Group shot at fave cafe

Mirror shot in said cafe

Boss-man (Don) and me (taken by JK Lee)

A shot of a river in the Mournes

A very common view of the mournes

weeeeeeeeeeee

Snowy scenery (now, this is why I like skiing)

How to snowplow downhill (aka, how to create thighs that can crack walnuts: snowplowing is HARD work)

More lovely snowy scenery (not so lovely were my blisters: they were <--T H I S--> big)

A group pause

And after the holiday, more snow in Potsdam (AIP)

View from my terrace, looking over outskirts of La Laguna

Tenerife Auditorium at night

Teide View

The N/NW of Tenerife

View with Gran Canaria or La Gomera in the distance

In the N/NW walking with friends

A view of the north coast from Anaga

In Anaga forest

A view along the edge of the caldera at the ENO, La Palma

ditto

At Los Muchachos peak at the ENO (sunny and freezing cold after a night observing)

A rainforesty area in La Palma, a really lovely place to walk

A view to Isla Graciosa from the north of Lanzarote

A romeria in Teguiste in Tenerife

A romeria in Teguiste in Tenerife

(hehehe)

Climbing in Orpierre, south of France. The only sunny day we had all week

Colourful climbing ants!

Looking down from high on top

And now looking up from below

Autumn in the Gorge du Verdon

The gorge is lovely, s'pity though that it rained almost constantly

The gorge, with Lise in a dramatic (and wet) pose

Domomitic-type formation, and lots and lots and masive amounts of rain

Lyon by day, looking up at a cathedral

and Lyon at night (p.s. J'aime manger croissant en France!)

Pictures of the Forbidden city: in the women's part

Guardians of your house; the creatures are a composite of many animals

The front entrance, to the Emperor's part (much less interesting than the women's part)

A gate in one of side passages

Pictures of the Summer Palace: for performances of the opera

Almost all royal buildings are this elaborate

The ground dug up to make the lakes helped make a hill

A bridge over one of the lakes

A long covered walkway, and where peple can have lunch in the shade

One end of that walkway, and a good place to rest in the shade with a book

Two views on the aforementioned hill, with Tibetan buddist bell temples

Despite the bells ringing in the wind, it is a haven of peace in noisy Beijing

In the Temple of Heaven complex, people burning incense as an offering to the Buddha

Drum Tower in Xi'an; it and the bell tower used to ring out the time

The (very long) wall around the old part of Xi'an

It is common to see these large gates at the entrances to buildings

The old and the new really do live side-by-side in Xi'an

At the palace-tomb of the first Emperor of China, founder of the Qin dynasty. Play-acting the changing of the guard, a performance to music

The all-amazing (and also very handsome) Terracotta Warriors,

who guard the tomb of the Emperor

You must surely know where this was taken

At part of the Great Wall near Beijing, you can see it snaking in the distance

The haze looks very dreamy, but probably a lot of it is due to Beijing pollution

A not-restored part of the wall

The story of the White Snake, a Peiking opera. One of her waves is fighting the nasty monk's soldier, also pictured are the monk, the captured and en-monked husband, and White snake with sister Blue snake fighting for husband

It is a long story of love and loss and immortals, but it ends happily with white snake, sister blue snake, and lucky husband reunited

Hua shan, near Xian. The most dangerous of the sacred mountains, and with breathtaking views

Without the stairway, which in some form has existed for at least 1000 years, it would be incredibly difficult to hike this mountain (it can be incredibly difficult still, for those with vertigo)

The ruined temple where we spent the night (with the sounds of majong-playing in the background)

Red is a lucky colour, and at the peaks couples leave locks, to ask the heavens to lock their fortune and happiness together for ever

A view

And for a reason I now forget, we got up to see the 5:30 (am!) sunrise