ALASKA

alaska is a beautiful place! it probably wasn't super high on my bucket list, but it was a family holiday so off i went with my parents and sister. we did a two week cruise through the south of alaska and again, while cruising isn't normally my chosen vehicle for seeing the world, it was a family holiday, so i went with the flow. the holiday was designed with my grandma in mind, but she was unable to come at the last moment. in hindsight, i am really glad i went. it has some of the most amazing scenery. i have decided that i really like north america. alaska is a place where not all the towns are connected by roads, and there are lots of islands. this means that your options are either boat or flying. i am actually really glad it is like this. it means the towns are small, the number of people is less, and it seems more untouched than other places.

here are some of my favourite snaps, with a little commentary as to why i like each of them.

this picture was taken on a ocean wildlife boat trip out of sitka. i loved the wildlife (we'll get to that later), but i also loved the scenery. forests as far as the eye can see. the weather in this picture is fairly typical of our trip, but is very typical of alaska. it rains something like 200 days a year which is a lot! we were fortunate as it hardly rained on us, and we had some sunny days. most, however, were like this picture.

as i said above, the towns in alaska are small. there was a mixture of american culture, russian orthodox and tglinket cultures all mixed in. these pictures (clockwise) were taken in ketchikan, juneau, kodiak and icy strait point and kind of show a mix of these. it was really good to see some of the culture and learn the history of the area. the main industries for each town were fishing and tourism, as quite a lot of ships make their way there in the summer.

the glaciers. oh my goodness, they were so amazing. this is at the end of the tracy arm fjord, and the colours in this picture are no lie. stunning! the colour comes from the ice being compressed for thousands of years. where the blue is strongest is where there has been a recent break and ice has fallen off. when we were near the glacier, we could hear the ice breaking. it sounded like thunder (it is known as white thunder) - amazing.

these next two are from the tracy arm fjord as well - aqua water from the glacier melting, moss covered rocks, forest and mountains as far as the eye can see. we did see some mountain goats on the hills as well, and some seals.

the most amazing forests! i love the tall trees, the moss and the rivers. so much sitka spruce and western hemlock - they are so beautiful and so different to sydney, australia! i could live somewhere with these forests and i think i would never tire of them.

such good wildlife!!!! seals and eagles and whales and sea otters and bears (and even some puffins!!!!!) all surrounded by amazing scenery!

and last but not least, the highlight of the trip. forgive the photos, they were taken at 2am on a moving boat, but this is nothing less than the northern lights. we weren't expecting to see them on this trip, but when we were onshore in anchorage, the ladies at the visitor centre mentioned that we might be able to see them that night. so, in eager anticipation, we went to the deck at the back of the ship and looked north while we sailed south. the thing with the northern lights is you never know what time they will be able to be seen. so we waited. at midnight there was a green glow in the sky, but we thought we might have been imagining it. turns out we weren't. it got better as time went on, and it was best between 2 and 3am. When they faded around 3, we went to bed and they may have come back after that but we will never know! the green glow came and went from the sky, and slowly danced across the sky in different formations. it was an amazing light show by nature and i am sure a once in a lifetime experience!

BRIDGES OF THE USA

so the very large gap in previous blog post was partly due to an amazing four week trip to the united states and canada (where it was FREEZING!). as part of that trip, we spent some time in san francisco and new york. i'll admit, new york was my favourite (closely followed by a snow covered/freezing over lake louise), but looking back through my photos, i noticed that there were a lot of pictures of those cities significant bridges.

i think that partly the interest is as a tourist (seeing these super famous icons for the first time) but i think it is more than that. the architectural style of each bridge is distinct and directly represents the time that they were constructed, alluding to the history of those places and the time that has passed. Those pointed arches and the detailing in the towers is such a quick and visual time reference and causes the mind to imagine what the city would have been like at that time, and to imagine what those bridges have seen in the city timeline.

lastly i think the fascination is about the engineering. for their time, these bridges were a marvel and a masterpiece - can you imagine the brooklyn bridge being built in 1885 and still standing in 2013 - amazing! i don't think my brain could fathom the engineering now with all the assistance that computers could give, let alone at the times these bridges were built!

MILANO DUOMO

of all the churches we saw on our 2 month trip to europe in 2011, this was my favourite from an external perspective. maybe it was because we got to go on the roof but i loved the stonework and the buttresses and the repetition that could be captured. the roof of the milano duomo is beautiful and definately worth seeing. this is one of my favourite pictures that we snapped while we were there.

as can be expected with a visit to europe, there was scaffolding on the highest part of the church but for me, the highlight was the buttresses, the colour in the stone and the craftsmanship that can be observed so closely. which is your favourite church that you have come across?