Christo - Travel Blog

Daily Inspiration #10

2012-01-17T14:37:00.001+01:00

Daily Inspiration #9

2012-01-17T14:34:00.001+01:00

Daily Inspiration #8

2012-01-17T14:29:00.000+01:00

Glasses

2011-12-25T11:31:00.002+01:00

Daily Inspiration #6

2011-10-20T14:59:00.000+02:00

Daily Inspiration #5

2011-10-16T05:25:00.002+02:00

Sunday morning @ Big Wave Bay...

Daily Inspiration #4

2011-07-10T02:49:00.002+02:00

Daily Inspiration #3

2011-07-09T04:58:00.002+02:00

Daily Inspiration #2

2011-07-08T08:29:00.001+02:00

Daily Inspiration #1

2011-07-07T15:55:00.005+02:00

France June 2011

2011-06-26T11:45:00.011+02:00

Those pictures are the first I took with the Leica M9 and the amazing 35 summilux ASPH.

Discovering a whole new world with this camera, images are very special.

Christmas 2010 - France

2010-12-31T03:01:00.002+01:00

Above, in the streets of Pezenas, an old Medieval city in the South of France

I guess you will recognize this one, the Pont des Arts in Paris is now filled with lockers of people sealing their ..."love" on this forever famous bridge..

Amazing what you can find in an old house...My parents place use to be a Winery and hundred of bottles are still sitting there somewhere in the basement..

and not only bottles, but also old unused cars, lots of memories...

Shadows...

2010-11-21T12:15:00.000+01:00

Tai Tam Country Park

2010-09-23T13:17:00.006+02:00

First steps in HDR photography..

First try with the mk2 and 16-35

2010-02-28T12:30:00.005+01:00

The Globe

2010-02-13T12:28:00.004+01:00

Chicago - Architecture Tour

2009-08-08T22:56:00.001+02:00

Hong Kong May

2009-05-01T15:30:00.002+02:00

Creative HK

2009-01-04T03:51:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year 2009

2008-12-27T02:44:00.001+01:00

Ko Samui - Da House

2008-09-22T10:33:00.003+02:00

Ko Samui - Shots

2008-09-22T10:29:00.000+02:00

HK May

2008-06-01T04:38:00.000+02:00

Kumamoto - Japan

2008-05-29T16:50:00.000+02:00

HK456

2008-04-19T10:45:00.000+02:00

HK123

2008-04-06T06:35:00.000+02:00

Fog

2008-03-22T14:45:00.000+01:00

New Year from the Peak!!

2007-12-31T17:22:00.000+01:00

Sai Kung Fishes

2007-12-30T13:53:00.001+01:00

Merry X-Mas and ...

2007-12-24T16:42:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!!!

Sep South

2007-09-10T09:35:00.000+02:00

Kyoto Part 2

2007-09-03T23:14:00.000+02:00

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺) - The Golden Temple formerly known as Rokuonji (鹿苑寺)

In the 1220’s it was the comfortable villa of Kintsune Saionji Yoshimitsu, the 3rd Shogun of Ashikaga, abdicated the throne in 1394. After three years, he began to build Kitayamaden and he made a special effort to make it a breath-taking site. He indulged in his peaceful life in this serene setting. After Yoshimitsu’s death, Kitayamaden was made into a Zen temple in accordance with his will. All the buildings of those days came to ruin except Kinkaku. The garden, however, remains as it was in former days and can be enjoyed as it was hundreds of years ago. Rokuon-ji Temple was inscribed as World Cultural Heritage in 1994.

Ryoan-ji Temple (竜安寺)

Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto is famous for its Zen garden, which is considered to be one of the most notable examples of the "dry-landscape" style.

Some say Ryoan-ji Temple garden is the quintessence of Zen art, and perhaps the single greatest masterpiece of Japanese culture. Surrounded by low walls, an austere arrangement of fifteen rocks sits on a bed of white gravel. That's it: no trees, no hills, no ponds, and no trickling water. Nothing you could describe as romantic, distracting or pretty.

Tenryu-ji Temple 天竜寺

Nestled on a slope of the Arashiyama district of Kyoto, Tenryu-ji ("heavenly dragon temple") is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is the head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.

Like other Rinzai Zen temples in Kyoto (Nanzenji, Tofukuji, Ryoanji...) it is noted for its Zen gardens and extensive white buildings.

The temple was founded in 1339 by Shogun Ashikaga Takauji in memory of emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339), with whom he sided during the civil war which brought to an end the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333).

Tenryu-ji was actually a former villa of emperor Go-Daigo himself. The site had earlier been occupied by the Danrin-ji temple since the 9th century, the first Zen temple in Japan. Emperor Kameyama (1249-1305) built a villa on the property, where his grandson Go-Daigo was raised and educated.

Following Go-Daigo's passing, a Buddhist priest dreamt of a dragon rising from the nearby river and interpreted it as the uneasy spirit of the defunct emperor. As a result, Ashikaga Takauji ordered to built a temple to appease Go-Daigo's spirit.

Tenryu-ji was ravaged by fires no less than eight times, last in 1864. Although the present building only date from 1900, the 14th century landscape garden is one of the oldest in Japan.

* comments gathered on jref.com

Kyoto Part 1

2007-09-03T23:02:00.000+02:00

Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺 also known as the Silver Pavillon

At the northern end of the Philosopher's Walk, approached along a street lined with shops selling tacky souvenirs. Much like its golden counterpart, the Silver Pavilion is often choked with tourists, shuffling past a scrupulously-maintained dry landscape Zen garden and the surrounding moss garden, before viewing the Pavilion across a pond. To me, its still one of the most amazing temple in Kyoto, not as flashy as the Golden Temple but with a true feeling of quietness.

The Philosopher's Walk is the name given to a 2km-long path through north-eastern Kyoto, along which a philosophy professor, Kitaro Nishida, used to frequently walk. It is a surprisingly pleasant and relaxing walk even today, though you will undoubtedly share it with more tourists than Kitaro did. The walk runs south from Ginkakuji Temple beside a river to Nyakuoji Shrine, many guidebooks suggest that the walk continues further south from there to Nanzenji Temple, but this southerly section of the walk is less insistently signposted. The route passes several temples en route, notably Honen-in, a beautiful secluded temple with a thatched gate.

Nanzenji Temple, with its distinctive two-storey entrance gate (sanmon) and aqueduct, is another popular temple in Kyoto, but its larger size means that it doesn't seem as crowded as many of the others.

Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺 Kiyomizudera). This temple complex, with a spectacular location overlooking the city is a deservedly popular attraction in the city, approached by either of two tourist-filled souvenir-shop-lined streets, Kiyomizu-zaka or Chawan-zaka. The main hall's wooden veranda, supported by hundreds of pillars and offering incredible views over the city, Jishu-jinja , the love-themed shrine selling countless charms to help you snag the one you love, and featuring two "love stones" positioned around 18m apart which the lovelorn must walk between with eyes closed to confirm their loved one's affection, and Otowa-no-taki the temple's waterfall, which gives it its name (Kiyomizu literally means 'pure water'). Visitors stand beneath the waterfall, and collect water to drink by holding out little tin cups.

On the Way to Kyoto..

2007-09-03T22:51:00.000+02:00

Views from the Cerrulean Hotel in Tokyo. By the way, I strongly recommend this place to any visitor. Besides an excellent service, it has also an amazing location and view over Tokyo!

Please focus on this picture, and find if anything "strikes" you..:-)
Thats why I did take it..Tokyo has many wonders!

Tokyo is about 2 hours + away from Kyoto. Easiest way to get there is by Shinkansen.

This is a view from Kyomizudera (see later in the blog)

Velib Record?

2007-08-23T22:52:00.000+02:00

I think I got the record of numbers of Velib in a row.......:P

Geneva

2007-08-23T22:37:00.000+02:00

Keremma

2007-08-13T20:41:00.000+02:00

Keremma is this little "village" in Finistere Nord, closed to a small city called Plouescat and about half an hour away from Brest. Whats so special about it? Well, inhabitants are actually part of the same family, a huge famille bretonne that has expanded over the years and kept strong ties and traditions. More than a thousand family members live here during summer !
I strongly believe that Bretagne is the most amazing place to stay when....the weather is like on those pictures..Were we lucky..? ;-)

Le Mont Saint Michel

Pour être très honnête, je n'avais jamais pris le temps d'aller voir le Mont Saint Michel; considéré comme une des merveilles de l 'architecture , il fallait remédier a cela. Quelle idée cela dit d'aller y faire un tour en plein moi d'août et surtout un dimanche!
Bon, en tout cas j'aurais vu et les seuls clichés que j'ai pu prendre sont ceux de cette vue magnifique des remparts. Cette étendue de sable humide a perte de vue est absolument étonnante..tout comme la vue de ces visiteurs s'aventurant sur la grève..

Bruxelles..

2007-07-30T18:01:00.000+02:00

Amsterdam..

2007-07-30T17:54:00.000+02:00

The Ghost House..

2007-07-22T20:00:00.000+02:00

Paris recèle bien des secrets... Parmi eux, cette maison étonnante cachée au sein du neuvième arrondissement. Abandonnée depuis une trentaine d'années, elle continue de vivre au gré des saisons, du temps, de ses fenêtres ouvertes sur un jardin intérieur, et de tous ses trésors!
Pour les amateurs, cette maison fantôme est a vendre..

Ideas three

2007-07-20T11:55:00.000+02:00

Creative too

2007-07-14T21:14:00.000+02:00

Ideas

2007-07-05T22:14:00.000+02:00

France Tour - Le Verdon

2007-06-11T13:26:00.000+02:00

France Tour - St Tropez

2007-06-11T13:22:00.000+02:00

France Tour - Le Castellet

2007-06-11T13:17:00.000+02:00

France Tour - Provence

2007-06-11T13:15:00.000+02:00

France Tour - St Chinian

2007-06-11T13:06:00.000+02:00

France Tour - St Emilion

2007-06-11T13:04:00.000+02:00

France Tour - La Loire

2007-06-11T12:34:00.000+02:00

New President

2007-05-16T14:00:00.000+02:00

Magny-Cours, Porsche Driving Experience

2007-05-14T11:36:00.000+02:00

With Philippe in Town, we went this weekend to the Magny-Cours racing track, famous in France for its F1 Grand Prix and here are a few shots for the day.. Porsche owns here a driving school, and teaches through different levels all the driving technics. Basically all models were represented today, if you except the Carrera GT and GT2..

Hong Kong Part II

2007-05-10T15:43:00.000+02:00

Hong Kong Part I

2007-05-10T15:15:00.000+02:00

Normandy, Etretat

2007-04-14T20:41:00.000+02:00

Paris with Vince

2007-04-09T17:13:00.000+02:00

Paris, premier Avril

2007-04-01T18:13:00.000+02:00

Paris bords de Seine

2007-03-13T21:34:00.000+01:00

Paris, Hotel du Nord..

2007-03-11T18:59:00.000+01:00

Creative Filters

2007-03-06T12:44:00.000+01:00

Deauville and Honfleur

2007-03-03T18:16:00.000+01:00

Great weather this morning! I decided to go to Normandie, west of Paris, about 200km away. And stopped by Deauville and Honfleur. A small map of the region will help..

So we start with "Les planches"... ? :-)

The famous Hotel Normandie.. You can see the details here

Honfleur starts from here

Paris Louvres, Palais Royal

2007-02-24T17:58:00.000+01:00

Paris, Suite..

2007-02-04T19:04:00.000+01:00

The first 3 pictures were taken around Canal Saint Martin and Abbe Pierre images can be seen everywhere. The rest of the shots are in Montmartre again.

Paris, 2,3,4..

2007-01-22T13:47:00.000+01:00

Paris, Montmartre

2007-01-07T16:10:00.000+01:00

A first attempt to take pictures of Montmartre..

Saint-Chinian, South of France

2006-12-27T19:42:00.000+01:00

Finally in the south of France spending a few days for Christmas, I want to share with you the beauty of those landscapes. Our village is in Herault, about 30 km from Beziers, and is well known these days for its wine.

If you want to know more about Viaduc de Millau, go here.

Hakone Open-air Art Museum

2006-11-16T12:33:00.000+01:00

Today was a day to go to Onsen and to the famous Hakone open-air Museum, one of its kind in Japan. Well, I took more than 300 pictures I think, this place is so amazing that it was too tempting! I just post here a few to share with you some of those pieces I really liked..
And if you want to know more about this Museum, go here

But when you think about it, trying to make "art" out of "art" by taking pictures or merely trying to represent the master piece itself is a very difficult exercise. Because those pieces are so impressive and intimidating , I got the feeling that those images sometimes do not praise enough the art work!

But you are the judge..

Shiodome

2006-11-15T09:50:00.000+01:00

Fuji Five Lakes

2006-11-08T09:42:00.000+01:00

This could also be one of the "blue blue blue" serie as the weather was once again amazing today! I decided to drive to Kawaguchiko and travel around the 5 lakes while watching the magnificent view of Fuji-san. The Five Lakes of Mt. Fuji "Lake Motosu, Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Sai, Lake Shoji, and Lake Yamanaka" have their own unique characteristics. Tourists can enjoy fishing and water sports on the lakes and hiking and camping in the forests. A large amusement park is also in the vicinity. That roller coaster is impressive..!
Hope you enjoy.

Here is a map of the region

Tokyo Bay

2006-11-05T15:00:00.000+01:00

Yokohama by Night

2006-11-04T14:31:00.000+01:00

Nikko

2006-11-02T15:28:00.000+01:00

Today was the day to take a long nice drive all the way to Nikko and its surroundings. About 175 km away from Tokyo, it takes around 2 hours to get to this amazing place. Unfortunately the day was not as "blue" as the previous one, but nevertheless, those images will give you a good idea of the beauty of this place :-)

Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Waterfall

There are 48 waterfalls in Nikko, but Kegon waterfall is the most famous among these. The water falls from 97 meters high.The name of the Kegon was derived from a part of Buddhist sutra.

People could not get close to the fall until 1900 when Gorobei Hoshino built a teahouse near the basin of the fall. It took him 7 years to build. Also, Kegon waterfall became a noted place of suicide when 18 years old high school student, Misao Fujimura jumped into the fall in May 1903.

Toshogu

A bit of History..
The Toshogu Shrine was built in 1617 as the mausoleum of the Tokugawa Ieyasu. The main shrine buildings were built by the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1636. Building of the Toshogu represented the climax of the Gongen-zukuri style which characterizes Japanese shrine architecture. Skills of the highest level available at the time were applied to the architectural decoration such as carvings and coloring. Eight buildings such as the honden (main hall), the Ishi-no-ma (stone hall), the haiden (worship hall), and the Yomei-mon (tower gateway) have been designated as National Treasures, whereas further thirty-four buildings as Important Cultural Properties.

Blue Blue Blue

2006-10-25T12:16:00.000+02:00

Today for once, the theme is not red or dark, but Blue ! Well, lots of blue mainly due to the help of polarization, but trust me, if you looked outside today, the sky wasn't so far from those colors.. !! Perfect day for a walk around my district, pure air, amazing sky..and here it goes!

On my way to Harajuku..

On my way to Meiji-jingu...my favorite one!

On my way to the main Harajuku Street..

On my way to Aoyama Cemetery..

Back to Omotesando

Hakone Skyline

2006-10-15T10:35:00.000+02:00

This morning the weather was slightly hazy, yet we felt the need to escape from Tokyo and enjoy some nature. Going to Hakone Skyline was risky as we were not sure we would have a clear view on Fuji-san but the car drive was worthwhile anyway and we took our chance. Leaving at around 11 am, we reached Hakone Skyline one hour later and found ourselves in front of this amazing view..Always very difficult to express that feeling on a picture as the light, the air make it very special..But I wanted to share a little bit of what we saw that day..

Fuji-san, the tallest mountain in Japan (3776 m) . And its not so surprising that that nearly perfect shaped volcano has been worshipped as a sacred mountain. It did last time erupt in 1708, and It stands on the border between Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures.

Hakone Skyline is also famous for something else. Every Sunday morning, usually before 7am, a whole bunch of crazy drivers of all kinds gather together on than 15km stretch. One main reason being the view of course, but the other most important for those folks is that the police never gets there so early... And from 6am or even earlier, you can see those drivers racing against each other on that not so wide road, drifting, competing and basically ..Enjoying! I must admit that I did that once myself with a friend and we had lots of fun. That day we were late, so we didn't see many cars, but surprisingly, the Harley Davidson Club of Tokyo was there. Taking a group picture ! Well, those people are for sure not speed fanatic (at least not with a Harley) but they definitely enjoy the finest things in life..And that day, the view was one of them!

A little bit further down the road, we did stop on the side together with some of our racers..And climbed that little slope. Dreamers gather there too looking at the landscape..Painters find here a little quietness facing the beautiful Hakone Lake Ashinoko, and well, some "artists" found interesting to put some tires together in a shape of a modern sculpture I guess. Maybe those are the rests of the unlucky ones on the road...

From Yoyogi to Shinjuku..

2006-09-24T10:46:00.000+02:00

Kamakura Surfers

2006-09-23T14:57:00.000+02:00

Tokyo

2006-09-17T12:32:00.000+02:00

Those are some of the pictures I took earlier this year and I thought of posting them as my first attempt to build a blog :P
Some would find that those pictures are quite "dark"..Which is true, I sort of enjoy taking pictures at night..That's where the contrasts are sometimes most striking. The first one is in Shibuya, in one of those small streets next to the railway. This one is particular in a sense that its full of 4 to 5 seats restaurants. I will take a picture of those to show you one day. A Lilliputian world somehow..

This picture was taken in Omotesando, in one of the streets behind the main Avenue. A hair dresser, 2 storeys, 2 worlds..

This was taken at Meiji-Jingu Park, one of the most beautiful park in Tokyo (Harajuku). This is one part of the Meiji-Jingu Shrine.

Those kindof "boxes" are actually Sake containers. And given as a gift by various famous companies across Japan.

I took those 2 pictures in a small restaurant on Omotesando. Nothing so special about them except the amazing light that was spreading through the room that day. It was inspiring.

Finally, for my first try, a picture taken at Nishi-Azabu crossing at night again right in front of Gonpachi where I was having dinner with my parents. Its also one of the first pictures I took with my camera..Still trying to control it !!

Do I like red ?;)

Cars

2006-09-17T08:24:00.000+02:00

Cars, cars and cars..Ok, I won't comment on the first two ones. BUT..Let's say this pretty black horse is an amazing toy which I never get tired of..

Just had fun doing this in Tokyo...once ;)

I will post some other pictures of that day. Being very much into the car "thing" these days, I decided to take a look along with some friends at what was happening on this famous Ebina Carpark on Sunday morning. We reached there at around 7 am in the morning on a Sunday (call me maniac, I wouldn't do that often) and shortly after our arrival, I stared looking at the entrance of the Carpark, from Tomei Express highway.. Needless to say that when you see 6 or 7 Ferraris arriving at the same time on an highway carpark, there must be something wrong. And it continued, continued for an hour..Eventually, around 100 of them were parked there, next to their happy owner displaying their trophy proudly..Having people listened to the engine of the beasts.
Well, yes it was probably the Ferrari club gathering on a Sunday morning. But, honestly, in which country in the world can you see so many 100,000 dollars cars at the same time ? Well, if not a country, a city probably and that shall be Tokyo. Drive around here, and owning a Porsche will make you feel you are just like anyone else. Its common..