The Spring is coming .. although it may not seem that way to you now, if you are living in Sofia, Bulgaria. Outside is dark, gloomy.. and snowy! We had a full day of snow yesterday after a whole week of Spring. But I know its not going to last, so I’m not worried at all.

Few days ago Philip and I got those two beauties (below) together with some hyacinths, which I’m still waiting to blossom – don’t worry .. you’ll see those too. They are all planted hoping to be able to enjoy them longer and to plant them in the garden for next year (and when we complete the purchase of the plot).

So,  it’s 8th of March – the International Women’s Day and I wanted to share my home victims with you (as Philip lovingly calls my plants).

Ladies these are for you! Happy International Women’s Day!

Follow me on Instagram – username: dgospodi

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Of course there is nothing wrong with having a simple Sony Ericsson phone, but everyone who ever had a smartphone knows, after having the whole world in your pocket, the return to simplicity is a painful one.

All this time the iPhone has had a camera and it was great fun to share the world around us. But this was just phone camera and never was that good. In my own eyes it could never replace my big Pentax.

I never owned an iPhone 4, so can only vaguely judge by my sister’s iPhone pictures that things are improving rapidly in the camera department. Since not having asmartphone I wasn’t tightly following all news around it but I think the fun photo apps started coming out with the raise of the iPhone 4.

And now here I am, 9 months after my last iPhone, rediscovering again the new and fun ways to see the world through my iPhone 4s.

I created a new category on my blog called iPhonography – it will contain very short posts with one or few photos of my attempts to play with the iPhone’s camera features… and here is the first example.

I’d like to call this photo – Peace of Mind, in the loving memory of those we lost

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It’s been more than a month or so since I held the camera in my hands. It’s just been so busy… lots of changes at work, new responsibilities, year ends, thoughts of budgets and plans about next year… just work, work, work… but so was the rest of the year.

Finally we are here.. on holiday, in our most favourite Rock Star Villa®

We’ve been at the villa for good 5 days now, but today is the first day where nobody is feeling ill. We all got a fair share of viruses – Itska and Philip had it worst with a feverish stomach nastiness, while I got a 24 hour fever, Ogi an occasional sickness feeling. But here we are again, all tip-top condition, enjoying the last 3 days of the holiday.

And, oh, how it changes the way you feel, when you wake up in the morning and witness the sunrise, breathe the sea air and look at the magnificent Black Sea morning that lays in your feet.

Sunrise over Kaliakra, photograph by Philip

Sunrise over Kaliakra, viewed from Balchik vila zone (photograph by Philip)

Sea view from the deck of the Rock Star Villa®

How can you possibly not enjoy life … I am enjoying it to the fullest and hope we can manage to come back again next year…

Yes, there is absolutely nothing at the front

The millionaire lifestyle for mortals... in Beautiful Bulgaria

And the view spans from Balchik to Golden Sands…

Here is Balchik itself, crawling up the white clifs

Golden Sands in the distance

At the end of this article, to celebrate this magnificent Black Sea morning, I’d like to share the high resolution version of the featured photograph.

Just click on the link to download and if you liked it post a short message below. Enjoy!

This is the link to the hi-res image below <<  you just need to click on this text.

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It was 7.30 when we woke up that Saturday and decided to take on the chance to have a morning walk in the Boris Garden in Sofia. It’s only 10 mins away with the car from our flat, so after some coffee, we jumped in and parked at the Vasil Levski Stadium.

The Ariana Lake was now ready for the Summer season – all filled up with water and boats ready for people to enjoy.

Ariana and Boris Garden area is probably one of my most favourite in Sofia – it’s like you are not in the big, busy and noisy city. It brings you back to nature right in the middle of town.

We sat down in “Edno Vreme” restaurant in an island in the middle of the lake and had breakfast and coffee. After that went about walking in the park with its very well maintained green areas.

Those tulips and pansies are right in the beginning of the alley to everyone’s enjoyment. Congratulations to the gardeners, this is a very beautiful flower arrangement that brought a lot of joy to me.

Walking down the alleys you meet people, a dog, lots of greenery, street artist singing to the children…

… green, green grass carpet sprinkled with white dasies… you just want to jump in and breathe the freshness of the awakening nature.

and some amazingly colourful trees, in girls favourite colour – pink.

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I love that time of the year, when we wait for the fist leaves to pop out of their buds and make the world green again. And the best thing about it is the way the world changes every day.

You take the same route every day and seem that all is just like yesterday. But not in the spring… There is a subtle change every day, waiting for you to discover, enjoy and admire.

… I just can’t wait.

I think its time to welcome the spring with plum blossoms, hoping there will be more beautiful changes to be pictured soon.

These images are taken in 2009 in front of my old office on Macedonia Blvd, in the centre of Sofia, Bulgaria.

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It was a great day out, and the weather was lovely – sunny, warm and soooooo spring-ish…. Kew Gardens is a very popular place for day out activities and I see why. There is so much to see and do.

We met this peacock after our tree walk on an elevated platform in the crowns of the trees. We saw him on the way up walking around the grass area, which was fully inaccessible for us. But going down we saw him getting himself down to the alleys where the people were walking.

He just jumped down from the elevated closed grass area right in front of us. Of course very quickly drew everyone’s attention and seemed he noticed that too because he opened his tail and started showing off. Walking around like a little aristocrat , turning around slowly so that everyone can see him very well.

Itska and I were literally three meters away and while I was shooting continuously, he was making videos of the Peacock of Kew Gardens.

And here are some of my pictures of this close encounter. Enjoy!

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These pictures are about the country barn yard and what you can find around it. It could be lots of animals or tools and old furniture… maybe a bicycle, maybe a hay bale… but certainly some flowers and a dog.

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But there is one thing really special about it… It’s the place where Grandma was born and raised. These pictures were made by myself and Philip on our way to visit Grandma’s relatives last summer.

Apriltsi is very high in Stara Planina with stunning views to the mountain. Small, quiet and slowly moving with a completely different pace.

If you like serenity, get a week in Apriltsi. There are a lot of little family hotels and guest houses to choose from and a lot of ways to enjoy a life close to the nature.

For those who like cycling and hiking or just walking around there is much to do:

• Walking - a list of eco trails
• Hiking – a list with suitable climbing trails

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We were visiting relatives in Apriltsi, a small village in Central Bulgaria. Sitting outside in the backyard we were a curious subject to explore for three very playful kittens.

These country cats were beautiful and loved to pose for the camera

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A380, the biggest plane in the world, was docked at Manchester Airport. From where we were standing it was filling the landscape of the airport making all other planes look like babies. It was the Emirates flight to Dubai and was due to depart at 2.15 pm. We planned to be there when it arrives but missed it by an hour, however taking off was just as good.

We looked towards the airport building and there it was, like Gulliver in Lilliput.

There were plenty of spectators watching the big fuselage of Superjumbo being sprayed with de-icing liquid.

Here is the big whale being pushed out of its dock and on its way to the runway.

There is the giant now, taxying the runway on his own.

While the mist was getting thicker and thicker …it almost disappeared before our eyes.

Clear for take off and Superjumbo is on its way…

.. gaining speed…

Will it take off or will it not?

Two wheels off the ground, one more to go!

Airborne!

That was hard work, well done

Bon Voyage!

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It’s very early, 7.30 am. The morning is still on the way, there is only a slight glimmer from the raising sun. The wet streets reflecting the blue and pink sky above. There are only two people on the bus stop below the window. It’s so quiet, so unusual … the town is asleep.

The christmas tree is twinkling, everyone is in bed except one very excited boy who closed his eyes at 10 pm last night. He quietly enters the room, because he doesn’t want to wake up his mummy, but he also can’t wait to see if Santa’s been here yet. His little eyes are wide open despite the early hour, and.. oh.. so excited because he just discovered that IT’S HERE!

His mummy couldn’t pretend she is sleeping any more … it’s time to wake up now. It’s Christmas!

What a great day! I’m sitting in my lounge, having my first coffee for the day and looking at my son’s play with his new present. Christmas radio on-line is filling the air with great music and my heart is full of joy and happiness. There is just one person missing and one present still unopen… . But it’s OK, it won’t be long until the big red present with the golden ribbon will get to its recipient.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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Taken by the crew of the International Space Station on April 16, 2004 (source: Wikipedia)

Istanbul, Constantinopol, Tzarigrad…

All three names of one unique place, that spans two continents – Europe and Asia. A cultural bridge between beliefs, religions, customs, civilizations.. all layered one on top of the other in this extraordinary city in a mix of sights, sounds, smells, views, hospitality and people…

It’s difficult to describe – it has to be seen.

I had very little time to explore, traveling for business claims most of your day for work, but luckily I found some time to make a few snaps of Istanbul at night. However, I can’t talk about my trip to Istanbul without mentioning an extraordinary event that made my stay there even more exciting and enjoyable.

What are the odds of going to a foreign country and meeting a friend who lives on the other side of the world?

That’s right … in the normal world it’s like a needle in a haystack… in the modern, technology rich and connected world its more like finding a friend’s post on your Facebook news feed – a bit tough, but far from impossible.

Yes, Facebook and iPhones brought this amazing story to life.

The chain of events started with me, bored at the airport and playing with my iPhone, while waiting for the plane to arrive with 20 minutes delay. I made my usual FB status update that I’m just about to leave for Istanbul for my friends and extended family, then just forgot about it.

Arrived in Istanbul, went to work, did the usual and back to the hotel, tired after exciting first day. I went to the hotel’s restaurant to use the free internet in the lobby…. (don’t get me started on the exorbitant paid internet and breakfast when your room costs like 110 euro a night!! ughhhrrr!!).

I was already winding down with a nice glass of wine and a plate of kiuftes that were very nommy, having chat with Philip about the day and the trip. It wasn’t high on the priority list to login to Facebook and check on my friends, but when I did (that bloody website) was extra annoying asking me to identify myself by naming some of my friends… some security, eh? Good job I was feeling generous and decided to play the guess-the-friend game After logging in I was greeted by few comments from my friends about my recent status update.

One a particularly eye-catching – a friend of mine and her husband, who were doing a Middle East and Europe tour, responded stunned by the fact that, although we haven’t seen each other in 2 years and was unlikely to meet as she lives in the States, we were actually not only in the same continent, not only in the same country but in the same city by complete coincidence.

This was one in a million chance and we couldn’t miss it .. just couldn’t. I quickly finished dinner and ran out to catch a taxi to meet my friend in a completely unknown city. And so my night Istanbul experience began.

That evening I met them in an area of beautiful small streets rich with restaurants and bars, full of people. The place was called Taksim. It was an enjoyable evening with Stefanie and her husband Gary who invited me to join them for Thanksgiving next evening. For the first time in my life I had a Thanksgiving turkey in a great company of friends.

Thank you, Stefanie and Gary! I hope you find some time to visit Sofia as part of your tour and find how many friends you already have here.

My last evening in Istanbul I spent accompanied by two very nice colleagues and a spectacular view of the Bosphorus, the bridge and the Asian side of Istanbul.

Thanks to my lovely hosts I experienced the Turkish food in a restaurant, in the middle of Bosphorus! You get there with a boat and leave with a boat.

That also allowed me to get the best possible position for night shots of the beautifully coloured bridge. There was a very nice and warm breeze on the upper deck where we ended our evening.

Going out three evenings in a row… I don’t usually do that but I truly enjoyed every moment.. and every kilogram I gained in the process

This gallery is the first batch of my amateur snaps.

Here are Istanbul and Bosphorus at night. Enjoy.

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I know the winter hasn’t joined us here in Bulgaria yet but let me give a little Spring greeting to our friends in England who are probably having the worst winter of their lives.

This was my first close meeting with the Magnolia tree and I found it truly fascinating. You can see the trees don’t even have their green leaves yet, but the flowers are already like little pink and white flames on the branches.

I have great admiration to nature’s imagination in creating all the varieties of flowers and plants, so finding the beauty of the Magnolia was great pleasure. I hope you like it too.

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Previous Galleries:

• Part One. Moscow Landing
• Part Two. Good Morning, Moscow
• Part Three. Inside Moscow Kremlin
• Part Four. Red Square Afternoon

Moscow’s St Basil Close Up, Part Five (final)

This was one of the most amazingly beautiful man made structures I’ve seen. I could not take my eyes away from it. I would press the button of my camera just to make sure I got all details saved in my memory card.

The colours, the details, the golden ornaments… all washed with a beautiful yellow sun light.

Here they are:

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• Part One. Moscow Landing
• Part Two. Good Morning, Moscow
• Part Three. Inside Moscow Kremlin

Red Square Afternoon, Part Four

I’m having a difficulty to find more words about my experiences in Moscow. This is Saturday was probably one of the longest I remember… and most painful.

By the time I went out of Kremlin I knew this day will end up in suffering for my feet. I had doubts about the convenience of the shoes I’ve chosen to come to Moscow but at this moment doubts were gone and only a painful assurance was reminding me of my bad choice.

Going through and into the Red Square is an experience…

The entrance to the Red Square is through a double red arch with some amazing blue, green and gold details. First you see the people, then you see the colourful, almost surreal domes of St Basil’s cathedral. And then, step by step, you find yourself on the square itself.

It’s an enormous, spacious plaza, all up to where your eyes can reach, surrounded by the Kremlin walls and Lenin’s Mausoleum, a large state department store (GUM or Mall, as we say), the St Basil’s cathedral and the State Historical Museum.

The square itself, full of people, although October is not exactly the peak season. The sound of the loud speakers advertising Moscow City tours vocalise space. The large wedding parties are spread around the Moscow most famous sights, making pictures and memorising the beautiful day.

Lots of Red, lots of Square, lots of everything… shopping is assumed.

I found myself fascinated by the St Basil cathedral. I had a little break, right under the red Kremlin walls, on a little grass area, slightly sloped – it gave me an excellent wide angle shot position for St Basil. I spent a lot of time looking at it and couldn’t help myself but memorising every detail of it, which I will feature in my last post from the Moscow series.

And here it is, the Red Square itself:

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• Part One. Moscow Landing
• Part Two. Good Morning, Moscow

Inside Moscow Kremlin. Part Three.

In my last post about Moscow we stopped at the entrance bridge of Kremlin, so lets start with it again. I found a little map to help you guide you through this post. Starting with the tower on the picture below, you will find it under number 17 on the map.

As soon as you cross the bridge and go through the tunnel at the end of it, you enter a large square. You are not allowed to walk on it as its part of the Kremlin that is closed for the public.

You will see the pedestrian area and follow it to a group of buildings. You will go through another little tunnel under The Patriarch’s Palace and the Twelve Apostles’ Church (5 on the map below). Crosing it you will find yourself in a square with, what I counted, 4 massive churches. Their golden domes will overwhelm your eyes. You will stand up in the middle of the square and the view will take your breath away.

2 on the map – The Assumption Cathedral where the Russian Tzars and Emperors were crowned.

3 on the map – The Annunciation Cathedral was used for royal family’s ceremonies. It was their home church.

4 on the map – The Archangel Cathedral was the burrial place of Princes and Tsars.

7 on the map – The Ivan The Great Bell Tower Complex

It was 20 minutes before noon at that time and I was just in time for the little parade that was about to start at 12 o’clock sharp – The Equestrian and The Pedestrian Procession of the President Regiment.

At that time I’ve already moved my little backpack at the front and was all ready to make pictures with one hand and videos with the other. The position of the backpack was very convenient and enabled me to make this short video for you – what I found – a quite impressive show with unexpected ending.

Boom… AAAAAh… and I saw it will happen, and I knew it will happen, and still screamed like a girl… Wait a minute .. but I AM a girl….. well.. I guess its OK then

After all the screaming and shooting it was time to spend more time walking around, not too much because I had more stops on my plan for the day. But I couldn’t resist enjoying what a nice day it was and how beautiful the autumn in Moscow is.

The stunning Kremlin walls shots are here thanks to a tip from my colleague. What a great photo opportunity, indeed.

Check the gallery, with 23 chronologically ordered pictures from Inside Kremlin, by clicking on the first and playing the slide show below.

Next stop and post, the Red Square.

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Good Morning, Moscow. Part Two

Saturday.. my favourite day of the week. I had long and deep sleep. I was in Moscow and with great plans for the day. The sun was shining outside promising a great opportunity for photography.

I thought there is no more time to waste – quickly jumped in my jeans and boots. Bag on my back and camera hanging in front, I ran out of the hotel on my way to the metro station, conveniently going through the Starbucks cafe.

There is so much to see, so much to do – breakfast and coffee are absolutely required. Free internet, some browsing, chatting around, equipment check and few random shots from the cafe… It was time to submerge into the Moscow Metropolitan.

Although I had no problems reading the signs and instructions in Russian, I found it slightly difficult to find the entrance to the Metro. Jumped on the Green line for 3 stops – the trains were fast, the stations were well organised and some of them gorgeous.

My final destination was Teatralnaya station, exiting right infront of Bolshoy Teathre – beautiful to the smallest detail.

Right across the street I was greeted by a video add of Marks & Spencer… it made the sun shine brighter in my mind.

I continued my adventure, crossing the street and getting closer and closer to my destination – Kremlin and the Red Square. With every step the details were revealing before my eyes and overwhelming me with their grandeur.

First the themed russian restaurants, looking forward to a busy day full with tourists, then the little square with the souvenir booths selling anything russian and soviet you can imagine. And then the square extended to another large area with very large red brick buildings and thew walls of the Kremlin grew before me.

This large group of people were queueing to see Lenin’s Mausoleum and Lenin himself. They would only let a group in, then wait until they are out then let another group again.

Visiting Lenin is free, but I was curious to see Kremlin, so continued walking on the alleys alongside the Kremlin walls. I would find out later that Lenin can be visited only from 10 to 13, so I missed it but I didn’t mind.

There were loads of boys in uniforms and lots of weddings.

The entrance to Kremlin is from the side, over a bridge. You have buy a ticket and go through security check – bag and metal detectors. The white walls on the lower picture are the from the entrance tower where all that checking takes place. I thought it was absolutely stunning on the clear blue sky.

Going through security, next is a bridge that takes you over the walking alleys straight in Kremlin yard.

And below is the view from the entrance bridge looking in the opposite direction.

Next, I’ll post the inside Kremlin pictures with some beautiful golden domes of very grand churches and a parade with demonstration of the ceremonial of the equestrian and pedestrian procession of the President regiment, including a little video.

Check the Trackbacks below for the other posts from the Moscow series.

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We’ve planned to dedicate one day this weekend to the Autumn and go after some colourful shots of the trees around. We got so much more than that.

Accompanied by two experienced friends and a friendly dog we went out walking in the woods of the mountain, ending up to climb one of the Vitosha peaks, called Kamen Del – 1862 meters above sea level.

We started in the morning and finished just before dusk. The light was beautiful and playful with the leaves, snow and water in the wood.

These pictures, in no particular order, are my favourite shots from yesterday, I could not reduce the count to under 40.

Best seen in slideshow mode, just click any image.

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Moscow Landing, Part One.

Moscow is an enormous city, not just by size and population. Everything there is massive and impressive. A modern city with rich history and even richer present…. oh, and very expensive.

I arrived one Sunday evening in October, leaving the beautiful, sunny and warm Sofia, while it had just started to snow. The short annoyance of having to survive the passport control queues was quickly replaced by my curiosity to observe the real Moscow from the cosy and warm Honda seat of my taxi.

Almost the first thing you see driving out of Sheremetyevo Airport is the large futuristic building of Aeroflot, in the shape of space ship. Unfortunately I was not prepared to take a picture of it.

Large boulevards with at least 3 lanes in each side, lots of cars on the road and very tall apartment blocks were my companion all the way to my destination at the hotel, somewhere in the outer borders of the central Moscow. But before that we had to survive passing the large, square like, crossing that looks like operates on chaos, joining Tverskaya street and Leningradskiy prospect – two very large boulevards.

Amazingly, it just works.. traffic in Moscow is a lot, but it works.

After I arrived at the hotel and set myself up, I went out for a short walk around the area to have a feel of Moscow.

Very near by was a block of modern and inevitably tall business buildings and in between them, a white and simple church with golden domes. The lights were on and reflecting on all surfaces… I thought it was beautiful.

I kept walking towards the church when a little colourful fountain appeared in between the church and the modern business building, there was the fountain like a connecting bridge. Some children were happily enjoying the cold, colourful, playful water, not bothered about the near zero temperature of the air.

Unlike the kids, though I was a bit disturbed by the sharpness of the air around me but that didn’t stop me from spending a little bit more time outside and making few more pictures. Unfortunately due to the lack of good lighting and a tripod they are not good enough to be shown publicly.

The next set of pictures are from the end of my visit in Moscow, my only free day with an opportunity to explore – Saturday, the last day of my stay.

Saturday is a wedding day and naturally there were plenty to observe on the Red Square. I have the feeling that I saw tons of wedding parties that day. Driving in their limos, accompanied by their friends and family and wanting to memorise that day in front of one of the most grand places in the world.

Walking around Moscow I found two sculptures with characters from the russian folklore stories I used to read a lot when I was little – the man who found the golden fish (link to versions in English and Russian) and the mythical and fabulous Fire Bird (Zar Ptitsa, link to wikipedia).

As the end of this post and a promise for the next FOUR posts that I must complete this series, here are some abstract views of the Kremlin, the grass on the Red Square and the Moscow University.

You can click on any picture to start the slideshow. If you really like any of these and want to obtain hi res version, please contact me.

Check the Trackbacks below for the other posts from the Moscow series.

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Manchester is a mixture of new and old, partially due to the fact that it suffered a massive resurrection after a bomb explosion in the nineties, turning the city centre into dust. You will see that from the pictures… this time I’ve got you some video as well with Itska behind the camera.

Mind the fact that these pictures are not excellent because we didn’t have our usual Pentax equipment with us, due to some common male/female communication failure.

Before our flight to Manchester:

P: “Desi, will you take your camera with you so we can make some pictures?”

D: “Why do I have to bring it all the way from Bulgaria, when you have the same cam. Bring yours.”

P: “Oh, well, at least you can take the big lens with you”

D: “$£-=$%^$£$@£”

At the Manchester airport:

P: “Hey, honey, did you bring your cam with you?”

D: “No, I thought we agreed, you’ll take yours because its easier…”

P: “$£@$F$GHD$@”

So, that should explain how we ended up with no photographic equipment. (to be fair, I didn’t bring the big lens either …)

For someone like us, who love photography its terrible thing to be somewhere so exciting and inspiring without camera. But I got a sparkling idea – lets get a point-and-shooter… we always wanted one. It’s not always that convenient to bring the big guns with you when all you want is to do some tourist shots.

So, we were lucky to be right in front of UK’s largest city centre shopping mall… breathe…. breathe……

… finally got our hands to a nice and cheap little cam with video facilities. Ran outside impatient to start using it. So, here is how we saw Manchester.

(You must excuse us for the sometimes bad quality of the pictures, some of them made through the glass cabin of the Manchester Eye and later on enhanced with a software)

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