Brocken Harz Mountains for Valentine’s Day

** WARNING PHOTO HEAVY PAGE – PLEASE GIVE IT TIME TO LOAD! **

I’m doing a bit of catchup this week on images that really should have been edited and posted by now, but drama at work and in my personal life have been taking their toll. Let’s just say on that front – that there’s been alot of stress, and I’m not going to Dublin, unless I find something else to do (don’t know what that’ll be but pray for me that it all works out for the best, please). At any rate, this weekend, after a couple of days off / out I’m sure I’ll be feeling a bit better, and trying to catch up on my several THOUSAND image backlog. I know that I have a ton of ones from London to get through (unfortunately, one of the SD cards is completely corrupted and I’ve been trying to get them back for a couple weeks) but for now, here’s a few I got put up this week.

This is Brocken, in the Winter. (The blue is the filter / processing I was using because of the cold and brightness.) (A larger size of the panorama can be seen here) It’s the highest point in Northern Germany, and this winter was particularly harsh. The result was that the very top of the peak had over 2 meters (about 8 foot) of snow. The hard part about this trip was that Michael and I had been trying to go up here in the winter since last summer – but we wanted to go when the weather was relatively good and while there was snow on the ground so we could take the dog for a big ‘day out’. For Several weekends through January and into the first week of February, the weather just was too bad (not to mention dangerous) to even think of going up to the mountain and coming back down on foot.

The irony here is that when the weather finally cleared up enough to go – it was Valentine’s Day. We’re both single people, so it was sort of amusing that this is the day we decided to go (Notice the Irony of the name “Brocken” sounding very similar to Broken when pronounced, and it’s in the Harz – heart – mountains?) but we had a great time. It’s about an hour and a half to a two hour drive over to the base town – where we can catch a narrow old-fashioned steam train. It was running late, however, so after a little hike up a hill to the top, we had time for breakfast at the station house – and paused for a few photos while we waited:

The Station Master’s House (all snowed in with icicles)

Me & Rids, bundled up and waiting on the train

The Train Tracks & Trees

Steam Engine going the opposite way from the one we wanted

Finally – Our train Arrived – for a 20 minute ride to the top….everyone’s bundled up for winter, and several have skiis and sleds to ride down on:

We passed lots of neat things – Cross Country Skiiers (on the trail we’d be coming down on):

And signs that were so coated in Hoarfrost and steam that you couldn’t even guess what they were:

Once we got up to the top, however, and off the train, I can honestly say that both Michael and I were impressed with how deep the snow was – Cut straight through like this (on either side of the train tracks) you could really be amazed. (Michael, below, is 6 foot 2 inches tall for some idea of how high this was)

Once we were done being fascinated with the depth of the snow, I took a few pictures of the weather station, observatory, and radio tower at the top (the weather was starting to turn a bit foggy/snowy)

Brocken Weather station, Radio tower, Observatory

and we began our descent on foot. The strange thing about the descent wasn’t the trudging through the snow

— it was that I kept seeing Yeti all around me – Here’s an entire hurd of them:

Trees? What Trees? I see a troop of Abominable Snowmen.

And Yet here’s another bunch:

Finally it dawned, on me – these were the trees, covered in hoarfrost, ice, and snow and bent over into all kind of crazy shapes.

Overall, the walk was great – (minus a little twisted ankle and fall on my bum which seems to have bruised my tailbone)

and even my dog (Riddick SnowBeard) seems to have enjoyed it

You can see more photos from Brocken from this trip (and the Fall of 2006) here, and in Michael’s set – here. Special thanks to Michael who drove!

It’s Snowing!!

Maybe it’s because I grew up in Georgia -and snow was a rare thing. Maybe it’s because I’m weird. Maybe it’s because I refuse to grow up… I don’t know.

It is, however, snowing.

Not much, not hard – just a dusting outside- enough to make the streets slick, to begin to cover the world in white, to soften the harsh branches against the sky, to make even the trash sitting at the edge of the road look “nicer”…. and yet.. it’s enough to make me feel giddy and gleeful inside.

It’s Snowing!!

Between the dog (who woke me up at 6 AM with a cold nose, a happy bark, a wagging tail, his “outside” whine, and a jump over me to lift up the curtains at the window) and the fact that it is nearing Christmas, I started singing Carols as I got ready for work and haven’t stopped yet.

Taking him out in the snow was a fun thing – because I was happy and smiling, revelling in the beauty of it – the softness of the flakes, the stillness and clarity of the air, and the crisp crunch of the leaves…. Add to it the fact that my beloved husky was making me crack up laughing…. He literally burst forth out of the door, kicked up the snow on his nose, exhaled and practically danced on the leash before dashing down the street – nearly taking my arm with him. Poor thing had to be restrained on a short leash until we could get across the busy street and down by the canal where he can run. Once the dog was down there though, he raced back and forth as fast as he could, as if to say….

LOOK LOOK! IT”S SNOWING!!! OH MY GOD!! I have MISSED YOU SNOW!! LOOK! LOOK! IT’S SNOWING!!! WOO HOO!! YAY!! SNOW! SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!

He then proceeded to roll in the white powder, to become covered in the stuff, before running back and forth several times. It was pure and utter JOY. Yes, I admit that I had to tell him to calm down and “do his business”, and that I really felt bad to have to take him inside where he’ll wait all day for me to return (before going out again). But, for the time we were outside, I got to revel in his actions – reflecting my mood.

Oh sure, there’s bad things about it – but for the moment, I’ve left the curtains open at home so the dog can see outside and watch it accumulate (if it accumulates), I’m sitting at work facing the windows enjoying nature’s cold white mystery coming down, and revelling in the fact that when I go home – the dog will be there at the door, with but a single look of joy on is face – that of “Hi Mom – OUTSIDE” and…

“SNOW!”

More Berlin at Night

TV Tower, Reichstag, and Brandenburg Gate Lasers (with the Tiergarten being the trees to the right)

Since getting a new tripod, I have to say that I have enjoyed going out and getting more and more night photography. Yes, it comes in handy for other things too, but … it’s well worth the effort to go outside in the evening with the camera and the tripod and get some fantastic shots. Here’s a few from between the Berlin Main Train Station, along the river walk, and up to (but not including) Potsdamer Platz….