Forbidden City, Běijīng

Built between 1406 and 1420 during the Ming dynasty, the Forbidden City is also called the Purple Forbidden City, or Gugong Museum in Chinese.

Occupying a rectangular area of more than 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City was the imperial home of 24 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. From their throne in the Forbidden City, they governed the country by holding court sessions with their ministers, issuing imperial edicts and initiating military expeditions.

The Forbidden City is one of the largest and best-preserved palace complexes in the world. There are over a million rare and valuable objects in the Gugong Museum.

Forbidden City, Běijīng Trip Details

Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai

Yuyuan Garden is a famous classical garden located in Anren Jie, Shanghai. The garden was finished in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) named Pan Yunduan. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan’s parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age.

Built in a style that Suzhou gardens often take, Yuyuan garden is characterized by an exquisite layout, beautiful scenery and artistic architecture. Each pavilion, hall, stone and stream in the garden can express the quintessence of South China landscape design from Ming and Qing dynasties.

There were so many people you wouldn’t believe..so I made this video:

Yuyuan Garden Trip Details

Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai

In the western part of Shanghai, a very modern and flourishing city, there is a venerable and famous Buddhist temple, Jade Buddha Temple. In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately the jade Buddha statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928. It was named the Jade Buddha Temple.

The Jade Buddha Temple is a good place to go whether you are a Buddhist or not, the peaceful and transcendent atmosphere adds a kind of richness to our busy modern society.

We were lucky to see some monks chanting and I was able to film a short sequence of the rite:

Grand Gateway Plaza and Cotton’s Shanghai

Xujiahui counts as the biggest shopping and entertainment quarter in the southwest of the town. The shopping quarter is named to Xu Guangqi, a scholar of the Ming dynasty who lived in this part of the town. On a surface of 1.2 square kilometers are located Xujiahui the Grand gateway shopping centre, the Orient shopping centre, the Pacific department store, the Huijin department store, metro city and the Huilian department store. We visited the place by night to get some impressions of the colorful ad displays.

If you have time, check out Cotton’s bar for a relaxing evening and some cocktails. It is located in a three-story 1930s villa in the French Concession. It’s definitely worth visiting.

Grand Gateway Plaza, Shanghai Trip Details

Alicia Keys Live in Zurich 2010

On May 17th Alicia Keys was at the “Hallenstadion” in Zurich to perform the “Element of Freedom” Tour. See some impressions and three videos I made with the Canon SX200 IS. Unfortunately it was not allowed to take a dSLR into the concert hall.

Greifvogelpark Buchs

The falconry park in Buchs is unique throughout Europe with over 60 species . On a tour through the spacious park visitors meet the Eagle, the hawks, different types of Owls, the Buzzard, Vultures, the Milan and other exotic animals.

In the arena, visitors can experience the fascinating animals in flight.
   

And my favorite

Seefeld in Tirol

This was another perfect mini-retirement for 4 days. For me, four days is the optimal time periode for this kind of a short trip. It’s long enough to free your mind, to explore and to relax. But it’s also not too long so that it is easy to find back into your daily work routine I’m looking forward to the next one.

The Olympiaregion Seefeld has already twice hosted the Winter Olympics for the disciplines of cross-country skiing and Nordic Combined. The Games were first opened with the Olympic Fire in Innsbruck in 1964. The second time was 1976. It is a nice little town which has a lot to offer.

We stayed at the Hotel Hocheder which was located perfectly near the city center, the ski slopes and the Olympic Sports and Congress Center. The shot below is from the 5-star hotel Klosterbräu which is right in the center of Seefeld.

Nearby is the Wildsee with nice trails to walk:

Seefeld Trip Details

The historic town Mittenwald is also quite near. It takes you about 15 min by car.

Mittenwald Trip Details

NightGlow at Schwendisee, Ballontage Toggenburg

The 6th International Ballooning day’s Toggenburg were between Friday morning the 25th and Sunday 27th September 2009 at Alp Sellamatt above Alt St. Johann. The weather conditions were OK and Hot Air Balloons from round the world enchanted the sky in the valley of Toggenburg. We went for the famous NightGlow at the Lake Schwendi. Twelve Hot Air Balloons around the lake are “dancing” and glowing in harmony to the music.

Testing the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 L USM Macro Lens on the Canon 5D Mark II

The big advantage compared to the Canon 100m Macro is that you don’t have to be that close for a 1:1 shot. With this lens it’s easy to shoot insects like dragonflies or butterflies because you can be at a distance of about 0.5 m. Below are some example shots. As you can see the blurry background is perfect…

Arosa ClassicCar 2009

The Arosa ClassicCar, a international car race from Langwies to Arosa was over the weekend of  10. to 13. September 2009. It is also called the “Monaco of the mountains”. It has grown in recent years, and is a event known across Switzerland and provides many highlights.
The event is listed in the national sports calendar (auto sport Switzerland) and in the international sports calendar of the FIA (Federation International de l’Automobile). Every year around 10 ‘ 000 spectators are expected.

We started at 7am to get to Arosa before the first race starts. The last part of the way to Arosa is the actual race track so we got a feeling of the race itself. Below are some impressions of this day.

More pictures are in the gallery.