Spain 2024
281 images
This year our annual vacation takes us to the north of Spain – the Basque country, northern Castile, and Cantabria. This is a rugged place between the mountains and the sea and reminds us a lot of Scotland. In any case, lots of interesting things to see, friendly people, and great food and drink – we're having a great time so far!
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Vienna 2024 (SCD Album)
62 images
This is a large selection of photographs taken on the evening of May 19th (the reception and ball) and the morning of May 20th at the 2024 Whitsun course put on by RSCDS Vienna Branch. The teacher was Gary Coull, and the musicians were Matthias Rank and James Gray (evening) and Silke Grosholz (morning),
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Azores 2023
291 images
October 2023 sees us back in the Azores – three different islands this time! We're starting on Terceira and go on to São Jorge and Graciosa. These three islands are quite different in character but of course have a lot in common, too; there are many things to see and explore and we didn't quite manage to do everything we had planned, but we did do some other things and also had time to relax.
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Rowan's Journey
138 images
In May/June 2023 we had a visit from Rowan the sheep, the RSCDS Young Dancers' mascot, on their journey round the world – coming from Italy and going on to Freiburg! Rowan had a great time with the dancers in Frankfurt and Mainz, as well as the stuffed animals in our place, the Linux penguins in charge of the Strathspey server, and the people at the Central Germany Branch's Basic Teaching Skills workshop and the Skua Dubh group's annual ball, both in Bonn.
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Israel 2022
205 images
In October 2022, Marie and I went on a trip to Israel organised by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung (State Centre for Civic Education) of Rhineland-Palatinate and the German-Israeli Association, which included a fairly tight schedule of visits to cultural and educational institutions, with discussions and presentations involving a wide variety of people of all sorts of backgrounds. This was a fascinating and very informative trip to a country that is full of history, contradictions, conflict and – in spite of it all – an undercurrent of hope and optimism, with wonderful and hospitable people everywhere, and it will probably take us quite some time to process everything we've seen and heard. In the meantime, here are some pictures, impressions, and thoughts from that trip.
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Vivarium and Forest Art Trail, Darmstadt 2022
34 images
In late May, 2022 we visited the Vivarium Darmstadt, which is a nice compact zoo near the Lichtwiese campus of the technical university. Afterwards we went on a walk in the forest nearby with some of my colleagues to see the Waldkunstpfad, a trail featuring various objets d'art.
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North Frisia, October 2021
229 images
For our 2021 holiday, we're once more exploring a part of Germany we don't know well – this time it's North Frisia, the area on the North Sea coast in northern Schleswig-Holstein. This is notable for its various islands and Halligen as well as the protected tidal flats which are of great natural beauty and importance. We're based in a holiday flat in the village of Schobüll, which is a suburb of Husum.
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Frankfurt Zoo, September 2021
37 images
It's time for the Tierpatentag (animal sponsors' day) at Frankfurt Zoo once more! Again no lecture or snacks, but we do get in for free. During the afternoon the zoo is only open for animal sponsors and their plus-ones, and we're amazed by how many there seem to be – in spite of the restriction the zoo seems certainly as busy as ever.
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Flowers and Butterflies at the Palmengarten, Frankfurt, August 2021
25 images
My mum invited us to visit the new butterfly house at the Palmengarten (Frankfurt's botanical garden), which was nice if a bit busy. But it was great to have lunch, an afternoon visit to the gardens, and tea with the family! (No family photos here for privacy, just the flowers and butterflies.)
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Rotenfels, July 2021
22 images
The Rotenfels near Bad Münster am Stein is the highest sheer rock face north of the Alps and south of Scandinavia, at a height of approximately 200 m and width of 1200 m. It is home to various rare species of animals and plants. In July 2021, Marie and I spent some time hiking in the area – very scenic!
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Opel Zoo (Once More), July 2021
18 images
Marie asked whether we could visit the Opel Zoo – she'd never been there before – and so we did, on a Thursday that we both had off from work! Lots of school and kindergarten groups, but fortunately the place wasn't too busy overall. For me it was a great opportunity to use the Olympus m.Zuiko 100-400mm/5-6.3 lens (which I hadn't had for my last visit in 2020) to get up close and personal with many of the animals. Great fun!
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Rügen 2020
152 images
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marie and I decided to spend our holiday in Germany. Rügen, in the Baltic Sea, is the largest German island and is located in the north-east of Germany near the Polish border. It is a very popular holiday destination and offers lots of interesting sights and fun activities. We're staying in a self-catering flat in an old mansion right near the beach in the town of Binz.
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Frankfurt Zoo, September 2020
20 images
This year's Tierpatentag at Frankfurt Zoo took place on 11 September, and there was no lecture (no pretzels and cider, either) due to coronavirus restrictions. We did get to go to the zoo for free, though, and animal carers were available in various places around the area to explain about the various animals and answer questions. A nice afternoon out (even if we got there rather late, because work, and a traffic jam on the way to Frankfurt)!
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Opel Zoo Family Outing, July 2020
31 images
On 22 July 2020, my mum invited us to visit the Opel Zoo (near Kronberg) as a belated birthday celebration – on her actual birthday the zoo was in coronavirus lockdown, and it took some time to get an alternative date sorted out! The weather was very nice and even if many of the animals were taking it very easy in the shady areas of their enclosures we had a lot of fun!
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Cooking Workshop, February 2020
27 images
In February, 2020, our team from work got together for a cooking workshop under the direction of Detlef Cramer, a professional chef. We had a lot of fun and the food was just delicious!
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PEN-F Photography, December 2019–January 2020
31 images
Here are some more photographs taken with my new Olympus PEN-F, on various occasions in December 2019 and January 2020. These include Rosbach vor der Höhe, Frankfurt, Mainz, the Großer Feldberg, and Bönstadt.
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Bad Homburg, December 2019
14 images
On 19 December 2019 I made a brief trip to Bad Homburg with my good friend Eva and the Olympus PEN-F that I'd given myself as an early Christmas present this year. These pictures are less an attempt at great photography than they are the result of my putting the PEN-F through some of its paces. It's a lovely little camera and I expect to have a lot of fun with it! All pictures were taken with the Olympus m.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 prime lens.
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USA 2019 (The South-West)
344 images
Marie's and my big adventure for 2019 was our epic road trip around the south-western United States. Starting from San Francisco, we headed to Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, and Los Angeles before returning to San Francisco via the coastal highway. – Unlike the other albums in this gallery, this album is a long day-by-day travelogue with lots and lots of pictures. It was published for some of our friends and family in “real time” (saving on picture postcards), and now it is time to take it “public”.
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Frankfurt Zoo, Again
19 images
On 13 September 2019 I was invited to attend the Frankfurt Zoo's annual Tierpatentag (animal sponsors' day). This is where the zoo invites all animal sponsors (and their plus-ones) to a reception – presumably paid for out of the animal sponsors' contributions – and a free visit to the zoo. There was a speech by the zoo's director, and Ebbelwoi cider (or water, for the designated drivers) and pretzels, among other goodies.
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Helsinki 2019
107 images
In our continuing quest to visit the capitals of northern Europe, Marie and I spent a long weekend in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2019. This was a very interesting trip with very good weather, many fascinating sights and experiences, and lots of wonderful food (Lapp, Russian, Indian, Italian, …). It would have been easy to stay for another couple of days just to see more of this beautiful city.
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Frankfurt Zoo
32 images
We visited the Frankfurt zoo in early June 2019, mainly to see the new penguin enclosure (I'm sponsoring a penguin) but also to have a general look around – it's been five years or so since we last went! It was a sunny day but we came fairly early so it wasn't too crowded (at first anyway). It was fun seeing – and photographing – the animals.
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Superzoom Miscellany
28 images
In early January, 2019, I had the opportunity to test-drive the Olympus m.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm f/4 “travel zoom” lens for a few days (thanks fotogena Darmstadt!). The weather wasn't great but I managed to put the lens through its paces on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, in the Opel zoo, Eppstein, and Mainz.
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Madeira 2018
118 images
In October 2018, Marie and I went to Madeira for two weeks. Madeira is a small volcanic island off the Moroccan coast - a scenic and popular holiday spot for Germans because it is part of Portugal and hence the EU, so we get to take Euros and our mobile phones keep working. We toured the island, staying in four different hotels around the coast, and had a great time!
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Oslo 2018
78 images
We visited Oslo in April, 2018, to meet Marie's niece who was studying there for a semester, and our friend Kate from St Petersburg (who works in Norway). It was a fun-packed long weekend with lots of sightseeing, amazing (albeit expensive) food and drink, and great memories.
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Azores 2017
154 images
The Azores are a small archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic, off the Portuguese coast and a third or so of the way to America. Marie and I spent two weeks there in October, 2017, mainly on the islands of Pico and São Miguel (with a brief visit to Faial). A very beautiful corner of the Earth with friendly people, the Azores are basically like Iceland but with better weather and cheaper wine.
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Eva's and Seb's Wedding
63 images
These are photographs from the wedding of Eva and Seb Gehrlein, which took place in August, 2017.
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Malta and Gozo 2016
89 images
In October 2016, Marie and I spent some time on the islands of Malta and Gozo, which are situated in the Mediterranean, between Italy and North Africa. The country is a melting pot of European and Middle Eastern culture – lots of history, great food, and nice people! Malta is very busy with much touristy stuff while Gozo is more laid back and relaxed. We especially liked Gozo – we stayed in a hotel in the middle of the village of Nadur, where we had a room on the top floor with an outdoor balcony that afforded us an almost-360° view of the whole island. Great stuff.
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Bilbao 2016
97 images
In July 2016 I attended the EuroPython conference in Bilbao, and added a few personal days as I hadn't been to the Basque country before.
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Scotland, May 2016
60 images
May 2016 brought Marie and me back to Scotland for a week-long tour from Edinburgh to Tobermory, Iona, Ardnamurchan, Fort Augustus, Inverness, Elgin, Braemar and back to Edinburgh.
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Canada 2015
95 images
In October 2015, Marie's and my second trip to Canada took us to the Maritimes, visiting Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island.
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Erfurt 2015
31 images
We visited our friend Johanna in Erfurt in August, 2015. This album shows a few of the main sights as well as a bunch of animals in Erfurt zoo.
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Andrés & Hazel's Wedding
38 images
Andrés is another colleague of Marie's, and we went to his and his bride Hazel's wedding at the Hessenpark in August, 2015.
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Scotland, April 2015
37 images
These pictures were taken on one of many trips to Scotland that I undertook as a member (and later convenor) of the RSCDS Membership Services committee. Since travelling to Edinburgh for just a weekend is a lot of hassle I usually tried to combine these trips with brief jaunts around the countryside.
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St Petersburg 2015
57 images
In February 2015 I was invited to teach an SCD workshop in St Petersburg, Russia, and Marie and I took the opportunity to spend some extra time there to see the sights.
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Vikas & Amanpreet's Wedding
71 images
Vikas and Amanpreet were among the first employees Marie hired for the Indian office, and the two credit her for having a large part in them meeting each other and falling in love. Therefore they insisted on Marie's attending their wedding in January, 2015, and she in turn insisted that I come along. We had a brief and very exciting trip to Delhi and did get to go to at least part of the wedding celebrations.
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Portugal 2014
64 images
Portugal in early December is a nice place to go – not as hot as in summer and far fewer tourists! But you can still walk around in short sleeves without a jacket.
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Estonia 2014
48 images
In June, 2014, I was asked to teach a Scottish country dance workshop in Tallinn, Estonia, and we had a chance to visit this very pleasant small Baltic country.
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Vienna 2014
59 images
RSCDS Vienna Branch is running a prestigious weekend workshop every five years. We managed to go for the last few times, and in the 2014 iteration also had time to add some days before and after it for sight-seeing.
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London 2014
42 images
Marie and I visited London in March, 2014, at the invitation of SERTA (the South-East Regional Teachers' Association). We did manage some sightseeing while we were there!
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Portugal 2013
151 images
After my first brief trip to Lisbon in 2010 we decided to come back to Portugal for a longer stay.
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Scotland, September 2013
50 images
Here are pictures from a short tour of the Highlands and Edinburgh that I took prior to an RSCDS Membership Services meeting.
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Dubai 2012
38 images
I went to Dubai in November 2012 to attend the LPI EMEA conference. This was my first time in an Arab country and it was utterly fascinating.
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