A Day in Detroit .

June 22, 2019

What do you know about Detroit? I knew a city had a strong automobile industry, GM and Ford (Chrysler) has a headquarters here, diverse culture in Detroit influenced some music styles and that few years ago city filed for bankruptcy. Which in my opinion didn’t go far even today. You can sense this while wandering around the downtown. There are tall buildings in the middle of Detroit that are abandoned, people look sad and depressed. I wished I could be teleported back in 1940-50s when the city was booming.

Downtown area has lots of beautiful buildings, lots LOTS of churches and a huge Institute of Arts where I spend most of my time. It was worth it! :) The other thing that I loved was open roof parkades where I could go up and take some downtown skyline photos!

Detroit Institute of Arts(DIA) is a huge museum where I spent 4hours of exploring and wandering around. Sounds crazy but you could easily stay there for a whole day! I’ve seen art from ancient cultures to today’s contemporary art. It felt so good. Just to walk and observe all this. Some galleries were more empty then the other ones so it felt like I am there just by myself :) Didn’t mind that!

In the photo above you can see Mushhushshu-dragon, Symbol of the God Marduk. According to the card next to this mosaic it was made in 604 - 562 BCE.

When I saw these rings at first I could not believe my eyes! These are humongous and done with skills :)

DIA has a huge collection of Diego M. Rivera’s work. The scale of some of his works are really impressive. He was born in Mexico, early in his life went to Spain. This is where he got surrounded by European Art. He is known for showing every day people doing their work. This was a fave thing for Soviet propaganda ‘art’. He got commissioned to paint a mural for Red Army Club in Moscow. Shortly after authorities canceled his contract because D. Rivera got involved in anti-soviet politics. A year later he was expelled from a communist party in Mexico as well. That didn’t really affect his career. He got huge contracts in States and was constantly working artist. To add on top of that had lots of lovers and probably enjoyed his life :)

So this little gothic chapel back in the day which is XVI century (If my memory is not lying) did belong to a wealthy family in Belgium for a private devotion. It was a trendy thing to have your own chapel(!) The image below shows the same chapel on the right side corner. In 1923 the chapel was gifted to DIA and piece by piece taken apart, numbered and put together again. This just blew my mind!

Bye bye Detroit! :)

For the days you feel at your best .

May 18, 2019

Before we head on to our next nature vacation I wanna share images from few years. Youn and I went to our first camping trip to States. I think this is where we realized how much we want to do this together and the days we spend there we still think of as our best camping days!

We arrived late late at night and all spots were taken so we end up sleeping in a car and this image above was what we saw when we woke up. And a miracle happened!!! Someone left early early and we took their spot. (Back then this campsite didn’t have reservation available).

We slowly set up a tent that we borrowed. It was a huuuuge one where you can just walk in ;) and made one of our favorite breakfast! It was corn tortilla+egg+bacon+avocado+pickles(!!!)+tomatoes. You get it, all the good stuff ;)

Even now when I look at these photos it looks soooo delicious ;)

The reason why we went camping to States was based on fire ban in Canada. We both can’t imagine camping without having a fire.

We did some hiking around and this haze came all the from Canada!

Watch this short video: Diablo lake

Like a little happy chipmunk ;)

Getting ready my fiiiirstt marshmallow ;)

Here is a beautiful panoramic shot from a look out to Diablo Lake.

Beautiful beautiful area and river water is from glacier so it stays freezingly cold even on hot summer days! I will always go back there to cherish the first time ;)

Red panda and the others .

May 7, 2019

What to do when you have few hours in the morning? Stay in bed? Maybe :) But we decided to visit Zoo in San Diego. We spent there almost 4hours and still didn’t see everything. I would say we saw majority of animals but some of them were already taking their midday naps like this cute red panda :)

During our trip in San Diego I kept watching one show on Netflix called ‘Our Planet’. So after visiting the Zoo I felt like all the animals I saw in the show lives in California.

I was lucky because I had my 70-200mm so I could get really nice close-up shots of animals.

I do love taking photos of cactuses, especially in California. It seems that there no limits for different looks and heights they can grow. I’ve seen few that looks as old as an apple tree in my grandma’s backyard!

Meet Dwarf Mongoose and Rock Hyrax. No need to introduce Meerkat :)

Did you know that elephants walk on their toes? And they can live up to 70 y.o.! Quite impressive :)

Stopping by Sunset Cliffs in San Diego .

April 29, 2019

Yes, California again :) I never thought I will say this, but(!) I really enjoy visiting San Diego city. There was something great about this city - great people, delicious food, lots of things to do and at the end all I wish was more time to see all the cool things this city has!

When we arrived map send us to a wrong place. We actually went inside that place and stayed there for a bit until Youn called the owner to see why there are still some stuff left from someone else…. ta-da-da…. the moment we realised we are in the wrong place we left it immediately. The house we rented was just across the street.

What do you do when you are hungry? You go to the place near by! San Diego is located next to Mexico boarder and they have lots of places that offer Mexican food. This little corner spot had really delicious Mexican dishes. I always feel like beginner when it comes to Mexican food. So many different names and I just get lost in what to order. This is where Youn comes in and makes decisions ;)

After we ate we went to Little Italy. That’s a nice neighborhood next to downtown. Has lots of unique places and shops to see. I don’t what it is but sun in California even in the midday looks good. I just love that light there!

Pelicans looking for a spot to watch sunset :)

I have to admit - I am in love with this jacket! Believe it or not I wore it every day :)

Selfie on a cliff and don’t question what’s in my pocket ;)