Festive Edmonton

Christmas is over and pretty soon all the decorations will be disappearing from all over the city, and that is why I am so happy we have managed a few trips around the city to capture the festive look.  Even the frigid temperatures holding steadily this year didn't stop us from visiting different places in Edmonton to admire the lights and decorations that adorned buildings and shops during the month leading to Christmas.  Dressed in layers and armed with cameras and friends ;) we have first ventured to Legislative Assembly of Alberta and its grounds to see what they've done this year.  We weren't disappointed at all and spent a pleasant hour or so walking around the grounds and when the cold has gotten to us, were pleasantly surprised by a cup of hot chocolate that the pleasant staff was serving for visitors inside the building.

It's always a pleasure to visit the grounds. They do a great job dressing a lot of trees in lights and it all looks just magical with the snow covered ground!

Next on our list of places to visit this time of year was Whyte Avenue. Another place, that does not disappoint, if you are in need of a little holiday spirit.

It's really hard not to appreciate the creativity that goes into decorations of most of the little boutiques that line Whyte Avenue and surrounding streets. It's always a pleasure to enjoy a stroll there, but with the lights and holiday atmosphere of that particular visit I must admit, this was one of my favorite trips there!

Christmas in Edmonton cannot be truly enjoyed, in my opinion, without a trip to Candy Cane Lane.  It's an adventure, every time we go there.  Every year the houses look great and the place is full of visitors. All you need to remember is to bring a donation to Edmonton Food Bank and you can enjoy a walk (or a drive when it's freezing) in a Christmas wonderland. I really don't know how the residents survive this amount of visitors each year, but I thank them for it!

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour of wintery Edmonton.  Yes, it can be cold and snowy, but around Christmas it is also beautiful and festive and definitely worth getting outside our cozy houses and braving the elements in search of the holiday spirit, in case we needed a little boost! :)

Kasia

The Royal Mile in colour..

After such a long trip to Glenfinnan (see the series of my previous posts from our Scottish adventures starting with Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan and ending with Searching for Rob Roy) we have decided to finally take a tour of the famous Royal Mile.  The day started up with a lovely sunrise and no more rain and we took the trip on a double-decker bus to get us as close to it as possible..

Deciding to start with The Edinburgh Castle we have walked there from the bus stop admiring  the old buildings with their interesting architectural details.  Because of the amount of people waiting to be admitted to the castle we have decided to try our luck later on with Holyroodhouse Palace instead and after a short photo session from the castle hill, with a stop at Camera Obscura (a fun place to visit, whether you are a kid or not) located close by, we started our downward track towards the palace walking the length of the Royal Mile..

And finally we have reached the Holyroodplace Palace, where Her Majesty the Queen of England resides during her visits to Scotland..

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, since it is a current residence of the Queen, but we were told we can photograph everything outside so we have taken a full advantage of it while we visited the Holyrood Abbey and the surrounding grounds:

And from there we have started slowly back to the bus to get home.  We have lost our way in the process and managed to walk the whole distance back to the Castle, only on the other side, discovering, in the process many more interesting sites and a lovely view of the Edinburgh Castle itself in the setting sun ,of which we took full advantage ;)

There are many more pictures we have taken that day.. I will share some of them in my next post.  Until then..

Kasia

Almeria and Alcazaba Castle

We have decided one morning to go for a ride to Almeria and visit Alcazaba castle located on one of the hills in the middle of the city.  Our friend Sandra was kind enough to be our guide and led us through the city to the castle grounds.  Mac has already shared some of his pictures from that trip in his post Spanish Streets, Castle and Fuji X-PRO1. And here is what I saw that day..

Yes, I know, this is quite a pink place. The colour was so startling mids the more earthy palette of all the rest of the buildings that I had to take a picture of it ;)

The view from the castle located on top of a hill is quite remarkable. The blues of Mediterranean Sea contrast beautifully with the greens of the gardens and the pinkish rock that was used to build the castle.  Unfortunately great part of it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1522. Restorations started in 1950s.

Hope you have enjoyed this short tour. If you ever are close by I heartily encourage you to go and visit this lovely place.  It's too bad part of it is still in ruin, but I can imagine just how lovely it was during the time of it's glory.

Kasia

Edmonton Streets in Black and White

Street photography, for me, is not an easy task.  I'm afraid of people.  That's why having a long lens makes a big difference.  With the 100-400mm zoom I can take shots from across the street, and people are none the wiser what I'm pointing my camera at.  Too bad the lens is white, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.  To my surprise, people here in Edmonton are very friendly towards photographers, and usually do not mind at all having their picture taken.  Some will actually try to "strike a pose", which is nice, but it does not go along my view of "reporter" style photos.  Here are some shots of unsuspecting people around Edmonton downtown. Enjoy.

Streets of Edmonton

I always wanted to try out street photography. I've seen some great street photos, portraits, situations, but I was always too scared. I'm shy by nature, and really it took at lot out of me to snap these photos. About a week ago, my fried and I decided to go for a little evening walk around downtown Edmonton. We were primarily focused on architecture, but I decided that this would be a great time to try photographing people. I was taken aback by people reactions. One guy stopped by and asked what photos we were taking, all I said was "people like you" and trained my camera on him and snapped a couple of shots. He just smiled. When I took the shot of the three young people crossing the street, they actually apologized. I guess they thought I was photographing something else. I found the whole experience very interesting and exciting. Now I just have to find a little time to go out where there are people. Enjoy.