Dundas West at Night

Luca and I took our tripods for a night walk around Dundas West near the Wallace bridge over the rail line. Vehicle lights leave interesting trails over a long exposure, and we had fun trying different techniques. Here is a selection of the more interesting results. As always, click on an image for a larger view!

The cars themselves leave almost no trace on the camera, unless they sit in one place for at least a few seconds like this one did.

The Pearson Express pulls into the station.

Its rear lights leave a much more subtle trail through the platform.

Canals, Castles and Car Accidents: Euro Trip 2015

Click to enlarge!

A determined Erin emerges from Amsterdam Centraal Station.

Despite the fact that it rains more than 300 days of the year, we had prime weather most days.

Serenading the Night Watch in Rembrandt Square.

This boatload of frat boys was cruising along to some tunes at 7 km/hr - the max speed allowed on the canals.

Amsterdam's many alleyways are home to endless shops, cafes and pubs.

The preferred mode of transport is of course the bicycle.

Dutch children learn to swim at an early age, and for good reason with all the canals and water ways.

With all the water comes rats, and with the rats come shop cats. We met quite a few.

North Amsterdam can be reached by ferry from Amsterdam Centraal.

A 'Botel' and a decommissioned WW2 era submarine greet us at the docks.

There was an odd collection of derelict machinery on the pier.

Dock buildings were decorated with all sorts of stickers and graffiti.

Our destination was "Noordelicht" - a well hidden cafe with a spectacular location in the industrial portlands.

The main building is little more than a large greenhouse structure, but they serve gourmet food and host live music.

Some fireworks erupting from the main city across the water caught us by surprise.

Amsterdam is also home to a beautiful Botanical Garden.

We spent a few hours exploring.

Plant species collected from all over the world.

Despite its graceful appearance, this guy made an awful screech has a flew into the gardens.

I have never seen a Heron perch on top of a tree before, but I guess they do that...

On our way out of Netherlands, we stopped at the Kroller-Muller Museum. You can explore more than 5,500 hectares of parkland on the free bicycles provided to guests.

For some reason each of the 1,800 bicycles they have comes equipped with a child seat.

In addition to boasting the second largest collection of orginal Van Gogh in the world, the Kroller-Muller museum is also home to a sculpture park. This image was taken from an abstract view of one the the many installations.

This "Hunting Lodge" was originally used by the wealthy couple who opened the museum.

Despite being well passed its prime season, the garden still had plenty of colour.

After one night in Hannover Germany, we made a stop in the small Medieval town of Quedlinburg.

Quedlinburg hails from as early as the 9th century, and has remained largely untouched for the last few centuries.

The castle and the stone are in places hard to separate.

Most buildings here had the year they were built inscribed on them.

Dog in the window. Photo credit: Erin Walker.

We arrived in Dresden after dark. 

Fountain at night

Dresden was obliterated by airstrikes in WW2, much of what we saw had been rebuilt since then.

It's hard to tell whats old and what's new.

The Elbe River flows through Dresden

Our next stop is the heart of Bohemia: Prague, Czech Republic

We were astonished by the depth and length of the escalators accessing the subway system.

The culinary highlight of our trip: Steak Tartar, the Czech way!

A busy shop

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Man Hanging Out by David Cerny.

We made an excursion to Karlstein Castle.

We spent a few hours touring the inside of the castle, where unfortunately pictures are not allowed. Apparently Doorways are OK though.

On our way out of Prague, we were blindsided by an SUV driving off the sidewalk. 

Fortunately there were no injuries, and as we were not at fault we were back on the road with a new rental car in about six hours. This is the Audi that hit us. 

Despite the unexpected delay, we still made it to Cesky Krumlov that night.
Photo credit: Erin Walker.

Everything in this river town looked like a post card.

A fountain within the royal gardens.

Spectacular hedges

We stayed in a hotel near here.

On our way back towards Amsterdam for our flight home, we had a brief stay in Nuremberg Germany.

And on our last stop before returning to Amsterdam, we checked in to Rolduc Abbey, which has opened its doors to pilgrims and travellers since the middle ages.

It was a little bit spooky, but quite beautiful.

It was all we hoped for, looking forward to our next adventure.