European photographs taken by jow104

[jow104]

What height are they for the rest of the year?

Al :confused:

Around 15 ft. higher when topped with snow

[jow104]

Good renditions John - now all that last one of the Matrei pass needs is the depiction of a silver 300SLR at full chat included...

Is this what you meant?



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[jow104]

I am posting three photographs today, The first picture has a story to tell the reason for its insertion.

We have driven up this mountain to about 6000 ft and negotiated many bends and I have decided that I would like to get another snap. So after rounding another sharp hairpin bend I dive off to my right hand side of the road on to a lower piece of spare adjacent ground which has about a 3" drop off the tarmac. At the same time Janet is distracted from looking at the driving scene and is searching for her handbag on the car floor, this resulted for her getting the motion of going over the edge of the mountain and for that brief second the dropping sensation. I thouht afterwards there was an engine oil burn smell in the car



A mountain stream picture in the Nocker National Pk. Austria.



Entering a single track snow tunnel around 1500mtrs with a traffic light control time wait of about 20 minutes. This is an old tunnel on the Matatal pass Austria built in the 30's? Also a bit of white stuff falling, the first after 5 days in Austria.


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[ozwinner]

A mountain stream picture in the Nocker National Pk. Austria.

Did you see any?

Al

[Auld Bassoon]

He He John, sorta, kinda, nearly

[echnidna]

Well you don't need ter go to New Zealand John,
Those photos could have been taken in NZ.

[jow104]

The first picture today was taken of a duck hide. I assume the shooters hide behind the wooden front and seated, in addition the hide was situated at the edge of the field under the curtain of a fir tree, you might also see the stream located behind.



This picture gives the extent of road building in Austria, a snow and avalache tunnel towards the top of a mountain in a very popular ski area.



I have made alterations to the painting shewn earlier, and added a tree which I think helps composition, its called artistic license.



Another painting completed yesterday was the lake scene of Zell am Zee.



.Bob, the lady stills wants to go to N.Z., I think its those Maoiri's thats the attraction?

[ozwinner]

The first picture today was taken of a duck hide.

:confused: I thought ducks had fevvers?

Al

[jow104]

Ozwinner

Ducks will be a very common occurrence next year in Australia

This picture is a very complicated scene, it is a mountain pass constructed by tying the roadway to the side of a mountain also tunnels have been tied to the mountain in a similar fashion and some had hairpin bends. The pass was on the border of Austria/Italy.



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[jow104]

The final two pictures of Austria before moving on to Italy.

L.Weisbach seen from a chair lift which remains open winter for sking and summer for alpine walking at around 4500ft.



A wet day at ground level in Austria.


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[jow104]

Driving across the border from Austria into Northern Italy means a change of mountain scenery, example as per the picture below.

Aproaching Cortina. N. Italy.



The next picture has a story to tell.
It is a bank holiday period in Italy and there are around 50.000 pedal cyclists from all over Europe (together with their motor caravans etc.) cycle racing over some of the Italian mountain passes.
So having experienced an exhausting day trying to avoid knocking any off their bikes on the hairpin bends (they wouldn't give an inch) I parked the car for the evening and being tired I forgot to turn off my car headlights.
Next morning my electronic key would not open the car doors and it was some minutes before I realised that the electronic key also had a metal key concealed inside. I then found the car would not start and worked out I had a flat battery. Not speaking any Italian and being in a small mountain village I knew I was in trouble. Persuaded two fellers (on their honeymoon!!!!!!!! ) I recognised from the previous evening and got them to give me a push start by sign actions. No use, it appears modern cars
do not start in this fashion anymore.
Eventually got a garage to give me a battery start with the help of translators.
However the day did not progress smoothly, three times the roads were closed to motorists owing to this cycle racing mentioned above and the final humiliation occured on the following picture. It was around 2.30 pm after a 9 am eventual departure that morning that we got to the top of this pass which must have had at least 60 hairpin bends and numerous tunnels and sheer drops that we were informed that the far side of the pass was closed to all traffic because of weather conditions. It turned out that we had to go past our original starting point of the morning and drive westward and enter Switzerland to free ourselves of road conditions (and cyclists).

So here is the photograph of that pass.

[Auld Bassoon]

Great stuff John! Thanks for the photos; I've much enjoyed seeing some of those places again.

[Wongo]

The in-laws have just returned from England. Lovely photos of the countryside.

[jow104]

Someone waiting transportation?

[jow104]

After yesterdays picture taken on that Ialian pass and owing to diversions and detours I was around 300kms further westward into Europe than was comfortable for my return to Berlin. We spent the night in Switzerland and left early the next morning and drove furiously up to the Rhine Gorge at Koblenz which I can tell you is the scenic and wine growing area of Germany. So this final picture is of one of those spectacular German castles which are spaced along the river gorge.



A further comment is that my woodworking pastime for the next few weeks is going tobe curtailed. A section of rotten wall paint came adrift from our outside bungalow wall and after a little time spent scraping the area I resorted to getting out the water blaster and look at the mess I am in!!



Any assistance appreciated