The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche is known in Berlin as the bombed church.  It was originally built between 1891 and 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a symbol of Prussian unity.  It was bombed during a World War II raid in November of 1943 by the Allies and only the west tower was still standing.  Local opposition saved the church from being demolished in 1950 and a new octagonal church was built in 1961 (you can see it in the foreground on the right of this picture).  The building behind the remaining section of the old church is a hexagonal bell tower and it stands where the main nave used to be.  The old church has now been turned into a Memorial hall, featuring photos from before and after the bombing and original objects that survived.

On my trip to the southwestern United States we stopped here at Monument Valley.  Its located on the border between Utah and Arizona and is part of the Colorado Plateau.  Pictures of this place are used everywhere (including on Led Zeppelin videos).

The sand on the ground area of the valley is made up of Cutler Red siltstone deposited by the rivers that once came through.  The red colour comes from the amount of iron oxide.  The uplifted rocks or buttes are made up of three layers.  On the bottom is Oregon Rock shale followed by de Chelley sandstone in the middle and Moenkopi shale on the top.  Between 1948 and 1967 some parts of the valley were mined for Uranium deposits.  Monument valley encompasses the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.

In honour of Canada Day I thought I'd post some pictures from my home country of Canada.  These two shots were taken at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Its located near the capital of Nova Scotia, Halifax and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the province (these pictures were just barely taken before the throngs of people emerged from the tour buses at like 8 in the morning). 

The village of Peggy's Cove was founded in 1811.  At the time the economy consisted of fishing and later a little farming as well.  The population was at its largest in the early 1900 when around 300 people lived there.  Now there are far more tourists but fewer people living in the town.  Located near the town is the memorial for the victims of the Swiss Air 111 plane crash on September 2, 1998.  The plane crashed into St. Margaret's bay which Peggy's cove is located on.

This is the inside of the basilica, Notre-Dame de la Garde.  It is located on the highest point in Marseille, France.  Based on my experience here, it's also the windiest point in the city.  To get to this area of the church you not only have to climb (or drive if you are lucky enough to have a car) the hill but you also have to continue up to the upper level of the church.  Getting there also involves a short section outside between the cafes and tourist area and the actual basilica.  When I was here the wind was so strong that not holding onto the hand rails outside meant you would be blown off the top of the church.

Notre-Dame de la Garde was built between 1853 and 1864.  The site was also used for a church in the 13th century.  Both were dedicated to "Our lady of the watch", the traditional guardian of seafarers. 

 During my trip to Alaska we took a short float plane flight outside the city of Ketchikan to this river.  The bears frequent it during the late summer because of all the salmon swimming up the stream.  There were so many bears around in fact, that our guide was carrying a gun.  Nope, I'm not kidding. :P  A little frightening but still worth it to watch the bears feeding.  During the hour or so that we were there, about five different bears came out to eat in the river.

Ketchikan is located on the Pacific south coast of Alaska (beside British Columbia, Canada).  Its claim to fame is that it has the largest number of standing totem poles.  It is also referred to as the "Salmon capital of the world".

The Louvre is probably the most popular museum in Paris, France.  Surprisingly the area was pretty deserted when this picture was taken though.  We returned the following night for free Friday night for people under the age of 26.  The line out front of the pyramid was huge.  Apparently every person in Paris brings there children in on free Friday nights.

The museum is inside the Louvre Palace, built in the 12th century.  It was originally a fortress for Philip II.  The museum itself opened in 1793 with 537 paintings.  Most of these had been confiscated from the church or were royal property.  Now the Louvre, which is owned by the french government, displays more than 380,000 objects and has more than 35,000 works of art.  It is the most visited museum in the world with an average of over 15,000 visitors per day.  The main pyramid was added to the courtyard in 1988 and was designed by I.M. Pei.  Not everyone was a huge fan of the pyramid but the museum's attendance has doubled since it was built.

The Roman Baths in England are one of the most popular attractions around.  Even though we visited during the off season the Baths were still filled with tourists.  The museum is quite extensive and the audio guide is great as well!

These particular Roman Baths are referred to as Aquae Sulis and it was probably used sometime after 43AD.  The natural spring was originally a shrine of the Celtic Brythons.  Even though the shrine was to the Celtic goddess Sulis, the Romans identified her with their goddess and encouraged her worship.  Many latin tablets have been found with messages to Sulis (many of them curse tablets).  The urban life of the Western Roman Empire started to decline in the 4th century but some residents remained in the area.

The church that can be seen in the reflection is the Bath Abbey.  The abbey was founded in the 7th century, reorganized in the 10th and rebuit in both the 12th and 16th centuries.

Hello and welcome!

This is my first entry here in my photo blog.  I'm going to try to get this updated twice a week to keep a nice, steady stream of photos going.  If you like the pictures or want to give me some suggestions please comment or send me an email!  And now onto the photography.

This picture was taken from a helicopter over the Fox Glacier on the South Island of New Zealand.  During the last ice age the glacier was so large that it reached out further than the coastline.  Lake Matheson, nearby was formed by it's retreat since that time.  Fox glacier was named after Sir William Fox, the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1869-1872.  Along with the nearby Franz Josef glacier, it descends from the Southern Alps into the rainforests below.  Something that isn't true of many other glaciers in the world.