Wordless Wednesday 57 - Its (nearly) Spring!!

Hoo roo for now...

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Its Spring!!! (with these temps anyway!!)

You'd almost be forgiven if you were to think it was spring already... Afterall, Wednesday it was 26 degrees, yesterday almost 30 (29.4) with the 'normal' (summer) thunderstorm! And today, which is just glorious by the way, is just another day in paradise...

Red White and Green Spring Walk

Parrot Tulip Spring Walk

I hope this weather continues, its a weekend of footy, doing the lawns at home and a bit of a tidy up as well, but I am hoping to get a ride on the bike in as well...

Hoo roo for now...

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Day 11 - Prague Botanic Gardens

Today, it was all about visiting the Botanic Gardens in Prague... but the Gardens I visited, were the ones attached to the University of Prague, and had more of a science feel to it; not necessarily a bad thing either...

It was a small, eclectic Garden, long and narrow, and had both a working glasshouse for operational use, as well as another one for visiting public to enter.

Potted Palms

Potted Trees Prague Botanic Garden

Prague Botanic Garden Glasshouse

A lot of the trees were in pots, making them easier to 'bring in' when not the best weather in the winter. the lawns were sweeping in nature and generally a very pleasant little garden. However, it was doing the hayfever NO good what so ever, and after cutting short my visit after talking with some of the staff, I headed back to the city and to get some medication, and some lunch!

Lavender and Roses

Hydranger and Bee

After lunch, I headed up to the Prague Castle! It was by this stage, quite glary on the eyes, and it was warming up nicely as well... I caught the Metro to Malostranska, and then the tram to the top. When arriving, I walked past the Princesses Garden, which was a butiful garden! There was a 'Birds of Prey' corner, and they had some magnificant birds on display. You could have your photo taken with one of them, the larger the bird the more it cost, but I wasn't into getting my photo taken! They were also very much against YOU taking a photo of the birds, and as I din't have my long lens with me, I was unable to get a shot :(

After a quick walk around, it was time to enter the Castle itself, and more importantly, into the St Vitus Cathederal.

Prague Metro - Malostranská

Princesses Garden - Prague Castle

St Vitus Cathederal - Prague Castle

After the brief look inside, I walked down the long subtle staircasr towards Malostranska Metro station, and along the way, stopped to get some photos of the overview of the city.

Prague City Center

Castle Wall

Staircase Down...

I potted around the city for a good while whilst JP was at work. The plan was that when he finished at 7pm, we would catch up for dinner at the local pub where his spotters club have the get togethers! I caught the Metro up to where we were having dinner. Dinner was fantastic, and not that badly priced either!

After dinner, we strolled across some of the bridges in Prague, there was some buskers about, some great and some, well, they were there... It was getting late now, and whilst the sun was low, it was still quite light, but it was a great final night in Prague...

Hoo roo for now...

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Day Three in Oslo

Today, was to be a visit to both the Botanical Gardens and to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. After my shower, Skype back home, I headed out to get some breakfast and to get a train ticket. Oslo have a great system, a 24 hour ticket gets you on ALL public transport, Train, Tram, Bus and Ferry! Something that Sydney can learn from really... AND, its cheap as chips as well!!

The Botanical Garden was simply quaint, it wasn't to large, yet the collection was stunning both in its large trees down to its colourful garden beds. I spoke with some of the staff there, and I got the impression that they loved what they were doing as well!

Boston Ivy over building

Glass House

Willow Tree

Peonies

I then headed back through the centre of town on the train through to the other end of town. IT is easily accessible without any problems! The short walk to the park, is easy, and passes some nice shops along the way.

Sculptures

Sculpture Park

Fountain

Sun Dial Spire

Daschund

 Once IN the park, the amount of sculptures was simply stunning! There was SO many bronze ones, stone ones, some young and some old (subjects). Also, scattered through the park, people enjoying the sun on a blanket or a towel, some wearing less than I would think would be allowed, but, still modest... I had such a great day, and after a long day, a Skype call to friends back home, I turned in for the night...

Hoo roo for now...

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Photo a Day Challenge - Day 38 Sun

Sydney is going through a 'grey' month (summer), and there wasn't that much 'sun' to actually shoot. Not even a bit of blue was available, so I searched through the albums, using 'sun' as a search, and it returned the Sun Dial from the Hunter Region Botanic Garden!

Sun Time HRBG

Hoo roo for now...

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Photo a Day Challenge - Day 29 Inside your Fridge

Well, its not all that exciting inside my fridge, and rather than having a separate 'beer fridge', not that I am a big beer drinker, it has some beers, mixer drinks (Coke to add to my Bourbon), left over salad from dinner tonight, and some cheeses... Eggs as well for my protein meals, and 2 x 3l of milk which will be lucky to last 3 days at best!

Inside your fridge

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In other news, today I got to meet some of the other girls from our DIG. J, who is home from Japan for a few months, as well as some other Sydney based mums and families, all met up for a brief get-together. I say it was brief as the ranger chucked us all out at 5pm! Its daylight savings for goodness sakes, whats with the rush to evict?

Even though I had my camera bag with me, I didn't take a single shot as I was in shock we were being 'booted' out, so apologies for no photos...

Hoo roo for now...

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Interesting stuff!

Last night, I had an interesting phone call where I've been asked to do a presentation about organ donation. Basically, it will be 'My Story' and the circumstances behind making the decision when I did. BUT, I am grateful in the knowledge that 2 people have benefited from the decision I/we made!

However, I went for a bit of a walk earlier today, and there was simply some magnificent colour about early this year!

Spring Walk 2011

Spring Walk 2011

Spring Walk 2011

Here are some closer looks at some of the specimens, the colours are simply stunning, and will come along as well over the Spring.

Spring Walk 2011

Spring Walk 2011

Spring Walk 2011

White Tulip

Spring Walk 2011

Along some of the pathways within the Gardens, there are a lot of Clivia spp lining them, and they look truly wonderful - both the orange AND the yellow...

Clivia Pathways

Clivia Yellow

Even looking to the skies, the good old Grey Headed Flying Fox's are about...

GHFF

GHFF

Hoo roo for now...

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A walk around the 'Gardens'...

Ok, so I've told you I got a new camera, (7D), and today I got a little bit of time to give it a bit of a going through... I got to walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens a little and get some shots... This first series is of the built environment (some) and what surrounds the Gardens... The City CBD overlooking the Gardens must offer some spectactular views and vistas for the city workers, whilst the Herb Garden recently had the Pavillion finished after a lot of years without it! Then, lastly, Victoria Lodge is a quaint little house...

Sydney CBD

Victoria Lodge

Conservatorium of Music Side

Herb Garden Pavillion Finished

Here are just some of the Gardens themselves... The Palm trees on the old 'Flower Bed Lawn', and Echinacea Flower which was the only plant/flower in the bed, and the Brachychiton that, whilst on a lean, is getting a little support...

Sydney Palms

Echinacea Flower

Support

And finally, a little of the 'ornaments' within the Gardens... There are a LOT of statues and memorials and so on, so to see but just a few is nice, a little at a time! There is a couple of 'Seeds' made from Bronze, and then a Bronze Statue of 'Satyr', which resembles a goat rear and the head of a human!

Bronze Seed

Bronze Seed 01

Satyr

Hoo roo for now...

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