A trip to Wales

We visited southern Wales and I must say I was very pleased; maybe not with the light and the weather but definitely the well preserved nature and the friendly Welsh people.
This was our first stop in Wales for a breakfast. 5 Miles south of Brecon Becon .
I like to lay down on byways :) (Brecon Becon National Park)
The light was dreadful and this is all I could do for this shot.
I usually don't like complex; but this grabbed the first time I looked at it and it still grabs me everytime.
Typical scene along the canal.
2 Welsh sheep saluting me.

I am partial to doors and could not pass this one up.
Leaving Brecon Becon towards Cardiff.

Sunset in the capital, Cardiff.

I had to trick Matthieu, Andrea and Spyros to get on the Carousel for this particular shot. They though I was taking a photo of them.

More shots from Oxford

Some detailsA revisit to Radcliffe Camera
Oxford is on Fire
Explosions in the Sky - Your hand in Mine

I say China! You say China! Chiinaa!

The flag bearer and the flag guards appear for a very brief moment around the Marble Arch.But the protestors will not let them go for it.
The Olympic Torch Relay bus leaves with a ton of people running behind, front and whatever. Notice all the press people.
All there is left are the pro-Tibet protestors.
Elsewhere in London; across the Parliament building in Westminster are the permanent protestors against the Iraq war. Rumor has it they have been there for the last 4 years.
And now the protestors protesting the protestors. A big group of Chinese supporting their homeland against protestors.

I think this shot pretty much sums the day up.
Protestors and protestors protesting protestors all in one shot.

The Magical Light and a Magical Evening

Walking down the SouthPark I saw a blanket of clouds covering the sky over Oxford; however the horizon was clear over the hills at Wytham. The sky was slightly orange and already beautiful. As I walked down a bit further, the descending sun came free of the clouds in such a way that there was magic. The hills were lighted with the softest of lights and so were the trees with the tiny little white flowers on them. I was standing there along one huge ray of light and I turned around to see my long shadow. More trees lighted up. As the sun descended even further came the real magic. I turned my head once more away from the sun and this time the tress were glowing in the soft red light but the biggest surprise was the full rainbow arch completing this colorful night with an array of its own. Ohh how I wanted to capture this magical moment and this magical gate; a heavenly sight right within my grasp. So it ended with a descend of my own along with the sun as the sky turned orange and blue and got fiercer and fiercer.
I know now that I have to catch this magic once more or I shall not find any rest :)

London once more

Some shots along the Thames


The parliament in Westminster


One last shot as I was leaving.
3 photos from Westminster Abbey


Trafalgar Square

Blenheim Palace ( 30th March 2008)

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire - Birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill

Checkout Blenheim Palace at Wikipedia

We only visited the parks and missed the gardens. The palace itself is not interesting to me at all so I will go back for the gardens but not the palace. Since they had some restoration/scaffolding business on the outside of the palace I did not deem it "worthy" of a photo.
Here are photos from the acres and acres of land on the estate of Blenheim Palace.