Photo of the Week - Shadows on the Wall

The Sunday before I went off to Hong Kong, Alessio and I went to Zug for the afternoon. It was a wonderful sunny and cold day, the ones you have to take advantage of, as there are so few of them! We walked around for a while, then I saw the shadows on the wall of the castle and thought they looked nice. The castle was closed, so we just wandered on trying to find a cafe, there are some but they all seemed busy.

Giant Buddha and Po Lin Monastery

Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car

Giant Buddha in the distance

Hong Kong has been an amazing trip, it is a vibrant, busy, bustling, hectic, bright lights city and I loved it. I was left to make the itinerary for the week so on the first day we headed to Lantau Island. The weather was overcast but still unusually warm for this time of year.

The main attraction on this island is the Giant Buddha and Po Lin Monastery and the best way to get there is with the Ngong Ping 360 cable care. The views of the South China Seas are great and you also see the airport too.

The cable car ride in its self was fun, the path is almost like a zig-zag and then finally you get a view of the big fellow himself!

Once there you walk through Ngong Ping village which is essentially just shops and restaurants until you walk up the path with the 12 Divine Generals on either side (7th photo) and see the 260 steps you have to climb to get to the Big Buddha or Tian Tan as it is offically known.

It is the largest outdoor seated Buddha statue and is 34m high, very impressive, once up the steps having had a few stops to get our breaths back, the views are lovely.

Then down we came and went to see the monastery which was founded in 1906 by three visiting monks. All the temples we visited were busy with people buying incense sticks, burning them and offering them to various Gods.

The best way to get to Lantau Island is with MTR to Tung Chung then you follow the signs for the Ngong Ping cable car. You may want to buy then online as there was a long queue, we waited for 1 hour to actually get into the cable car. It cost us 135HK return which is only 16ch, if you fancy a cable car with a glass bottom then it is more.

It is well worth a day trip and also to village the fishing village of Tai O which we also did and will post that later.

V is for Views

Finally getting to the end of the alphabet series, now onto the letter V and what better word than views. I have seen lots of wonderful views and was hard to pick only five on them, so here goes!

The first photo is of Lake Zug, then we have the city of Zurich from the Uetliberg, then it is Lake Gruyeres from the castle, then the beautiful city of Mahon in Menorca and finally Mont Blanc from Chamonix!

Which ones do you like the best?

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Photo of the Week - Hong Kong Baby!

Oh my God it is hard to believe that in a few days I am off to Hong Kong, I booked my flight back in June last year and then it seemed like a fairy tale. Now it is coming true, got the money, which is rather cool looking! I have a guidebook and have studied others, not to mention looking on the net and lots of blogs for ideas to visit, restaurants and bars to check out.

So if anyone have tips for me, let me know! Thanks

Shop Signs

One of the interesting things about walking around old parts of cities are that often the shop signs literally stand out for you to gaze upon. The first 8 photos are in Zurich and the area behind the Niederdorf, the signs are not just for shops but for bars, restaurants and galleries. I like the hat sign and the old train engine which  is actually a very small restaurant.

The next 6 photos were taken yesterday in Zug, it was a beautiful sunny, cold day, Alessio and I went for the afternoon. There were two oldish streets where I saw the signs, I like the one with the old fashioned weighting scales.

Which ones do you like?

Winter Scenes

The snow has come and gone over these winter months but it has been here with a vengeance for the last week. Do not get me wrong I like the snow but after a while I am quite happy when it goes, it was lovely to see everything covered.

On Thursday we went walking with the kids from work, it was lovely to see the area all full of snow. I walk here nearly every week, but I never tire from seeing the same place again and again. The Au peninsula is always a great place to walk, the kids had so much fun with the snow. From throwing snowballs to sliding down and rolling around it was all fun!

There is always lots of people walking in all types of weather and when the weather is warmer it is just nice to sit and enjoy the view.

I am glad to be taking photos again, having had my camera stolen while I was in Munich, I realise that I usually take lots of photos. I another reason that I am happy to have bought another one is that when I am in Hong Kong there will be lots of photos taken!