I had been there live.

-Only the performances (and some promotions for the event’s sponsors) were broadcast to the audience; we didn’t hear Ryan Seacrest, for instance, at all. Combined with the stage setup, I was struck by how much the event resembled a large-stadium sports game; the experience was planned to appeal much more to those watching at home, rather than those who were there in person.

My takeaway? 8.5 hours is long time to be crammed into a loud, cold, crowded spot, so I probably won’t be doing New Year’s Eve in Times Square for at least a while. I’m happy I did go this time, though; the spectacle was worth it to have experienced at least once.

Just after I cleared the first police checkpoint to get into Times Square. I arrived in NYC at 2:30 p.m.; this was taken at 3:25.
The best smile one can muster after cold-soaking one’s face for 8.5 hours in twenty-degree temperatures. :)
The Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Alas, it was unlit at the time I took this, at 12:52 a.m., 1/1/15.
Lit trees at Rockefeller Center, besides Times Square the other recommended NYC Christmas/New Years destination.
Everything I brought with me to Times Square, and either wore or held while there. Stylin’!

 

Skyline Drive 2014 Images

Here are the pictures and videos I took from Skyline Drive 2014. Pictures are below; click on any of them to start a full-screen slideshow of all of them. Below them are the videos; click a video to start it. (Note: there appears to be a bug in the way WordPress associates captions with pictures, in that the caption from the previous picture in a slideshow is sometimes incorrectly repeated in the current one. For pictures for which that’s the case, I’ve added a (correct) description under the (incorrect) caption. Also note that the videos may take a while to load, but they will work eventually…)

The first break in the trees on our way up Old Rag.
The view looking southeast at one of the first major rest stops on Old Rag.
The view looking south at the same Old Rag rest stop.
The first traffic jam on the way up Old Rag.
The view looking through the exit of a rock crawl portion of Old Rag.
The start of the second traffic jam on the uphill portion of Old Rag.
The second traffic jam continued, with a RandomBen on the right. :)
A picturesque vista near the summit of Old Rag.
One of Old Rag’s most prominent random rocks.
At the Old Rag summit with Ben.
On the fire road during the downhill portion of Old Rag. In the hands of a better photographer, this would be a great subject for a Virginia/Shenandoah National Park calendar photo.
A washed-out portion of the downhill leg of Old Rag.
Another calendar-worthy Old Rag subject, this time of a pedestrian bridge on the downhill portion of Old Rag.
The first “waterfall” on the Doyles River Falls trail. I don’t think this one makes the trail guides. :)
A picturesque stream across the Doyles River Falls trail.
A vertical panorama of one of the very old trees on the Doyles River Falls trail. An update to the camera app on my phone allowed that functionality, so I had to try it out. :)
The first waterfall (going down) at the Doyles River Falls trail.
Another vertical panorama of a very old tree on the Doyles River Falls trail.
The second waterfall at the Doyles River Falls trail.
The camera update also allowed fully *spherical* panoramas, so that’s what this is, also on the Doyles River Falls trail.

Panorama at the summit of Old Rag:

Doyles River Falls trail second waterfall:

 

 

 

 

Australia Trip Images

Here are the pictures and videos I took from the Australia portion of my 2013 Pacific Rim trip. Pictures are below; click on any of them to start a full-screen slideshow of all of them. Below them are the videos; click a video to start it. (Note: there appears to be a bug in the way WordPress associates captions with pictures, in that the caption from the previous picture in a slideshow is sometimes incorrectly repeated in the current one. For pictures for which that’s the case, I’ve added a (correct) description under the (incorrect) caption.)

Australian currency. Almost every other developed country has more colorful currency than the US does.
A subway connects Sydney Airport to downtown Sydney, so this subway exit was my first open-air exposure to the city.
The bedroom portion of my Sydney hotel room. The windows looked out on a brick wall 5 feet away; if I craned my neck I could see past it to a quad. :)
The living room portion of my Sydney hotel room.
My first stop in Sydney was its Opera House, but to get there I had to go through the Royal Botanic Gardens & the Domain, connected parks in Sydney. This was the awesome sign that greeted me at its entrance. :)
Shrubbery at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The Domain, 34 hectares of open space just east of the Sydney CBD.
The Sydney CBD, as seen from the Domain. The beauty of each seemed to complement the other.
My first clear view of the Sydney Opera House.
Sydney Cove, from the steps of the Sydney Opera House, off camera to the right. The CBD is to the left (south) of the Cove, a popular spot for cruise, tour, and ferry ships.
A plaque honoring Joseph Cahill, who authorized the Sydney Opera House, and Jørn Utzon, who designed it.
The Sydney Harbor Bridge, as seen from the Opera House entrance. The dots along the arch of the bridge are people, on the 3.5 hour, $200-350-per person climb to its top. :)
An enclosed lookout area at the northern edge of the Opera House.
A hallway in the Sydney Opera House. It’s interior is as architecturally dazzling as its exterior.
Sydney certainly has a green thumb; this is a garden at the city’s Government House.
The official residence of the Governor of New South Wales, Sydney’s equivalent to a US state. It was just as sumptuous inside, but photography there wasn’t allowed, alas.
Exterior of the Hyde Park Barracks. Australia’s first European use was by Britain, to house its convicts; this was one of their first stops when they reached the continent.
The Hyde Park Barracks was built in 1819, and served over the years as a barracks, prison, immigration depot, asylum, and government office. This room shows some of the architectural strata from those various uses.
Hammocks for new convict arrivals at the Hyde Park Barracks.
We were invited to lie in one of the hammocks at the Hyde Park Barracks, so…I did. :)
Sydney’s Hyde Park, the oldest public parkland in Australia. In the center is the Archibald Fountain, commemorating Australia’s contribution to WWI.
One of the fig tree-lined avenues in Hyde Park.
Hyde Park with the ANZAC War Memorial in the background, and Lake of Reflections in the foreground.
Interior of the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, a WWI military corps) memorial, Sydney’s main military commemorative monument.
Hyde Park’s Lake of Reflections, in front of the ANZAC Memorial. Non-native poplars flank the Lake, symbolizing the French locales in which Australians fought during WWI.
An Australian White Ibis at the Lake of Reflections. I didn’t use a zoom here; these birds were totally fearless.
The main front of St. Mary’s Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Sydney.
A side view of St. Mary’s Cathedral, at 350 ft the longest church in Australia.
Looking out from Sydney Tower, the city’s tourist/observation/dining tower. This is the view from the Eye, its observation deck, at 820 ft above ground, here looking west.
One of the entrances to Sydney’s Chinatown. Never have I seen so many Chinese restaurants in one place. I went there looking for a good place to eat; needless to say I found one. :)
The entrance court of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney’s main art gallery.
One of the exhibition halls of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Pukumani poles at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, marking Tiwi burial sites.
An exhibition hall at the Australian Museum, Sydney’s natural/Australian history museum, and also its oldest.
The Australian Museum’s full-scale model of a diprotodon, the largest marsupial known. Extinct now, they are thought to have grown to 10 ft in length, weighing up to 6200 lb!
Part of the dinosaur exhibition at the Australian Museum.
The Skeletons section of Sydney’s Australian Museum.
What museum skeleton exhibit would be complete without one of a human, in his native habitat? :) (Australian Museum)
The Powerhouse Museum is Sydney’s main science/technology museum; this is its Boulton and Watt steam engine, the oldest surviving rotative steam engine in existence.
The Powerhouse Museum’s Locomotive No. 1, which hauled the first passenger train in New South Wales.
An F-1 rocket engine, used in the first stage of the Apollo program’s Saturn V rocket. At 19 ft tall, and providing 1.5 *million* pounds of thrust, it’s the most powerful single-chamber liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed.
The airplanes of the Transport exhibit in the Powerhouse Museum.
The Powerhouse Museum’s 1914 Bleriot monoplane. This particular plane was the first to deliver airmail in Australia.
A Beechcraft Queenair B80 at the Powerhouse Museum. This particular one was New South Wales’ first air ambulance.
A Catalina Frigate Bird II at the Powerhouse Museum. This particular aircraft was used to establish the Sydney-Chile air route.
Between attractions this evening I sat down at the Circular Quay (the tourist/market/dining area between Sydney Cove and its CBD), and enjoyed the wonderful evening. This is the view of the Sydney Opera House from where I was sitting.
The Sydney Harbor Bridge at dusk, from the Circular Quay.
One of the telescopes at Sydney Observatory. Originally a working observatory, encroaching light pollution from Sydney forced its conversion to a (totally awesome) museum.
This day I took a ferry from downtown Sydney to its zoo. This was the view of the Sydney Opera House from the ferry, looking east.
The Sydney Opera House, north view, from the ferry.
Sydney Harbor, looking east toward an approximately 1 mile-wide peninsula containing Sydney suburbs. Beyond that peninsula is the Pacific Ocean.
The ferry that took me from downton Sydney to its Taronga Zoo.
One of the main walkways of the Taronga Zoo. I loved the juxtapositions in this scene: aerial tram and city skyline and dense foliage and people, all together.
Koalas at the Taronga Zoo.
Crocodiles at the Taronga Zoo. Why yes, I *was* happy there was a fence between them and me. :)
Taronga Zoo waterfowl (I’m not sure of the species), mugging for the camera. :)
A Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo at Taronga Zoo. This species of kangaroo actually does live in trees.
A sleepy kangaroo at Taronga Zoo. :) Many exhibits were like this, with no fences between the animals and humans.
Downtown Sydney, on the ferry returning from the zoo.
The ground floor of Sydney’s Custom House has a partial glass floor, with this highly detailed model of the city’s CBD under it.
I couldn’t visit Australia without at least trying vegemite. :) I wasn’t impressed, though; sour, salty, and bitter, I only took one bite, and had to throw the rest away.
The second part of my Australia trip was in Cairns, 1200 miles north of Sydney, in order to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, considered the world’s best diving location. This was my hotel room there.
Originally a mining town, Cairns is now mostly devoted to tourism and vacationing.
The Cairns Marina, departure point for my scuba dive excursion.
The deck of our scuba dive boat, on the way to the Great Barrier Reef.
The view from the bridge of our Great Barrier Reef dive boat.
There are structures permanently moored at the Great Barrier Reef, to allow repeated diving/snorkling/etc. This was one of those.
A permanently-moored boat at the Great Barrier reef. Some vacation packages included multi-day stays on these boats.
A particularly photoworthy coral/fish seascape at the Great Barrier Reef.
The white corrugated coral in the center of this Great Barrier Reef photo is a leather mushroom coral.
A massive (and beautiful) Great Barrier Reef coral cliff.
I believe this is a colony of pillar coral. Corals are actually really difficult to identify; many species look similar, and corals can resemble other sets of species (like sponges).
I believe the long, thin green stalks in this Great Barrier Reef picture are seaweed, but I’m unable to verify that. Anyone know for sure?
A sea slug at the Great Barrier Reef. I had time to set up this shot; my subject wasn’t moving quickly. :)
Cairns, from our dive boat.
Seaplane tours of the Great Barrier Reef are popular in Cairns; this was one of the planes.
Our Great Barrier Reef scuba dive boat.
This picturesque walkway connects downtown Cairns and its marina.
The Cairns Esplanade Lagoon, a wide, shallow, public pool just west of the city’s marina.
Freshwater Station, the starting point of the Kuranda Scenic Railway portion of my Cairns rainforest tour. The train was originally used for mining camp support.
Interior of my Kuranda Scenic Railway car, built around 1910, and refurbished in the 1930’s.
A picturesque waterfall, from my Kuranda Scenic Raillway car.
Barron Falls, in the Barron Gorge National Park, from the Kuranda Scenic Railway.
Originally a stop on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, Kuranda village is now a tourist destination. One of its attractions is the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, the largest of its kind in Australia. This is part of its main aviary.
A closeup of butterflies in the main aviary of the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary.
A flower feast for the butterflies at the main aviary in the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. :)
One of the pupa rooms in the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary.
After the Butterfly Sanctuary was Rainforestation Nature Park. Some of its animals could roam around with the humans, but thankfully not this one: cassowaries have dagger-like claws up to 5 inches long on their feet, and they’re known for kicking.
Lace monitors at Rainforestation.
Papuan Frogmouths at Rainforestation, known for their froglike bills.
Rainforest trees at Rainforestation. Though this part of Australia has a tropical climate, it was autumn, so the temperature even here was in the 70’s and comfortable.
The view from my passenger seat in our Duck; that’s the driver in the right half of the picture. On the left side is swamp; we were flloating, with no ground contact, by this time.
We got to see what we looked like when we passed another Duck on the same Rainforestation tour.
This was the deepest into the rainforest we went; the view here gives a good idea of just how lush this area actually is.
The last portion of the rainforest tour was a 4.7 mile cableway ride back to Cairns, which provided a fascinating aerial perspective to the rainforest I’d seen from the ground.
There were two transfer stations in the Skyrail trip; the first was at Barron Falls. This was from its eastern edge; I had seen the falls from the west side on the way up via the Kuranda Scenic Railway.
Another view of Barron Falls, this time showing an area a bit more upstream than that of the previous shot.
The second Skyrail stop was Red Peak Station, which had a boardwalk through the rainforest.
A panoramic view of the rainforest from Skyrail’s Red Peak station, at 1788 ft above sea level its highest point. Takeaway? The rainforest (officially, Wet Tropics of Queensland) is massive, at almost 3500 square miles.
The Skyrail’s last stop was Cairns; this is the view of the cableway’s final descent. In the foreground is the eastern edge of the rainforest, with Cairns in the middleground, and Pacific Ocean in the background.
On descent back to Cairns via the Skyrail, I saw something I had no idea even existed: a cable waterski park, where visitors can grab overhead lines to ski around an oval watery track.
This is a regular sharps box, but in a place I hadn’t seen one before: an international (Cairns) airport. What a great idea; if people are going to use IV drugs, at least they can put their needles here and not underfoot.
I’d read about the Dyson Airblade, and its impressive ability to dry hands in 10 seconds using little electricity. I can’t speak directly to its energy consumption, but the dry time is completely accurate. :)
My last picture in Australia, at the Cairns airport. Next stop, Japan!

New Zealand trip images

Here are the pictures and videos I took from the New Zealand portion of my 2013 Pacific Rim trip. Pictures are below; click on any of them to start a full-screen slideshow of all of them. Below them are the videos; click a video to start it.

The picture I took as soon as the use of portable electronic devices was allowed on takeoff from Cleveland. New Zealand here I come!
LAX was the stopover airport enroute from Cleveland to Auckland, my New Zealand destination. Los Angeles is neat to visit, but speaking as a former resident, it’s nice not to have to live there. :)
The aforementioned window control knob. I loved the idea of a motorized hotel window. :)
New Zealand currency. Like the currency of most other countries, its paper money is differently sized based on value, to help the blind. I wish the US did that.
Welcome to downtown Auckland! As the home of the first commercial bungee jumps, New Zealand has a lot of jumping opportunities. This is a two-bungee, multi-passenger catapult (so you start from ground and are launched up) ride right next to my hotel.
This is downtown Auckland, from the waterfront. A triathlon was just finishing up when I got there; the cones marked the bike path.
The Queen’s Wharf. This is basically downtown Auckland’s border with Freemans Bay, just north of it. The wavy structure is The Cloud, originally built to house sports fans.
This is the working portion of Auckland’s harbor. Busy!
My first cultural stop in New Zealand was the Auckland Art Gallery. This is its sculpture terrace; it’s art you can rest on. :)
This was a particularly photoworthy floor sculpture at the Auckland Art Gallery.
Another interesting sculpture at the Auckland Art Gallery. The word in each successive tile is formed by changing one letter of the word in the previous tile.
One of the hallways at the Auckland Art Gallery.
A cubical room in the Auckland Art Gallery whose interior walls, floor, and ceiling were reflective. One has to take off his/her shoes to enter.
A shot of the ceiling of the cubical mirror room at the Auckland Art Gallery. I had such fun in that room. :)
Auckland Art Gallery: sometimes a museum’s architecture is as interesting as its artifacts.
Auckland architectural juxtaposition: St. Paul’s Church, the oldest in Auckland, next to modern hi-rises.
The walking route between two attractions just happened to be through a very photogenic park, the Auckland Domain, the city’s oldest.
Auckland Domain. This was a very lovely park.
The forecourt of the Auckland (War Memorial) Museum, its New Zealand/natural/war history museum. The museum is behind the shot: this looks north toward downtown and Freemans Bay.
This is the view from the Auckland Museum’s forecourt looking NW, back toward the Auckland CBD. Poking above the horizon is the Sky Tower, the city’s observation/telecom tower.
This is the foyer of the Auckand Museum. On the left is Hotuni, a Maori meeting house.
Auckland Museum: an outrigger canoe of the type used by the Maori, New Zealand’s indigenous people.
Auckland Museum: one is requested to remove one’s shoes when entering the meeting house. I did so. :)
Auckland Museum: the interior of Hotuni, the Maori meeting house.
Auckland Museum: migration patterns of the indigenous Pacific islanders.
One of the Auckland Museum galleries devoted to the New Zealand Wars, between European settlers and the indigenous Maori people, fought 1845-1872.
Auckland Museum mummy exploded view: what a great way to visualize the various layers.
A very large, and very alive, eel at the Auckland Museum. I was glad that it appeared to have little desire to escape.
A ten-foot tall life-size replica of a moa at the Auckland Museum. These flightless birds were hunted to extinction by the Maori in the 15th century.
This huge crab was in a pool underneath a glass-bottomed walkway in the Auckland Museum.
Jars of preserved animal parts, colorful yet macabre, at the Auckland Museum.
The Sanctuary at the Auckland Museum, dedicated to the city’s WWI fallen soldiers.
The Hall of Memories at the Auckland Museum, dedicated to those of the city who were killed in WWII.
A plaque in the Auckland Museum’s WWII Hall of Memories.
A WWII British Spitfire fighter at the Auckland Museum.
Auckland Museum: a Japanese Zero WWII fighter.
A very pretty treelined street in Auckland.
The marker at the top of Mount Eden, Auckland’s highest point, at 643 ft above mean sea level.
Mount Eden is a dormant volcano; this is its cone.
The entrance to Auckland’s Stardome observatory and planetarium. WITNESS the GATEWAY to SCIENCE!
Stardome has a small museum portion; this is its rocketry section.
Walking back to my hotel from Stardome, I happened upon this scene. With a tripod and far more expensive camera, this might have been a great shot. :)
A closeup of Auckland’s Sky Tower at night.
The first stop on the hop-on/hop-off bus tour of Auckland I took was Bastion Point, a former military lookout.
This is Waitemata Harbour, just north of Auckland. I can see why someone would want to build a city here. :)
Auckland’s Okahu Bay. Those are some very expensive houses in the background. :)
Part of a recreation of Robert Falcon Scott’s hut during his Antarctic expedition, at Kelly Tarlton’s SEA LIFE aquarium, Auckland’s main aquarium.
Feeding time at Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium. One human surrounded by waddling penguins was almost unconscionably cute. :)
Part of the underwater viewing tunnel at Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium.
Some sort of spiny/puffer fish, at Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium. Alas, I can’t find the species name.
An octopus (and its reflection) at Kelly Tarlton’s.
Spiny seadragons at Kelly Tarlton’s. Interestingly, it’s the male of this species that gives birth.
A WWII (anti-aircraft?) gun near the entrance of the Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland’s main museum of technology.
MOTAT: a cutaway of an automobile, with each of its major systems color-coded. What a great learning aid.
Vintage New Zealand automobiles at MOTAT.
Auckland will be getting new electric trains. MOTAT had a mockup of a car; this was its cab.
MOTAT: the interior mockup of Auckland’s new electric train. Newfangled!
The control area of Auckland’s Pumphouse, which supplied water to the city in its early years. The controller sat in the chair in the center and operated the machinery around him.
A closeup of the Pumphouse control area, managed by manipulating the valves around the chair. This is where the magic happened. :)
Coal-fired steam engines of MOTAT’s Pumphouse. Its donation became the seed of MOTAT itself. The machinery is still operational, and demonstrated weekly.
An early steam engine at MOTAT. The circle in the middle is an impressively large flywheel.
MOTAT: an early Auckland electric tram car.
MOTAT: planning a museum, and don’t have enough space in your hallway for both a race car and walkway? No problem, just turn the car on its side! :)
MOTAT: New Zealand passed a law in 2009 allowing the cars of repeat boy racer offenders to be confiscated and crushed. This was the law’s first victim. :)
The Meccano Differential Analyser No. 2 (1935), a mechanical computer designed to solve differential equations. This is the only working model in the world.
MOTAT: an early telephone switching unit, still operational.
The interior of the early/mid-20th century tram that transports people between the various parts of MOTAT.
The entrance to the Aviation Display Hall at MOTAT. Aircraft, baby!
The MOTAT’s Avro Lancaster MK VII, a British WWII heavy bomber.
MOTAT’s De Havilland DH 104 Devon. This one was used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force in various roles from 1953 to 1981.
MOTAT: a poster on Leo and Vivian Walsh, who in 1911 became the first to fly an airplane in New Zealand.
MOTAT: a poster on Jean Batten, a famous 1930’s NZ aviatrix. Among other accomplishments, she made the first solo flight from Britain to NZ in 1936.
MOTAT’s Short S.45 Solent Mark IV, a mid-20th century flying boat, used in NZ until 1954, undergoing restoration at the time of the photo.
After MOTAT, I went to the Auckland Zoo. This is one of their cafes, so appropriately named I had to get a shot of its facade. :)
A New Zealand dotterel at the Auckland Zoo. These birds are small and, well, flighty; I had to make multiple attempts to get this shot.
An Auckland Zoo spotted cormorant (shag), which dives for its food.
A Campbell Island teal at the Auckland Zoo. Until recently, these flightless birds could only be found in the Campbell Islands, hundreds of miles south of New Zealand.
A tuatara at the Auckland Zoo. These lizards don’t have ears, but do have *partially functional third eyes* in the middle of their foreheads.
A complete view of one of Auckland Zoo’s aviary airlocks. What an interesting idea!
A New Zealand brown teal, native only to NZ. Its population was significantly decreased when humans arrived on the islands; efforts are underway to increase it.
A cabbage tree at Auckland Zoo, so named because to the Sail Age sailors who ate it to prevent scurvy, it tasted like cabbage.
A puriri tree at the Auckland Zoo. The puriri moth, New Zealand’s largest, burrows inside these trees during its caterpillar stage, living there for up to five years.
Auckland Zoo New Zealand shovelers, so named because they drag their bills through water, then use their bills to strain out what isn’t food.
I believe these are New Zealand shovelers, New Zealand grey teals, and banded rails, but honestly, this shot is all about the scenery. :)
Auckland Zoo white faced heron. This was an easy shot to get; these birds will sometimes remain motionless, stabbing at food with their beaks when it approaches.
A closeup of one of the Auckland Zoo’s extinct species markers. I’m sure it’s no accident they resemble gravestones.
The Auckland Zoo had multiple markers with names of extinct species. Sad, but important to note, to my mind.
The Auckland Zoo had areas where you could walk among its highly photogenic scenery. :)
One of Auckland Zoo’s wekas, a fast-running flightless bird native only to New Zealand.
One of Auckland Zoo’s keas, known for their cleverness and playfulness. Unlike the other birds there, this one made no move to escape when I approached. This was as close as I dared get; that beak looked very sharp. :)
A life preserver near Auckland Zoo’s hippo pool. Safety gear is only installed if it has the potential to be used; I wonder how many have gone for inadvertent or intentional swims with such aggressive, gargantuan beasts?
Greater flamingos at the Auckland Zoo, engaged in activity as opposed to frozen, and plastic, in someone’s front yard. :)
Springboks at the Auckland Zoo, known for “stotting” when threatened: leaping into the air, where all 4 feet leave from and return to the ground simultaneously.
A giraffe at the Auckland Zoo, enjoying an ostrich-free evening meal. :)
This was the shot I got of Sky Tower just before I went up it. The wide circular ring near the top of the shot is open; you can pay extra to make a tethered walk on it, or bungee jump off it.
The glass-floored portion of Sky Tower’s main observation deck. Below my feet are 1.5″ of glass, then 610 ft of empty space. :)
The vegetarian smoothie I got with dinner after Sky Tower. It tasted as good as it looked. :)
Auckland has a very mild (but rainy) climate, so the storefronts are often open, but with large overhangs.
New Zealand has so much natural beauty far from cities that the tourism guides recommend just renting a car. This was mine.
This was my first time driving a car from the right side, so I had to get a shot of it. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no mirrors; this is not a trick! :)
I’ve missed driving a stick since I got the Prius, so I made sure to request one in NZ. It was a lot of fun, but along with driving on the right, I had to get used to reverse being in a different location on the gearshift.
My first stop outside Auckland was to Tutukaka, to scuba dive at the Poor Knights Islands, considered the best diving in New Zealand. This was our dive boat’s harbor.
On the way from Tutukaka to the Poor Knights Islands.
The bridge of the scuba dive boat.
The clouds and sea were being very photogenic for this portion of the trip. :)
We dropped anchor to begin diving very close to the islands; this was the view from the boat of the edge of one of them.
Another view of the Poor Knights island beside which we first dove. The name itself may have come from the Islands’ resemblance to Poor Knights Pudding, a popular dish when Europeans discovered the islands.
We did two dives; after the first, they moved the boat inside of this cave. It was certainly one of the more exotic locales at which I’ve eaten lunch. :)
The cove from which we started our second, afternoon dive. The nearby island had many underwater inlets and caves; we were able to enter some of them during the dive.
This was a view from the road on the way back from Tutukaka after the dive; it was so pretty I had to stop the car and grab this shot.
The chairlift transfer station at Mt. Ruapehu. The lift system is used for skiing in winter; Ruapehu is a popular winter sports destination, when it’s not, well, erupting. :)
The ski lodge at the top of the lift on Mt. Ruapehu. Really, though, it looks more like the view from a Mars colony base.
The markers of the trail I took were 2×2’s nailed to rocks using metal L-brackets; erosion and the lack of vegetation made normal trail paths and tree blazes useless.
Views like this are why Tongariro National Park is on the UN list of World Heritage Sites.
The word I kept coming back to standing here was “otherworldly”; as if I were somehow on a completely different planet.
My last shot of New Zealand, as my airliner departed the country. So long NZ; I shall return!
The Chateau Tongariro Hotel, a popular hotel at Tongariro National Park.
Part of the terminal at Auckland Airport. A *good* photographer could take that complex interplay between subjects, lines and curves, and light and shadow, and make the pic wothy of them. :)
This was the airliner I took from NZ to Australia. It was my first time flying Emirates; they won Airline of the Year in 2013, and at least based on my flight, deservedly so.

I just happened to get to my hotel near the end of a triathlon.

The Auckland Art Gallery’s Flower Chandelier. Made of fabric, plastic and metal, the flowers bloom and contract over time. The installation is large; at least 20′ in diameter.

Only the plate at the very bottom vibrates; the ring is large and thin enough that it moves simply through resonance. The plate switches on and off; when it was off (I didn’t know about the plate at the time) I put my head in the center and hummed a resonance frequency to see if I could make the ring move just by doing so. The plate started soon after, so when the ring really started moving I thought I had caused it, and was worried it would roll itself apart. I ran to get a staff member, but they just smiled and said it was supposed to do that. :)

My walking route took me past this field; it was such a lovely time and place I had to get some footage of it.

A 360° panorama at Mt. Eden, at 643 ft the tallest natural point in Auckland.

Penguins at Kelly Tarlton’s SEA LIFE aquarium. Their underwater speed and maneuverability is quite impressive.

A shark glideover at the Aquarium’s under-tank tunnel. I took a lot of footage in hopes of getting something that adequately communicated the coolness of standing in a transparent tunnel and looking up at sea life; I think I succeeded. :)

This was from a smaller tank at the aquarium, designed to be seen from the side instead of below. Again, I waited a while to get a clip showing its coolness. :)

The Aviation Display Hall at the Museum of Transport and Technology.

A 360° panorama at Sky Tower, 1076 ft above mean sea level. The clip starts with the view looking northeast, and ends with the view looking north.

It was getting late when I finally made it to Tongariro National Park, so I took the lift instead of the much longer-duration trail. My two main thoughts on the way up were: “If I get a freak leg spasm that straightens them out, I’ll slide right between the seat and bar, and that’ll be the end of me”, and “Don’t drop your phone!”. :)

A 360° panorama most of the way up Mount Ruapehu, at 9176 ft the tallest natural point in New Zealand’s North Island. The clip starts and ends pointing north toward Mt. Ngauruhoe, the other major peak at Tongariro National Park.

I could still ascend above the trailhead where the previous video was taken, so I did so; this was as far as I could go without climbing gear. I was at the level of the clouds here; I watched them dissipate around me as they reached the mountain.

On my way down the trail at Tongariro, I stopped to film the sunset. Alas, the video didn’t do justice to the real thing.

Berlin trip images

Here are the pictures and videos I took from the Berlin portion of my 2013 Europe trip. Pictures are below; click on any of them to start a full-screen slideshow of all of them. Below them are the videos; click a video to start it.

Berlin Tegel airport has a subway stop, so the first time I really saw Berlin from aboveground was when I got off the subway at my hotel’s stop. This was the view.
My Berlin hotel room. It was probably my favorite of the Europe trip: functional, and with a great view. Unfortunately, since I had gotten up early to make the Paris-Berlin flight, the first thing I did in it was take a nap. :)
A metal slat and ring, but put them together in the right orientation and they make an umbrella stand. Neat!
A pullout (of the wall) pants presser. It’s so fascinating to see what hotels in other cultures think travelers are likely to need.
This was in a grocery store, right next to the Amazon and iTunes store gift certificates. You basically buy the box, choose a date, and bam! Instant getaway. I love the idea of vacation as impulse buy. :)
The view out my Berlin hotel room window. It was a corner room, so I got an extra-good view.
“Berlin TV Tower”, at the start of my first full day in Berlin. The tower, at 1207 ft, is simultaneously an actual TV tower, visitor platform, revolving restaurant, and symbol of Berlin.
The view from the Furnsehturm observation tower, 666 ft above ground, looking north-northeast. It was close to dusk and about to start snowing, so the visibility wasn’t very good.
The view from the Furnsehturm observation deck, looking southeast.
The view from the Furnsehturm looking south-southwest.
The view from the Furnsehturm observation deck looking west. The bright spot on the left is, alas, just the reflection of an interior light off the deck’s glass.
It was unseasonably cold and wet that night, but the wonderful energy of Berlin was still apparent; it would be a great city in which to live.
This is the facade of the Berlin Cathdral, the largest church in the city. I got a late start my first full day there, and in an attempt to still fit in as much as possible, I walked around Berlin that night, past places whose facades, at least, didn’t close in the evenings.
In English, “Friedrichswerder Church”, the first Neo-Gothic church in Berlin.
Konzerthaus (“Concert House”), home of the Konzerthausorchester (“Concert House Orchestra”) Berlin.
Französischer Dom (“French Cathedral”). There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it, except that it was lit very photogenically at night. :)
A wide view of Checkpoint Charlie. The picture on the mast is of a US soldier that served there during the Cold War; on the other side is a corresponding picture of a Soviet soldier. Construction, especially in the former East section of Berlin, is proceeding rapidly; without knowing the history it would be very difficult to even tell this was once the site of a great geopolitical border crossing.
Original Checkpoint Charlie sign, as would have been seen from the East Berlin side. Only the guard house and sign remain, and is an excellent example of how Germany chooses to remember Nazism, WWII, and the splitting of the country during the Cold War: yes it happened, and we should remember it and take what we can from it, but shouldn’t get bogged down doing so.
A guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie, the best-known checkpoint between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. This is a view from what was the East Berlin side.
Closeup of the Checkpoint Charlie guard house, from what was the US side.
A plaque at the Checkpoint Charlie guard house, commemorating the US-Soviet tank standoff that took place here in 1961.
A captive balloon, the World Balloon Berlin, moored for the night. When in use, it takes passengers 150 m up.
This is the facade of the Abgeordnetenhaus, the Berlin state (somewhat equivalent to the US version) parliament building.
Potsdamer Platz, one of the main commercial centers of Berlin.
Potsdamer Platz; that’s a large billboard on the right.
Potsdamer Platz. The Berlin Wall went through this section, and parts of it are preseved, with informational placards interspersed. Again, the remembrance was tasteful: neither attempting to forget nor wallow in a painful past.
This road connects Postdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Gate. This was taken during a Saturday night at around 8 p.m.; there were few cars or pedestrians around, so it was relatively quiet. I crunched through the snow, watched, and listened; it was wonderful.
The west facade of the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin Wall formerly ran approximately where the people are in the foreground of this picture.
Originally, the Brandenburg Gate was just a city gate, completed in 1791. On top is the goddess Victoria in a quadriga.
A wide view of the East facade of the Brandenburg Gate. East of the Gate is a large open area. Especially at night, it’s a wonderful place for people-watching and contemplation.
Just west of the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Tiergarten (“Large Tea Garden”), the largest urban park in Berlin. This road, the Straße des 17. Juni (“Street of 17th June”) runs west from the Gate through the park.
Near the center of the Tiergarten is the Siegessäule (“Victory Column”), built originally to commemorate Prussion victory in the Danish-Prussian War. This is its base, with bronze reliefs depicting various Prussian wars.
The base of the Siegessäule.
A closeup of one of the Siegessäule bronze reliefs.
It was sunny and warm in the UK and Paris, but unseasonably (this picture was taken March 10) cold and snowy when I was in Berlin.
My third day in Berlin was spent at Museum Island, a small island in the middle of the city with five world-class museums. The first I visited was the Pergamonmuseum (“Pergamon Museum”). This is the museum’s eponymous exhibit: the colossal Pergamon Altar, moved in its entirery from Asia Minor to here.
Around the steps of the altar seen in the previous picture is a frieze depicting the battle between the Giants and Olympian Gods; these are its remains.
A model of Pergamon; the Altar is in the rectangular area in the center-right of the picture.
The Pergamon Museum’s Market Gate of Melitus, again excavated, transported from its original location (Greece), and reconstructed.
Pergamon Museum. This is the actual *Ishtar Gate*. Amazing.
Pergamon Museum. Inside of the Ishtar Gate is the Processional Way, reconstructed here, again with its original materials.
The Neues (New) Museum Greichischer Hof (Court). Built in the 1800s, bombed during WWII, and refurbished starting in 2003, you can see all of it in the Court, as if they were architectural strata.
Artifacts from the Neues Museum; alas I’m not able to remember or determine what these are.
The Niobidensaal (Niobiden Hall) at the Neues Museum.
The Römischer Saal (Römischer Hall) at the Neues Museum. There aren’t any particularly interesting artifacts here; I just liked the architecture. :)
These brightly colored pipes (blue here, but also red, pink, purple…) crisscross the city. They’re actually to transfer water from building sites (Berlin has a high water table) to an existing waterway.
A path at the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden) in Museum Island.
The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), on Museum Island.
The rotunda upper wall and ceiling of the Altes (Old) Museum, the last one I visited in Museum Island.
Sculpture from the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan exhibition at the Altes Museum.
The Altes (Old) Museum: “Berliner Gottin” (Berlin Goddess), Greece, 570 BC.
Altes Museum: Fayum Mummy portraits. These are portraits buried with their respective mummies, of Romans who lived in Egypt in the 1st century AD.
There’s construction everywhere in Berlin, especially near the old border between East and West Berlin, of which the subject of this picture was a part.
Trees at the Tiergarten. Even though the Tiergarten is in the middle of the city, it was so quiet and peaceful, especially with the snow. Essentially, it sounded like this picture looked.
The Siegessäule (Victory Column), in the Tiergarten, originally built to commemorate Prussian military victories, now a general Berlin tourist attraction.
Seven roads intersect at the (large) roundabout around the Tiergarten’s Siegessäule; this is one of the access tunnels connecting it to the sorrounding pedestrian walkways.
The Kaufhaus des Westens (“Department Store of the West”), a.k.a. KaDeWe, second only to Harrods in London in size in Europe. Each floor specializes in a different product; two are entirely devoted to food.
There’s no official exhibit for Hitler’s Bunker (where he died), partially because it’s been mostly filled in (significantly, so Neo-Nazis can’t use it), but there is a plaque near where one of its entrances was.
The facade of the Reichstag.
The main entrance to the Reichstag. Alas, this was the closest I could get to its interior. Even though I had made a reservation for the tour, all tours were canceled due to the snow.
The swimsuit-clad mannequins contrasted quite humorously with the snow all around them. :)
The facade of the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin (German Museum of Technology), the largest of its kind in Berlin. On its roof is a C-47 Skytrain.
One of the Museum’s specialties is renewable technology; one of the sculptures on its grounds is a wind turbine blade.
The Technikmuseum’s foyer. The airplane is the Cessna 172 that landed in Moscow’s Red Square in 1987.
Technikmuseum: radio transmission equipment of RIAS, a radio/TV station in West Berlin during the Cold War.
Technikmuseum: a sign for Telefunken, a German electronics manufacturer. This is perhaps the greatest company logo in the history of the world. :)
1950’s-era German TV sets, Technikmuseum. The cathode ray tubes for the models on the right were so large that they were pointed upward, and redirected horizontally using mirrors.
The Konrad Zuse’s Z-1, the world’s first binary computer, built in 1938. Destroyed by Allied air raids in WWII, it was rebuilt by Zuse in the 1980’s and donated to the Technikmuseum.
The entrance to the rail portion of the Technikmuseum, on the former site of the Anhalter Bahnhof, once one of Berlin’s most important railway stations.
Closeup of the controls of a locomotive at the Technikmuseum. Steamy!
There were sunken walkways under some of the train cars at the Technikmuseum, so you could actually see their undercarriages. Neat!
Model trains at the Technikmuseum.
Locomotive crew compartment at the Technikmusuem.
Some of the *40* rail cars at the Technikmuseum.
Interior of a rail car used to transport people to concentration camps.
Model replica of the Anhalter Bahnhof train station, inside the Technikmuseum, partially built on the former grounds of the station. Recursive museuming!
Part of a massive model train installation at the Technikmuseum.
Another view of the Technikmuseum model train installation, actually modeled on the Anhalter Bahnhof station and its environs.
Technikmuseum: so these are cylindrically-lit Lego marine vessels. It’s as if they knew I were coming. :)
Closeup of a Lego ship at the Technikmuseum. I love how someone thought this would be a good exhibit for a technology museum, and love even more how I totally agree with them. :)
Extremely detailed model of a lock at the Technikmuseum.
Technikmuseum: the deck of a steamship.
Technikmuseum: a cutaway of a marine ship engine.
Technikmuseum: replica of a sailboat.
A recent focus of the Technikmuseum is renewable energy; this is a model of a solar power generator. The reflective portion heats the column of air in the center tube, spinning a turbine.
Ship models (and neat lighting/architecture) in the marine section of the Technikmuseum.
A fanciful airship model at the Technikmuseum, because every airship needs its own gargantuan birdcage. :)
The aviation section at the Technikmuseum. Aircraft, baby!
The Technikmuseum’s Heinkel He 162, the fastest of the first generation of military jets. Because metal was in short supply, it was made primarily of wood.
After the Technikmuseum I went to the Zoologischer Garten Berlin (Berlin Zoological Garden). My main camera ran out of power here, so I had to use my backup cell phone camera, with its blue-heavy sensor. In any case, this is a picture of what must be a very cold rhino. :)
Zoologischer Garten Berlin. I think this is a pygmy hippopotamus, but I’m not sure.
Bald eagles at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin. Maybe Berlin, thousands of miles from the United States, would have had some US flags I could have taken pictures of, as well. :)
White wolves at Zoologischer Garten Berlin. Even they wanted away from the snow. :)
A bird at Zoologischer Garten Berlin. Alas, I don’t know the species.
Polar bears at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin.
Viewing pool at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin’s aquarium. Fishies!
Bottom-attached worms at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
Jellyfish at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
Moon jellyfish at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
A crab and turtle at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
A northern sea nettle at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium, mugging for the camera. :)
Spotted jelly, Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
Fish at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium. I love these types of exhibits, where you can see both above and below the waterline.
A Dumeril’s boa at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium. The largest reported example of this species was *8.5 feet*.
Turtles at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium, suffering the indignities of trying to go opposite ways on a one-way turtle street. :)
Another turtle pileup at Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium. :)
A panther chameleon at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
A black iguana at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium. This particular example of the species wasn’t moving quickly at the time, but it nevertheless holds the lizard speed record, at 21.7 mph.
Yellow anacondas at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
Two Burmese pythons at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium. Snake d’awww. :)
A water monitor lizard at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium.
A Chinese gliding tree frog at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium, apparently just as much at home sticking to exhibit glass as gliding through the air. :)
The tropical area of the Zoologischer Garten Berlin aquarium, much less blue in actuality.
The Zoologischer Garten Berlin’s Elephant Gate, one of the zoo’s two entrances. The zoo has the most comprehensive collection of species in the world, and is the most visiited zoo in Europe.
A Berlin subway car window. Brandenburg Gates galore!
Berlin’s Tegel airport, from my outbound plane. Goodbye, Germany! *sniff*

As soon as I left the observation deck at Furnsehturm, the (unseasonably late) snow began.

The Ottobock Science Center Berlin, which specializes in prosthetics and orthopedics. I didn’t know that at the time; I just thought the architecture and light display was neat. :)

The Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock). The middle cylinder rotates (slowly) showing time vs. time zone. The upper spherical portion rotates too quickly to show location of the planets; perhaps it’s simply meant as Art.

An access tunnel leading to the Siegessäule. The light display was linked to motion sensors, so lights would follow you as you walked past the display. :)

On my last full day in Berlin I finally made it to the Siegessäule when its observation deck was open. This is a 360° panorama from that deck, looking out over the Tiergarten and the rest of the city.

A panorama at the Platz der Republic (Square of the Republic). At the start and end of the video is the Reichstag, which houses the Bundestag (German Parliament).