Dedicated to those who lost their lives in Boston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
lithuania
All posts tagged lithuania
Ailsa’s Travel Theme for this week is Shadows.
Do I like shadows? Many times, the shadows just fall on my subject of interest leaving them in the dark or partially in the dark. In those cases, I only have the option of taking a bad picture or not at all. Sometimes, you clearly knew that, you may only pass through this place only once in a life time. So, reluctantly, you took a picture, hoping it may come out alright.
Other times, a shadow may make things more interesting. It may add to the atmosphere or making things more real by giving readers an idea where light is coming from and what funny shadow it casts. I like taking pictures with long shadows but I only have a few of those.
In this collection, I hope to show how shadows add to the picture rather than being a negative.
While walking the narrow streets in Lithuania, I noticed that the street was covered in the shadow resulting in the left hand side having a darker color contrasting with the bright color and details on the right hand side.
While strolling the shores of Hvar island, Croatia, we came across these white balustrades with interesting grey shadows.
The coastline of Hvar island never failed to impress us, these unoccupied benches by the seaside looked inviting. Their shadows imparted a sense of loneliness.
We found this garden by the side of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The fountain was delightful; but I also like the tree with its shadows on the grass.
Walking around downtown Zurich, there was this statute casting a shadow in the background, making this statute really stood out three dimensionally from the background.
Down under in Australia, we enjoyed the tranquility of Lake Barrine not far from Cairnes. The boat trip on the lake brought us close to trees on the landside, with branches hanging down to the water. While the trees were in the shadows, the aquatic plants and lilies just stood out from the dark background as if the light have chosen just to illuminate them.
We have always enjoyed travelling to Langkawi, Malaysia. The setting sun was low down almost touching the sea. It cast long shadows on the chairs and tables by the beach side.
Again in Langakwi, the palm created a wavy but interesting shadow on the white sand on which it stood.
Last year, on our way to the YunGang Grotto, China viewing some of the biggest buddhas, we passed through this bridge which leads into the site. The bridge piers were basically in a shadow. Still, it couldn’t hide the fine details on the piers.
My pictures with shadows were taken mainly to highlight the portions not covered by the shadows. I must admit that the shadows in the pictures are not the main subject but help to enhance the overall quality. An inspiration from this Travel Theme is that, in future, I should also be shooting pictures with interesting shadows as the main subject.
I like the theme of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge which is “Beyond”.
For a couple of hours, I have been shortlisting my photos for the challenge. I find it rather difficult to come down to just a handful of photos; I have too many photos which in my view should take the viewers’ eyes beyond the subjects in the foreground and I don’t really know how to choose between them. So, in the end, they are all here.
To start with, here are some photos from my China tours. The first one, taken in West Lake, China shows the willows and other trees in the foreground, leading the viewers’ eyes to the grass and trees further away.
I can’t help showing two photos taken on my Three Gorges cruise. The one below was taken while the sun was setting. On both sides of the river, there was an endless series of hills in different shades of grey.
The other one was taken during the daytime. While travelling up the Three Gorges river, you wonder what was beyond the river bend.
Rivers seem to flow on forever. Here is a river scene taken in Yunnan, China. While I was interested in the reflection in the river, I was also curious as to know where the river was leading to.
Up in the hills of ZhangJiaJie, we saw trees and limestone columns in the foreground; there were more pillars and hills further from our eyes.
Outside China, the views are equally lovely. While travelling from Cairns to Lake Barrine, Australia, our eyes were caught by the open view of the blue mountain ranges and white clouds further beyond.
In Cappadocia, Turkey, our sight line was attracted further away from the cave dwellings in the foreground.
Beaches are our favourites. In Langkawi, Malaysia, looking through the leaves hanging down from the palm trees to the sandy beach and islands beyond was just inviting.
This picture below was the only beach we have visited in the Baltics. The beach in Estonia was more or less deserted but our eyes were taken further to the somewhat dramatic clouds beyond.
While the UNESCO city of Vilnius, Lithuania was picturesque, we could see chimneys and other structures at a distance.
On a good day, you could see forever. . . . . . . . . . .
It was our first trip to the three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. At Lithuania, we stumbled across this sleepy small town of Trakai, which is surrounded by lake Galve. This castle has a stunning setting. Originally built in the 14th century, it looks like it came out from a fairy tale.
We have seen castles located romantically on some Scottish islands but this red colored castle with round towers surrounded by tranquil lakes against a clear blue sky was the most 
picturesque that we have ever seen.We walked across a timber footbridge which connects the castle to the shore and entered into the castle.
From the outside, it’s a conventional castle of red brick, 
with watch towers and walls and a keep and everything. In the inner fortress there’s a courtyard with wooden walkways all along the inside and it’s now a national museum.
While my wife was engrossed with all the historical displays in the castle, I sneaked out to take a walk around the island, knowing that the sun would be setting in a short time.
There are two things which I have always liked watching; yachts and castles. Here at Trakai, the two just came together, in a delightful and picturesque manner.
I walked around the island; couldn’t help admiring at the scene as they entered my very eyes. It was just breath-taking. The sky was blue, the water turquoise , a yacht with yellow sail gliding past in front of a neo Renaissance building.
I knew I couldn’t stay too long loitering around, leaving my wife in the castle. So I hurried back to the castle.
Under the light from the setting sun, it was a very pretty and very interesting castle and stepping inside, it was very warm and cosy . . . . . . . . . . . not knowing what time it was , my wife was still engrossed with the historical displays!
