Cyprus Carnival 2011

Carnival of Cyprus will never be better than Brazililian Carnival with its posh Venetian masks, but here, in Cyprus, it's a huge event that is worth seeing.

Night Climbing The Volcano of Bali

  Those who professionally shoot sunrises probably know that it's like biathlon - you should run fast and shoot straight, separately it doesn't work. But if you manage to do that, you'll get truly wonderful photos.

Splendid golden mist

And in such shades green grass acquires an intersting color.

A little cute rainbow - look better - it's a double rainbow!

Black ground hardened after eruption of the volcano in 1947. Tiny white spots are big trucks that take away natural construction material from there. 

Monkeys everywhere...

Lost In the African Mountains

Today we are back in Africa, climbing picturesque mountains in a foggy day.

Mackinder Valley.

Landscapes change nearly every minute.

A straight path from Old Moses

A local guide

Snowy tops of the mountains slowly appear out of the turn. Very very beautiful.

Here is a hut that has operating personnel, but has no electricity, only huge storage batteries and solar batteries. The price - 1500 shillings per one a day. The camping is a bit higher, 300 shillings per one. 

Pay attention to the size of vegetation against the tent... The height - 4200m. 

An inventive way to dry socks.

Captive of the Beauty: Ancient Egypt

These exhibits are not from some museum of Egypt, they are a part of the State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

The history of Ancient Egypt, its beauty canons, are preserved here, in Russia.

Emerald Buddha Temple In Bangkok

This is a temple complex Vat Prateo in Bangkok. Probably it's main value is Emerald Buddha Temple, it attracts buddhist pilgrims from all over the world. It should be noticed that this temple is a place where prays the current Thai king Rama IX. It's strictly forbidden to photograph inside so the buddha itself may only be described in words: 66 cm tall and 48 cm wide together with a pedestal, portrayed in a traditional pose - sitting his legs crossed. And in fact, he's not emerald, but made of green jade. Probably something like this:

The Berlin Wall: Reminder Of Past Times

The Berlin Wall (Ger.: Berliner Mauer) is a state reinforced barrier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and West Berlin. It was constructed from 1961 till 1989 and its total length is 155km.

At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences for 156 km around the three western sectors, and the 43 km that divided West and East Berlin. During the construction some underground railway stations were closed. Many soldiers watched by the Wall all day long with orders to shoot anyone who attempted

to defect.

Famous Cemetery for Famous People

Ordinary cemeteries usually cause neither warm feelings nor a desire to visit them. But this Parisian cemetery in no way can be called ordinary. It's a historical place with its own solemnly sad atmosphere which envelops and absorbs you when realizing that the remains of a genius, an idol or a well-known villain lie a meter far from you.

It's such a pleasure to wander among the old monuments and vaults each having a little or a great story of some human life.

But for most of us a cemetery still remains a place of sorrow, sadness and childish horror stories.

Though there are many cemeteries in Paris, you can get a general impression of all of them by visiting just the most popular one - Père Lachaise.

About 2 million tourists visit it annually. And no surprise - many famous figures are buried here, on the hill of Champ-l'Éveque.  

This is a remarkable in terms of architecture place, an excellent museum of sculpture of various styles.

Around the cemetery is quite a common urban environment. Right behind the monument to the soldiers of the Franco-Prussian War there are houses with people and air conditioning.

But let's talk about the "celebrities" of the cemetery. Its pioneers and posthumous founding fathers are La Fontaine and Moliere. You may ask, "What for such strange epithets? The point is that the cemetery was organized far from the city center and in order to enhance its prestige the remains of so popular at that moment people were placed here. Actually, nothing special, just another advertising gimmick.

The hidden meaning of kissing the most famous gay tomb in the world may seem quite unclear to someone. Still Oscar Wilde's tomb is an extremely popular place and there are always crowds of people around it. With all this the monument is not exactly the most beautiful in the whole cemetery...

An Egyptian corner. Jean-François Champollion is considered the founder of egyptology. It is easy to understand by the headstone in the form of an obelisk. A scientist, polyglot and great traveler you may guess what a life he had!

The good-natured uncle clutching a rose in his hands for nearly 200 years is Dominique Vivant Denon. As a young man he romped a little (wrote an erotic novel), visited St. Petersburg as an ambassador, went to Egypt with Napoleon (where made a lot of pictures which afterwards defined the following European fashion), was the first director of the Louvre, and in his old age became interested in lithography (here the old man came back to erotica again).

Jim Morrison. Surprisingly, one of the most visited tombs in the cemetery turned out to be very modest.

Not far from Edith Piaf is her husband, who didn't manage to become a singer no matter how hard he tried, and her hairdresser 

Far from Edith Piaf's tomb is modest Yves Montand. They have once had a passionate love.

The ashes of Isadora Duncan rest in the columbarium.

Balzac, so brilliantly describing the life of French classes during his life, now demands restoration from these classes.

Underneath this monument is a body without a heart. There are quite a few musical talents in Poland and this man is definitely among them. Great Frédéric François Chopin.

The tomb of a child.

Died on December 31.

A very popular founder of the spiritism, Allan Kardec. This tomb serves a meeting place for his followers.

Positive letters.

Cino del Duca and his wife, Simone.

Jean Carries. Guess his profession? It's easy.

That's right, a sculptor.

Maybe it would sound sacrilegious but it's the hell of a mess here. The territory is huge and all the tombs of famous people are located absolutely chaotically.

The workers of the cemetery.

Kind of a good man with a gun.

And that's where the real sadness is. A garden of memories for those who were forgotten by relatives.

The last look at Père Lachaise. Those ones spent a bright and interesting life, and these ones caroused, fornicated and almost kicked themselves to come here. We can write about them endlessly, a lot of interesting people. Now all of them lie together: friends and rivals, spouses and lovers, memory and oblivion...