First time in Rome

When I came back to Germany, I decided to travel more and see more of Europe.  I haven't been down to Italy and it was something that I wanted to see.  Ryanair at that time was dirt cheap and I booked a ticket to go down for a weekend.

This was the first time I flew Ryanair and also in Rome (well, south of the Alps).  Ryanair was quite an adventure, as I was use to the full-service airlines that go transcontinental and not the shuttle flights with no service (sit down and shut-up!)

Italy was also quite an adventure, I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps something like Germany or Florida.  I was a little surprised seeing Communist party flags and the easy going nature of Italians.  This started my admiration of Italy.

It's also interesting that at this point I was starting to get more into photography.  I only had a Canon S100 (~3 megapixels?) It worked and managed to get some good pictures.  Funny, my travel camera today is also a S100, but the 2014 model.

Top of Germany

Had the opportunity to go atop the Zugspitz mountain   It's the highest mountain in Germany and there's a cobble train that takes you to the base, then a gondola that lifts you to the top.

I still have the Garmin GPS III and it works.  Amazing to think the GPS technology is so old and in use every day.

The view from the top, looking down at the lake below - and Garmisch just to the top-right.

Frankfurt

Back in November, I went to visit my parents in Germany.  I think at this point I decided to move back to Germany and started packing my stuff when I came back to Tampa.

DC

Before heading back to Europe, I decided to visit DC.  Quite an interesting city.  I would like to visit it in more detail one day.

Hiking in Flordia

Hiking in Florida is quite amazing, the nature is nothing like that of continental Europe.

Tampa on the weekend

Tampa is quite a funny city.  The name comes from the local Indian language and means lightning.  Tampa has the most lightning strikes in the world.  The funny thing is that no one lives in the city, as seen on the weekends when it's empty.

Banana Spiders

Hiking in Florida is quite a challenge with all the little creatures that are hanging around.  Often you have to hike with a stick in front of your face so you don't run into these guys.  They like to weave a web crossing a trail just at the hight of your face.  Don't think they are poisons, but will wake you up if you run into them.

Florida Sunsets

Sunsets in Florida are amazing.  These were taken on my way home.  Tampa is one of the few places in eastern US that you can see the sunset over the water.

More hikes in Tampa

Some more hikes in Tampa Bay.  I like the pathways that you can walk though the swamps without getting your feet wet.

Liberty Ships

I use to drive past these ships on my way to work and one weekend went down to check them out.  These are the liberty ships that the US pumped out in mass production during WWII.  For the most part they were built with concrete and took a few weeks to build.  Nothing special as they were built to haul things to Europe.

Hiking in Tampa Bay

Some photos of hiking in Florida.  Gators are quite common out in the nature.  There's easy to spot at they love trash and mud.  So it's unlikely that you'll bump into them but sadly tourists when they see them throw trash at them to aggravate them - at that point they snap and move!

Key West

Sometime in the spring I got a disposable water sealed camera and went down to Key West.  These photos were taken at the beach in Key Largo, near Miami.

Sadly this was before Google's calendar and the photos were analog processed so I don't have any metadata.  But I do have the photos.

One of the photos shows me swimming with barracuda's, something that I learned once I got out of the water and people were talking about them.

Parents visit Tampa

My parents came to visit my in Tampa.  I think we went down to Kennedy Space Center for this photo.

Pink Flamingos

One of the joys of a kayak is that you can see islands and hidden spots that no one else can on foot or car.  This is one of the bird sanctuaries in Tampa Bay that is only accessible by small boat.

First Mac

I don't think of myself as a big Apple fan.  But this is the first Mac that I bought, back in 2003.  The original Mac Book.

I bought the cheaper version with 512 RAM and the first copy of OS X loaded on it.  Back then Apple's didn't use Intel processors, so OS X was pretty much the only OS that was available for it.  (and some obscure Linux distros)

For this photo my friend Chris and I went fishing in Florida - I think it was the coldest day in Tampa that year (locals warned us).  Didn't catch anything, but it was fun making tee and listening to mp3's on a new computer along the docks.

Kayaking in Tampa

One of the things I enjoyed about Tampa is the sea and going out in my Kayak.  It's quite amazing seeing the bay from the water.

The kayak I had was a full sea kayak and could have gone quite a distance.  At one point I was planning on going to sea, but never left the bay (perhaps that's good too)

Shuttle Launch

Seeing the Space Shuttle launch from Tampa is quite amazing.  Cape Canaveral is 130 miles away and this stream of smoke is clearly visible in the sky.

Sadly this is the shuttle that disintegrated when it came back for landing in the atmosphere.