Christmas & New Year in Scotland

the picturesque M80 Edinburgh-Glasgow motorway
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Aunty Mojo, Claire, Big Dave and Gran
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Gran discreetly casting her fishing rod behind Chris's back
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Lena and myself, Chris & Mel in the mirror!
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Me and Mark drinking as much wine as we can in three hours
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Ems, Lena, some weird guy, Mark and Gem
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Me and Dr Dave, shortly before the tomato ketchup incident
---Here you see my father trying to keep to straight face
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This is a great photo of my brother and sisters plus some good-looking new family members

Welcome to 2006

Happy new year to all!

Piggy in the middle

What's for breakfast?! Bacon, mmm
You love it!!

Trip home to Glasgow

A golden moment, from my balcony in Berne just before I ran to catch the train to Geneva

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A quick train ride later and... Geneva airport. Cool neon logo
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To cut a long story short, I subsequently arrived in Glasgow...
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Centre of Glasgow
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My brother Chris at the TARDIS
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Mitchell Library from the motorway at 65mph
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There were a few things happened in between, which i won't post here, but unfortunately it was soon time to leave bonny Scotland again and I was back on trains, planes, and buses heading a thousand miles south to Switzerland. But not before a quick stop in Edinburgh to fill my heart with the spirit of the north.
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View up Cockburn Street in Edinburgh
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This one's for Mel
---Vinyl lives on: a Cockburn St (Edinburgh) record shop. Took this one for all the vinyl junkies out there, mp3 is killing us
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Torness nuclear power station, taken from the Edinburgh-Newcastle train. We love it
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Swiss church at Kirchlindach

The beautiful chapel at Kirchlindach is situated ten minutes drive north of Berne, through the natural town border of the Bremgarten forest and out into the rolling fields of the Swiss lowlands. It has stood on this hill since 1200, and was recently restored to as it was in the 15th century.

Berne - start of winter

This is a view over the rooftops of Berne to the Bernese Oberland massif, taken on the first weekend of winter, the end of November.

Berner Münster (Berne Cathedral)

The Berner Münster
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180 degree panorama pic around the Münsterplatz, Berne
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Train ride from Berne to Lausanne

Speeding through the lush green Fribourg countryside into the heart of the "Röstigraben", the local name for Switzerland's German/French language border zone (25 mins from Berne).
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The train halts in Palézieux, one of the first villages in the western, French-speaking "Romandie" on the other side of the Röstigraben. (55 mins from Berne)
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The train rounds a bend and the rolling fields of the Romandie suddenly give way to Vaud's dramatic vined slopes, leading down to Lake Geneva with a view to the mountains of the Valais (60 mins from Berne)

click on the pictures to view full-size

Electronic window knockers

The little heads start to knock on the window as you approach.
As you walk away, they freak out and knock like crazy!

Berne - mountain views in the Autumn

Dawn in Berne, across the rooftops to the Alps
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A view across to the Bernese Oberland massif, from the Kleine Schanze (the "Small Plateau Park") in Berne.
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A panoramic view across Berne to the Alps, also from the Kleine Schanze park.
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Across the same rooftops by night - the faint red lights are the highest mountain railway stations in Europe.
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Link to Bernese Oberland alpine massif webcams

Lichtspiele (light games)

Taken at the Technopark and the Schiffbau, both Züri West, Zürich

Lena's birthday

"last night a dj saved my life"!! 22 again

Lavaux vineyards from Lake Geneva

The vineyards at Lavaux, seen from the Lake Geneva steamer on the Montreux-Lausanne stretch.
These are the same vineyards as I snapped from the train in this post.

Eilan Donan, Scottish Highlands

Lena and me at the famous castle on the West Coast

Lena at Glen Coe, Scottish Highlands

Highland cows, Isle of Skye