Summer recap

Somehow, against many people's wishes, autumn is here again. But, not to be sad, summer has been good with us this year: sunny days - check, lots of swimming in the sea, near and far - check, traveling to new places or revisiting dear places, climbing hills, taking deep breaths, staring at the sun, lying in the grass, having drinks with friends, going hundreds meters underground or flying 8000 meters above it, getting as far away as possible from home and driving back to it, enjoying deserted Bucharest on crisp mornings and sometimes being lazy as a cat. All right summer, it's time to let go!  

 

Photo taken while waiting to disembark the ship at Sulina. Ah, the Danube Delta!

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Meanwhile in the Greek isles

I know cats are everywhere in Greece, but dogs are the ones getting the royal treatment in Santorini.

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And the award for the most perfect place in the world goes to...

...a place that has breathtaking rapid waterfalls...

...where you can swim in the bluest thermal spa with snowflakes falling all around you...

 

...place with thermal grounds...

...geysers...

...rainbows...

...sunrises on high cliffs...

...and sunsets overlooking the glaciers...

 

...or glaciar rivers flowing into the sea.

 

It is the place where you embark on this new adventure called marriage and celebrate love. :-)

Iceland

Wait! Did I mentioned good music? 

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The essence

Capturing the essence of Istanbul : cats and good fresh lamb kebab prepared and eaten on the street. :-)

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Out for a swim

Yeah. Be back later!

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Peace of mind

Chios island, Greece, revisited in summer of 2011.

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Normandy

Who thinks seaside is best seen when clouds, wind and some cold temperatures combine? I guess mostly no one, and that includes me, as tradition has it that we need sun, sun, sun (to have fun). :-) However, Normandy could not get it more easily with those three as they naturally come by default, so much that you could not imagine or want other way. Sun is there, behind the clouds, but who needs it anyway?

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North by north

Denmark and Sweden are nice. So nice that my Canon 350d photo camera suddenly decided to settle there for good. Goodbye dear Canon, and hello new Panasonic Lumix LX5. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life and...all the rest :-)

p.s: did i say Denmark and Sweden are nice? I have the proof above to show it. And if someday, anyone in any corner of this world does find and sends some similar pictures taken with a Canon 350d, well, that would be the greatest thing in the world, wouldn't it?

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The far, far away

"If you think America is far away, than it is really further away than you can think of"! This is how i started my first email to friends and family, exactly 4 hours after i had landed for the first time in US via California. I was so tired after the trip, and everything around me seemed to be so strange and different than the European style (because yes, until now i could compare Romania with other European countries and find a lot of differences, but now even those appeared to be the same compared to US :-)). However, i could not put a finger on the things that made me feel this way, and after three weeks of living there, well, those feelings were totally gone, so i now make bigger efforts to remember them.

The main thing i felt about America is that everything was big. Arriving in Palo Alto, California, i could see big streets and houses not so close to each other. And then there were big cars, big food, big drinks, big everything. All those big spaces not being used (like for example in Europe where everything is crammed), together with jet lag that made me dizzy for some days created for my European self a general feeling on loneliness, similar to one an astronaut might get when setting foot on some empty far away planet. :-)

But then, there was San Francisco, with urban styles, tall buildings, cool streets, ocean view, fresh sea food you can eat on the go, the Golden Gate, hearing Pink Floyd while waiting for the nice tram that takes you up and down, beautiful views, and everything changed. :-)

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Berlin

If you ask me, Berlin sells communism in every way it possibly can, and how could this not happen with all that history going around and still present in the air? Otherwise, cultural events may be so overwhelming in quantity, that i did seriously consider living there. If only it weren't for the German weather...

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Chios island

Sometimes it's not the place you're traveling to, but the way you choose to get there that's a whole big adventure. So let's say you could choose flying by some plane that fails to take off twice, or you take an 8 hours ferry trip on a stormy night through the Cyclades (sitting on the deck, otherwise you miss all the fun :-)), or just maybe a car drive at 4am in the morning. And when putting them all together you could get here, somewhere near the Asia Minor coast, but still on Greek grounds with mountains and sea combined.

So what should this Chios island be all about? Living in a small summer house, floating in the blue sea, looking after fish and sea urchins, fishing sometimes, reading some good book on the pebbled beach, driving a scooter over the mastic tree hills, wandering around mountains and discovering small forgotten villages and history all over the place. And most of all, peace of mind.

Click "Read more" for more photos on Chios.




Chios is famous for its mastic trees, that produce some resin used in foods and cosmetics. They grow only on this island, and require special care from local farmers.



Mavra Volia, volcanic pebbled beach.


Pyrgi village, famous for its painted houses with specific patterns.




And yes, i did swim here. :-)

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Clauroma goes to Roma

Guess the things you expect less from, surprise you the most. That is the general rule i've learned over the years, but still catches me unguarderd every single time.
The case might not have been the same with Rome, as it is known it has its dolce vita style, beautiful mediterranean architecture, some good old history to go with and let's not forget the most important part, il grande gelato. :-) And still, after being aware of this, i was a bit skeptical until i was in the middle of it all. But then, there i was standing...with a big smile on my surprised face, if only it would have been for the first time.



And by the way, what's the point of throwing money in that Trevi fountain if you know you'll be back again? :-)

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Questioning

As i was trying to find a title for the last picture posted here almost a month ago, i was being caught by the scientific project and the amusing fuss created around it, involving black holes and the fact that we were going to die and bla bla. It then made perfect sense in my metaphorical way of the photo: "Black holes and the end of the world" tadaa.
But then again, when selecting some next pictures and not finding another perfect title for them than this last one, i found it funny to announce that this time, the place is the real "end of the world", as for the black holes, well, not so many, they may be just revelations. Sfantu Gheorghe and the Danube Delta.

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