This will take your breath away. A time lapse video by Sean Stidegemeier in Yosemite National Park, California. This footage just shows how beautiful the world we live in can be. I have to go there sometime. I’d also like to try doing some time lapse video myself.
As part of my aim to see more of Ireland and also just to enjoy my last week before uni starts back, I spent 5 nights in Cork. I had never been before and read in the Lonely Planet guide that it was in the top ten cities recommended for visiting in 2010.
There’s a lot happening in Cork – Comedy, music, theatre, dance and so many different festivals. There would be something to thrill everyone. There’s even a butter museum. That’s one attraction I didn’t find time for though.
I’m always more attracted to taking pictures of crumbling dilapidated buildings than shiny new ones, so my photographs don’t reflect the new developments in Cork. There is a beautiful mix of old and new when you walk down the streets. I took a historical tour where we were given a summary of the last few hundred years. The tour guide seemed genuinely surprised that I wasn’t completely clued up on Cork’s history.
On our last day we went to the Blarney Castle and kissed the infamous Blarney stone. I since discovered it was voted the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world. That’s disgustingly impressive. According to the legend however, I should now be graced with the gift of eloquence. We’ll see.
Blarney is just 5 miles from Cork City Centre and I thought it was well worth the visit. The castle itself was so interesting to walk through. The castle dates from 1446 and is in good condition. With the medieval architecture such as the murder hole and arrow loops still intact, it makes it very easy to imagine life in the castle centuries ago. There’s a lot of attractions in Co. Cork and I’d recommend a trip there to anyone. I also went to the Fota Wildlife Park, I’ll upload some of the photo’s from that soon.
In March I went on a 4-day trip to Paris with half of my uni class. Like the driven, artistic people we are, we checked out a lot of art galleries (surprisingly cheaply – Paris likes students) but as we are only human, it was imperative to go to Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland was a whole day event. Being the adrenaline junkie I am, I was looking forward to mile high rides with crazy, head-shaking speeds and I was nearly satisfied. There was far too much Mickey and not enough rides for my liking. It was still fun but the queues were long with some of the rides being very short, and not fast enough to merit screaming. Tower of Terror was a fantastic ride though and you couldn’t have paid me to Not scream.
We visited Les Art Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre, Centre Pompidou and the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie. In the Louvre we saw the renowned Mona Lisa; it was a good painting. It was a bit odd though that for the massive crowd of people huddled up in a queue to see it, the painting opposite which filled a very large wall and was of the same standard of painting only had a handful of people viewing it.
It was in the Museum of photography that I saw the Elliott Erwitt “Personal Best” Exhibition. I recognised quite a few of his photographs and could finally put a name to them. I thought his work was astounding. Born in France, studied in America and then working globally, this man has taken some phenomenal photographs. His style is quite candid and he captures the most extraordinary things.
My friend Karen and I were hysterical with laughter flicking through ‘Elliott Erwitt’s DOGS’ in the gift shop. With his impeccable timing, some of the dogs appear to be floating in the air. At the time, it was the funniest thing in the world.
As we left Erwitt’s exhibition I bumped into this boisterous dalmatian pup.
I had a great time in Paris. France is a lovely country, having only been to Nice and Paris, I would like to see more of it. I might need to win the lottery though as €20 for a salad is outrageous, even if it does have salmon, pineapple and spicy raisins.
Martina Scott 