Dave's Photo & Travelblogue

Stubai Glacier

The Stubaier Gletscher, as Deutsch speakers would call it, is one of Austria’s premier glaciers. For someone living in Munich, it’s ideal: just 2 hours 15 minutes away. That’s a few minutes farther than Hintertux, and almost an hour closer than Soelden. Early in the season (which is when I hit up the glaciers), it seems like there’s a LOT more open at Stubai than at the other glaciers. Hintertux has quite a few slopes, but early in the year a huge number are used for closed-off team racecourses (I counted 4 slopes last week, totaling ~40 racecourses). Another plus at Stubai: tons of chairlifts, and not many T-bars.

A lot of glaciers have mostly gondolas (where you have to take off your skis/board) and T-bars (which are less susceptible to wind). That’s another thing: I feel that Stubai generally has lower wind speeds than Hintertux. That’s super-important when your starting temperature is often –10C to –20C (-20C is –4F!), before wind chill.

Before you have too long to drool over the fresh tracks in a foot of new POW, here are my new goggles. The old ones lasted me a good 10 years before the foam started to disintegrate. Not a bad view in the background, eh? That’s the Stubaital, or Stubai Valley.

I ended up at a Pension (B&B) in the center of Neustift im Stubaital. My normal plan worked well – just go to the tourism bureau after a day of boarding and ask for a room. Took under 10 minutes to find one for €30, including breakfast and wifi.

Here’s an interesting twilight view. I love the transition from a few hanging autumn leaves to full on, snow-encrusted evergreens in the clouds just a few hundred feet higher up.

That’s all for my brief return to on-the-road blogging. Dinner is calling me, perhaps a venison schnitzel or a steak with potatoes! Mmm…

Omakase at Sushi-Dai

At Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, there are several sushi restaurants where tourists try out never-frozen fish at what is truly a bargain price for some of the world’s freshest sushi. I went to Sushi-Dai. After a mere 2h in line (starting at about 7:30am) I sat down in the tiny restaurant for my Omakase (chef’s choice) breakfast. This is the entire restaurant, which explains the long wait times:

Here’s my delectable piece of Toro, or fatty tuna:

This one I don’t recall the name, if anyone knows just leave a comment. I am guessing red snapper?

The first piece is Uni, or sea urchin. The second, Aji or horse mackerel (I think).

Yet another “no idea” (I should have brought a pen and paper!).

A few rolls, then Anago (Sea Eel) and another slightly-unsure.

There were a few more, 10pcs in all plus 1 more of my choice (anything on the menu); then the rolls, layered egg nigiri, and miso soup. Well worth the 3900 yen (roundabout $40 depending on the exchange rate).

Let me be clear: this was the best sushi I’ve ever eaten anywhere, for any price. By far. Never frozen, well prepared by a good (and friendly) chef. Tsukiji is truly amazing!

Verona at Night

When I arrived in Verona with a friend, the first thing we found was a lingerie fashion show in the central square. Verona is one happenin’ city! I’m going to have to pore over those photos… maybe I can find one or two that are (ahem) suitable for a later post… but here’s what we saw afterward. All photos taken with a tripod.

The Arena in Verona dates from Roman times:

As the evening’s pop concert emptied out of the Arena di Verona, I got some ghostly photos of high heels and a bike on the Piazza Brà. ISO200, f/5, 2s.

Here’s what 0.8s will get you:

And finally, an interesting church, well-lit at night.

Verona is a great city to visit, and even though you can’t shop at night, the town is abuzz with activity. Bars, events, and restaurants are packed full, spilling out onto the streets. It’s definitely worth a full weekend looking around this beautiful city!

Double-Wide Bank

This ain’t gonna win any photo contests, but it made me laugh. I saw this temporary institution near where I live in Munich. The normal Commerzbank building was being renovated, so the bank moved into a trailer home.

It occurred to me: if someone wanted to rob this bank, they could just drive up with a big trailer (or a huge helicopter?) and steal the whole bank.

Now, the getaway plan would have to be something special to make that work. I’m thinking Ocean’s 14… this plot idea (© 2010 David Douglas) is now up for sale!

Homemade Sushi

I love eating raw food. Usually it just tastes better to me, and has a great texture compared to most things cooked. And in today’s markets, it’s relatively safe for healthy adults to eat several kinds of meat & fish raw. (Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist, and I take no responsibility if eating raw food makes you sick).

Below is some of my homemade sushi from a few days ago. I always buy the fish in a high-end market, and ask the fishmonger what he recommends for sushi. Often they say “Nothing today, come back on xxxx” – and I definitely respect that. Usually they have tuna and salmon; on the right days sometimes another one or two. You can also find frozen sushi (such as pre-cooked Unagi, or eel) in some Asian shops.

Of course to get this nice blur, I used my 35mm f/2. ISO was cranked up to 800 to avoid using a flash, and I white-balanced on an empty plate before shooting.

Despite that I once ate raw chicken in Kyoto, I don’t recommend that for everyone. Nor would I ever recommend eating raw pork, because the consequences are too dire. But I’ve never been sick from raw beef or fish. Of course I only consume these in countries where I trust the food processing chain.

So, if you live in a well-developed country, check out the best fish market you can find in town – maybe you, too, can make your own sushi for a fraction of the restaurant price!

Oktoberfest Lights

On my way to a friend’s party I saw these spotlights over Oktoberfest 2010. As I didn’t have my camera or half an hour to spare, I made sure to go back another day and try these long exposures.

The church in the foreground is the St. Maximilian Kirche.

All these exposures are 10s at ISO200 with a wide aperture. I didn’t want to go longer, because the lights moved too frequently.

It was a great Oktoberfest 2010; hopefully Oktoberfest 2011 is just as much fun!

Toytown Photo Walk – October

I met up with the Toytown photo club and walked around Munich in the dark for a few hours. Here are a few shots I managed without any tripod.

I was going for a different angle on this red-lit mannequin.

Shooting from the hip in the dark at f/2…

Eisbach surfers! I played with the strobe effect of my Nikon D90’s built-in flash. Next time I’ll bring a tripod and my SB600, turn down the ISO, and pump up the flash. That should blow out the orange highlights from the d*mn sodium vapor lights. I am too lazy for flash gels and a white card, heh.

That’s all for today!

Weilheim Discgolf Sunset

Indisputably, the best place to play frisbee golf near Munich is Weilheim. It’s a town near the south end of Starnberger See, about 30-45 minutes from Munich. I met up with a few locals who were already on the course and we had a great time playing together. Here’s the evening view from hole 13:

The sunlight only got better as evening approached. Just picture yourself in this red-orange, side-lit forest:

The texture on this tree struck me, highlighted by the orange sunlight.

I only had my 35mm f/2 on hand, but it gives a good idea of the forest-feel as the last edge of the sun slipped below the horizon.

Hole 19 at Weilheim: whoever is closest to the hole 1 basket wins. You can barely see it at the bottom of the hill, right side. A tricky throw!

Bonus points to whoever can tell me exactly what this picture is!

A beautiful sunset silhouette…

And a realistic HDR of the same scene.

So, the next time I’m fired up to play disc golf at Weilheim, you’ll know why – friendly locals, and the course is at one of the most beautiful parks in Bavaria!

Shocker at the Oktoberfest

This one is for my Skydive Orange peeps. Some of whom will be here starting tomorrow, for Oktoberfest 2010 (200th anniversary)! This shadowy shocker is compliments of the Nikon 35mm f/2.

A tasty beer at Hacker-Pschorr near the Theresienwiese.

I love this picture of my buddy eating a Steaksemmel. Blurry-background-girl must have been wondering, “Why is that guy aiming such a huge camera at someone eating a sandwich?”

I’ve posted a few other pics from this day on the Guided Munich Blog.

Can’t wait to see Scott, Amy, and Eric here for Oktoberfest – it’s gonna be a blast!

Zugspitze: Wiener-Neustädt route

I met Neil, a fellow Zugspitze enthusiast, via an English-speaking web forum. He was kind enough to write a great post about his love for Germany’s highest mountain, and a recent hike up one via ferrata section. Complete with fantastic Zugspitze photos! On to his story…

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When I was 12 years old, I went, with my family, to the Tyrol for the first time. We’d always been on holiday a lot, but this was only my second trip abroad and my first trip to see “proper” mountains. Sure, Wales and Scotland have mountains, but it’s not quite the same! I found the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak at 2,962m, on the border with Austria, particularly awesome, and enjoyed the cable car trip to the summit immensely. The holiday to Ehrwald (Austria) made a huge impression on me and has remained one of my favourite destinations.

Fast forward 22 years and this (admittedly slightly weedy) 12-year-old is now 6 foot 2 and a keen hiker. This year, we repeated the holiday – parents, me (and my wife), as a 60th birthday present for my Mum. As our holiday commenced, my sister was drinking fermented mares’ milk in Mongolia on her honeymoon having not washed for 6 days, I was drinking European lagers in the mountains and swimming in crystal clear warm mountain lakes. Sometimes, the world has a wonderful unfairness about it!

If you’ve never been to the Tyrol, imagine for a moment a paradise of good rustic food, refreshing lagers and unusual Austrian wines, snow-capped mountains, beautiful sunshine, meadows of wild flowers, friendly people, mountain lakes, glacial fountains in town centres from which the water is clean enough to drink, pretty houses with flowers bursting from their window boxes. Oh, and Obstler: the local schnapps which is like drinking burning sandpaper, and which is used to toast almost everything.

When my wife and I go on holiday, we usually spend at least a couple of days apart. It’s not that we’ve been married so long that we can’t bear to be together, it’s just that we have different ideas of fun. I like walking, she doesn’t. Ten years ago, our “solo days” would involve my wife painting or relaxing and me going for a country walk. Over the years, “walk” has gradually yet steadily evolved into “fairly dangerous hike/climb”. So this year, against the advice of the man in the hiking shop, I decided to tackle the front of the Zugspitze, via the Wiener-Neustädte-hütte route. There are a number of routes up this mountain, ranging from relatively mild (but long) beautifully scenic routes round the back of the mountain, to this in-your-face, straight up, and slightly shorter trek. And it was fun!

Setting off just after 8am from the village centre, I began the lovely varied walk by making my way through the village, through the meadow, and into one of the larch woods which are so common in the area. Car-wide tracks lull you into a slightly false sense of security, and it took only 40 minutes to reach my breakfast stop, the Gamsalmhütte. Unfortunately, I hadn’t checked their opening times, and Tuesday is their closed day. Hungry walk for me then!

I’d like to interrupt my hike story for a second to tell you a little more about hüttes. Basically, these mountain huts, located anywhere from the busy top of a cable car, to the middle of nowhere on a desolate ridge behind a huge mountain. They provide mattresses on which weary travellers can spend the night, as well as a varying range of food and drink items, ranging from a large and diverse menu at the busier huts, to a more limited range of home-made produce at some of the more remote ones. Beer is a staple, although I wonder how they manage to deliver to some of the higher ones!

Back to the Zugspitze, and I proceeded from the Gamsalmhütte up what would be, in winter, a busy ski slope. It was steep yet enjoyable, and looking back there were fabulous views across the valley. From here, already fairly high, the vegetation began to thin out and the hike continued across, at various times, grassland, scree slopes, rocks, unsafe-looking wooden platforms, and snow. The route passed under the cable car, from which the lazy people waved to me, and past some derelict buildings until eventually, after what felt like about 3 days to my stomach, but was nearer 2 hours, I reached the Wiener-Neustädte-hütte, probably the most remote hut in the region.

Deliveries to the hut are obviously difficult, and the chap inside informed me that I could choose between sausage and bread or soup, nothing else. I had a kasknödelsuppe – a clear soup of beef stock with a cheese dumpling in the middle, which was delicious (although to be fair, fermented mare’s milk would probably have tasted good by this point!). The hut itself was built in the late 1800s and was a beautiful cross between refuge, café and museum. For people staying overnight, there was no television, but an “entertainment corner” consisting of board games, a few books, and a guitar. The interior was of dark mellow wood with little natural light, and a number of antique hiking and objects hanging from the walls. There was also a guest book to sign, the first entry having been made in the 1960s. There are various hikes from this hut, but the most popular is obviously upwards. As I left, I looked at the photograph in the porch showing the route up from the hut – basically a wiggly red line up from the rock face!

The last bit is by far the most fun. This is the start of the via ferrata: metal rungs in the rock with a cable to attach safety ropes (which I didn’t have – oops!). The first part after the hut is across scree to the bottom of the rock, and at this point the via ferrata begins, firstly up the side of the mountain, and then for a while through a cave. The views behind and down are truly breathtaking and as the path, marked by red paint (blood?), winds its way up, the ascent is quite rapid.

About half way between the scree and the summit, the via ferrata comes to an end, and what remains is of equal steepness but without the mechanical aids. At times the path is indistinct and you just have to follow the person in front, at other times it’s quite clear. Eventually you reach the ridge, where you join with the Gatterl and Reintal routes for the final ascent, which is a little easier.

The last few yards to the tourist platform are, disappointingly, via a metal staircase, after which you have to get through the crowds of day-trippers (who’d ascended via the cable car) and queue for the final few yards to the summit. When I was there, those queuing for the summit were a mixture of elderly tourists and children wearing plimsolls, and over-cautious 30-somethings with full climbing gear, who looked a little out of place! From the summit, you can see the various routs up in each direction, after which it’s a queue back down to the platform and a celebratory schnapps and germknödel (sweet dumpling) in the café! Remember to take lots of cash with you, as they don’t take cards for the cable car down and it’s a long walk back!

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Thanks again, Neil! If readers enjoyed this article, please check out Neil’s Hiking Site for more.