heipei - Jojo

Let's continue

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

It’s been a while since I wrote the last post on this blog, and I’m sure you’re just as surprised to see a new post as I am. Let’s see how long I will actually be able to continue this streak first.

So why do I post now, after all this time? The immediate answer to this question should be: Why the hell not? Lately it feels to me that it is way too easy to find excuses for not doing things we wouldn’t have hesitated about doing when we were younger. Worse, often those are the things that don’t cost us anything yet always used to fill us with joy.

Yes, this is a post about getting older. And about looking back. But it’s also about looking forward. I’m not someone who believes in being too old for something. Sure, if you tell yourself you are too old to do something then it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there’s plenty of folks that don’t even think about being too old, or too busy, or too mature to do something. They just do it. So here’s to being more like these people. Not all the time, but when it feels right.

I might do a separate post on this at some point, but the gist is that we experienced a ton of things over the past six years. Many of them good, many of them truly unique, but also some very sad. And now, after a lot of ups and downs, it starts to feel like we are slowly emerging from the crazy gauntlet of challenges that life threw at us. At the end of this proverbial tunnel we can see the light of day again and look forward to things we have missed over the past few years.

For me this is a great time to look back and reconnect with everything I still remember fondly: Friends we used to hang out with, places we used to visit and just small everyday activities that filled our life. For me a big part of what filled me with happiness has always been traveling and taking photos. After many years with small children and a global pandemic we are finally in a position again to travel to new places and make new experiences. This is me making a promise to myself to continue this blog and fill it with our travels.

But apart from the obvious pastimes like travel and food I’ve re-discovered many small things I used to enjoy. I’ve been listening to music I have listened to in many years (German hip-hop and Techno, in case you’re curious), been re-watching dumb tv shows from my past and played video games after more than a decade of not doing that at all. I like to believe that I’m a different person now than a decade ago. But I also feel like some things about yourself simply don’t change. Those are the things you should embrace unapologetically.

Coming back to the title of this post: It is all too simple to look back at the past and remember all the things that have been, and could have been, and never will be again. But it is much more fun to look back at the past as a treasure-trove of experiences that will influence everything you do going forward. And that’s the only way there is: Onward!

Radio Silence

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100

My last post here was in August of 2016. What happened since then? A lot has happened actually.

Our daughter Anna Sophia was born in August 2016. That’s when our lives turned around, ready or not. Gone were the days with endless hours to kill. Instead we spent many sleepless nights and hungover days with our newest family member. But things turned around quickly, and what emerged from the haze of those first crazy few weeks (or months) was a new-found clarity. Clarity about what matters in life, about which things were worth investing time in and which things we just did because we had too much time to spare. I used to struggle turning down requests and favours asked of me. After our first child was born, it became second nature. This break in our lives let us re-evaluate everything from scratch, like going through a box in storage and asking “Do we still need this?” for every single item within. In some cases this even applies to relationships, cruel as it may sound.

Our second daughter was born in January of 2018 and our third daughter joined us in October of 2019. Yes, you could say we were asking for trouble, but even if everyday life got a little bit more exhausting with each additional child, nothing was as life-changing as having our first child, which is a good thing.

With the sometimes hectic pace and occasional doses of sleep-deprivation I discovered something truly amazing: The less time you have, the more you make of it. And funny enough, you end up with more to show for when you have very little time to do it. At the same time as our first daughter was born I set out to start a software project of my own. Over the past three years this grew into a website used by thousands of people daily, but those seeds were planted in the first month of my parental leave. I learned to sit down and be productive immediately, I learned to plan ahead and become even more obsessive with making lists of things to do when I actually had the odd hour to continue working on something. In that way, having less time is a blessing as it resets you and lets you focus on the few things you truly enjoy and will always prioritise.

Between our daughters and any semblance of life after work, some things had to give. I haven’t watched a single feature film since August 2016 (except on international flights), have rarely had time to go on a 2-3 hour bike ride around the Netherlands, haven’t played any video games and, most crucially, have shot and edited very few photos. I list these things as they used to occupy a lot of my free time. The times my wife and I went out by ourselves at night in the past three years can be counted on two hands. Yet we rarely miss any of these things as that’s simply a part of our life that’s now behind us.

Some things I do miss however, and I’m hoping to get back into some of them. My work and my projects still keep me busy most of the day, and our kids (now three of them) occupy the rest of our waking hours and weekends. Still, I want to make room for getting back into the habit of creating something. That includes taking more photos, but more importantly, getting better at writing. Over the past years I’ve gained immense respect for people who can express themselves with great clarity and purpose via the written word. For myself I’ve also discovered that the only way to deliver something great (be it a text, photos, or a software product) is through iteration. So this is me taking the first step to improve… Stay tuned!

Recent trips - Dublin and Washington

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 21:55:02 +0200

I went on two work-related trips to Washington and Dublin this summer and managed to bring back some pretty photos. Traveling for work is not something that you can always enjoy: You’re on a tight schedule, often flying by yourself, and you’ve got the purpose of your trip in the back of your head the whole time you’re on the road. Still, sometimes you manage to grab a few hours (or a whole day) with a good friend and/or colleague to venture into the city and do some sightseeing. In this regard, work-related trips actually pay off since they let you catch a short glimpse of a place which you can use to decide whether it’s worth to come back on vacation.

Washington

I had been to Washington two years ago, during a trip that was a mixture of work and leisure. This time around, me and a buddy of mine only had a few short hours to actually spend downtown, so we tried to make the most of it. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (what else!), a museum that I’ll probably never get tired of visiting. After that we walked across the National Mall where they were already busy setting up stands for the Independence Day celebrations. Unfortunately it was boiling hot that day, and the mall does not offer a lot of shade. So we walked straight into the National Archives to get a first-hand look at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In general, this building was a little underwhelming, and seeing the documents up close is a bit of a let-down since they’re very crowded, hidden deep down behind glass and barely legible. Also I wasn’t allowed to take photos, you can imagine my opinion on that policy. That was already the extent of our dash into Washington. While it does not sound like a lot, Washington will eat up your day thanks to it’s generously spaced buildings and parks, so make sure you bring plenty of time and comfortable footwear.

Ireland

In mid-July I flew to Dublin to attend SRECon Europe. I flew in a day early to have some time to explore the city with a friend of mine. My memory of Ireland was pretty spotty, my last visit to the green island was more than 15 years ago when I went there as part of a student exchange with our school. Back then we lived in the countryside (which is pretty much all of Ireland except Dublin). I only saw small parts of Dublin when we drove to Croke Park on one occasion.

Ireland is an interesting country to visit, especially if you’ve seen some other major European countries. At first sight it looks like Great Britain, or maybe even any other European country. But then you start noticing the subtle unique aspects of Ireland. It starts on the way from airport, when you realize that people are driving on the left. Sure, there’s other countries which have that, but the next thing you notice is that all official signs and street signs are written in both English and Gaelic, which might as well be Klingon as far as you’re concerned. So once it sinks in that you’re in Ireland, you start looking for other things typically considered to be “Irish”: Plenty of redheads (check!), lots of pubs (check!), first names you have neither heard of nor know how to pronounce (check!) and in general a very proud display of Irish heritage wherever you look.

Which leads us to the kind of sports the Irish seem to enjoy. Entering a pub, you’d be foolish to think that the TV is most likely showing a local soccer game: Green pitch, two teams, a round playing ball and a large audience. That is until a player picks up the ball, tucks it under his arm and starts crashing through lines of opposing players. Couple that with no body-armor whatsoever and you’ve got Gaelic Football. That’s when you realize that Ireland is a proper island. An island where they know how to preserve their culture, sports being one of the most visible differentiators in a world which has become focused around a few major sport events. Similar to Gaelic Football, Hurling is a sport which appears familiar at first sight (“oh, this is like field hockey”) right up until the moment somebody lifts the ball waist-high and smashes it in a baseball-like fashion without regard for the twenty people around him on the field. If it looks too tough to be played anywhere else then it’s right up the alley of Irish sport-fans. The biggest stadium in Ireland (and one of the biggest in Europe) is Croke Park, and they use it only for Gaelic sports, which gives you an idea of the importance that the Irish place in their own sports.

Dublin

In Dublin, we stayed just south of the city centre, in a nice neighborhood called “Ballsbridge”. This allowed us to walk into the city and, even more importantly, to walk back home at night from wherever we ended up. On our first day in Dublin walking was all we did, and Dublin really lends itself to be explored on foot. It is a little confusing since the city does not have a lot of visible landmarks and some of neighborhoods look pretty similar. Even the parks can leave you disoriented since a few of them are rectangular, of similar size and appearance. At least that’s how I felt.

A definite highlight is Trinity College which sits in the middle of the city in a beautiful and quiet campus. As soon as you step through its gates you leave behind the busy streets around its perimeter, which reminded me of the Harvard campus with its gates. Apart from that you can visit Dublin castle and some of the many churches and cathedrals. For night-owls, Dublin is a perfect destination since it boasts a very dense networks of pubs and other restaurants and bars. The pubs are way more friendly than what passes as a bar here in Germany in my opinion: Often you’ll have live music and most people will eat there too, creating a different atmosphere than in a place just built for getting drunk.

On the evenings of the conference we’d usually pick a nice spot to eat with a few people, and then afterwards somebody with some local knowledge would lead us into one of the many fancy cocktail bars that Dublin offers. In this regard I was positively surprised: There’s a good amount of really nice restaurants and the night-life was neither too shrill nor too tame. The neighborhood of Temple Bar really stands out in this regard, and is a must-see at night.

On our last day we had a few hours to kill before our flight. Unsurprisingly, we both were pretty beat from the past three days of attending the conference, not keen on repeating our adventure on foot from day one. So we did as tourists do and hopped on one of the many double-decker buses criss-crossing the city. This one took us through downtown Dublin and out to some remote locations we wouldn’t have explored by foot: Guinness Brewery and Phoenix Park. I took me a while to admit it, but I’ve come to appreciate these buses as way to quickly get a sense of a city, it’s neighborhoods and the distances in general. Taking a bus is something that you should probably do on day one rather than at the end. Now I’m back and glad not to have anything on my schedule for the next few months, but like with every trip I fondly look back at the time spent on the road, exhausting as it might have been.

Summer 2016 (so far)

Fri, 27 May 2016 22:10:02 +0200

It’s raining right now, so what better time to write a small post about this year’s summer (so far). To be honest, this is mainly meant as a shameless way to show off some of my photos.

Grenzroute 2, near Kelmis, Belgium

We went hiking already a couple of times, mostly over well-known routes. I played it safe and brought my EOS 60D and the Canon EFs 18-200 plus polarizing filter which have never let me down. I tend to shoot less photos than I did a few years ago. Maybe this is because I have so many photos of landscapes sitting on my hard drive, or maybe it’s because I know that taking too many pictures will greatly decrease my motivation for editing them afterwards. Still, I like to think that I am still improving my skill ever so slightly each time I pick up my camera. A while back I even devised a Lightroom preset which approximates a Fuji-like color rendition for my Canon RAW files which I have been using ever since.

We have been living in Aachen for almost eleven years now. One the one hand this feels like an eternity, but on the other hand it’s a nice feeling to be that familiar with the surrounding country side, villages, cities, people. Only last week I discovered some cool mapping websites which will come in handy for hiking and biking around here. I’ve come to appreciate the topographical features of these maps when planning somewhat longer biking trips. It pays off to pay attention to elevation, otherwise the ride might end up shorter and more painful than anticipated.

Orsbach, Mulleklenkes, Aachen

The Hike & Bike Map is an OpenStreetMap overlay that includes hiking and biking routes, and, more importantly, has topographical data and terrain shading. The OpenTopoMap has a different base layer, better contrast and more accurate rendering. I guess it’s up to you which of those you prefer. The map on Waymarked Trails also includes the Lonvia routes, but has a really nice popout legend where you can hover over the routes in the view and quickly see their outline. This is a cool feature since the hiking routes around here are sometimes densely packed which makes it hard to follow an individual route.

Fujifilm - X100, X-E1, X-T1

Wed, 24 Feb 2016 23:50:02 +0100

Early in 2015 I was ready for something new camera-wise, so I started looking at Fujifilm X-series interchangeable lens cameras. The aim was not to replace my X100 (no camera could ever do that), but merely to see whether a Fuji could potentially replace my EOS 60D for travelling and nature photography.

Fujifilm X-E1, Fujifilm XF 35 1.4 | 1/150sec, f/2.0, ISO 400

After a long period of research and deliberation, I started looking for used cameras and quickly found a good offer: A silver X-E1 with the great Fujifilm XF 35mm f1.4. I decided on the X-E1 because of price and some negative feedback I had read about the X-Trans II sensor in later models (X-E2, X-T1). Later in 2015, I got a Fujifilm X-T1 on loan for a few months, allowing me to directly compare the X-E1, X-T1, and X100. I don’t want to talk too much about technical differences between these systems, just the ones that I noticed and that impacted me.

X-E1: OVF, Shutter, Focus, Buttons

The first thing that immediately struck me was the size of the X-E1: No matter which lens, it would never be as compact as the X100. The X100 fits into my pocket for some of my jackets, the X-E1 almost never does.

In terms of buttons and menus, the X-E1 is a welcome evolution of the somewhat awkward UI that the X100 started out with. The X-T1 retains the same menu layout. As far as buttons and usability is concerned, Fujifilm has stayed true to its often-praised layout, with dedicated hardware buttons for important things like shutter time, aperture, and exposure compensation. No suprises here, all of these cameras handle amazing which makes you want to take them with you wherever you go. My only gripe with the X-T1 is that it does not have a threaded release button.

Fujifilm X-E1, Fujifilm XF 35 1.4 | 1/100sec, f/1.4, ISO 200

Neither the X-E1 nor the X-T1 has the same hybrid viewfinder of the X100, and for me that’s OK. While the OVF might be nice for hardcore street photographers, I’ve rarely used it on the X100, usually preferring the exposure preview of the EVF. The EVF in the X-E1 is OK, but not really any better than the X100. This is different with the X-T1: Its viewfinder will knock your pants off! It’s huge, it’s bright, it rotates the display, and it actually allows you to manual-focus stuff without guessing (also thanks to various focus-assist features). This is the way I want to be using my cameras going forward.

The shutter in the X-E1 is outright loud when compared to the silent leaf shutter of the X100. Having said that, it’s still not as loud as my DSLR. With the X-T1, you can choose between an equally-loud mechanical shutter or a completely silent electronic shutter. The electronic shutter might create some ghosting effects and other artifacts under some circumstances, but in general it works really well. For me, being able to shoot in a church with not sound at all is a great feature in itself. If you focus manually you won’t even hear the chatter of the lens.

Both fotos: Fujifilm X-E1, Fujifilm XF 35 1.4

As far as auto-focus is concerned there were no real surprises: I was shooting with the XF 35mm 1.4 most of the time, one of the slowest AF lenses from Fujifilm. Still, with the latest firmware upgrade, the X-T1 was able to drive the focus with a surprising pace. Certainly quick enough for all my needs. The X-E1 is no slouch either.

X-Trans vs. Bayer

A lot has been said about all of these cameras before, and especially with regards to very technical aspects like AF speed, resolution, sequential capture speed, battery life. For me, none of this matters that much with these kind of cameras, my EOS 60D is still able to beat the Fujfilm cameras in any of these aspects (sadly). What the Fujifilm cameras have going for them is the very natural handling and their gorgeous color rendition.

Left: X-T1, Right: X-E1. Both: Fujifilm XF 35 1.4

What I didn’t really realize until shooting with the X-E1 and X-T1 was that they were actually using the Fujifilm X-Trans sensors. Basically, these sensors are different because they have a different color pattern than traditional Bayer sensors, such as the one in the X100. Now, I really don’t care about the pattern of the sensor, even if it’s supposed to render colors even truer to what the human eye is able to perceive. I do care however if the sensor introduces problems that haven’t been there before.

There are a few things about the X-Trans sensors that I really dislike, and it all comes down to conscious decisions made by Fujifilm. First off, the film emulations render differently, often with more contrast and less dynamic range. The most obvious difference to the X100 is that they no longer render as “warm” as my X100 did, which has actually been observed by a number of people who traded their brand-new X100S/T back in for an old X100. But with some different settings I can still work with the JPEGs that these cameras drop.

Fujifilm X-T1, Fujifilm XF 18-55 | 1/210sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

The biggest flaw is certainly the rendering of skin tones at high ISOs by X-Trans II sensors. This is an issue that has been described in countless forums threads as “waxy” or “plastic” skin tones. Sadly, photographing people in dimly lit settings is something I do quite often. The only remedy here is to shoot RAW and develop in Lightroom, which presents the next problem: RAW support for Fujifilm X-Trans files still sucks in Lightroom. The files often come out looking like an impressionist painting (see: “watercolor effect”), especially with details like foliage. Also I didn’t want to start developing RAW with these cameras when JPEG always worked fine for me. For now I shoot RAW+JPEG and usually throw away the RAW files until the effect is really noticeable.

Fujifilm X-T1, Fujifilm XF 35 1.4 | 1/30sec, f/1.4, ISO 1250

Manual lenses

The cool thing about a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is that you can get all sorts of neat manual-focus lenses from the days of full-frame SLR film photography. There are plenty of cheap adapters available. As far as the lenses go, you should do some research about good ones. These do not come dirt-cheap since everyone has realized the value of these old gems by now.

Fujifilm X-E1 with Canon nFD 50mm 1.4

I got myself a Canon nFD 50mm 1.4 and a Canon nFD 24mm 2.8 from eBay. Together, these lenses cost me about €120, a lot less than any experiment with used Fujifilm lenses would have run me. To be fair, the 24mm is not a very sharp lens. It has to be stopped down before you want to use the pictures it produces. The 50mm 1.4 is a lot better: It has some issues wide open (slight CAs and general sharpness), but it produces beautiful images and still has a creamy bokeh when stopped down just slightly. While these are not the lenses I use every day, they are fun to shoot with as they force you to slow down and further complement the whole rangefinder-like hands-on experience with these cameras. When using manual focus lenses, the X-T1 is clearly superior to the X-E1 because of its huge EVF.

Fujifilm X-T1, Canon nFD 50 1.4 | 1/40sec, f/1.4, ISO 640

Verdict

In the past few months I had some time to dwell on the differences of these cameras. I’m now sure that neither of these cameras can replace one or the other unequivocally. The X100 is unique because of its size and perfect sensor/lens combo. Furthermore, the 23mm focal length of the X100 is perfect in my opinion. It made me get a 24mm pancake lens for my EOS 60D and I was even considering the XF 23mm 1.4 for the X-E1, stupid as that may sound. The X-E1 is the compromise of an X100 with interchangeable lenses. The X-T1 is the absolutely bonkers workhorse in the line-up: fast, professional, solid. Still, it is not able to replace a rangefinder-like camera such as the X-E1 for everyone. The fact that neither camera can be recommended over the other is remarkable. With DSLRs, the “larger” models are always preferable save for price and maybe size.

Fujifilm X-E1, Canon nFD 24 2.8 | 1/140sec, f/x.x, ISO 400

For me, having three cameras (plus my DSLR) did not make it any easier to find a verdict about which of these cameras might be my main camera. When I was in doubt I just took my X100 (mainly due to size), and it never disappointed me. My advice for someone who wants to enter the Fuji X system would be this: Start out with one of the older models. They can be had for fair prices and in terms of image quality they are still on the same level (or even above) the newest models. If you like the system but need things like a quick AF, you can always keep your lenses and trade your body for a newer model.

While this review might sound slightly negative, this is just me being pedantic. All of these issues I mentioned are minor and quickly forgotten once you start using the cameras. The image quality and color reproduction are amazing, the lenses are tack-sharp and the cameras are a joy to shoot with. I’m not yet selling my EOS 60D, but I find it increasingly hard to pick it up. The EVF and the manual handling really improved my photography and frequently make the difference between mindless snapping and conscious photography.

Heidelberg - November 2015

Sat, 20 Feb 2016 23:50:02 +0100

Here are some impressions from our trip to Heidelberg in November 2015. We had a weekend there, with one night which we spent at the Schlosskommers (a kind of student festivity) in the ancient Heidelberg castle overlooking the city. The day before that we spent wandering the city and its Christmas market, and hiked the mountain behind the city center. I only took my trusty X100 and, as always, it did not let me down one bit. Enjoy the photos!

For me, one of the must-sees of Heidelberg was the Studentenkarzer (Karzer meaning "prison"), where students would be locked up for various durations for all kinds of infractions. As you can imagine, this quickly developed into a rite of passage, especially among the many fraternity members who would go out and try to get arrested as creatively as possible. Their tales of how and why they were ultimately arrested adorn the walls of the prisons, along with the insignia, colors and various other drawings.

On Sunday, before leaving, we walked across the river Neckar and up the hills to the Philosophenweg. This trail snakes along the hills north of the city center and offers a few beautiful vistas, including the castle.

Brussels & Gent - 2015

Wed, 10 Feb 2016 23:50:02 +0100

Living in the border region between Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium means that some of the closest cities are in fact not German. From Aachen, it’s only a 30-minute drive to Maastricht (NL) or a 45-minute drive to Liege (BE). Sadly, most people who come here to study never use the chance to explore those countries. This is especially tragic if you realize that the part of Belgium bordering Germany has a lot to offer in terms of nature. I wrote a couple of blog posts before on Belgium: Vacationing, Liege, Hiking.

I had never been to Brussels though, which is inexcusable since it’s only a 90-minute drive from Aachen. So last year I ran out of excuses and Katrin and I drove to Brussels for an extended weekend. There we met an old friend who was in Belgium for a conference, who also wanted to see some of the country.

Brussels was very much like I imagined it would be. The huge and serious district which houses all of the EU administration and the rest of the city, which is distinctly Belgian. The only thing that really surprised me was the choice of supreme restaurants. Up until then I had never thought of Belgium as the home to a lot of high end restaurants, but our guidebook pointed out that Belgium has the largest amount of star-adorned restaurants per capita.

After Brussels we got into the car for the short drive to Gent/Ghent, the second biggest city in Flanders. Up until then I had mainly seen cities in the Wallonie, the French-speaking part of Belgium. When we crossed into Flanders we could immediately make out some of the subtle differences between the two parts of the country.

Gent itself is absolutely lovely and must-see. I’d describe it as a mixture of cities like Amsterdam, Aachen, with a unique Belgian touch. The city center is small enough to explore on foot, and it has a good supply of impressive churches and small canals. Gent is also home to a large university which adds a lot of life to the city center and the main river crossing it. Without using too many words, Gent is the most beautiful city in Belgium I have seen so far and definitely worth visiting. I am fully aware that some day I will still have to see some other places like Bruges and Antwerp to complete the picture.

Las Vegas 2015

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 23:13:03 +0100

In August of this year I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas. A colleague and I had submitted a talk to the BlackHat hackers conference and were accepted, so we went to Las Vegas and stayed there for almost a whole week.

I had never been to Las Vegas, and if it hadn’t been for this conference I probably wouldn’t have gone there by myself. But this way I was able to kill two birds with one stone: Present at an awesome conference and experience the unique city of Vegas. Meeting a lot of cool people and linking up with some of my co-workers was the cherry on top.

My trip there was a little arduous. Having booked a little late, I had only found a flight with one layover in Newark, New Jersey. But at least I got a great shot of the Manhattan skyline on the approach to the airport. The airport in New Jersey was chaotic and crowded, and it didn’t help that my connecting flight was five hours late (and another five hours to actually fly to Vegas). Still, it was amazing to fly into Las Vegas at night, first over miles and miles of pitch-black desert and then suddenly past the bright lit Hoover Dam and the screaming street lights of the city.

From the airport I took a cab to my hotel, the pyramid-shaped egyptian-themed Luxor hotel. Once you enter any of the hotels, the line between day and night quickly blurs, as there is a line for the reception desk no matter the time of day, and the gambling tables and machines create an incessant noise level.

The following days can hardly be described in any coherent story. I spent all day going to and from different hotels, meeting people for lunch and dinner, going to some of the many vendor-sponsored parties and in general just trying to take in the sheer madness that is the sensory overload of Vegas. Fortunately I had two days to acclimate myself before our actual talk, but still it was more than exhausting to cram this much into such a short time frame.

Our talk went well, we got some great feedback and gave a couple of follow-up interviews. After the stress of preparing for the talk had passed I was able to enjoy myself a little bit. Flo had also flown into Vegas as we wanted to visit another hacker conference (Defcon) that takes place at the same time, just a little bit further down the strip. After the days we’d try to get to the cool parties, which often meant queueing up in the long lines for the taxis and aimlessly running through the Casino floors to find the exits that would lead us to the street. I even found the time to visit the old Vegas strip with a friend, which was a lot smaller and not as loud and stressful as the modern strip.

The photos in this post will certainly show some of the craziness that is Las Vegas, but this is really just scratching the surface. Vegas is, without a doubt, the most unapologetic and over-the-top location you could think of. You marvel and laugh at things every instant you’re there, and you can just as easily be annoyed by the blatant money-making machine that is the whole city.

After a week of Vegas I was completely burned out and happy to go home. It was an absolutely unique and new experience, most of all because of the people I met there. People have a love-hate relationship with this city, as everyone I met confirmed to me readily. Happy to go there once year, but just as happy to be back after a week.

Greece 2015 – Nafplio

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 23:58:44 +0100

The Peloponnese city of Nafplio was to be our last stop on our way through Greece. We heard many great things about Nafplio both from friends as well as locals. They told us that Nafplio was one of the prettiest cities and it was often described as romantic.

The old center of Nafplio is located on the tip of a bay, wedged between the harbor and some hills. As a result, the streets are narrow and steep and there are only a few places to go to by car. We weren’t completely sure about the location of our hotel, so we had to do some driving, search, Googling and cursing. Eventually we found a hotel by the right name, only to realize that it was only part of the hotel we were looking for and that the other (prettier) part of it was run by the brother of the owner, further up the hill.

Eventually we found our hotel which had a grand view of Nafplio and the harbor, and could only be reached on foot. From there it was possible to take one of the many stairways down into the city, past the many stray dogs and cats and beautiful houses.

Nafplio was the capital of Greece from 1821 until 1834, and it still radiates some of its grandeur. There is Palamidi castle, towering high above the city, and there is Plateia Syntagmatos (Syntagma Square) in the city-centre. The streets and houses in Nafplio are incredibly well preserved and cared for. While there are a few of the mandatory tourist shops, the rest of the store-fronts are either really good restaurants or tasteful local shops. We were especially taken over by the myriad of absolutely sublime Tavernas we encountered, making us wish we could dinner three times a day.

From our hotel it was only a short walk down on the opposite side of the hill to a tiny and crowded beach. Once we saw the pre-arranged sun loungers, the busy waiters (!) and the constant stream of music we decided to skip it and head for another beach a little further away. Not wanting to take our car (and lose our parking spot) we actually walked there on our first day. This was a rare instance where we regretted our decision to do something during this holiday. The gravel walkway to the second beach was cared for and gave us some beautiful views of the coast, but it was also without any shade and took us almost an hour. When we arrived we had already been burnt by the sun, so there was not a whole lot swimming we could still do. The next day we took our car, but by then we could only sit in the shade, shirts and everything, and I still looked like a lobster the next day. But we still had a great time, the city and the food made up for any inconvenience.

We also found time to visit the ancient Greek city of Epidaurus, not far from Nafplio. Since the sun promised to become unbearable on that day, we had driven there earlier than usual. The huge amphitheatre of Epidaurus was another childhood memory I could recall, and I was glad that we went there again. Apart from the theatre, the stadium and a lot of columns, there really isn’t too much to say about the site except what I had already critised about Olympia.

On our last day we left Nafplio to drive to Athens airport directly. The only stop we had planned on that drive was at the canal of Corinth. I distinctly remember visiting Corinth as a child, but seeing the narrow and steep canal driven into the sheer rock was nevertheless an impressive sight. Since we weren’t in a hurry, we didn’t immediately get back onto the highway to Athens but instead took the small old national road going the same direction. This way we saw the small bridge at the far end of the canal, an interesting and fitting way to end our vacation.

Greece has been an absolutely awesome vacation in every way. The weather, the landscape, the food, and the people all make this one of the top destinations to go to to relax. In hindsight, it would certainly help to read up on ancient Greek history and mythology to be able to take in the wealth of historic sites. Also it really pays of to be able to read (and pronounce) the Greek alphabet fluently (lower- and uppercase), this will help a lot when navigating the roads. I was particularly impressed with the diversity of the Greek countryside, going from flat, arid Olive plantations to mountainous dense forests within an hour of driving. Last but not least, we didn’t notice the Euro crisis that everyone was talking about back home, and we were always warmly received by our hosts.

Greece 2015 – Mystras on the road to Nafplio

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 23:39:41 +0100

We left Kalamata heading east, on the road to Sparti. Just outside of the city, the road started climbing and winding through the hills and we were soon well up in the mountains. This is one of the occasions were I didn’t take many photos as I had to drive, which was a real shame since the road was so unique. If you search the Internet for “road kalamata to sparti” you get an idea of what it looks like. This was, without a doubt, the most beautiful and diverse stretch of landscape we saw in our time in Greece, and it rivalled even the stunning mountain roads of Canadian national parks.

A little before we reached the city of Sparti we left the main road to drive up a really tiny and even steeper mountain road. Our destination was the ancient town of Mystras. When we arrived at the upper parking lot the sun was already punishing us, but this wasn’t to keep us from seeing the ruins.

Mystras is located in the Taygetos mountain range. It was built there for tactical reasons, and we soon discovered just how steep the climb up the mountain to the ancient fortress really was. There were some ruins which had since been consumed by nature while others (like churches and cathedrals) were still very much intact. From the highest point, the fortress, we could see all of Mystras and lot of the surrounding countryside.

On our way back we noticed that there was a second parking lot (the lower entrance) to the ancient town, so we stopped here as well to see some of the additional buildings. The highlight of the lower part was definitely the Metropolis (Cathedral), with its beautiful courtyard and dark church interior. The rest of the day was spent driving towards out final destination for this holiday: Nafplio.