Situated on the southwest bank of the Mississippi River, the floodplain forest of Colvill Park is one of the most popular spots in Minnesota to watch wintering bald eagles. In the spring and fall migrating ducks such as mallards, common mergansers, and common goldeneyes can be seen feeding. White-tail deer, mink, and gray squirrels are also common sites. ~#exploremn
There were not many eagles this a.m., but the light, shadows and reflections were wonderful.
Views: 205
Bay City is a village on the Mississippi River in Pierce County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 500 at the 2010 census. It is one of my favorite places to shoot a sunrise. It’s close proximity to Red Wing makes it an easy distance to travel. This isn’t such a big deal in the Winter when sunrise is 7:30 a.m. In the Spring and Summer months, though, sunrise is closer to to 5:30 a.m.
I made the trip to this very spot yesterday a.m. and it was less than colorful.
That morning was more suited for photographing the hoar frost.
This morning was a completely different.
It was a chilly morning, but it wasn’t too bad at 19 degrees. Always a good time with nature, cameras and friends.
Views: 156
There was a constant build of anticipation leading up to the fortress; as you can see it a very long way off. The structure was truly massive. You can get a sense of the scale in the photo below. It was a warm August day; I was glad to see that an escalator lay between the bottom and the base of the fortress – easy mode.
I could have spent an entire day here exploring every corner on the interior. The view from the top of the fortress is magnificent. The restaurant was great as well; of course there was beer, lovely ice cold beer. There is quite a collection of items on display inside. Plenty of other attraction all around the fortress as well.
Hohensalzburg Fortress, literally “High Salzburg Fortress” sits atop the Festungsberg, a small hill in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Erected at the behest of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg with a length of 820 ft and a width of 490 ft, it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.
1077 – 1462
Construction of the fortress began in 1077 under Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein. The original design was a basic bailey with a wooden wall. In the Holy Roman Empire, the archbishops of Salzburg were already powerful political figures and they expanded the fortress to protect their interests. Helfenstein’s conflict with Emperor Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy influenced the expansion of the fortress, with the Archbishop taking the side of Pope Gregory VII and the German anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden. The fortress was gradually expanded during the following centuries. The ring walls and towers were built in 1462 under Prince-Archbishop Burkhard II von Weißpriach.
1495 – 1519
Prince-Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach further expanded the fortress during his term from 1495 until 1519. His coadjutor Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, who was later to succeed Leonhard, in 1515 wrote a description of the Reisszug, a very early and primitive funicular railway that provided freight access to the upper courtyard of the fortress. The line still exists, albeit in updated form, and is probably the oldest operational railway in the world. The current external bastions, begun in the 16th century and completed in the 17th, were added as a precaution because of fears of Turkish Invasion.
1525 – 1800
The only time that the fortress actually came under siege was during the German Peasants’ War in 1525, when a group of miners, farmers and townspeople tried to oust Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang, but failed to take the fortress. In 1617 the deposed Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau died in the fortress prison. During the Thirty Years’ War, Archbishop Count Paris of Lodron strengthened the town’s defenses, including Hohensalzburg. He added various parts to the fortress, such as the gunpowder stores and additional gatehouses. The fortress was surrendered without a fight to French troops under General Jean Victor Marie Moreau during the Napoleonic War of the Second Coalition in 1800 and the last Prince-Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo fled to Vienna. In the 19th century, it was used as barracks, storage depot and dungeon before being abandoned as a military outpost in 1861. ~wikipedia
Views: 170
Salzburg, literally “salt castle”, is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of Salzburg state.
Its historic center is renowned for its baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps, with 27 churches. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The city has three universities and a large population of students. Tourists also visit Salzburg to tour the historic center and the scenic Alpine surroundings.
Salzburg was the birthplace of the 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid‑20th century, the city was the setting for the musical play and film The Sound of Music. ~wikipedia
Our visit to Salzburg, Austria was the highlight of the trip for me. It was the closest we made it to Traun, Austria, which was another hour or so north east. Perhaps we will make it there some day on a return trip tour of Austria by car; a very good reason to come back.
There was rain in the forecast for our day trip to Austria. It didn’t rain a drop the entire time we were out and about though. The clouds looked ominous the whole train ride from Munich to Salzburg.
There is so much to see in Salzburg; I could have stayed here a few days. The river and mountain views were beautiful. The fortress on top of the hill overlooking Salzburg was our destination (next blog post).
Petersfriedhof Cemetery is a picturesque with baroque tombs of nobility as well as 12th-century catacombs & chapels. The adjacent monastery is the oldest in the German-speaking world. Since 696, monks have been living, praying and working there.
Views: 227
Fort Snelling State Park is a great place to go to photograph Whitetail deer. My wife Cyndie and I, along with our photog friend Linnae, made the chilly early November trip to in hopes of photographing deer.
In previous years, it seemed that we started out seeing smaller bucks and worked our way up. Not this year. When we arrived around 8 a.m., we found the big guy with a single doe in a ditch along side the road. We didn’t have much time with this guy. A truck pulled up shortly after we did and was a bit close for his comfort. The doe trotted off with him closely behind.
We never pass over the boat landing on Picnic Island. There is usually something interesting there to see.
It didn’t take long into our walk on Pike Island and my wife spotted another big fella laying down in the thick stuff. Another fine looking buck. He had a couple of does next to him.
There was just as much photographer activity as deer. Another photographer told us about a piebald spike buck he had seen earlier. It wasn’t too long after that and we have the fortune of seeing him as well.
Pike Island is pretty large, but not so large that you cannot cover the area at a leisurely pace. It seemed like we saw way more deer this trip compared to years past.
There is quite an abundance of other wildlife and nature to behold in the park. Here are a few other things that caught my eye.
Another great visit to a wonder Minnesota State Park. If you have never been, I highly recommend this experience.
Previous trips to Fort Snelling State Park
Views: 847
Westpark is a large urban public park in Munich, Germany. It was designed by landscape architect Peter Kluska and completed in 1983. It hosted the International Garden Expo 83 that same year. The park covers an area of 178 acres extending 2.6 km from east to west. The Garmischer Straße divides the park into an eastern and western section.
– wikipedia
I was very impressed by the number of parks in Munich; the amount of green space is amazing. The fact that there are beer gardens is most of that green space – double amazing! The origin of the planning of this trip to Germany centered around this day. Friends of our cousins in Texas (our travel companions on this trip) that live in Germany were married earlier in the year. Today was Fridric and Jessica’s wedding celebration. My wife and I were happy to make their acquaintance and were appreciative we were invited to take part. It was wonderful. The beer from the wooden keg was exquisite. Tapping the keg is a big deal as well (see videos below).
The rose garden consists of more than 20,000 roses and 500 different rose species. – wikipedia
Had a beer and snack prior to the evenings festivities
Four of the originally 23 national gardens of the exhibit are preserved. The very first authentic Chinese garden in Europe is a walled garden that might have been constructed for an historic scholar. Around a pond the walkways leads along the four seasons and four parts of a lifetime. The Japanese garden was a gift from Munich’s sister City Sapporo and combines elements from the Heian period. A Nepali pagoda was carved by 200 master carvers and transported to Munich. A free standing Thai-Sala hosts the first consecrated Gautama Buddha statue in Germany. – wikipedia
This garden was beautiful. I was regretting not bringing my DSL to capture it. It was going to be a lengthy day and I didn’t feel like dragging it along. Mistake. Smartphones do a pretty good job capturing scenes, but no comparison to a DSL.
I didn’t get a whole lot of shots of the celebration because I was…well celebrating. The bride and groom had all sort of costumes for attendees to wear if they didn’t come dressed up. A very fun evening all the way around. Great people, venue, food and of course the beer.
I thought this door nob at the restaurant was interesting. Drucken; means “press/push;” however it looked a lot like Drunken after a few beers. It was on the way to the bathroom.
You meet all kinds of people throughout your daily lives and travel. On this trip we met several wonderful people/couples. Fridric and Jessica are a wonderfully jovial couple. I felt fortunate to have been able to spend a considerable amount of time with them throughout the week. They were wonderful hosts as they showed us around Munich, their hometown of Murnau and Salzburg, Austria. Many thanks to both of them for their time, hospitality, generosity, suggestions on sites to visit and the knowledge shared about Munich and the numerous sites we visited together as a group. Going through all of these photos is a bit like reliving all the fun we had on this trip. Very grateful for all of the experiences.
Views: 352
A relaxing day exploring more of Munich. Today’s destination was Viktualienmarkt. Munich is a colorful city. I was especially impressed with all of the floral adornments; in the parks, window boxes, etc.
The Viktualienmarkt is a daily food market and a square in the center of Munich, Germany. It developed from an original farmers’ market to a popular market for gourmets. In an area covering 22,000 m2(240,000 sq ft), 140 stalls and shops offer flowers, exotic fruit, game, poultry, spices, cheese, fish, juices and so on.
Most stalls and shops are open during the official opening hours (Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.); but the Biergarten doesn’t open until 9 a.m. Many stalls close at 6 p.m., before the standard closing time. There are special opening hours for flower shops, bakeries and restaurants. -wikipedia
The market is a must see if you are in Munich. It is an absolute explosion of color and aromas. There will be more photos when we returned to the market later in the week. The beer gardens here can get busy and are a bit more expensive.
Viktualienmarkt @ 2:15
The English menus here were great; they included pictures of each appetizer, entree, dessert, etc. Everywhere else we dined had English menus or English descriptions directly below the German.
We were seating in the Noah’s Ark area of the restaurant. The vaulted painted ceilings were beautiful. It was pretty dark in this space and smartphone photography was bit challenging. The picture of my meal doesn’t do it justice so I will not include it. The food here was very good as was the services. Top notch establishment; highly recommend it.
The six vaulted arches of Noah’s Ark (painted in the 1920’s) tell the story of enjoyment associated with drinking wine in forty-eight presentations. In addition, the main painting on the front of the Noah’s Ark, as Noah beached with his ark on Mount Ararat and dismisses his pairs of animals.
The painter Heinrich Schlitt had shown much humor in the design of the naive depictions. Georg von Hauberisser, the architect and master builder commissioned by the then administration and the councilors, also designed the Ratskeller, in keeping with the romantic spirit of the time in the Gothic style of the XVI. Century. -Ratskeller.com
There was much discussion over this painting. You may notice on the left side of the image there is an odd looking animal. There is both a camels and lions in the painting; there there is what appears to be a camel-lion directly below the pair of giraffes.
Views: 326
Schwangau is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria, Germany. The village lies 4 km from the larger town of Füssen and just 1.5 km from Hohenschwangau, collection of tourist-oriented facilities adjacent to the major tourist attractions of Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau. – wikipedia
Schwangau has no rail service and aside from renting a car, Bus Bavaria is a great mode of transport to get you there. We booked a tour through Mikes Bike Tours / Bus Bavaria / Bike Rentals to visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. If you plan to visit these castle and think you will save a euro or two by standing in the line to get tickets – MISTAKE. The lines are so long and if it is warm, there isn’t any shade to stand in.
We went on the Summer Neuschwanstein Castle Tour by Bus (with bike ride). At €59 ea for adults, it was well worth it. Bus travel to and from Munich, bike ride, plus you skip the lines when you arrive! Super simple to book online and no hassle at all. We were able to walk to their office from our hotel to get on the bus.
The bike ride was easy over generally flat terrain. We peddled out to a lake; stopped for a bit so people could take a dip if they wanted and then headed back to where we started for lunch at Schloss Brauhaus.
A clip from the bike tour. Ryan, our guide, was explaining a bit about the castle and why it is still standing today. The audio is poor, you need to really turn up the sound to hear it – sorry.
Schloss Brauhaus was very good. The cold beer was very welcome after the leisurely bike ride through the Bavarian countryside. The lunch we had at their outdoor beer garden was tasty too.
Neuschwanstein Castle
Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honor of Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.
The castle was intended as a home for the king, until he died in 1886. It was open to the public shortly after his death. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. – wikipedia
After lunch we hopped on the bus for the castle tour. You do not actually have to do the tour. You can walk all around the castles without doing the tour. Some of the people that were on the bus with us that took the castle tour said they learned more about the castles on the bike ride than they did with the castle tour.
We did not walk around this castle as there wasn’t time.
Hohenschwangau Castle is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria. – wikipedia
I am sure all of Mikes Bike Tour guides are great; Ryan was exceptional!
As luck would have it, the bus went right by our hotel coming back into Munich. We arrived back in time for dinner. Munchen Stubn was a block away from our hotel. I highly recommend the Munchen Stubn Board and the Allgau Cheese Spaetzle. Both very delicious. the board was smoked kaminwurzen (semi-dried
sausage), blackened smoked pork, cold roast, coarse liverwurst, Tegernsee mountain cheese, obazda, leberkas and herbed cream cheese. Served with crunchy radishes and beer radish, pretzel stick with chives, assorted breads, a pretzel and tub butter. The spaetlze was two kinds of cheese, homemade fried onions and chives. A great meal to top off the day.
Views: 373
Viewing and photographing the wild horses was the primary goal of the trip in early October 2018. We had the good fortune of a prior consultation with Deb Lee Carson before our trip. Deb has spent a lot of time with the Wild Horses of TRNP. Having never been to TRNP, her insights were very helpful and greatly appreciated. 
“It is difficult to explain one’s love for horses, it cannot be explained, it is simply felt.” ~ Deb Lee Carson
The Wild Horses of TRNP are majestic animals to say the least. Their unbridled beauty roaming free was amazing to witness in person and photograph. Three days total time in the park didn’t seem near long enough. I was grateful for the exposure and the time I had with the horses.
[Read about the background and history of horses at TRNP]
The 46000 acre South Unit of TRNP is an incredible backdrop for these beautiful creatures. All that space does make for a lot of places to roam out of sight. Tuesday afternoon when we arrived we did not see a single horse. The next morning we had a dusting of snow and it was cold and windy. We managed to find a few horses.
Our luck turned around on Thursday. After photographing sunrise from Badlands Overlook we continued on the loop counter-clockwise and found Grey Ghost grazing by himself.
We encountered Flax and his band a few different times on Thursday. He is a handsome stallion. Dolly and Kat are two of his mares.
We saw quite a few more on Thursday just after sunrise. Lots of horses snoozing in the warm early morning sunlight.
Bad weather in Wyoming brought Deb Lee Carson to Medora late Thursday evening. She accompanied us in the morning to photograph. A sunrise opportunity didn’t really present itself, but the light was pretty amazing that Friday morning regardless. The clear skies and the bright sunlight back-lit the horses and illuminated their surroundings. What a great end to a terrific photo trip to TRNP. We saw a nice large group of horses that morning and spend a good amount of time photographing and observing them.
See also Deb Lee Carson Photography fb page
Pleas also check out This Mustang Life and their project: Taking Back The West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-_7j5I2M60
Views: 10414
Locating wildlife in TRNP – South Unit was challenging the first few days. All the critters hunkered down in the cool and windy weather. As the weather improved, so did the wildlife viewing. We saw a Coyote hunting prairie dogs in the early a.m.; must to dark for a photograph. We also met a porcupine in the early morning hours crossing the road. Plenty of Cottontail Rabbits in the early a.m. too.
Bison roam around all over the place; there are plenty to see throughout the park. Large herds congregated by the campground by the river on the West side of the park.
Prairie Dogs were plentiful as well. There are three really large towns right along side the road. They are fun to watch.
Pronghorns in park were sparse. We happened upon two bucks that had just finished a battle. They were noticeably fatigued and bloody.
Mule Deer are plentiful. They were everywhere and ran around like squirrels in the park. We saw mostly does, but did manage to locate two nice bucks and one spike buck.
The Whitetail Deer were very elusive. Most of the sightings were along the river by the campground. We did spot a nice buck by the Jones Creek Trail Head. I was shooting out the passenger window and the temp different between the vehicle and the outside was significant which softens the image considerably.
We saw two different bull Elk just outside of Medora the first afternoon when we arrived, but did not stop to photograph. I was surprised to see them so close to the road, but thought photographing them would be a snap – WRONG. ELK in the park are very elusive. We didn’t see a single Elk – cow or bull – until the last morning we were there. Two full days of exploring the park and not even a glimpse. When we did manage to find them, they were a good 1/2 mile off on top of a butte. The light was low and the photos grainy. I was just happy to see them and hear them. There were three different bulls bugling at one point; it was pretty fantastic.
Views: 775
