Hallig Gröde - Arrival

But let’s start at the beginning … after a short trip with the MS Rungholt, Hallig Gröde appears into sight as a thin line on the wadden see with the prominent dwelling mounds and houses, which are already visible from the mainland.

Seen from the see side, it appears to be a very small speck of land, which has to brave the rough North Sea. Actually, it is 277 ha of land, grown together from the old holms Gröde and Appelland, so the correct name for the living place of currently 17 inhabitants is Hallig Gröde-Appelland. Which by the way is the smallest municipality in Germany.

Hallig Gröde

The stars on the beautiful holm Hallig Gröde in the German National Park Wattenmeer (North Sea) are the birds. So this picture of an arctic tern is somehow the natural start for a series from our vacation in May 2003.

Going on vacation with a small child in Germany almost automatically ;-) means the North Sea coast. And that’s where we went with our daughter Jenny. More precisely we went to North Friesland, starting with the Eiderstedt peninsula, in 2001 to St. Peter-Ording (which we didn’t like that much, too expensive, too many tourists) and then in 2002 to Westhever (very beautiful, scenic lighthouse, alas renting the same appartment for 2003 didn’t work, and all the really nice houses near the dike are under Hamburgian control). In May 2003 we were more adventurous and took an accomodation for 2 weeks on a holm … (to be continued)

Rainbow over Edinburgh

An old friendship renewed. This photo is one of the first ones which I took 1994 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It is also one of the first images on my Photo Web Site and interestingly enough the most popular single image there. So what would be better suited as a start for my new PhotoLog project here? ;-) So I went back to the original negative, scanned it again, did some perspective correction, and retouched some speckles. Even after all these years, I still like this particular image. It captures quite well the spirit of Edinburgh, a quiet, but beautiful metropolis (except – of course! ;-) – during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it is turned into a multicultural party), and the Scottish weather, which is always good for dramatic scenery. One moment heavy rain, then sunshine.