peace within

I have searched everywhere

for that soft twilight which

was engraved on my mind

forever in the dusk of a

Finnish summer night, but I

have never experienced it

again. -A. Dumas

B is for Budapest and Brigitta

The city is beautiful at night! This is one of the eight bridges that spans the Danube connecting Buda and Pest.

Brigitta and her son Davido posing up at the Citadella! It does the heart good to reconnect with friends!

A Collage of Moments: Romania

Looking up: everything that's of wood wasn't there two weeks ago.

This is the crew, starting from the right: Aaron, yours truly, Ron, Justin, Shane, Tara.

This is a view of the red roofs of Deva, and the castle ruins in the background.

The signature roadtrip picture! I enjoyed myself immensely!

Café expressions. It must have been that coffee that kept me up all night!

Summer Lovin'

Flower Girl and Strawberry Girl

Seeing Red

Um...no commentary!

Self-Portraits

.memory.

.purpose.

blue skies...calm waters

This is the best of summer activity and wildlife! How great is a yellow kayak, and swans with young 'uns nearby! Hehehe!

The sky here is enormous! I remember as a kid marvelling that airplane cloud trails could appear in all directions, not just horizontally! It's pretty flat land around these parts!

Celebrating!

The following are pictures of my friends' wedding over the weekend. I took the liberty of editing them, because they didn't really turn out too well! It was a joyous day, one, because my friends make a great couple and I love them dearly, and two, because I made new and unexpected friends!

Helsinki Details

If gargoyles could speak: here they have a smoke and a chat as they hold up a heavy pillar next to the Cuban tobacco shop!
Creatures of all sorts sprinkled the park lawns yesterday, toasting in the sun. A little bird even came so near as to eat a piece of bread from my sandal!

The Landscape of Home...

This picture is just so great I simply had to post it! My parents' new car and Cotopaxi in the background. Aaah, mi Ecuador tan bello! I miss the mountains! (and my parents!)

Ten Points...

...for whoever can guess what this is about!

Inside and Outside

Bulevardin Kahvisalonki is a lovely café, and this was my view from the couch. Naguib Mahfouz and some green tea kept me company, along with my friend who works there!
It was not "duck, duck, goose!" but "post, post, gull!"

I Spy with my Little Eye...

I have a fetish for train station pictures, simply because I pass through there twice a day! This man was planting violets as the early morning commuters headed to work!
On Sunday, I went on a boat ride while fog and cool air hovered over the sea!
This morning, the market was alive with vendors setting out their goods and vibrant colors decorating the stalls!

Back to Sunday, the fog lifted, and the old buildings of Suomenlinna (our sea fortress) were in clear view along with all sorts of beautiful boats.

A Passing Wave at the 80s

Ok, we'll start off with a more toned-down pic, me on a regular day.
But, once upon a fair day...I had an identity crisis. Ok, not really. But here...hairstylin' with Hanna! I had so much hairspray in my hair, even the wind couldn't do a thing to it!


I was put in the Rock-girl group, and here we are struttin' across the stage! It was a fun new experience!

Was hat in der Stadt passiert?

An old depot in the city center was set on fire, and the crowds rushed to see the hungry flames destroy the building and dark smoke cover the sky. A view from near the modern art museum. Everyone had their phone cameras clicking, and you could hear people on their mobiles: "Hey, guess where I am right now?!"



This is a surreptitiously taken shot in Esplanadi Park downtown, on one of the first warm days of Spring. I think they were as avidly people-watching as I was! No leaves on the trees yet! But I enjoyed my first ice cream cone!

Nope, not a wig.

The finished result! It is quite certainly the most artistic hairstyle I have ever had! I dig it!

In the hands of hairstylists. I think they really have something of an artist's temperament.

Yours Truly in 2 Favourite Locations

Giza. Notice the goose legs in the bowl! That was dinner!

Tirolean Alps. The smile says it all.

Easter in the Austrian Alps

The view from the second trekking hut on the mountain, where we ate the best noodle soup in the world! Or else food just tastes better after hours of hiking!










And the view from the highest point we reached on our first climb. Simply breathtaking! The climbing was also very steep!












My hiking companion, Justin, having reached the monument of Napoleon. Avalanches kept falling from that rock wall behind him, rumbling like thunder!











And this is Hohe Munde at twilight, as we returned from a beautiful day of mountain adventures!

Perspectives in Helsinki

Outdoor worm's eye view of a famous church.














Indoor lighting of an art show at Goethe Institut.

Waiting...

...as the rest of the world rushes to and fro. What or whom are they waiting for?

Jessica Grace

We took the metro in the wrong direction one night...mea culpa. It was a memorable evening of new hairstyles, drunk party-goers, and 8 kg of laundry detergent hauled home late at night.

The Missing Person

Bilel

The passage of time is most noticeable in children--he was a 3 month old when I first met him!

Nuura

I met her two years ago as a pudgy-tummied one-year old, and today, she is just as cute!