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Singapore Camera Roll

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We return to some places, and vist some new ones

One of the things I enjoy the most about Singapore are all the funky sky scrapers. None of them are uniform.

We went back to the botanical gardens. We enjoyed them the last time we were here, and this time the weather was even better!

Of course, you can’t go to the gardens without stopping by the orchid garden.

Natalie explores.
A rare shot with the two of us.
The way the water had beaded on the leaves here was pleasing.
Back in the gardens, we happened upon a swarm of bird watchers congregating in on a particular bird. I think someone said it was a robin?
More funky buildings. I loved the colour highlights here.
Spotted an ice cream spot. I’m a sucker for chocolate mint ice cream.
Clarke Quay. A popular bar and restaurant spot. We stopped by for a cocktail one night during happy hour (booze in Singapore is normally pretty expensive).
Natalie showing off her new linen shirt. If she could be clothed in linen 24/7, I think she’d be happy.
Epic skyline.
Wandering towards dinner, I spotted this alleyway out the back of a line of restaurants.
Our spot for dinner! A hawker centre housed in an old Victorian building. Starkly contrasted against the giant buildings surrounding it.
Marina Bay Sands. Can’t go to Singapore without stopping for a peak at this bizarre hotel.

The merlion of Singapore, and the people across the water from it taking photos.

At the entrance to Little India…
On the roof of our hotel. I’m not sure why.

Budapest Camera Roll – Part 2

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Heroes’ Square.

I couldn’t get enough of the statues here, so I took a bunch of photos.

Museum of Fine Arts.
An excellent guard tower.
Some of the statue ornamentation of the Vajdahunyad Castle.
Jáki kápolna Church.
I really loved how covered in plant matter this tower was.
View of the castle from across the pond.
The Széchenyi Thermal Bath building.
The inside of our massive apartment. Pay no attention to the reflection in the mirror of all our stuff lying around.
Buda, as seen while crossing over the Elisabeth Bridge.
I’m a bit of a fan of snapping shots of street cars. Especially when they’re as colourful as this!
Climbing up the Gellért Hill, looking our towards Pest.
This guy was at the top. Slaying some kind of beast.
The Danube slices between Buda and Pest.

While in Budapest, I started playing around with taking shots for the purpose of converting them to black and white.
More excellent architecture.
The dome of the Parliament building at night. This was also taken with the intent to make it black and white, but it looked pretty good in colour as well.
Another black and white shot.
Evening in Liberty Square.

Budapest Camera Roll – Part 1

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A little bit of Pest, and a little bit of Buda

Intricate building decoration.
Approaching the mighty St. Stephen’s Basilica.

Dohány Street Synagogue, in a Moorish style.
The Central Market Hall. Filled with vendors of meats, and vegetables, and paprika products! All delicious looking. We bought some paprika to bring home.
Walking away from the Basilica, towards the Danube.
Our tour guide informed us that this statue was the first of a new wave of statues on Budapest. After having cycled through several governmental ideologies in quick succession, and dealt with the rising and pulling down of the statues and monuments associated with each one, the Hungarians decided best to just put up random things that have nothing to do with anything, to save on having to eventually pull them down.
This statue seems to be pulling the finger.
The hills of Buda.
The funicular, which climbs up to the old Buda Castle (actually a palace).
The Hungarian Parliament Building.

Matthias Church.

More Buda, off in the distance.

A stately gentleman in his stately garden.
I really liked some of the old, somewhat busted, buildings around town.
Many of which had some pretty intricate designs.
This is another of my favourite busted buildings.

Poland Camera Roll

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Wroclaw – Krakow

Newsflash: Poland is really really great!

In the main square of Wroclaw. This town is immediately captivating.

The square is surrounded by pretty buildings.

Over towards the university, there were some excellent doors. Like this…
… and this!
Also, the dwarf by the university was a little scholar (Natalie wrote more about these guys in her post, they’re all over Wroclaw).
A well known statue of a young naked (of course) fencer. Legend tells that the statue represents an extravagant gambler who squandered all but his sword in drunken card games. The Poles know how to have a good time.
Looking over the river towards the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
This section of street was pretty wild. It had photographs of how it looked immediately after WW2. You could often look across the road from the photograph and see where the old damaged buildings had been incorporated into newer construction.

An exhibit outside the National Museum.

Krakow! Horses and carriages everywhere. The drivers looked like the grumpiest people in the world.
This guy knows how to party.
Classic Poland. Not able to fund your whole church? No worries, just build it in bits, and don’t worry if they don’t match.

The first day we were in Krakow, it was pretty gloomy and grey, but the buildings were still pretty.

This old arse church was build in the 11th century.

Krakow castle!
It had started to rain at this point.
Once the rainy weather cleared, we were treated with a few stunning sunset walks.
In the river, the swine awaits the roasting.
This bridge, over the Vistula river, had some really cool circus performer statues balanced in an amongst the supports.
One of my favourites.
And again from afar.
Sunshine!
I’m not sure what this was about, but I really liked this crest.

The green belt, which surrounds the old city.