Tag: roadtrip

  • Christmas Markets in Dresden

    Booth decoration

    Saturday morning early we started out in Prague. 5 people in a car and 4 on the train. The destination was the city of Dresden in Germany.

    With Christmas fast approaching a trip was organized (Thanks to Sarah and Michael etc.) to check out the city and its legendary Christmas Market. The Christmas market in Dresden has existed since 1434 so its one of the oldest around. On every corner throughout the city booths offers Christmas decorations and other knick knack but more importantly glühwein and all sorts of delicious foods.

    Loads of people at the market

    After the Christmas market we continued on through the city. First through the Altstadt which is dominated by the newly restored Frauenkirche. The church was bombed during World War II and wasnt resurrected until 2005.Very beautiful both inside and out.

    Dresden Frauenkirche

    Later in the day we went to Neustadt on the other side of the River Elbe where a whole different revitalization is taking place. What used to be a run down area is now a busteling neighbourhood with loads of kneipen (pubs), cafes and cozy shops. A really cool place with a nice atmosphere, interesting people and buildings and businesses. Here is a picture from the Kunsthof Passage which is 5 backyards connected filled with shops and creative architecture. Have a look at these pictures to see what Im talking about. Here we are at a glühwein booth at one of the backyards under the stars and red laterns:

    Kunsthofpassage

    Neustadt was also where our hostel was so we checked out the shopping, dinning and a drinking here before calling it a day. We had a really nice dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Here is the whole table (sans me).

    Happy, hungry people

    The next day we walked some more in the town, did some Christmas shopping, saw the church from inside and headed back to Prague.

    Thanks guys for a nice weekend!

  • Getting a picture published

    Big Gus - world's largest running chainsaw

    I recently got contacted by a publishing company because they wanted to use one of my pictures for a book. They said it is going to be used in a re-edited version of Roadside Americana.

    Roadside Americana is a beautiful 130-page, color, hardback coffee table book that features dozens of quirky and offbeat places and events in the United States and Canada. This book inspires curiosity and a taste for adventure! Our travel books in general are big, coffee table titles that display beautiful imagery and lively write-ups.

    Pretty cool if they end up using my picture :-)

    The picture above is from a road trip I took in the fall of 2005. I rented a car and in four days drove the 2000km around Lake Michigan. The trip brought me through some of the more remote areas of Michigan and Wisconsin and in the middle of nowhere I saw this huge chainsaw. It turns out that it is (supposedly) the biggest running chainsaw in the world – 7 meters long and with a V8 engine inside.

    I made the trip alone and it was fun doing a real road trip in a brand new car. It was a great escape from daily life in Ann Arbor were I lived in a house with 20 people with constant partying. So four days of solitude on the road was welcomed. Here is a couple of the other pictures from that trip:

    On the road

    Mackinac lighthouse and bridge

    Still standing

    Teal Lake

    Old mailbox

    Morning mist at Munising Bay