So after a very careful study of the map against this photo, I have concluded that I can at last legitimately add at least the category “Zeeland” to my blog, even though I’ve not yet been on the ground in Zeeland. (It’s now the only province in the Netherlands that I haven’t at least passed through in a train or car, and most I’ve now done some real activities such as overnights, culture, tennis, performances, museums, etc.) I’m confident that the land on the left is the beginning of Zeeland, as you head south, while the area on the far right under the wing-tip of the airplane is the end of Zuid Holland, just south of the port of Rotterdam which I showed you in a previous post from this flight back to A’dam from Geneva. If you also choose to study the map as I just did, you’ll no doubt agree that the image below, taken less than two minutes before the one above, shows the fingers of land just south, also in Zeeland – which, if you do study the map, you’ll notice is really a lot of peninsulas and islands between the various channels of water that represent the main end of what would be the delta of the Rhine, if the Dutch hadn’t been engineering it for centuries.
After taking off from Geneva’s airport two weeks ago, we followed the lake shore and then cut northwest and away from the lake, with a lovely view of this dramatic cloud formation for quite some time as the light on the land grew dimmer and dimmer, and the cloud colors more vibrant. Above, that’s the short of Lac Léman to the east of Geneva.
That’s part of the port of Rotterdam (which we showed you from afar in at least one prior post almost exactly a year ago), as seen from above late Thursday on my return flight from Geneva. (Whence that last photo of two rivers merging with very dramatically differently colored water, and a mountain emerging from the clouds in the distance. Yes, I finally got closer to some very legitimate mountains for a few days this past week, so the upcoming mountains posts will be less questionable than one or two of the other recent ones. And indeed, the need to get some mountains photos into my folders got me out early for a walk along Geneva’s lovely lake both mornings I awoke there, so look for those pics also in upcoming posts.)
Last photos from that dusk landing at Cotonou’s Cadjahoun International airport in Benin that we showed you in one previous post. Indeed, somewhat scraping the bottom of the barrel on these airplane from-the-air shots, but it’s also the mood: one boards mid-day in Brussels, flies south and west, makes a stop some seven hours later to discharge and take on passengers in a place one’s only ever seen on a map before…one sits in one’s seat for 45 minutes while that happens, watching ground crews at work and wondering when one will get to lie down in a real bed and sleep…and then one’s off again to the next airport. Somehow somewhat surreal, I guess.
Looking west from California’s central valley towards Snow Mountain Wilderness & the various reservoirs and natural lakes on the eastern slopes and foothills of that range of mountains, not long after my last take-off from SF in early April.
Sticking with our theme of (snow-capped) mountains, you’ll note that some of those white things in the distance are the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, which run along the western edge of California & at the California Nevada border. Given the time of the photo, this was over the central valley north and east of SF, not too terribly long after our take-off in April. 🙂
As noted in yesterday’s post, I connected through Istanbul again at the end of January. Since citizens will be voting in a rather important runoff election there today (Sunday the 28th, I believe?), these photos taken during the approach to Istanbul’s airport on that flight feel appropriate for today’s entry. Full confession, I’ve never been outside the airport in Istanbul, so though I’ve looked at maps and fantasized about its storied history, to be honest I have no idea what we’re looking at in any of these Istanbul images 🙂
When I flew back from that last trip to Iraq, we flew north towards a connection in Istanbul. That flight path took us directly over some of those historic, high and lovely mountains which house the sources of the Tigris, into which the various streams I’ve been showing you in some of these earlier posts flow. As you’ve seen also in at least one prior post, even the closer mountains were nicely snowcapped when I was there. So I stared and stared out the window, uncertain whether the white things I saw could be mountain tops, and whether I was maybe seeing some of the mountains named in ancient texts, or just more cloud peaks. Can you tell?? 🙂
Today marks my 365th day in a row of posts here, and as the day dawns where I’m now living (also, as it happens, when this post will appear for you dear readers), I should be back in the air on yet another weary international flight for work. Or perhaps in another airport for another connection. (I’m scheduling this post before I head to the airport, if you’re curious…)In any case, it felt appropriate to open the “last day” with a new series, since any of you who’ve followed the blog over the years know I usually have a camera at hand and try to enjoy the perspective from the air when I’m on these long flights, so it’s always likely that there’ll be other opportunities for an entry in this new series. All the photos in this post were taken in the span of ten minutes as our flight approached Abu Dhabi’s airport in the wee hours of a morning last November. Interesting, what serious irrigation (and wealth to create that irrigation) can make of a desert, isn’t it?
At least, if the sun had to be setting at 16:20, it was kind enough to be a clear (and cold!) day as the plane lined up for its landing at Schiphol last Wednesday :-).
Still working through photos of the flat and canal-rich countryside of Noord-Holland, Gelderland and Noord-Brabant in NL, even as I enjoy the steep hills and Atlantic views in Madeira. So much world, indeed…
A new series for a new place, of which you see my very first photo immediately above and, just below, the remaining photos taken as our airplane approached the runway of this lovely mountainous island off the Atlantic coast of Morocco yesterday afternoon. I want to share them fast, because of that lovely sense of discovery I had, after a 7am flight out of a very cold Amsterdam and connecting time in Lisbon, as our plane came ever closer to the waves below us and I eagerly looked for my first view of this new island. Semi-perfectionist (or mildly obsessive) individual that I am, it hurts me to fall out of number order – somewhere a few months ago I decided I’d try to have some numeric order in my series – but as I’ve wanted to launch an “islands” series ever since I realized the missed opportunity after I’d posted most of my lovely Texel photos, I simply don’t want to wait longer.
The blog tells me I’ve now posted at least one new post per day, for 317 days in a row. This means I need to cover 48 more days and I’ll hit my 365-day mark in the second half of January, and then I really do think I’ll allow myself another extended break. In the meantime I do keep seeing amazing stuff on walks, from flights, during bike rides…and it’s fun to share. Hope you’ll enjoy these new views. More from this island in the days ahead. (And yep, if you view it in full blog mode, you’ll see the nation and island in the “categories,” otherwise a future post will be less mysterious, I’m sure…).
Today marks my 365th day in a row of posts here, and as the day dawns where I’m now living (also, as it happens, when this post will appear for you dear readers), I should be back in the air on yet another weary international flight for work. Or perhaps in another airport for another connection. (I’m scheduling this post before I head to the airport, if you’re curious…)
(so much world, so little time....) 