Photos for 2008

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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::

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::

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:

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:

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:

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: