Hiking in the Ceahlău Massif (Eastern Carpathians)

During my farewell vacation we also hit one day the Ceahlău Massif in the Eastern Carpathians in Romania.

This part of the mountains is already situated in Moldova, though the majority of the Romanian Carpathians is within Transylvania. The beauty of this section is that you can mange to climb and descend the massif in one day including reaching both peaks Toaca (1904 m altitude) and Ocolaşul Mare (1907 m altitude).

This particular day unfortunately was very cloudy so the view was limited by fog almost all day. Nevertheless it was a splendid hike also because the trails are very well marked and you can even find additional signposts with explanations about the surrounding nature.

The forest is left untouched for most parts as the area forms the Ceahlău National Park - fallen trees are not removed.

The last (first) picture was taken right from the plateau right before the ascend to the peaks. You can spot also a small wooden Orthodox church there. For other episodes from my farewell vacation just hit the "Farewell Holiday" Tag.

Munich as seen from St. Peter chruch - Panorama view

Last week I went to Munich to visit friends and of course the city as well. Munich is actually a beautiful German city despite the hordes of tourists and there is really a lot to see and to do. There is a couple of possibilities to get a panorama view over the city and one of the best ones is probably St. Peter church right in the center. From there you have a beautiful view to the fascinating New Town Hall and the Frauenkirche, Munich's landmark. As you can see the Frauenkirche is right now in the process of restoration. If you have a look down you can spot Mary's Column right in the center of Marienplatz.

A short reminder: As always you can scroll around the panorama and of course you can also enter full screen mode and stop the auto rotation by pressing the button on the lower right. This time I decided to start something new and I am publishing the original pictures as well. They can be accessed via flickr and reused under cc license.

Horse Racing: Henkel - Race Day 2010 Düsseldorf Grafenberg

Last weekend the Henkel Race Day 2010 took place here in Düsseldorf Grafenberg. I've never been at a horse race before and I always expected the atmosphere to be a little bit posh or boring at most. Eventually it turned out that the crowd was very mixed from young families to the super rich.

In my opinion the races were a little bit short - basically all races were only one lap and that only every half an hour. Almost anyone there seemed to be betting (I didn't dare) and I quite liked the relaxed atmosphere at the race. The speed of the horses and the skills of the jockeys were amazing (full-screen here).

Rostock as seen over the Warnow river before / after twilight

Recently, I attended the wedding of friends in Rostock, Germany. For the party they choose an incredible nice site where you could see the city from the other side of its Warnow river right at a boat club. Right at dusk there was a beautiful atmosphere perfect for a panorama picture, of course (full-screen here).

Right after dusk then all the lights began to sparkle on the lake. Rostock is the largest city in northeast Germany right at the Baltic Sea.

Especially with the B&W picture I realized the limitations of this presentation as the picture looks best in full screen resolution. If anyone knows how to achieve that in a simple way with blogger I appreciate suggestions very much.