Belgian Pride 2012

Brussels is a relatively small capital but it never stops to amaze me (and the visitor).

Walking in the city center and bump into the Belgian Pride (Gay Pride of the Belgian Capital) can be unexpectedly amazing.

Pictures taken with a compact Coolpix 5100 since my camera is broken.

there was also the Belgian-Flemish celebrity Kobe Ilsen, an anchorman from Antwerp.

Have a look on the gallery here

Brussels, the Euro-melting-pot

Finally my destination. The Capital city of the European Union.
Brussels, Bruxelles (in french and Italian), Brussel (in Dutch/Vlaams) it's everything but what you can expect.

It is because even though it can be considered Northern Europe, it's "caliente" and "gritty", it's full of life and not without problems. It has the same crazy and incredible traffic of Rome but it has an extensive mass transit system.

It's Africa and Belgium, It's Italy and Spain, It's Portugal and Greece.

Antonio, an Italian who has been living here for a while and who has a very interesting blog, describes a typical brusselese family as a spanish-american father, married with a russian woman, growing up a belgian child who is going to speak probably four or five languages.

Brussels is this amazing! Small enough to be fully crossed with a hour walk but not provincial, never boring, disappointing and fascinating.
I'm definitely in love.

This moring, since i'm off for few days, I was strolling in the city center looking for a relaxing morning in the Warandepark, when I saw a Red Bull banner with a bunch of people beneath it.

Walking closely I realized that the Red Bull Soap Box Race was going to begin shortly.
Once again I was amazed.

Finally, under a cold drizzle, I reached the Warandepark / Parc de Bruxelles (once again, one language isn't enough) and with this shot as appetizer, I went back home for lunch.

camera: Canon sx20is
exposure time: 1/125s
aperture: f/5
ISO: 200
focal length: 180 mm


Keep an eye on Brussels gallery, It's gonna grow fast I think :)

Colmar, German-flavoured France

I have recently been moving to Brussels to live and the best way to do it for logistic reasons is by car.
Brussels is just 900 kms away from Milan and a well planned two days journey can become an unforgettable chance to see new places and visit interesting towns on one's own way.

Colmar, in Alsace has always catched my attention for its name, like a ski-related Italian fashion brand.
Later on, I discovered that it was not only a VOR (radio device for air navigation) or a place with a known name but a wonderful town in Alsace, showing its full German heritage, acquired before the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, mixed up with all the unique and magic atmosphere that French towns have.

You can have a look in the Colmar gallery here

tuscan siesta

When I was a child, my family used to move around the Country quite often due to my father's job as journalist.

That made me used both to spend long days in the backseat of a car and to have breaks in random rest areas along the road, looking for food and public phones, since mobiles were just yuppies' stuff.

During all those journeys, I learnt that (let me be childish, just memories):

1) Icecream in april isn't good 'cause has been resting in the fridge up to 10 months;

2) It didn't matter where we were, there was almost always a young guy in red or white Vespa moped, stopping at the bar slightly before us, having a coffee, a fist of pistachios and phoning his beloved girl for a lot of time (and off course, we had to wait).

As little child I always wanted to be like him one day: riding my old red scooter in a Sunny summer day and stopping at a random bar to Phone my girlfriend.

Twenty-something years later I am not riding an old Vespa but an old, dusty Opel Corsa and I am not stopping to phone anybody because now we have got smartphones.

That’s cool actually, but yesterday I passed nearby one of those old bars. Actually the one I recall best.

It was closed for the “siesta”, as normally are shops and public places in central-southern Italy from midday to 1700hrs, and the guy whom was stopping there in the early ‘90s, yesterday wasn't there. He was probably at work to permit his children to afford fuel, housing and university studies in Pisa, Rome or Florence.

By the way, the “mood” hasn’t changed. Newspaper stands are still there, alluminium chairs have replaced the heavier and rusty iron ones and, unbelievable, the public Phone sign (and reasonably enough the Phone itself) is still there!

Time for a smile and taking a couple of pictures with the little compact.


see the pictures full size here in their gallery or simply click over 'em

camera: Coolpix S5100
exposure time: 1/800s
aperture: f/3.7
ISO: 100
focal length: 54 mm

camera: Coolpix S5100 

exposure time: 1/800s
aperture: f/3.4
ISO: 100
focal length: 46 mm

the building with the studs

Living in East Midlands for a while made me ask myself questions about the surrounding cities and- off course – being the « second-best » in the UK, Birmingham always attracted me.

I have been always wondering whether the beautiful "studded" building appearing now and then in windows 7 "architecture theme" was real or not and gathering informations about the city of Aston Villa football team, I discovered that not only it exists, but it’s in B’ham (so, nearby), and it’s a Selfridges store!

I had a full day off a couple of Thursdays ago, and I went there via Leicester with a National Express bus.

Unfortunately but as expected (british weather) the day wasn’t as good as in the Windows 7 background but the Selfridges is actually breathtaking. It worths the full two hours and half journey from Nottingham and it worths freezing the hands walking all the way around it looking for the best possible shot.

camera: Canon sx20is
exposure time: 1/320s
aperture: f/5
ISO: 100
focal length: 43.7 mm

Have a look on the Birmingham gallery here

numbers in a row

Before every flight, an aircraft has to be loaded in a proper way in order to operate safely, avoid hitting the runway with the tail on takeoff, save fuel and reduce aerodynamic loads.

For this purpose, the loadmasters (aka dispatchers) prepare a document called "loadsheet", calculating with scientific method the correct weights, loading and performance limitations, positions of passengers, bags, cargo and fuel.

But a weight is not a weight if we don't consider the effect that it has on the "ship".

For that reason, every mass is slightly "adjusted" to meet his real aerodynamic effect on the airplane, in order permit to the engineers and us to find out the "actual" balance, performance and weight of our beloved Boeing 737. 

This is the table for the conversion of the fuel weights. It seems a mess but it's really handy and straight-forward.

camera: Canon sx20is

exposure time: 1/6s

aperture: f/2.8

ISO: 200

focal length: 29.5 mm

see other Boeing 737 pictures in its brand brand new gallery

Church Lane

It's a while that I want to use one of my spare days off to take of a couple of pictures of my current homebase Castle Donington, in East Midlands.
So, going to the local post office to comply to some "duties" in the morning could be a great opportunity to catch some views of the village.
A road signpost on a "brick" (actually wooden) row house wall close to the local small, gothic church catched my attention for its gritty look and for the light composition itself, thanks to the diagonal shadow created by the house nearby.

camera: Canon sx20is

exposure time: 1/640s

aperture: f/5.0

ISO: 100

focal length: 283 mm

see other Castle Donington pictures in their dedicated gallery