Tag Archives: travel

Crystal Palace II

Leave a Reply

This one is for some of the Brits who read this blog.  The pictures are a bit sketchy as they were taken from a moving car (I was not driving)!  I was in Dallas for work and noticed this building from a distance.  I figured I would try and get some pictures as we drove by.  The building is apparently a modern construction but, to my mind, it appears to be a direct reproduction of the original Crystal Palace.  Obviously not a reproduction after it burnt down but it does look just like it.  Anyone from Texas – Gary, I am looking at you – that knows anything about this building?

Filming a Car Scene in Vancouver

Leave a Reply

Walking through the streets of Vancouver one weekend, we came up to an intersection.  There was a Porsche sitting on a trailer with two people in it.  It quickly became apparent that they were doing some filming.  The woman was an actor and the man was filming here.  There was a vehicle pulling the trailer with some of the production staff sitting on it.  Initially I was focused on what they were doing but then I started to look around.

The whole convoy was all related to the filming.  There was a motorcycle escort supporting them and other vehicles from the production team.  Everything on the street was controlled.  You often feel when watching street scenes that they are filming in an open environment but a lot of the time it is totally controlled.  Only us and the other pedestrians could be considered random variables in the whole process.  The light stayed red for a while with the cameraman trying a variety of positions and then the lights changed and the whole ground headed off to the next block.  We went on our way too.

Building an America’s Cup Challenger

Leave a Reply

Ineos is a name I hadn’t heard until recently.  They took over the Sky cycling team and that was the first time I became aware of them.  I guess that sporting achievements are something that their management are quite focused on because, while waiting to catch the ferry at Portsmouth, I got a look at the building in these photos.  It is their America’s Cup challenger facility.  The building looks pretty impressive and I hope that the boat that they come up with is similarly so.  It would be good to see the cup make its way to the UK after all this time.

Daring Class Destroyer

1 Reply

The Royal Navy destroyer fleet’s most recent additions have been the Type 45 Daring Class.  These ships are an integral part of the groups that will support the new carriers.  The Type 45s preceded the carriers in to service by a number of years.  They have a superstructure that suggests more focus on radar reflectivity and the main mast is a larger structure than seen on previous ships.  This example was sailing out of Portsmouth and towards the English Channel while I was at Seaview on the Isle of Wight.  It was a bit distant but still worth a shot given how I haven’t seen one on open water before.

Re-Roofing Chichester Cathedral

Leave a Reply

Chichester Cathedral was something I would easily recognize from a distance.  It has, for many years, had a copper roof and this gave it a bright green color.  It was very distinctive.  When we were in Chichester this year, we walked around the cathedral grounds and they were working to replace the roof.  Apparently, copper had been used in a previous re-roofing because it was cheaper.  However, it was not an ideal material for the roof as it was not heavy enough and had moved in the weather allowing some significant water damage to the wooden structure underneath.

This is now being repaired and the roof material replaced with the leads that had been used prior to the copper.  The project is underway in phases and has made good progress.  Some of the exposed roof sections are already done so the remaining work is under scaffolding.  However, there is still signs of the green roof.  Soon the cathedral will look something like its original configuration.  I shall miss the green but I imagine those looking after the cathedral won’t miss it so much!

The Train That Started It All

Leave a Reply

The Japanese Shinkansen trains introduced in the 1960s became known around the world as bullet trains.  The shape of them was well known, often photographed with Mt Fuji in the background.  While other countries developed high speed rail, the Japanese bullet train was often the first one people would associate with the topic.  These first trains are known as the Series 0.  There have been several iterations of design since.  However, the Series 0 is still very recognizable to me and probably others of my generation.

I had seen a Series 0 vehicle once before.  I visited the Nippon Sharyo factory is Toyokawa many years ago and they have a cab vehicle on display by the main gate.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a photograph of that then.  Seeing an example at the SC Maglev museum was my second opportunity.  It was displayed alongside a number of the more recent iterations of the Shinkansen but, judging by the number of people taking photos of it, it still has a strong level of recognition.

Red Arrows Launch and Recover

Leave a Reply

The Red Arrows operated from ramp space at the eastern end of the show grounds at RIAT.  I spent some time down there on one of the days.  It provided a chance to watch them brief, crew up, start and then recover after the display.  Here area. Few shots of the team in action.

A Little Hovercraft Video

Leave a Reply

I got a few stills of the hovercraft but I also decided to film some video.  For those that haven’t seen hovercraft in action, stills probably do not give a suitable impression of how they rise up above the surface yet still leave a wake.  Quite a cool form of transportation and I do enjoy seeing them.  Hope you enjoy the video.

Nagoya Castle

Leave a Reply

I had a free Sunday in Japan prior to some meetings getting underway so made the trip to Nagoya.  Nagoya is a fair distance from Tokyo but the Nozomi Shinkansen service compresses that journey to just over 90 minutes!  I took the subway to the location of the castle and wandered around the grounds.  It was unbelievably hot.  In the shade it was uncomfortable but when you got into the sun it was brutal.  Still, how often am I going to get a chance so off I went.

The castle is surrounded by a moat and some very thick walls.  Lots of the structures were destroyed by fire in the bombing at the end of World War II.  The tower was reconstructed in concrete after the war but has now been closed and they are planning to demolish it and reconstruct it in wood like the original.  Other buildings have already been reconstructed in their original materials.

The tower is an imposing structure, even on a sunny and toasty day.  I was able to walk around the perimeter of the main castle buildings in the time I had available.  I had a return train booked based on when I needed to meet a colleague arriving in Tokyo that evening.  Therefore, I needed to keep moving irrespective of how much I wanted to be in the shade!  I had a look in some of the other buildings too.  They were quite simple and elegant in their construction.  I imagine that the whole thing will be most impressive when the reconstruction work is completed.

There were actors walking the grounds in costume as I moved around.  They engaged freely with the visitors but I still felt a little weird photographing them as they passed me by.  They clearly didn’t mind but somehow it felt like I was doing something wrong.  Not sure why, to be honest.  Maybe it is just the feeling that comes with being a foreigner.