Friday, July 18, 2008

it’s a Beauty Full Day, Sunny and Dazzling in Lausanne

it is always an uplifting spirit to wake up every day seeing beautiful morning, beautiful day in gorgeous place when you are away on a trip. we, indeed had a lovely day throughout our stay until the last day we left Lausanne for Lyon in France.


on Tuesday july 15th, i pushed myself walking up the hilly streets, even steep ones from lake Ouchy to uphill Lausanne City Centre. i reached my destination in 25-minute challenging walk. SWEATING! in 17°-19° Celsius


one of the many steep streets in Lausanne town


come to food, i fed myself at … errrrm…. McDonald’s because i understood the pictures menu than the one written menu in French. it was much quicker to place an order this way, LOL.

later i stopped by at this stall and ordered banana et nutella crepe, oh boy… that was jolly nyum-nyum!

after charging enough boost, i made a further walk uphill to the Cathedral church, crossing a connecting bridge and walked around the hilly city where the streets are made of cobblestones.


the Cathedral church


the bridge and the Cathedral Church

i share today's photography an idea i saw from a postcard of black and white image with partly coloured photograph. i hope it helps to pilot you what i saw in the heart of my adventure in Lausanne :) and they are somewhat, attention grabbing than full coloured photography, don't you think so? and i very satisfied with my work - my end results :))


photographed this from the bridge on my way to the Cathedral Church i saw these coloured buildings


roofs top view from the same bridge


view from Cathedral church


view from Cathedral Church of another church on the flat ground in the City Centre where i sat down enjoying my banana-nutella crepe :)


view from uphill street


view from the another side of the Cathedral Church


i stopped by at this garden on the flat ground on my way back to lake Ouchy where our hotel is located

and this fountain frog left me a comical story to remember. a half senior citizen French woman (kind like a gypsy) was watching me from her bench at the garden here. she spoke some English and talked about photography. her talked made sense, though. she directed me how to photograph the frog which you see now and i do as told. when i have finished, i said thank you and she gave me Fr$5.00. i said No. No. but she kept insisting me to take it and i just don’t want to take her money because she “helped” me in photography. within seconds, she gone bizarre, so emotional, yelling and speak in French and i ran away quickly to rescue myself, LOL! i met a mental woman!! that was last year and now i purposely repeated taking this same frog at the same perspective view in “my hilarious memory of her”… LOL!!

yup! you have read i had been followed at lake Ouchy, now you read i already had stumbled with a mental person.

i am beginning to wonder if there is something witty about Photography and Me… hmmmmm … LOL!! i clarified this to my husband, if a female photographer could certainly attract males or strangers, it is also similar like a man walking his cute dog and the girls or strangers would approached to ask or talk about his dog, no?

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

i’ve been followed in Lausanne ?!!

it was such a beautiful sunny afternoon yesterday. the murky skies since the day we arrived had turned the dark skies, clear and blue. great photo shoot day out for me, of course.



as i was walking along Ouchy quays, my stomach started to beg for food - because i smell food all around and i stopped by at this Le Lacustre restaurant, located upstairs. i had toasted cheese and a bottle of diet coke and it costs me Fr$12.00 plus tips. Gila mahal kan. Crazy price.



after i have finished consuming my calories for energy, i stopped one level down of the restaurant's stairs to photograph this lake view.


from my camera lens, i saw a man in dark suite who was standing alone at a pole marked 4, and i wished him to go away. Telepathic may be it, that he shifted few steps away when he saw me photograph. that’s why we don’t see him in this picture. now i wished i have him in there, somewhere… somehow….

about half a mile i have walked away from this restaurant, all of a sudden i saw that same man in dark suite was standing like 50 yards nearer to me! my watch showed it was past 3 o’clock in the afternoon. there were people around and i wasn’t panic but afraid. i warned myself he has been following me!! i acted as if i didn’t see him standing there and watching me - thanked God i wore sunglasses to have a look at him from the corner of my eye!



when i have finished photograph this school of small fish swimming in this lake, i was so ready to head to the crowded zone, he quickly approached and stood in front of me and asked “can i take a photograph of you?” quickly i said “no, thank you”.

he was a well groom man and we started talking and throwing questions if i am here for a holiday and bla… bla… bla… little do i asked, he said he lives in Geneva and came to Lausanne for a meeting that was scheduled at 3pm but postponed to 4pm, hence he walked around and saw me photographing. he said he is originally from Holland, but i don’t want to encourage further for this stranger to talk more to know me and told him i am here with my husband and he started to get a bit confused in his conversation of what to say next.



by coincidence, this was the view we both saw and he pointed to the middle building is a Savoy hotel where his meeting is held… ewww… he was polite and said he must leave because his watch showed it was 3:40pm as he said it loud.

here is a photograph of him but from his back that i quickly photographed to take a glimpse of him. well groomed, don't you think so?



the terrifying part was that, i already saw this man nearby the restaurant when i went for my snack. i don’t know how long and how far he had been following me! of course, i buzzed this whole eerie encountered to my husband and to our friend, Bob. my guts already told me something fishy when i first 'detected' him standing at the pole no. 4 looking at me like a hawk and i don’t want to be foolish about it.