It’s drizzling, not very heavily, but enough to make the world damp: a steady layer of water on the road surface that soaks through my shoes when I set my feet down; drops all over my clothes that collect in little puddles in the folds of my jacket, and spray coming off the wheels of passing cars. As soon as the needle of the speedometer indicates more than 40, the droplets hitting my face feel like a sand blaster, and the chill of the air is quickly transferred to my bare hands. General all around misery! But there is one … Read the rest
The air gets chillier as the small, open train takes us through a tunnel of rough rocks into the underground. The tunnel opens up onto a new world full of limestone formations, stalactites hanging from the ceiling, stalagmites growing up from the ground, free standing pillars and curtains clinging to the wall. Some are lit up by strategically placed lamps while others lay in shadow, creating a captivating play of light. Some times the train winds through narrow passages that then open up into large caverns. The landscape is fascinating for an inexperienced spelunker like me, just too bad there … Read the rest
The cavern we are in gets larger up ahead, the vaulted, stalactite clad ceiling lit up by a soft orange glow, expands outward then opens up on a black void. A string of lights like a band of diamonds stretches out into the darkness, shedding light on a vast canyon beyond. The floor drops off steeply to the river down below and the ceiling disappears overhead. There is a rushing of water from the river and the air feels cooler. A silent, ” bloody hell” rises up in me at the sight of the canyon which is awesome in the … Read the rest
I glance out the car window as we are going along and spot a band of color floating in the sky, pale green with a tinge of purple at the bottom. It takes a moment for my brain to realize what it is but when I do, I blurt it out in the middle of a conversation: The Northern Lights! We quickly find a place where we can stop by the side of the road and step out of the car to take pictures. Too bad I don’t have a proper camera with me because the one on the phone … Read the rest
It is the first clear night in days, maybe even weeks. The sky is a deep blue, as close to black as possible with a few bright stars here and there. Above me is a plume of white smoke, clear against the sky, rising with a soft woosh from a nearby smokestack. The smoke flows in front of the full moon which shines through, creating a yellowish halo with orange edges. The picture is framed by the roofline of a house at a strange angle on one side, and the barren branches of a tree on the other. As for … Read the rest
A snow-clad soft, low hill with a light post at the top casting a cone of light outwards like a beacon, rather than straight down; forming a bright circle at the bottom of the hill. Small, soft snowflakes floating slowly down from a misty, ever so slightly orange sky, caught in suspended animation in the beam of light. They hang frozen in the air yet moving slowly towards earth, twirling, tumbling flowing; a cone of bright little fairies dancing gracefully against a background of dark buildings and trees.… Read the rest
Ancient steel trusses pass by to the sides and overhead, flowing backward as I speed forwards on this narrow train bridge come bike bridge. The river landscape around me becomes faded as the sun sets and ahead of me looms the narrow, almost drop shaped opening of the tunnel. With its rough cement walls covered by a hundred years of grime from passing trains, the tunnel should be an unwelcoming place but a series of bulbous lights in the ceiling stretch out into the darkness like a band of glowing pearls, casting a light over the cyclists inside. Long, straight … Read the rest
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