Salzburg, Austria

In July 1972 I flew back to Europe for the first time since we left Germany in 1957. One of my many stops was the city of Salzburg in Austria.
There was an excellent vantage point that I found above the old town from where I took a number of photos. I walked there from my hotel which was in a newer part of the city.
There was an excellent view of the surrounding mountains in the Austrian Alps and a view of the countryside.
Then there was the view of the castle, Hohensalzberg!
The image above shows a typical view of a street in the old town. Remember, this was July 1972!
I met up with my former grade 11 German teacher and we drove to the base of a mountain called the Untersberg where we took a cable car (Seilbahn) up to its summit.
I took a photo of her trying to make sense of the telescope and its instructions. Below is an image with a view of Salzburg and the countryside through a break in the clouds. Salzburg was used as a setting for the 1960s movie called "The Sound of Music" starring Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer as the Baron von Trapp. The film is based upon a true story but the real story is different from what appears in the movie. I hope you've enjoyed the photos! There will be more as I made quite a few other stops on this trip. - V

Sculptures on Burnaby Mountain: Kamui Mintara, or "Playground of the Gods" - Part III

Here are a few more photos of the sculptures on Burnaby Mountain followed by one of the moon rising above the mountain near the campus of Simon Fraser University (SMU). - Volker

Sculptures on Burnaby Mountain: Kamui Mintara, or "Playground of the Gods" - Part II

This post is a continuation of the previous one on the sculptures on Burnaby Mountain: Kamui Mintara, or "Playground of the Gods." The view from the western end of the mountain is magnificent any time of the year. The photos in this series were taken in early and mid-February 2008. Above is a view of Capital Hill (foreground) with Stanley Park and Hollyburn Mountain in the background in a winter setting. Then the photo below shows the snow-covered Coast Mountains (looking north), also in early February.

The western part of the mountain has plenty of activity in the winter with snowboarding as just one example. In summer there is plenty of other activity such as picnics, people admiring the flowers in the rosegarden or just taking in the scenery, which is reason enough to visit the mountain. Then the day I went to visit in early February I stayed late to see the sunset and to see the moon coming up from the east plus take in the sight of two bald eagles soaring overhead. I have seen 13 bald eagles so far this year, most of them at Burnaby Mountain with five being the most I've seen at one time!

Part of Kamui Mintara at sunset (Feb) can be seen in the photo above and the series of plaques in front of the sculptures are pictured below. The plaques tell the story behind the symbolism of the work and the connection between the Ainu of Japan and the Gods that brought them into being. So a question comes to mind: Who were these "Gods" and where did the Ainu come from originally??? Decide for yourself!

Kamui Mintara shown above at sunset and a bald eagle soaring overhead seen in the photo below. I only got a few photos of one of the pair though it would have been great to get both in the same shot.

The piece in the photo above is pointing directly at Kushiro, Japan (Hokkaido) across the Pacific Ocean. Note the Ainu word for the region in the name: Hokkaido. Enjoy the photos, and the scenery! - Volker

Sculptures on Burnaby Mountain: Kamui Mintara, or "Playground of the Gods"

The view from the top of Burnaby Mountain is out of this world and perhaps it is fitting that the art sculptures found on the western end of the mountain are called "Kamui Mintara" which translates as "Playground of the Gods." The sculptures resemble totem poles. There are more than a dozen carved poles in the work created by Japanese sculptors Nuburi Toko and his son, Shusei. The cities of Burnaby, British Columbia and Kushiro on the island of Hokkado, Japan are twinned and the sculptures commemorate the goodwill between the two cities. The indiginous people of Hokkaido, and of the entire Japanese islands are the Ainu, a caucasian (white) race. The Ainu refer to the region of Hokkaido as "Kai" and this is how the region has been referred to for over a thousand years by the Ainu and neighbouring peoples. A variation of Kai is Qoy. That the Ainu of northern Japan and the First Nations of British Columbia have similar "totems" makes the twinning of the two cities rather fitting.

The photo above shows the view from western Burnaby Mountain looking west-northwest and the one below looks north up Indian Arm, off Burrard Inlet.

The complete sculptures are shown in the two photos, the one above and the one below.

This element of the sculpture above points to Kushiro, Japan. Below are some close-ups of the art work which include bear, owl and whale "totems." The owl is one of my favourites.

More on the Ainu to follow in a later post. Enjoy the photos and feel free to comment! - Volker

Snow in the Mountains

Well, the lower Fraser Valley may be green, as the above photo of Hastings Park in Vancouver will attest, but the mountains certainly have snow. The image below is of Grouse Mountain on the north side of Burrard Inlet. There is certainly enough snow to make the skiers happy! These photos were taken a week ago today (Monday). It was sunny, above freezing temperature-wise but there was a cold wind blowing which made it feel much colder than the thermometer would suggest.

In the Heights, a suburb of north Burnaby founded in 1909, I found a beautiful Monkey Puzzle tree back in October and couldn't resist taking a few more photos. The first image is of the crown and the second is of the whole tree on a side street. It's not the largest specimen I've seen (there are much larger ones in the area) but it will give you an idea what the tree looks like. There will be more photos later since I plan a trip to Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver where large trees are found.