Alkmaar Streets

As I'm watching the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 between Brazil and the Netherlands, I thought it would be a good opportunity to post this picture. I'm not particularly a fan of both teams but hey... I've never been to Brazil yet!
This shot was taken in Alkmaar, a small town of 95000 inhabitants, famous for its cheese market. I had the opportunity to visit a few towns with 2 friends including of course Amsterdam, but I was not really impressed by them. I preferred the relaxing atmosphere and simplicity of Alkmaar with its clichéd windmills and canals.

[Edit]: Well, congratulations to Holland for kicking Brazil out of the World Cup 2010. Good job.

Windmills

One of the icons of the Netherlands are windmills (along with tulips, cows, canals and red light district).

There are over a 1000 windmills all over the country and where built to power a complex system of pumps to keep the water levels under control. I also learned that mill keepers would position the blades of the windmill (when in resting position) to announce important news like a birth, a death or help

Some are open to the public for visit but I did not get the chance.

Where is Don Quijote when you need him?

Trespassing in Ireland

There is something about Monochrome HDR photos that makes it so special..

I went to Ireland in summer 2008 for my 30th birthday (Ireland + Iceland.. Best Bday ever so far). I found it  such a beautiful and magical island, so green, it's no exaggeration!
We hired a car to explore the west coast as much as we can in a short time (9 days) from Kilorglin's Puck Fair up to Sligo.
One of the most famous places on our way was the Cliffs of Moher, near the little town of Doolin!

An incredible place, but very very touristic... People actually had to pay to park and visit the cliffs!
No way!

We ended up driving through small villages trying to find a hidden path until we arrived at a locked gate. There was a huge empty land for sale surrounded by a fence and a small rocky wall with a big note : <>

Nobody was around to check so.. we climbed the gate, went through the muddy fields all the way down to the windy cliffs to take the shots away from tourists.
We also got to visit an abandoned medieval watchtower closed to the public (Not O'Brian tower).

I took this shot just before jumping the gate. I loved the gloomy and dramatic effect the HDR gave to it and  the clouds turned out excellent!

Well... if we didn't trespass.. We would have missed all the fun and the great shots!

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" 

~ Katherine Hepburn ~

(The Photo of the day is posted earlier than usual today because I am going on a visa run to Malaysia so I won't be able to post anything tonight here in Thailand.. Cheers!).