I’m lagging behind a bit with my blogging, so in this post you get what I have been doing the weekend before last weekend…
On Saturday, July 26, I went to the Berkeley Marina to play a bit with my newly-acquired Nikon D40 SLR camera. It is an amazing digital photo camera with interchangeable lenses. However, you have to learn how to handle it so my pictures might actually be worse than before for now. I hope to change this in the future…
Anyhow, on my way to the marina, I encountered this bagpipe-player next to the railroad:
If you have ever heard one of those things from nearby, you know why the guy was practicing here rather than in his apartment.
After some more camera-experiments in this industrial quarter, I continued towards the actual marina:
As one would expect from a marina, they have boats…
boat houses…
and painters!
By then, I was getting pretty hungry and I just couldn’t resist the smell of this guy’s barbeque:
so I had a one of his “steak burgers.” Just delicious! If an American sells you a hamburger—bar in an ordinary fast-food place—there is pride involved. This one was no exception: juicy meat, crisp onions, crusty bread and a luscious sauce. Getting hungry there at the other side of the screen?
Back to the photo-taking then. Another advantage of an SLR camera: these things are fast. When you press the shutter-release button, the picture is instantaneously taken. This allowed me to capture these playing (?) squirrels:
And yes, they belong on this blog because you see lots of these buddies all over the place. In Belgium you hardly ever get to see them, and if you do, it is probably in a forest—or at least what we call a forest in Belgium… Anyhow, in the US they really abound everywhere.
That day, there was a kite-festival going on at the marina:
Okay, it would have been nicer with a clear blue sky, but you get the idea. There were some amazing kites, obviously handled by Chinese—they adore kiting—as you can see from this dragon:
And yes, that flag in the background is actually a kite too…
By then I was getting a little cold—this place is very windy, and the Sun stayed away—so it was time for a nice cup of coffee. I found it in this coffee house in the “4th Street Shopping District,” next to the marina:
You can say what you want about Starbucks and the like, but I love them. On top of my coffee, I got a chat with this “US Merchant Marine at War” veteran, Dan, who asked me the time, noticed my accent and wondered if he could join me for a while:
He served in WWII as a “merchant marine” which means that he was a sailor on the ships that supplied Great Britain with all kinds of goods. It was a highly dangerous job, as their boats were sunk by the dozen by German submarines. However, these marines never got the benefits and compensations from their government that other soldiers did get. Dan still fights for this cause, and he maintains this site to promote it.
On my way back home, I still saw this bus:
Funny to see what people do to their cars here…
So far my last weekend. I will try and post what I did this weekend before next weekend. Got it?
5 comments:
There are at least two squirrels living in Boekenbergpark zenne. I often meet them when I go running. (Bruno can confirm) Never encountered a fish-mobile though..
I served in WWII as a merchant marine mariner. We were mariners, not marines. The WWII U.S. Merchant Marine not only supplied Great Britain and also U.S. forces as well as all Allied forces.
Dan
(Wm, we met on Fourth Street.)
Nice pics! I didn't get the last paragraph but then again, I'm not an engineer ;)
Thanks for the correction, Dan. I'll try and be a little more accurate next time I tell your story...
Two comments - a serious one and a "light" one
1. Great to have Dan personally adding value to your story! I was really impressed by usmm.org. Forces you to reconsider things...
2. It even happens that there are more squirrels per square decameter in D125's garden than in whole northern California zenne!
(No fish-mobiles however because the entry is too narrow for them.)
Post a Comment