In October 2007 I started working in France on six months of a ten month contract. On March 18 I returned to Tucson, then on May 30 I returned again to France to complete the remaining four months of my contract before returning again to Tucson at the end of September.
Posted here are the photos taken in 2008. For pictures taken in 2007 go to the link http://csharp.com/photos2007.html. All pictures were taken with a digital camera (corresponding to DC2 for 2007), except for one set of pictures taken with an old film camera (FC), as noted below. No further pictures are planned to be taken with FC or the very cheap digital camera (corresponding to DC1 for 2007).
First we start with pictures taken in early January, which can also be found at the bottom of the page for 2007. On January 2, 2008, I took the first six pictures in Paris, followed on January 3, day by two more at the Grande Arche de la Défense on a very dull day. On January 4, I went with a friend to Chartres and took five pictures of the very famous cathedral from various angles. Finally, on Sunday, January 6, I took a picture of the Anglican Church in Versailles at Pont Colbert, and the rectory (last picture) next door: |
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Saturday, February 9, was a particularly fine and sunny day, so I went out and took some pictures of the Roman Amphitheatre and Notre Dame de Fourvière on a hill overlooking Lyon, as well as some general views of Lyon and Old Lyon. As I had some film left over, I took some pictures with FC for photos lyon-feb-x.jpg, and digital pictures with DC2 for photos HPIM0x.JPG. The last two pictures with DC2 are of ducks in the Parc de Gerland near the university where I was working on March 7: |
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I took some ski clothes with me to France, but for various reasons up to March I had not done any skiing. With time beginning to run out I decided to take effectively the last chance available to go skiing before returning to Tucson, so on Saturday, March 8, I went on a day's excursion to the resort of La Cluza in the French Alps. Unfortunately conditions were not particularly good as February had been very mild, so I had to dodge some grass, rocks and ice, but I still had a great time. Also unfortunately due to clouds some spectacular views were not possible, and took far fewer pictures than anticipated. Here are the pictures I did manage to take, including with some American I met in the coach on the way to the resort: |
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| Le Parc de la Tête d'Or (Golden Head Park) is a large park on the NE side of Lyon, which I visited on March 15 and took some pictures of the spring flowers and birds. There is also a railway and zoo there with some elephants on display. All the pictures here are of that park, except for the first two taken on March 12 in the Parc de Gerland. Photos 342 and 343 are of a war memorial on an island in the park: | |||
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Here are some pictures I took in a British Airways 747 while flying back to Phoenix on March 18 over Canada and the USA. Unfortunately I did not have a window seat and missed some particularly spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains over Colorado: |
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Easter Sunday took place on March 23, which was only a few days after I returned to Tucson. March 23 is an exceptionally early date for Easter, and the next time it occurs on that date will be in 2160. The earliest possible date of Easter is March 22, and that will not take place until 2285. Here are some pictures of me outside St.Philips Episcopal Church on Easter Sunday: |
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| The first excursion and opportunity of taking some pictures after returning to Tucson was a visit to the Kitt Peak National Observatory on Saturday, April 5, with some friends. The first 5 pictures are of the exterior and interior of the solar telescope, together with some later exterior pictures. Pictures 398 and 399 are of the mountains south of Kitt Peak taken from the observatory. Kitt Peak is on a mountain west of Tucson, and details of the observatory can be found at http://www.noao.edu/kpno: | |||
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Several times a year 4th Avenue in Tucson, famous for its parades, restaurants and various fashion stores etc. has a street fair. After returning from Kitt Peak later that afternoon I took the following three pictures of the fair:: |
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The next day, Sunday, April 6, the Jewish Center in Tucson had an open day celebrating 60 years since the founding of Israel, although the actual anniversary is in May. I was told that the weather is too hot to celebrate in May. Apparently the climate in Tucson is very similar to parts of Israel. Here are a few pictures:: |
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On Saturday, April 26, I went on a church picnic to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains south of Tucson. See santarita1.jpg, santarita2.jpg and santarita3.jpg for the picnic in 2007 at about the same time of year. Unlike 2007 when there was snow high in the mountains, the weather was warmer this time and there was no snow: |
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In the afternoon and evening of Saturday, May 10, a star party was arranged at the University of Arizona Mall, to which many amateur astronomers brought their telescopes. During the afternoon the Sun was observed through several telescopes, but unfortunately it had no spots or other features. After dark the Moon, planets and stars were observed, with Saturn being the most interesting object to look at. The famous amateur and author David Leavy was interviewed by Channel 13, which is one of the local TV companies. Here are some pictures taken while it was still light: |
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On Thursday, May 15, I flew out from Phoenix to Bogota, Colombia, via Los Angeles, to spend a few days there before returning on May 20. Fortunately I could get on a flight back from Los Angeles directly to Tucson without having to go via Phoenix. Those pictures which were underexposed or had poor contrast have been adjusted using Adobe Photoshop, and have the suffix "a" in the name. The first three photos are of the desert of eastern California on the way out to Los Angeles. The next three photos were taken on Saturday morning at a breakfast party at my hotel, followed by photos 455 to 465 taken that evening at an observatory at one of the universities in Bogota. If I remember correctly, the telescope is a 36 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and is the largest in Colombia. The views of Bogota and the Moon were taken from the roof next to the dome. Unfortunately I had some problems keeping the camera steady. On Sunday morning I heard the hooting of a train, and took photos 466 to 478 of a tourist steam train from my hotel balcony then from the ground at the nearby Usaquen station. On Monday I had lunch with my friend Heidi at a restaurant next to Parque 93, and photos 479 to 484 are at the restaurant and the park, followed by 4 pictures taken on my way back to my hotel. The metre gauge railway is where the tourist train runs. On Tuesday, May 20, on my flight back to Los Angeles I took photos 489 and 490 of an active volcano somewhere in Central America, and the final photo is of the Colorado delta in Mexico: |
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| On Friday, May 30, I returned to France, then on Sunday, June 1, I quickly shot a picture of the rectory of the Anglican Church in Versailles just after the morning service and before leaving for a BBQ with some friends I was staying with that weekend, followed by a short walk in some nearby woods, as shown in the first 6 pictures below. The next day I took the TGV to Lyon to resume my employment there, and on the following day, Tuesday, June 3, went out to the nearby river and park to take pictures of some ducks and swans with ducklings and cygnets, as shown in pictures 498 to 508, with the remaining pictures taken on Wednesday, June 18: | |||
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| Every Sunday the English speaking church in Lyon, the Lyon Anglican Church, has a service that is attended by various nationalities, in addition to those from the UK and France. After the June 22 service we had a picnic on the edge of the River Rhône as shown in the first 6 pictures, then we had an open night at the vicarage on the following Friday, June 27, as shown in the remaining 4 pictures, which were taken in fading light as the sun was setting: | |||
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| July 14 is a big holiday in France, Bastille Day, and everywhere in France in the evening there are big firework displays. In Lyon the fireworks were set off from the Fourvière hill, and from the opposite side of the Rhône I made my very first attempt at photographing fireworks. Unfortunately this was a complete failure, and I only managed to salvage two poor pictures, the first of which had to be adjusted with Photoshop. The remaining pictures were taken at the picnic and 40th birthday party of Laurent Dominici of Lyon's Anglican Church on August 2 in the Parc de Gerland. Fortunately people move more slowly than fireworks and the pictures came out: | |||
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| I had been in France since the end of May and had not left the area of Lyon at all, much less France, until the middle of September, when I flew to England to see the Christening of my two grand nieces. Picture 575 is of my two brothers and I, from left to right, Michael, my youngest brother, myself and John (the grandfather of the twin girls), at the reception of the Christening on the 14th. The remaining pictures are of John's new house in Norfolk on the 15th just before I flew back to France: | |||
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| The second and last time I left the Lyon area before returning to Arizona was a week later on Saturday the 20th, when I took the train to Annecy and looked around the town and the famous lake. I had been meaning to do this all summer, and finally made it at just about the last chance. Fortunately the weather was fine. I have a habit of tilting my camera when taking pictures, which for some reason was particularly bad on this occasion, especially when I took on a boat ride on the lake. Several of these pictures have been rotated to correct for this. The last two pictures are of the train that took me back to Lyon in the evening. The electric locomotive is dual standard 25 kV 50 Hz AC and 1.5 kV DC to accommodate those two systems used in that part of France: | |||
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My contract in France officially ended on Tuesday, September 30, but my return flight to the USA was on the 29th, so I made use of some unused vacation and completed my job in Lyon on the previous Friday and took the TGV back to Paris on Saturday morning. That evening I went to a BBQ at St.Marks Anglican Church in Versailles, and that evening and the following evening a friend very kindly put me up in his apartment in Meudon, between Versailles and Paris. The first three pictures are from my friend's apartment, and the Eiffel Tower is just visible in the third picture in the background behind some big buildings. The remaining three pictures are of the BBQ in the fading autumn light, and Photoshop had to be used on two of them to bring out some details: |
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| On Sunday afternoon, my last full day in France, I visited the grounds of the famous Palace at Versailles, and below is a record of my picture: | |||
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| After returning to Arizona at the end of September, I stayed with one friend for a few days then with another until the end of October, during which time I searched and found an apartment for temporary accommodation until such time that I could find suitable employment. At the end of October I retrieved all my possessions held in storage for over a year and put them in my new apartment. Here are some pictures of what the apartment looked like just after I had dumped everything in it on November 1. Since then I have slowly sorted it all out and tidied it up, which continues into 2009: | |||
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| The following pictures were taken the next day on Sunday, November 2, at a church BBQ at Reid Park in Tucson: | |||
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| The patron saint of Scotland is St.Andrews, and St.Andrews Day is celebrated in Scotland on November 30. However, this clashes with Thanksgiving in the USA and the beginning of Advent, so at St.Philips it is celebrated earlier on the previous Sunday, November 23. Here are three suitable pictures: | |||
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| The first four pictures were taken at the 50s+ game and desert night group at the West Campus of Calvary Chapel on Friday, December 5. then two days later on Sunday was a Bethlehem event at St.Philips, as shown in the next five pictures. Pictures 751 and 752 were taken at a dinner also at St.Philips when the church was decorated for Christmas on Monday, December 22, and the last two are the Christmas dinner of the Java User's Group in Tucson: | |||
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| A part of Tucson called Winterhaven puts on a spectacular show of lights every year over the Christmas period. I visited it twice shortly before Christmas and took pictures. I had to use Photoshop on most of the pictures to bring out the details due to the low light level, and several pictures had to be rejected: | |||
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| On Christmas Eve the East Campus of Calvary Chapel had a Christmas pageant, as show here: | |||
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| Christmas and New Year's Eve would not be complete without parties. On Christmas Day I was invited out to dinner at a house of a friend of mine, Sean Chapin, with his wife, some of his children, and a couple of his friends. His dinner is in the first two pictures with Sean sitting in the chair closest to the camera. The next three pictures were taken on the day after Christmas, which is Boxing Day in the UK, at a Christian fellowship with mostly Chinese students. The final pictures were taken at another friend's house on New Year's Eve: | |||
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