Tag Archives: Black & White
Tour de Ruan
After last year’s big vacation to Thailand, I picked something less extraordinary as summer vacation: A hiking trip in the Alps. More specifically, a friend of mine and I went on a five day long hiking trip in the border region of Switzerland and France, the so-called Tour de Ruan. Instead of doing several day trips like we did two years ago, this time we chose one big round-trip tour where we stayed in refuges over night.
We started at the Lac d’ Emosson at nearly 2.000 m. From there on we went to the highest point of the tour, the Cheval Blanc (2.830 m) right on the first day. The three refuges were located at about 2.000 m and in between them we either hat to walk through valleys or over passes. Luckily, it did not rain while we were in the mountains. It did snow a bit on the first day, though. In addition to several snow fields we crossed, we even walked through fresh snow on the way to the first pass on our last day. Apart from experiencing beautiful views to the surrounding mountains we also saw various animals, like alpine ibexes (Steinböcke), chamois (Gämsen) and marmots (Murmeltiere).
While we originally planned to do a four day trip, we spontaneously decided to stay one day longer at our third refuge, the Auberge de Salanfe. There we could just enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and at the same time let our joints recover from the previous strenuous days. With renewed strength we then could complete the fourth stage of our tour which brought us back to our starting point and the end of this wonderful hiking trip.
A Trip to St. Petersburg
As you could already see in the teaser image, I recently went to St. Petersburg for a weekend trip. Actually it was a birthday trip of a friend. He decided not to celebrate his birthday at home but asked a couple of friends to visit St. Petersburg instead. Of course I did not hesitate to go as I had not been there or in Russia at all yet.
Unfortunately, on the day of our flight the personnel at Frankfurt airport announced a big strike day and the majority of flights were canceled for that day. I do not know whether it was a birthday present or just luck, but our flight did not turn up on the list of canceled flights the day before. So we decided to give it a try and started out journey in Mannheim. We got up early, because we expected a major chaos at the airport. However, as soon as we arrived there we found the airport to be quite empty, if not almost deserted. So we had no problems checking in and got through security in no time. Even at the gate there were not too many people. We then entered the plane and just after we all were in it—with us there were about 20 other flight guests—the captain announced that boarding was complete and that we would start shortly. Now that was a pleasant surprise! I guess most of the other passengers just booked another flight, so they did not show up at all. At the end, not only did our flight take place, we also had our (mostly) private jet. Of course we took this opportunity to celebrate the birthday right on the plane and a few hours later we safely landed in St. Petersburg.
In the next two day we took every opportunity to see as most as we could of the city, its churches, and all the palaces. We walked down Nevsky Prospect, the main street in the city, and visited various churches, one more spectacular than the other. We went for meals to taste the local cuisine and even made an excursion to Peterhof that is located right at the sea. In fact, we did so much sightseeing that we were too exhausted to go out in the evening! But I guess that is just a good reason to come back some time. After all, we came at a time were Spring had not started yet, so the city was still quite gray. That may have been one reason why I only used black & white films. If I should go to St. Petersburg another time it probably will be in Summer (and with color films).
Besides, Spring has started and it is time for some color again! The next trip is already planned and then you finally will see color again, I promise.