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For the past few weeks I have spent almost as much time in Switzerland as I have at home. Unfortunately with business trips you can never guarantee that you see anything more of the place than the airport, and office and a hotel¹.

Fortunately I did finish “early” a couple of days though and the weather did manage to cooperate.

My first time in the city I arrived at the office in a taxi and walked five minutes to the hotel. Dinner wasn’t far away either. I had no impression of the orientation or size of the place. Well known for being next to a lake, I couldn’t have told you which direction to find it.

It turns out that it’s a very pretty, small city. When I did figure out the lay of the land I realised that nothing was very far away even on foot.

On the last day I went to Zeughauskeller for dinner.

Perhaps not the healthiest of options but, I am told, traditionally Swiss. (The yellow stuff on the right is called Rösti, basically a potato pancake.) A pretty good way to round out my three weeks in the city.

1. Since this was a business trip I didn’t have my regular camera with me and I had to shoot with my iPhone 4. It is surprisingly good for a phone but a long way from even my old “proper” camera in terms of image quality. [↩]

Last time I went to New York I wrote a reasonable amount about it so I’m not sure that I have much to add this time. Instead I’ll mainly just let the pictures do the talking.

The hotel I was staying in was not far from Times Square, so I passed through on a number of occasions. It’s always busy, especially early evening when this image was taken¹.

I always wonder about the artists who paint pictures and caricatures of passing tourists (I saw exactly the same thing in Montmartre the previous week). On the one hand they’re making a living from their art, something that probably most artists are unable to do. Yet I’m sure it’s not what they set out to do.

The following day I decided to cross this river and head into Brooklyn. Since I’d just read about it in Wired and because it’s a “classic,” I decided to cross over the Brooklyn Bridge.

As with all American monuments and significant structures, it has a flag flapping away at the top.

Even half way across the bridge you get some great views back over Manhattan. And looking a little further left you can even catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. But whenever you stop to look or take a picture you have to be very careful that you don’t walk into someone or that a cyclist doesn’t accidentally knock you over. The footbridge was very busy.

Once on the other side I wandered around, had some excellent ice cream and considered my options for the rest of the day. While pondering I stumbled across this view of the Empire State Building through the legs of the Manhattan Bridge.

Back on the other side of the river I took a stroll near Central Park.

The following day I realised that while I’d seen the Empire State Building up close, I’d never really seen the Chrysler Building, which is nearly as famous, just as distinctive and only slightly smaller. I was looking forward to seeing the art deco interior but it was closed and I couldn’t get in. Instead I had to make do with this reflected shot of the outside.

Finally, on my final way back to the hotel with my camera, I realised that I’d seen a lot of these street vendors selling sun glasses and other “high end fashion at knock down prices”! I had to fire off a few shots.

And then it was back to the airport and home. Never a good thing but for some reason I was less affected by jet-lag than usual. In some sense, that made the weekend even better.

1. I thought that “Live View” on my DSLR was a bit of a gimmick but it does allow me to take pictures like this where I wouldn’t be able to get my eye to the view finder. [↩]

It’s been a while since I got back from Paris but things have been so hectic since then that I’ve not found the time to document my trip.

The last time I was in Paris as a tourist I did most of the obvious stuff which meant that this time I was able to just hang out and wander around without any particular aim. That I also had great weather and some luck factored in to make a great weekend.

I started by walking by the Seine, near Îlle de la Cité, not far from where I waited for my train when I was in Paris a few weeks ago with work. While there I passed these roller-blading Policemen. Not something you see every day back at home.

My major concession to visiting the “obvious” sights was climbing the Eiffel Tower. Last time, expecting long queues, I looked around the base of the tower and went up the Arc de Triomphe instead.

Despite booking online beforehand there was still a fairly substantial queue. Still, it was a much shorter wait than for those who had not planned ahead.

Of course it’s a popular location. Even booking ahead I didn’t get my pick of time slots and ended up a little earlier than I might have chosen otherwise. No matter, the view from the top was very much worth getting even if the light wasn’t perfect.

Of course one disadvantage of the view from the tower is that the Eiffel Tower isn’t in it. I was quite pleased with myself for getting a good number of shots with the shadow across the Parc du Champs de Mars until I realised that pretty much everyone with a camera had exactly the same idea.

On the Sunday I found that the Champs-Elysees had been turned into a huge farm. On the Avenue de la Grande-Armée — on the other side of the Arc de Triomphe to the Champs-Elysees — everything looked normal. The usual Parisian chaos as traffic approached the Place Charles de Gaulle.

On the other, trees and plants, fruit and vegetables and people. Lots of people. I guess it shows the influence of the French farmers as I don’t think they’d ever manage to persuade the Mayor to give over Oxford Street for a few plants. It seems that there’s a fight just to hand over the place to pedestrians for a few weeks as Christmas approaches.

Overall it was a good weekend. Lots of walking. Lots to see and eat and do. It’s not often I get to be able to extend a work-trip to cover a weekend but it’s worth it when I do.

As I write this I should have just returned from a trip to Istanbul. Unfortunately the now infamous Ash Cloud put a stop to that before it even started. I spent a Friday evening going through cancelling my flights, hotels and tour.

Dispiriting doesn’t begin to cover it.

But I wasn’t going to let something like that completely ruin my week. Limited to the UK, I decided to go to Salisbury and the near by Stone Henge, two places that I’ve not been to for a long time.

After picking up the hire car and driving out of London, I realised that I was a bit early to check into the B&B and decided to head straight to Stone Henge. Probably not the best option photographically (since the sun was almost overhead) but it worked well time-wise.

One of the bizarre things about Stone Henge is that it’s right next to the A303, a major road. (In fact last time I was here I just drove past in the car and never progressed into the visitors centre!) There have been suggestions that the road should be moved under the monument but, given the proximity, wandering around was remarkably quiet.

It’s an impressive sight. Like Giza’s pyramids, even today it would be a reasonable engineering task to build but it’s almost unimaginable how they achieved it thousands of years ago.

As has been noted many times before, the location has a certain atmosphere that’s difficult to put into words. It must have been a magical place, at least in times where people believed in magic!

After walking about the stone circle I got back in the car and heading down to Salisbury. It’s a pretty, old town.

The historic centre is the Cathedral. Again, it’s incredible to think that, in a time when most people were living in poverty, it was possible to construct a building as large and intricate as this.

Inside it was much brighter than many churches I’ve been in. Towards the centre of the nave was an unusual cross between a font and a waterfall.

Elsewhere in the Cathedral is one of four original copies of the Magna Carta. No pictures allowed in that room, but it was fascinating looking over such an important document. Since it’s all in Latin I relied in the translation on the wall. The combination of fundamental human rights and seemingly trivial details makes an interesting combination.

But the neatest thing that I could take a photograph of was this medieval clock, one of the oldest working examples in the world. Much more detailed descriptions can be found elsewhere so I won’t say much here other than note its significance.

After visiting the Cathedral I took a wander by the river, had quick drink and meandered back to the car. It was only a short trip, but it was good to get away.

I’ve not been to Oxford for… um… since I was seventeen and applying to various universities around the UK. I remember having a fun trip last time but I have zero recollection of where we went and have no photos.

At first I thought that might happen again. Not because I’m suffering from amnesia but because when I arrived it was raining pretty heavily and, for a while, it seemed that the hotel might be a better option than trudging around in the rain.

Fortunately the next morning things looked very different. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the sun was shining but it was (relatively) warm and fine; you can’t really ask for much better around Easter¹.

I started wandering around the University Park, watching the ducks and the little kids running after them and almost falling in.

Wandering further south I stumbled across a building with the following message inscribed: “To Truth; To Liberty; To Religion.” I can’t help but think that the first two parts and the last conflict.

In a similar vein, I thought that the message that churches are open for all to worship together was at odds with the pass-coded security gate. The pictured lady tried to helpfully shift out of frame. I guess she wasn’t to know that I was trying to get her in it!

After that I wandered around the various old colleges in the centre of town.

Down the cobbled streets…

…and over Magdalen Bridge. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think in Oxford that’s pronounced “maudlin.”) Here I noticed the punts all tied up. Presumably it’s too cold or there are too few tourists to rent them out at this time of year.

Almost the last stop was for the Radcliffe Camera which, while it couldn’t help me decide which new lens to get for my Canon, was quite grand.

I’m glad I got to see more than just the hotel. I’m puzzled by how little I can remember from my previous trip which makes me happy that I have evidence of this one.

1. Well, three year ago in Knaresborough I got better but you shouldn’t expect better. [↩]

The first few years of my November Plan were all business trips, but the truth is that I rarely get to see much more than the airport, an office and a hotel room when I go away. Oh, and maybe a restaurant if I get the chance.

That made last weeks trip to Paris and Frankfurt the exception. Meetings finished early in France and I couldn’t change my train reservation so I took the Metro a few stops south a hung around Notre Dame for a couple of hours.

I had a big rucksack with me so I couldn’t go too far and I only had my iPhone rather than my 50D so my photographic options were limited.

Still, I felt lucky to have a couple of hours to myself.

I took the train from Paris to Frankfurt. I had been planning on walking from the Hauptbahnhof but I was tired and I immediately took the wrong turning on exiting. I quickly reevaluated the situation and took a taxi to the hotel. It was dark when I arrived and I quickly fell asleep.

The next morning I walked to the office, through a couple of parks. It was a hard day and I spent most of it on my feet, but luckily I still managed to leave on time.

It was still light when I got back to the hotel so took a few shots of the rush-hour traffic. Afterwards I took a wander down one of the main pedestrian streets. True to form I found the Apple Store.

I also found some interesting patterns in the hotel. This is a picture of the steps, from reception looking up. When I was last in Frankfurt I took a similar picture but from the top looking down. The desk in the middle at the bottom bugged me; I prefer this, cleaner image.

I hope I manage to get a little sight-seeing in next time I go away with work, too. I may even bring my DSLR.