http://360photo.org/ All panorama on 360photo.org in 360 degrees splendor en-us Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0200 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:15:41 +0100 http://360photo.org/rss 360photo.org built wwp@360photo.org (Serge Maandag) wwp@360photo.org (Serge Maandag) 5 http://360photo.org/assets/site/GoogleEarth/360photo-minilogo.png http://360photo.org http://360photo.org/kostnice_sedlec.html "Toe bone connected to the foot bone!". These are well known lyrics, even outside English speaking nations. The lyrics are oh so true, but not in this place! What you are seeing in the panorama is the Sedlec ossuary of Kutná Hora in the Czech republic. It's located some 50 kilometers east of Prague. Back in the 13th century, a bit of earth brought back from the Holy Land was sprinkled over the cemetery by the abbot of the Sedlec monastery. That made this cemetery the place to be for fashionable and devoted deceased from all over central Europe. As a result, the bones kept stacking up for ages until in 1870 a woodcarver was given the job to put the pile of bones in order. The result is refreshing, to say the least. The panorama was taken directly underneath a chandelier that is constructed using every type of bone a human possesses. It is estimated that the remains of 40,000 to 70,000 people are stored in the ossuary. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:15:41 +0100 http://360photo.org/kostnice_sedlec.html http://360photo.org/karlovy_vary_sadova_colonnade.html The springs in Karlovy Vary are publicly available. They gather a lot of people. Most of them come from the Czech republic (dressed very decently), Russia (tank tops and sports clothing) and the Middle East (colorful gowns and head scarfs). Among them 2 were stray Dutch (outdoor wear and big camera bags), they didn't mix in. The Spa's sell porcelain that looks a bit like miniature teapots with a ghastly tourist print. The Spa "patients" use them to drink the spring water in regular intervals during the day. It's quite a funny site to have dozens of people around you having the spout of a teapot in their mouth, yet looking very serious. Around most springs, colonnades were erected, such as the one I was standing in while shooting this panorama. Though not a colonnade as it would be described in a dictionary, it is still the common term used in the Czech Republic. Most colonnades are beautifully decorated and in my eyes this one especially has a quality of elegance and romanticness. Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:32:57 +0200 http://360photo.org/karlovy_vary_sadova_colonnade.html http://360photo.org/karlovy_vary_zahradni.html Karlovy vary is the largest Spa city in the Czech Republic. The city is abundantly decorated with monuments, so called "colonnades" and statues. In the city you'll find natural springs with a range of temperatures and minerals. The spas are specialized in balneology. Remember that one the next time you play Scrabble.. We arrived in Karlovy vary on a cold wet day. We were immediately amazed by the ugliness of the Thermal hotel. The hotel was built by the communist party in perhaps the finest spot in town. You can only imagine it was deliberately designed so ugly so the detonation factor would max out. What an insult to the Czechs this must have been! The moment I shot this panorama, a band was performing in front of the hotel. There was a hobo on our side of the water screaming his lungs out. Drunk and unstable his mood changed from shear joy to enragement. As you can see my girlfriend kept eyeballing him. It wasn't her idea of a nice spot and moment to make a panorama.. Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:30:02 +0200 http://360photo.org/karlovy_vary_zahradni.html http://360photo.org/ellex_wedding.html On the 10th of July 2009 our very good friends Alex and Ellen got married in the monumental town hall of Middelburg. Stylish and creative as they are, the bride made the wedding dress herself. The groom is dressed in a great looking Armani suit. Tiro, their cute son, sitting on his lap is also suited up. My girl (with the big smile) and I were given the honour of being best man and woman, along with both the brides and the grooms sisters. It was a long and very joyous day with the warmth of friends, great food, music, balloons, pigeons and flowers. Best of luck Alex and Ellen, you two (actually three) look great together and you really deserve each other! Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:05:44 +0200 http://360photo.org/ellex_wedding.html http://360photo.org/malta_triton_fountain.html Malta is perhaps best known for its Malta busses. On Malta you will find busses in service that date back to the 1960's. Until a few years back even older busses were used, but (probably) for security reasons they were taken out of commission. The older busses are quite cute and nostalgic, but if you have to travel longer distances, the lack of suspension and noise insulation litterally starts to become a pain in the behind. Shown in the panorama is the bus stop in front of the Valletta city gates in Floriana. The Triton fountain is used as a bench by tourists that wait for their busses. Crossing the roundabout with it's mess of stinking and honking busses is at their own risk.. Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:09:25 +0200 http://360photo.org/malta_triton_fountain.html http://360photo.org/floriana_grand_hotel_excelsior.html The cities of Malta have a habit of looking quite shabby. So did a lot of the hotels until a few years back. Recognizing this fact and not wanting to become a cheap ugly holiday destination, the Maltese government decided that new hotels were only allowed to be built if they are 5 star hotels. Since tourism really boomed the last few years, ther are a lot of relatively new 5 star hotels to be found on Malta. The hotel we stayed in was the 5 star Grand Excelsior hotel just on the border between Floriana and Valletta. The hotel has a great pompous lobby. It is the size of a hangar and is decorated with bell boys, a marble floor and 2 majestic stairways. I liked it a lot. Sat, 30 May 2009 22:30:10 +0200 http://360photo.org/floriana_grand_hotel_excelsior.html http://360photo.org/valletta_upper_barracca_gardens.html The small upper Barracca gardens are located on the highest point of Valletta, As you can see, they offer a magnificent view over the Grand harbour and the "three cities". Everyday at noon the Noon Day Gun is fired here. The arches are what is left of the training facility for the Italian knights. After they conspired in 1775 against grandmaster Ximenes, the roof was taken of the building as punishment. The park somehow seems to be swarming with cats. Sat, 30 May 2009 22:28:10 +0200 http://360photo.org/valletta_upper_barracca_gardens.html http://360photo.org/valletta_old_theatre_street.html The street layout of Valletta was designed by the Italian architect Francesco Laparelli da Cortona. He designed a checkerboard layout with straight parallel streets. After having tried for a short while to even out the rock Valletta was built on, the Maltese had to give up. But they held on to the straight layout. As a result Valletta has streets that wave up and down. Also, some streets were so steep that they had to build them as stairs. This panorama shows the south east side of the Old Theatre street (triq it teatru l'antik). Tue, 26 May 2009 23:37:20 +0200 http://360photo.org/valletta_old_theatre_street.html http://360photo.org/valletta_grandharbour.html Valletta, the capitol of Malta has the shape of some sort of inland peninsula, weird as that may sound. That means that it is surrounded by harbours on both sides, giving a great panoramic view on both sides of the peninsula. This panorama shows the view over the Grand Harbour from East street (triq Lvant). With a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius in the shade we were glad to find the tree that covers us in the panorama. Tue, 26 May 2009 23:35:22 +0200 http://360photo.org/valletta_grandharbour.html http://360photo.org/senhora_da_paz.html When driving above Vila, you'll suddenly end up on a parking lot beneath intriguing stairs. The stairs lead to the Marian sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Paz (our Lady of Peace). The monumental staircase opens onto one of São Miguels most beautiful landscapes which includes a view of the marvellous Ilhéu. The Ilhéu is the small island in front of Vila Franca. It is what remains from an old volcano. The bay in the middle of the island is used as a natural swimming pool It's marvelous, just pay a local fisherman a small fee to bring you there and enjoy an afternoon there! Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:12:25 +0200 http://360photo.org/senhora_da_paz.html http://360photo.org/furnas_lake.html The Azores are basically volcanoes that stick out of the Atlantic Ocean. The fact that these volcanoes haven't faded out yet, is proven at least by the eruption of the Capelinhos Volcano in 1957. This panorama was shot on the Furnas Volcano on the island of São Miguel. This volcano had its last eruption 5,000 years ago, but it still shows activity in numerous forms. At many places in the area of Furnas you can smell clouds of sulfur and see natural boiling water and mud. The boiling water sends of big clouds of steam into the air, adding greatly to the spectacle. The air and steam escaping the holes in the ground is rich on minerals and has a ground temperature of about 130 degrees Celsius. So stepping over the fences like I did is ill advised, especially if you wear open shoes. On weekend days the steam pits and the lake can get crowded with locals. The locals bury cooking pots around the steam pits for naturally cooked (and probably somewhat oddly flavored) food. Directly next to the steam pits lies Lake Furnas, the serenity of which has much contrast to the "smells and sounds of hell" the steam pits produce. Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:02:09 +0200 http://360photo.org/furnas_lake.html http://360photo.org/brigdamsepad_middelburg.html The Noordweg has, for over a decade, been one of the most popular roads to those looking to buy a house in Middelburg. Along the road you'll find a lot of old houses with a soul, located in a scenic location overlooking the farming lands. For some time home owners in this road had to fear the coming of new building projects next to their backyards, because as with almost every other town, Middelburg feels the need to expand. Home owners close to this spot can feel at ease though. The fields around this peculiar tree-marked bicycle path have been declared a nature reserve. No buildings will arise here for a long time. Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:29:32 +0200 http://360photo.org/brigdamsepad_middelburg.html http://360photo.org/terworm_gardens.html In may 2008 my girlfriend surprised me with a romantic present. A weekend stay in a true castle room. We stayed in castle Terworm near Heerlen in Holland. It was a great weekend and the hotel room was very nice. Apart from strolling through Maastricht and enjoying the castle, we also visited an old skool knights tournament, featuring shiny armours, jousting and swords battle. This panorama shows the entry to the rococo castle gardens. The gardens were fully reconstructed after careful archeological research. Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:21:42 +0200 http://360photo.org/terworm_gardens.html http://360photo.org/terworm_bedroom.html In may 2008 my girlfriend surprised me with a romantic present. A weekend stay in a true castle room. We stayed in castle Terworm near Heerlen in Holland. It was a great weekend and the hotel room was very nice. Apart from strolling through Maastricht and enjoying the castle, we also visited an old skool knights tournament, featuring shiny armours, jousting and swords battle. This panorama shows the bedroom of the hotel suite. Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:20:16 +0200 http://360photo.org/terworm_bedroom.html http://360photo.org/terworm_livingroom.html In may 2008 my girlfriend surprised me with a romantic present. A weekend stay in a true castle room. We stayed in castle Terworm near Heerlen in Holland. It was a great weekend and the hotel room was very nice. Apart from strolling through Maastricht and enjoying the castle, we also visited an old skool knights tournament, featuring shiny armours, jousting and swords battle. This panorama shows the living room of the hotel suite. Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:17:28 +0200 http://360photo.org/terworm_livingroom.html http://360photo.org/faial-capelinhos1.html What you are looking at is a village. The only thing is: It's buried underneath a big pile of lava and mud. Once you get closer to the Capelinhos volcano, you'll start tnotice the tarmac has more and more cracks. Eventually the road gets really bumpy and you'll find yourself amidst wrecked and abandoned homes. And if you drive past that scene, there's the big nothing. It's intimidating to see the mountains of ash and dirt around you. But there's also a strange beauty to it. The Capelinhos volcano erupted from september 27, 1957 until october 24, 1958. That's a very long time for an eruption. At some times the eruptions where gradually and at some times they were very violent. The island was shaken by hundreds of tremors during the eruptions. 2,4 square kilometer of new island was added by the volcano of which 1,5 square kilometer remains. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:35:45 +0200 http://360photo.org/faial-capelinhos1.html http://360photo.org/faial-coastline.html We are enjoying the gentle breeze here on the south coast of Faial while the day comes to an end. The view down from the edge of the rock is a bit unnerving, but apart from that the view is nice. The rocks shows what effect the battering ocean has to them. Caves and tunnels are constantly formed. The waves rushing in on the shore walls can be quite spectacular. But not today. Today everything is calm, gentle and very enjoyable, and I'm not complainting.. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:26:33 +0200 http://360photo.org/faial-coastline.html http://360photo.org/faial-caldeira.html Faial is one big volcano. The crater on the top is called Caldeira in local terms. The road up to the Caldeira passes through large areas of Hydrangea (Hortensia). That's the the image that has given Faial its nickname: La Isla Azul, the blue island. The Caldeira is around 400 meters deep and 2000 meters in diameter. It used to be a basin, but the eruption of the Capelinhos volcano caused cracks in the walls of the Caldeira. All the water flowed away, leaving a swamp. The Caldeira has beem declared a nature reserve, It is not allowed to visit the crater floor. Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:08:40 +0200 http://360photo.org/faial-caldeira.html http://360photo.org/faial-horta.html Faial is well known to sailers around the world. Especially the capital Horta. The Azores are strategically located between Europe and America. Therefore most transatlantic sailors stop in Horta to take in supplies and enjoy the laid back atmosphere on the island. Nobody knows how or when it all began, but years ago the crew af a sailing boat commemorated their voyage by leaving a painting on the harbour wall. That first picture was slowly followed by others. Nowadays a superstition has grown: if you fail to leave a testimony image in the harbour, chances are big that you will fall prey to disaster. So now almost every boat crew makes a painting in the harbour. A splendid sight to see so much inspiration! The island that can be seen in the distance is Pico. Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:43:27 +0200 http://360photo.org/faial-horta.html http://360photo.org/terceira-serra_do_cume.html This panorama shows a good example of the weather on the Azores. Almost always sunny at the coast line, but then again, very cloudy on the higher lands. It's not uncommon to drive from a sunny summer country to a dense thick fog in just a few minutes. The Serre do Cume viewpoint islocated on a big mountain ridge. You can overlook the north and east side of Terceira simultaneously from the top. The panorama shows the north side. The town located around the bay is Praia da Vitória. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:11:10 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira-serra_do_cume.html http://360photo.org/terceira_algar_do_carvao.html The Algar do Carvão cave is a lava tube. It was formed during the eruption of Terra Brava. When an eruption is long lasting, the lava starts to flow in confined channels. When the lava stops flowing, lava tubes remain. Lava tubes are always only a few meters below the surface. Therefore it's quite common for parts of the roof to collapse. Algar do Carvao has had only a small collapse, as can be seen in the panorama. The cave is filled with stalactites and stalagmites. That's a really exceptional feature for a lave tube. The cave is 100 meters long and ends in a subterranean lake. Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:24:34 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira_algar_do_carvao.html http://360photo.org/near_algar_do_carvao.html Welcome to Mars! That is the thought that first crossed my mind when I set foot in this strange landscape. The type of vegetation shown in the panorama is quite common on the Azores. Especially around the craters of the Volcanos. It is called Azorean green heather (Erica Azorica). But walking amidst hills covered almost exclusively with this heather gave me the impression I was doing an audition for an old Star Trek episode. Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:56:56 +0200 http://360photo.org/near_algar_do_carvao.html http://360photo.org/terceira-furnas.html One typical geological phenomenon you'll find in different spots on the Azores are fumaroles. A fumarole (in Portugese: Furnas) is a crack in the surface that emits steam, heat and gasses. This particular fumerole is of the sulfurous type (Enxofre means sulphur). It emits steam and an intense odour of rotten eggs. The fences are not so much there to protect the nature. They are there to protect you. The air has a temperature of about 130 degrees Celsius just above the surface. The fumeroles feel like a reminder that the serene nature in the area is only a thin layer of natural "civilization". Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:07:17 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira-furnas.html http://360photo.org/terceira-raminho.html The Azores are essentially vulcans that stick out of the ocean. The vulcanic rock is light and brittle. The rock erodes fast under the pressure of the waves. All that caused the cliffs to be quite steep and high. Therefore theres an enormous amount of panoramic lookout points over the ocean on the islands. They're marked "Miradouro" in native Portugese. The first few days you can't help but stop at every miradouro sign, but after having seen literally dozens of them, you'll have to bypass some to make some progress traveling around the islands. This particular miradouro was one of the first I stopped at. And it's one of great beauty. The cliffs go down completely vertical for 100 meters just in front of the spot the panorama was taken. It's a dazzling experience to stand there and look over the ocean.. Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:52:25 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira-raminho.html http://360photo.org/terceira-biscoitos.html The azores have a wonderful climate. During the summer the temperature stays steadily between 19 and 27 degrees Celcius. The coasts are mostly sunny, while rain falls on the higher inlands. During the winter the temperature stays above 16 degrees Celcius. It would almost be a tropical paradise. But one thing is missing: beaches! Scattered among the islands there are only a few sandy beaches to be found. And they usually have black sand. a lot of beaches in the Azores look like the scene shown in the panorama. The black rocks are extremely sharp and quite brittle. Waves hit the rocks with impressive thundering sounds and erodes them away. This erosion has formed a bunch of "natural swimming pools" between the rocks. Locals use them for safe bathing. There is one rock on this beach that can only be reached once every few minutes, when the water is at it's lowest level. I had to be on the rock, since I wanted to shoot a panorama from there. So I awaited the low water level and took a sprint to make it to the rock before the next wave. Sadly the surface was about 5 times as slippery as I anticipated. So I slipped away and because of the camera in my hand I could do nothing to break my fall. I landed hard on my behind and tried to get up before the next wave came rushing in, flooding some 10 cubic meters of water down the path. Luckily I made it, I jumped on the rock and squeezed the water out of my pants. It was all in vain though. The rock was far to irregular to place a tripod and the waves hitting the rock constantly sprayed a fine salty mist on me and my camera. When I wanted to go back things got even better: I had to jump onto a slippery surface from an uncomfortable height and the water level did not fall as low as before in the pathway. Eventually I had to jump into kneedeep water to get my wet butt safe. "When will you ever learn" was on the mind of both me and my girlfriend.. Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:37:36 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira-biscoitos.html http://360photo.org/terceira_santa-barbera.html This panorama shows a typical sight on Terceira. Quiet surroundings, nice weather, a panorama over the ocean, the pasture land is seperated by miles of stacked lava stone walls and the ubiquitous hydrangea by your side. There are truly millions and millions of hydrangea blossoming during summer in the Azores. Once imported from Asia as an ornamental flower for gardens, the plant has quickly spread. Nowadays they can be found on every island and on every corner. The flowers still make you happy though. They're not a plague at all! In the far distance the island of Sao Jorge can be seen. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:48:54 +0200 http://360photo.org/terceira_santa-barbera.html http://360photo.org/pauze-familie.html (The contents of this page are written in Dutch because the intended audience is Dutch) Hierboven zie je het panorama dat ik gemaakt heb tijdens de evaluatie van de generale repetitie van "Een Zaak van de Familie". Als je naast het plaatje op "Autodetect viewer" klikt, dan opent er een nieuw scherm waarin je om je heen kan kijken en zelfs in kan zoomen op de mensen. Probeer maar eens! Als je pc een beetje snel is, dan zou het moeten werken. De foto's van de generale vind je door hier op te klikken (moet je nog wel even inloggen). Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:46:31 +0200 http://360photo.org/pauze-familie.html http://360photo.org/newpo2008.html This panorama shows Deltas New Potential class 2008 in action (ahem..). Click "Autodetect Viewer" next to the image above to view the panorama interactively. the photos and movies from the third session can be found here. Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:29:05 +0200 http://360photo.org/newpo2008.html http://360photo.org/vorderer_gosau_lake.html When traveling westwards from Hallststatt, you will pass the village of Gosau. If you follow the signs to the Gosau Hintertall, the road will end at the popular Gosau lakes. Embedded between some majestic mountains lie 2 small lakes. The Vorderer and the Hinterer Gosau lakes. The lakes have an easy footpath around them. To walk around the Hinterer lake, you will have to do a 200 meters acsend/descend, though. We chose to take a boat trip on the Vorderer lake. For a small sum you can rent an electric boat. Just flick on the switch, lie back and enjoy the scenery... Well in theory that is. I had gotten the stupid idea into my head that I had do make a panorama inside the boat. That means standing up, turning around and keep telling my girlfriend that I knew what I was doing. Not that she bought that from a guy with a sweaty forehead and looking scared that almost tipped over the boat at least a dozen times.. But in the end I succeeded. The stitching of this panorama was horrible, to say the least. But the whole event still was a lot of fun. Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:04:04 +0100 http://360photo.org/vorderer_gosau_lake.html http://360photo.org/botanicalgarden_madrid.html The foundation of the Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid was ordered by King Ferdinand VI in 1755 and, during the reign of Charles III, the Garden was installed in its present location, the Paseo del Prado in Madrid. The botanical garden was declared Artistic Garden in 1942, but is still used as a scientific research center. The garden features a herbarium with more than a million species. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:11:10 +0100 http://360photo.org/botanicalgarden_madrid.html http://360photo.org/wwp108.html A touch of Magic 24 hours away from the 2007 december solstice I still didn't come up with a subject. I wanted something contemporary, something that could only be found during this years solstice. I then stepped out of my bed and opened the bedroom curtains. And there it was, the fierce force of the wrinkle had opened a hole in the space-time continuum and caused a local burst of coldness and fog. There was so much moist in the air that the fog turned to tiny snowflakes that attached to every square mm of every object in sight. A touch of magic! My only worry was that the magic would be dissolved by the time the wrinkle shooting period would be upon me. But I lucked out, I got a chance to shoot it the next morning. Five hours later hardly any white could be spotted in this scene. Even during it's lowest rise of the year, melting a country filled with ice and snow was no challenge for the sun. Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:28:06 +0100 http://360photo.org/wwp108.html http://360photo.org/wwp306.html The coastline you are viewing is a dike around the village of Westkapelle. During World War II, The dike was part of the Atlantikwall. The Atlantikwall was the German defence border against the Allies, it stretched from Norway to Spain. The Germans built all sorts of bunkers and anti-aircraft artillery on the dike. Therefore the Royal Air Force bombarded the dike in 1944, leaving a hole 30 meters across in it. This caused a flood all over the peninsula of Walcheren. In the panorama you can clearly sea that the village was built below sea level. A few months after the first bombardment, two more followed and the Allied forces landed in Westkapelle through the hole in the dike. It took 8 days of fighting to liberate Walcheren. The Allied forces tank (look down in the panorama) was the only one that reached the streets of Westkapelle. It still stands on the dike as a monument (and kids love climbing it). Nowadays the dike is crowded with Germans during the summer. They're tourists and welcomed in. War is remembered, but hatred has been left in the past. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:31:36 +0200 http://360photo.org/wwp306.html http://360photo.org/wwp307.html Atmosphere as a theme has, in my opinion, been the hardest challenge yet. Because what is atmosphere really? The technical meaning aside, it is a subtle term. Atmosphere mainly has to do with people and the interaction between them. Well, or the lack of interaction ofcourse... Atmosphere can also be a surrounding that immediately influences your mood. But if that's a good mood, that usually makes you think: "This would be a real good atmosphere to be in with other people". So in that case it boils down to human interaction again. Sadly though, atmosphere becomes more and more a thing of the past. At least here in the rich part of the world it does. The main cause seems to be the increase of wealth. If you compare life to how it was some decades ago some things seem noticeable. The grown wealth means people aren't dependant on each other anymore. They are selfsufficient in their basic needs. Not needing someone else means not reaching out when the other needs you, not swallowing your pride when someone does something you don't like. Therefore there seems to be a lot more lonelyness around. The economy driven way of life also seems to have it's influences. Work related stress takes its toll on the mind. After a hard day of work it's oh so tempting to just drop on the couch and do nothing. And because you have to look fresh and eager in the morning, you'd better be in bed in time. To add to that there is the era of entertainment. There is lots of stuff to help you escape reality. Hundreds of TV channels, dvd, the Internet, gaming consoles, magazines, the works. Just what you need to tranquillize the mind during the hours between work and sleep. It saves you from having bad thoughts or from having to be in bad atmospheres. Too bad it also prohibits you from having real great experiences in truly atmospheric surroundings. Or to engage in a in-depth conversation. Depicted in the panorama is an example of lack of atmosphere. Two people sitting on the same couch, but being in totally different worlds. Numb faces hypnotized by entertainment. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:09:44 +0200 http://360photo.org/wwp307.html http://360photo.org/wwp907.html The original of this page can be found here. A Dutch Windmill 2007 is the Dutch national year of the windmill, therefore the "Sustenance" theme is an excellent occasion to put one of the many Dutch windmills in the spot lights. Windmills are used around the world, but they are especially common in the North Western part or Europe. Holland, being the very north western corner of Europe, still has many many mills. The Mill database lists 1191 of them. In history, mills were mainly used for two purposes: draining the land and grinding cereal. The land draining mills at Kinderdijk in Holland are world famous and have been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. But the theme is sustenance, so I chose to show a grinding mill. The windmill shown in the panorama is named "De Koe" (Dutch for "The Cow") and is located in the historical village of Veere. It was built in 1909 on the remains of an earlier mill that dated from 1736. The mill was used for grain grinding, but since 1964 the mill is used as a recreational house. The tower shape of the mill is typically Dutch. The top part with the blades can turn to face the ever changing wind direction. Even though there are still a lot of mills left in Holland, many of them are gone. To illustrate that: the village of Flushing only has one mill, but it used to have more than 30 of them. 450 of the remaining Dutch mills urgently need restoration, which will cost about 70 million Euros. To raise that money, the national year of the mill was declared. There is more information about it on this page. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:56:33 +0200 http://360photo.org/wwp907.html http://360photo.org/hohensalzburg.html The Hohensalzburg fortress is the biggest medieval fortress to stay intact until this day. You can go up by stairs (200 meters) or by cable car. We where brave enough to take the stairs. While the outside of the fortress is not richly decorated, the inside is. The Goldener Stube and the Goldener Saal are some of the highlights and can only be visited under supervision of a guide. The rooms are decorated with wood, paint and gold. The goldene Stube features a unique gothic tiled stove. We skipped the torture museum, because we didn't feel like queueing up. It can get quite crowded at the fortress in high season... Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:50:59 +0200 http://360photo.org/hohensalzburg.html http://360photo.org/golling_wasserfall.html Golling is a small town some 30km below the city of Salzburg. It's location between Salzburg and the Dachstein mountains make it a good operating base. Culture to the north and nature to the south. The Dachstein mountains house a lot of caves. One of them is the spectacular Eisriesenwelt cave, but you can also visit the Mammoth caves and the Koppenbrüller caves. There are also lots of gorges and waterfalls. The Golling waterfalls in the panorama fall in 2 steps. The total height is 75 meters. The panorama shows the bottom half. A path with a balconnee and a bridge leads over and up to the higher part of the falls. The path towards the falls follows the stream of water that results from the falls. It's a scenic path with wild water and an old mill. Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:06:22 +0200 http://360photo.org/golling_wasserfall.html http://360photo.org/krimler_wasserfall.html The Krimml falls in Austrians national park "Hohe Tauern" are the highest waterfalls in Europe. They drop 380 meter in three stages, transporting an average of 6 cubic meters per second. The highest measured throughput was 57 cubic meters per second. The bottom part drops its water in a bowl shaped pond, creating a constant rain in a large radius around it. Taking a shower in it is very refreshing. Along with the thundering sounds from the water it's a great experience. There's a good but very steep path to the top of the falls. It is a tiresome climb with an altitude difference of 400 meters, but it's worth it. Along the trail there are many viewpoints that give you a good view of the falls. The panorama over the valley and the village of Krimml is also very nice. The admission fee is 1,80 euro, which is surprisingly low for an Austrian attraction. Tue, 21 Aug 2007 23:15:54 +0200 http://360photo.org/krimler_wasserfall.html http://360photo.org/beinhaus_hallstatt.html Hallstatt is a small town cramped between the main road and the Hallstätter See. The houses were placed so close to each other that some of them can only be reached from the water side. the Pfarrkirche, built on a rock above the town, has a small chapel called the "Beinhaus". It holds some 1200 human skulls, decorated with flower motives and texts. In history, the remains of deceased inhabitants were dug up 10 years after the burial and placed inside the chapel. This provided space to bury newly diseased people. Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:57:55 +0200 http://360photo.org/beinhaus_hallstatt.html http://360photo.org/eisriesenwelt.html I shot this panorama on the narrow ledge of a walkway just in front of the Eisriesenwelt cave. Shooting the panorama close to the abyss made me quite an attraction for the tourists. Eisriesenwelt in Werfen (some 50 km below Salzburg) is the biggest known system of ice caves in the world. Until this day about 42 km of caves was discovered. A small part of the caves can be visited under supervision of a tour guide. The cave part that can be visited is beautiful. It has a wide and long slope of ice, 25 meters thick. Further on in the cave, stalactites, stalagmites and massive walls of ice can be seen. Inside the cave is a stair system with 1400 steps, covering a height difference of 136 meters. That's enough to keep you from cooling down. When you enter the caves, you immediately have to face a hard cold wind coming through the doors. Inside small open fire lanterns are handed out to help you see the ice. The guide has a piece of wire that burns with an intense white light. This provides you with enough light to see the cave but little enough to keep the mysterious ambiance intact. Officially it's forbidden to make photo's inside the cave, because that holds up the groups too much. Luckily, they are not very strict on that because you simply cannot restrain yourself from grabbing your camera... Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:40:50 +0200 http://360photo.org/eisriesenwelt.html http://360photo.org/dom_klagenfurt.html The Dom of Klagenfurt features a mix of building styles. The Dom was built in 1578 as a protestant church. The jezuites took it over in 1604 and in 1787 it was promoted to cathedral. The Dom burnt down in 1723 and was severely bombarded in 1944. Today, after the numerous renovations, the mix of styles forms a nice composition. The frescos on the ceiling and the altar piece are beautiful. As usual I was too sloppy while shooting the panorama. The camera seems to have moved on one photo alas.. Also in Klagenfurt: The Landhaus with its marvelous paintings in the weapons room. Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:45:57 +0200 http://360photo.org/dom_klagenfurt.html http://360photo.org/pz_colon.html Plaza de Colón was established in 1893 in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus voyage to America, celebrated the year before in 1892. On the Paseo de la Castellana side there is a monument to Columbus built in 1885. This is a statue of Columbus standing at the pinnacle of a tall column. He appears to be pointing west, indicating the route he would take towards the islands of the Caribbean. The second monument on the Calle Serrano side consists of concrete macro-sculptures by Joaquín Vaquero Turcios. The concrete blocks are decorated with inscriptions by philosophers and indigenous leaders. Inbetween stands an enormous flag pole whith a flag on top that probably is big enough to cover my house. It's an amazing view if it waves along with the wind. Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:41:10 +0200 http://360photo.org/pz_colon.html http://360photo.org/dance_parade_2007.html The Dance Parade is an annual event in the historical town of Middelburg. One day a year, the normally very quiet and serious capital of the Province turns into one big, noisy and colorful festival. About a dozen open trucks filled with cheering and dancing people drive through a densely packed crowd in the historical city, meanwhile blasting out dance, trance and hardcore through the onboard mounted PA speakers. Everybody in town is relaxed and laid down. they dress up just like the dancers on the trucks or they dance a bit, have some drinks or smoke some pot (hey, it is Holland..). Woman dancers are often scarcely clothed and some of the guys look so extravagant, that you just know they must be gay in more than one meaning. Personally I'm very proud that this (internationally known) event is held in Middelburg. This years event was "fairy tales". More info on this years parade and previous Dance Parades can be found here (in Dutch) Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:11:02 +0200 http://360photo.org/dance_parade_2007.html http://360photo.org/estacion_atocha_madrid.html The Atocha train station opened in 1851 and was the first train station in Madrid. After being destroyed by fire, it was rebuild in 1892. In 1992 a new station was built directly behind the old station to serve the new high speed AVE trains. The old building was converted into a complex with a night club, shops and a 4000 square meter tropical garden. When inside, you constantly hear the hiss of the steam pipes. The atmosphere is very humid and warm. In front of the garden is a pond with turtles. On March 11th 2004 two bombs went off in train stations underground. Terrorists, probably linked to el Qaeda, killed 192 people. Thu, 17 May 2007 03:45:29 +0200 http://360photo.org/estacion_atocha_madrid.html http://360photo.org/99.html he plompe Toren is what remains of the medieval village of Coudekerk. In the second half of the 16th century the entire village was slowly flushed away by the river Oosterschelde. The tower is what is left of the village church. While the church was broken down when the water moved in, the tower was kept as a beacon for the ships. In 1997 the tower has been restored and now it is open for visits. The ground around the tower has been used for centuries to fortify the dikes. The watery surface that stayed behind when the ground was taken away (the so called "inlagen") are a habitat for a great many bird species. The big pond on the panorama just filled up with geese when I took the panorama. The Oosterschelde was extremely calm this day as you can see. date shot: 2007-04-22 More info (in Dutch): Click here Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:48:05 +0200 http://360photo.org/99.html http://360photo.org/98.html Overlooking the Flushing Marina, the Arsenaal and the statue of Michiel de Ruyter. Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:44:24 +0100 http://360photo.org/98.html http://360photo.org/sunset2006.html This panorama is my entry for the WWP 1206 event. The event features the "best of 2006" panoramas of the participants. This is the accompanying text for the panorama: Sun setting over the North Sea For me, unfortunately 2006 did not spawn a good candidate for the "best of" event. Therefore I was facing a challenge on December 17th: Shoot a good one now or miss an event. I chose to go for the first option and fortunately the weather seemed good that day. I decided I was going to take a panorama of the sun setting above the sea. That usually looks good and Holland is known for its great sunsets. But then Murphy's law kicked in.. Everything went wrong by the time the sun began to set, keeping me from leaving the house. By the time I strapped my tripod to my motorcycle, the sky was beautifully pink all over and I really felt like I was about to miss the event. I drove as fast as I could to the coast, at times exceeding the speed limit with 100 km/hour and parked right below the dune. I took my camera bag, helmet, tripod and ran up the dune. Alas, I overrated my stamina..: I had a fever, I was heavily packed, I was wearing a tight and stuffed motorcycle suit and the dune is some forty or more meters high. I came to a crushing halt about 2/3s on my way to the top. I had to sit down and catch my breath. By the time I came to the top and I set up the camera and tripod, the sun just shifted behind the clouds on the horizon. Bye bye, nice sunset.. Anyway, I decided to still shoot the panorama and although it's a bit silly to label it "best of the year", I still like it enough to make it my entry. The panorama shows the view from the highest dune in Groot Valkenisse (province of Zeeland). To the right you can faintly see Zoutelande. To the left, the Westerschelde river and ahead: Dunkerque (100km away). The entire dune is made of sand. It protects the peninsula of Walcheren, which actually lies below sea level, from flooding. Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:48:29 +0100 http://360photo.org/sunset2006.html http://360photo.org/shloss_altenahr.html The ruins of the Are castle above Altenahr can be reached after a small steep climb. You can get a nice view over the Ahr valley from the lookout shelter built on top of the ruins. Ofcourse you can also take the chairlift on the south west part of the town to do that. I took quite some risk to shoot this panorama. I had to hang on the outside of the railing to shoot the ruins itself. My girlfriend didn't want to see it, so she stayed on the other side of the wall. Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:26:22 +0200 http://360photo.org/shloss_altenahr.html http://360photo.org/wwp906.html This panorama is my entry for the WWP 906 event. The event is themed around "transportation". This is the accompanying text for the panorama: Transportation of the soul Mankind is really dependant on transportation. The reason for that is that our species is at it's best when it is communicating. What communication has to do with transportation? I can hear you asking yourself that very question. Well, to communicate you will need transportation. You can either transport your body, your mind or your soul. To transport your body you have a wealth of choices, you can do it by walking, by driving, flying or even by floating. To transport your mind, you can make a phone call, write someone, use a blog or even write a book. But to transport your soul, there is just one true way and that is through facial expressions. Transporting your soul is the most important form of transportation in my opinion. My lovely model and girlfriend expresses nine emotions here. When trying to make a list of emotions to use, it seemed we could go on forever. I wouldn't be surprised if a human eye can discern hundreds of emotions from facial expressions. Some expressions not shown in the panorama are nervosity (before the shoot) and relief (after the shoot) Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:45:35 +0200 http://360photo.org/wwp906.html http://360photo.org/ahrweiler.html The town of Ahrweiler has a small center that is completely surrounded by a medieval oval shaped city wall. It has small streets and extreme steep corners. I coincidentally saw a car totally bust its bumper while driving through one of the narrow corners. That was just before I had to take my car into the center, and my car was bigger :( I made it through in one piece though. The next morning we visited the church in the town centre. No one was in the church yet and the organ player was going berserk. He alternately played tunes so light you'd imagine you were floating and extreme loud doomsday-like pieces that immediately made you feel guilty about everything you ever did wrong in your life. Meanwhile I was setting up my camera and monopod and colourful sunlight was shining in my face through the stained glass windows. Sometimes everything simply feels good :) Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:10:21 +0200 http://360photo.org/ahrweiler.html http://360photo.org/67.html This panorama was taken on the shopping side of the Wenceslas square in Prague. The Wenceslas square is far too elongated to be called a square if you ask me. The square has seen many riots during the past ages. When the Sovjets invaded Prague, they started shooting at the beautiful museum. Because of the great stature of the building, they thought it must house the Czech government. Luckily the damage was restored. The museum has a big collection of animal species and minerals. Bigger than we could handle for sure.. Sun, 09 Jul 2006 23:37:48 +0200 http://360photo.org/67.html http://360photo.org/65.html This panorama is work in progress. There's someone with an incomplete face and I don't like the colors and contrast yet. Taken on the charles bridge on the side of the old town near night fall. Nevertheless, the Charles bridge is a beautiful sight. It is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Malá Strana. The bridge is decorated with 30 statues and was built in the 14th century. It's loaded with tourists most of the year. You have a great view of the palace and the cathedral from the bridge. Sat, 08 Jul 2006 01:05:58 +0200 http://360photo.org/65.html http://360photo.org/63.html This panorama shows you a view of the Jewish Cemetery in the Josefov quarters in Prague. The cemetery was used from 1439 to 1787 and is the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in Europe. It is estimated that more than 100.000 bodies were buried here in about 12 layers of soil. There are about 12.000 tombstones in this small place. Room was very scarce, but Jews were forbidden to bury their dead outside of the district. Therefore every time someone needed to be buried, they added soil, placed a tombstone and pulled the old tombstones up. That is why the stones seem to be placed randomly. The cemetery survived the second world war because Hitler wanted to build a Jewish museum in Prague. He wanted the cemetery to be part of the museum. This panorama is also featured on the World Wide Panorama site. Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:32:35 +0200 http://360photo.org/63.html http://360photo.org/59.html The Hope Slide was one of the largest landslides ever recorded in Canada. It occurred in the morning hours of 9 January 1965. An earlier, small avalanche had forced four people to stop their vehicles a few miles southeast of the town of Hope, British Columbia (150 km east of Vancouver), on a stretch of the Hope-Princeton Highway below Johnson Peak. As those people contemplated waiting for clearing crews or turning around, a small earthquake below the mountain triggered the main slide, which obliterated the mountain's southwestern slope. The slide buried the victims and their vehicles under a torrent of 46 million cubic meters of pulverized rock, mud, and debris 85 m thick and 3 km wide, which came down the 2000-metre mountainside . This mass of debris completely displaced the lake below with incredible force, throwing it against the opposite side of the valley, wiping all vegetation and trees down to the bare rock, then 'splashed back' up the original (now bare) slope before settling. Landslides are quite common. Though this one is the largest landslide recorded in Canada, on a world scale it is not among the biggest and most lethal. Sun, 29 Jan 2006 13:43:59 +0100 http://360photo.org/59.html http://360photo.org/49.html Spahats is noted not only for its impressive waterfall but beautiful gorge where you can see the layers of lava rock. The falls take a 75M plunge down. They are located some 10 kilometers along the Clearwater Valley Road. The canyon is really beautiful to see and when you look over the edge, the floor of the basin is 120m below.. Fri, 09 Dec 2005 12:48:39 +0100 http://360photo.org/49.html http://360photo.org/41.html Whistler mountain lies right next to the town of Jasper. The top of the mountain can conveniently be reached by cable car. Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:08:29 +0100 http://360photo.org/41.html http://360photo.org/goat_haunt_beach.html Goat Haunt is the farthest point that can be reached from Waterton park by boat. The beach is past the border with the U.S.A. An American border patrol hut awaits you here. Only Canadian and American Residents are allowed to walk the park around the beach. a simple dutchman like me just has to stand on the beach and wait for the boat to take me back. B.t.w., swimming is not an option. The water is around 3 degrees Celsius. You wouldn't get very far.. Thu, 01 Dec 2005 23:37:56 +0100 http://360photo.org/goat_haunt_beach.html http://360photo.org/bears_hump_waterton.html Waterton park or, by it's complete name, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is at the south border of Canada. The entrance of the park is by itself very impressive. After hundreds of square miles of prairie in Alberta you suddenly stumble upon steep mountains and lush vegetation. Close to the entrance lies Waterton town. An easy but steep climb starts there on what the Indians called "Bears hump". And to be honest, it does resemble the back of a bear. I had to walk up the mountain alone, because my girlfriend had fallen ill. Luckily it was only a few hundred meters up and the view was breathtaking. The panorama shows a view of the nice town of Waterton. To the right you see the water leading to Goat Haunt Beach, which actually lies in the United States peace park. Only residents of the USA or Canada are allowed to hike there, but tourists from the boat are allowed to walk on the beach. To the left you can see part of the endless prairies. Mon, 28 Nov 2005 00:40:19 +0100 http://360photo.org/bears_hump_waterton.html http://360photo.org/victoria_harbour.html We spent our last two nights in the vicinity of Victoria. Victoria is a peaceful and nice city. It has a strong british atmosphere. We took a whale watch ride from the spot this panorama was taken on. It's a bit pricy ($75 pp), but well worth the money. We took a 3 hour trip and got some impressing sights. Breaching transient orcas and massive resident orcas in misty surroundings. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip! The orcas are located and "chased" by zodiacs. A zodiac is a rubber boat with 450 bhp of engine power. The boats need this much, because the orcas travel at a speed of about 50 kmph. That speed also explains the thick orange suits the people on the shore are wearing. You would almost freeze if you didn't wear one. Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:25:44 +0100 http://360photo.org/victoria_harbour.html http://360photo.org/hoodoos.html In Jasper we visited the hoodoos. Strange stone pillars that stick out of the ground. This once was a cliff, but winds and the force of refreezing melting water wore everything away. Well, except for the remaining pillars ofcourse. But in time, they'll disappear as well. To the right of my girlfriend you can see them stick out. A bit too far from the view point, but slippery rocks and ubiquitous other tourists prevented me from getting a real good view point. Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:45:26 +0200 http://360photo.org/hoodoos.html http://360photo.org/joffre_lower_lake.html Travelling from Cayoosh to Lillooet, we made a stop at Joffre Lower Lake. A beautiful serene lake, embedded in the rocks like a big emerald. We were lucky to be there all alone. to enjoy the silence and the mosquitos.. Wed, 05 Oct 2005 23:41:51 +0200 http://360photo.org/joffre_lower_lake.html http://360photo.org/20.html The day after the flight from Holland I was fresh again and enthousiastic to meet the city. I went to the harbour to shoot this panorama of the beautiful harbour of Vancouver. On the other side of the water you can see Granville Island. It's not really an island, but more of a peninsula. It houses a big market place and a lot of nice art galleries and shops. A great place to stroll. But Vancouver has a lot of other nice places like chinatown, Stanley park and Gastown. Vancouver is very friendly atmosphered, especially given the size of the city! I'll have to reassemble the panoramas, since the railing does not line up, but in the mean time this version will do. I even had to resort to using a so called "nadir cap". That's another word for the ugly text displayed at the bottom of the panorama.. Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:54:45 +0200 http://360photo.org/20.html http://360photo.org/vancroom.html After 22 hours of tiresome travel, we landed in Vancouver. First stop: our hotel. I hugged the bed like it had been my best friend for years. I took a rather boring panorama of the hotel room to test my panorama gear. You might want to skip it, it's here for completeness.. Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:29:41 +0200 http://360photo.org/vancroom.html