Street | Urban | Travel | Photography by Marcus Puschmann
Having a free Saturday at the end of my trip around the world in twelve days is nothing spectacular. Having it in Tokyo is. A bit of web research helped to come up with an itinerary that would take me to some of the highlights of this fascinating city. To join me for the sightseeing trip continue after the jump…. Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Tokyo Impressions”
Sunday morning, still in Portland, my alarm went of at 4am in the morning. I left for the airport, dropped the rental car at 5:30 and boarded an Air Canada turboprop for Vancouver, the flight lasting about one hour. After takeoff I was treated to some nice city views of Portland, then the Columbia River on its way to the Oregon coast. Then it became cloudy until Vancouver, where I caught some glimpses of the skyline while landing.
After a three hour layover I boarded an Air Canada Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the 12 hour flight to Taipei. Sitting on the right side I was able to see the beautiful misty fjords and islands of British Columbia, later the mountains on Alaska’s South Coast and the Aleutian islands. After crossing the Pacific Ocean the first landscape I was able to spot in the distance where the mountains on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, then the Kuril islands, before flying across Japan, then down the Eastern Chinese Sea to Taiwan, where we landed in Taipei at 3pm local time on Monday afternoon.
Leaving Canada Sunday morning, arriving Taipei on Monday afternoon? Yes, possible, because we crossed the dateline eastward and “lost” a day in the process. Time difference between Portland and Taipei is a whopping 15 hours, although the “physical” time difference is only 9 hours (when we landed in Taipei at 3pm it was midnight in Portland – albeit not Tuesday, but still Monday). Sounds weird? It sure is, and it messes up your system pretty bad. A driver picked us up and took us to Hsinchu, which is an industrial city an hour drive south of Taipei. We got into the hotel at 5pm, where we were due to meet our Taiwanese host for a dinner at 6:45pm.
While the other two in my travel party decided to hit the bed for a bit of relax after the long flight, I rather took my camera and went on a photowalk to check out what there is to see around our hotel, knowing this hour I had would be my only opportunity to see a glimpse of Taiwan on this short 24h stay. Venturing around the blocks I found a little temple and experienced life on the streets of Hsinchu. Nothing spectacular. But it made me happy and satisfied that I managed to experience a bit of Taiwan at all…even it was just a short walk around the hotel….business travel reality….
After the jump find some images I was able to capture….. Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Taiwan”
Have I said that on of the greatest assets of my job is that it allows me connect with so many great people all across the globe. This is especially true for those I work closely with on projects, and this forges bonds beyond pure office colleagueship. With two others of those great guys I teamed up to spend our free Portland Saturday going hiking on Mount Hood. Leaving Portland at 9am we drove the 45 minutes to Zigzag Ranger Station where we asked for a recommendation for a nice hike on the slopes of Mount Hood. They recommended the Ramona Falls hike, a pretty easy 9 mile loop trail with about a 1000ft elevation gain towards the falls. The first 4 miles of the trail are identical with the famous Pacific Crest Trail, running from Mexiko through the US up to Canada. Toughest part was that we had to cross a mountain stream balancing on tree trunks. The weather was splendid, we had great talks and enjoyed a wonderful 3 hour hikes in the beautiful landscape of Mount Hood National Forest, with views of the 11,240 feet (3,426 m) volcano, walking through fairy like treescapes and capping it with the spectacular Ramon Falls, crashing down a black, 120 feet rock wall. As camera I brought the Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6 Travel Zoom. To see the pics from this great hike in the Pacific Northwest continue after the jump……. Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Hiking on Mount Hood”
After a very productive half week in our Wilsonville office I finally had the first opportunity to do some sightseeing on this first stop on my Round the World business trip (read the first post here). Friday night I drove into Portland downtown to do some sightseeing at the waterfront of the Willamette River, something I haven’t done in my previous trips to the Rose City. To join me for this evening walk continue after the jump…
Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Rose City Waterfront”
So my Round the World trip has started. Right now it is not very exiting, as I’m spending the first four days in our Portland office fully tied up in work, not able to benefit even a bit from the splendid summer weather the Pacific Northwest has been enjoying the past weeks.
But whilst flying the first leg of my world tour I was treated to some spectacular views of Greenland’s east coast that I want to share with you today. For more photos and details about the flights continue reading after the jump…. Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Greenland”
Phileas Fogg did it in eighty days. The protagonist of Jules Verne’s famous novel circumnavigated the world in 80 days, to win a wager of 20,000 pounds with members of London’s Reform Club. Accompanied by his French servant Passepartout and followed by a detective named Fix (who suspected Fogg had robbed the Bank of England), his travels, by all means available in the Victorian world of the 19th century, were full of adventures. He made it back to England on time, won the bet and even brought himself an Indian princess he saved from a fiery death.
My travel around the world will, by all means, be a lot less glamorous and adventurous. If all goes well it will take me 12 days. And I will travel westbound. The route is Nuremberg – Frankfurt – Vancouver – Portland – Vancouver – Taipei – Shanghai – Seoul – Tokyo – Munich – Nuremberg.
Fore some more info and a few more of colorful airplane photos I took at a Lufthansa event a while back continue after the jump…. Continue reading “Around the World in Twelve Days”
Today America celebrates 4th of July – Independence Day. A good day to show how beautiful this country is. With this selection of photos from my 2012 trip through the South West (see more after the jump) I wish everyone a fun and peaceful holiday! Continue reading “America the Beautiful”
I have spent last night in Paris. Due to a late flight in I landed in Charles de Gaulle after midnight. Took a Taxi to a hotel in Velizy, arrived there 1am in the night. Breakfast at 7am, shuttle to the office, management meeting, employee town hall, quick sandwich lunch, back in a taxi and off to the airport. My day in Paris (actually it was 15 hours). Business travel reality. But while crossing the city on the way back to CDG I saw the Eiffel Tower and the bridges crossing the Seine. It put a smile on my face, and I fondly remembered the (photographically) better days I had in the city of love on previous business and family trips. And it felt good to be back in Paris, even for a few hours. So sitting in another hotel somewhere in the Black Forest (back in Germany but not home) I did a quick trip back into my archive that I always carry with me on a portable drive. To see in more detail what I only briefly and from a distance saw today in reality. Eiffel Tower, Pont Alexandre III and Hotel des Invalides.
I hope you had a good start into the new week!
Marcus
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I just returned home from a marvelous long weekend that I spend with my significant other in Austria’s “Mühlviertel”. During the trip home today we passed through the Czech Republic, visiting Unesco’s World Heritage Site in Český Krumlov (pictures are coming up). Which brings the total of visited countries in the last 7 days to 5 (Germany, Egypt, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic). And Tuesday I head back over the pond to Portland.
During last weeks business trip I actually had a free evening in Hungary’s capital Budapest, were I had the chance for 5 hours sightseeing (from 7pm to midnight). To see the photos and for a bit of history and information continue after the jump…. Continue reading “StoNur on the Road – One Night in Budapest”
Back home from my express trip to Egypt and Hungary, all within 72 hours. What I didn’t achieve in Cairo I managed to get done in Budapest. I escaped my business duties for one evening and got to a full 5 hours of sightseeing (mostly on foot) through this magnificent imperial city, returning to the hotel way past midnight.
I brought along the Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4.0-5.6 travel zoom. And me and my cam had a fabulous time. I took to many photos for a quick post processing session, but I promise I’ll take you on a tour through a summer Budapest evening. After all, I have a long weekend ahead due to a public holiday here in Germany. So I leave you with this appetizer shot of the Hungarian parliament building, taking from the gardens of the former imperial palace. Image specs are 0,6 sec @ f/6,3 and ISO 200, focal length was 90mm (equals 180mm in full frame equivalent). I put the camera on a stone wall, as I didn’t bring a tripod. I just added a bit of clarity and contrast in Lightroom CC, otherwise this is out of camera.
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Wish you all a great Thursday!
Marcus
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