This page contains descriptions of various trips I made and related pictures http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Snapshot.html I didn't expect that I ever would visit that continent again, but in November 2011 I returned to Antarctica. This time I didn't go to the South Pole, but headed to the edge of Antarctica to camp near a colony of Emperor Penguins. And since travel to and from Antarctica is always a bit unpredictable, I also did see more of southern Chile than I had originally planned. And, just to make the trip more interesting, I also visited Easter Island. http://www.grimble.de/Antarctica2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Antarctica2011/index.html About a month after visiting London, there was another trip to the UK, this time to the Windsor area. It was a short trip, so I didn't get around much, but at least managed to visit the Legoland there (with lots of Lego animals, real and imaginary) and have a walk in the Windsor Great Park (with a few real animals there as well). Also managed to visit Windsor Castle. http://www.grimble.de/Windsor2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Windsor2011/index.html I didn't have that much spare time when I visited Los Angeles (just three days of vacation), but I tried to do as much as possible. So I went flying in a biplane (including some minor aerobatics and flying the plane myself for a bit), went whale watching (seeing lots of dolphins and also a blue whale, as well as some sea lions and pelicans), 'flew' in a vertical wind tunnel and also went ziplining in the mountains. Just to fill in the empty spaces in my schedule, I also visited Universal Studios, went to a concert at the Wiltern and went to an exhibition at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and also the California Science Center and the Griffith Observatory. http://www.grimble.de/LosAngeles2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/LosAngeles2011/index.html I was in London in September 2011. Didn't do much sightseeing, but I had a lifecast of my face taken and turned into a plastercast. http://www.grimble.de/London2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/London2011/index.html I didn't have much free time in southern France, but I managed to do some walking in the mountains along a 'planet walk', visit a cave, do some more walking (with a lot of rain) to see a natural arch, and then do some quick visits to Monaco and Nice to round it off. Add some good eating and it sums up to quite a pleasant trip. http://www.grimble.de/France2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/France2011/index.html After spending my main vacation for two years going dog sledding in Canada, it felt like it was time for a change. So I went dog sledding in Svalbard instead. And since there wasn't any sufficiently long dog sledding trip, I did two trips this year. Plus two snow mobile tours, just to provide some balance. I did get to see all sorts of weather conditions, northern lights, some wildlife (reindeer, arctic foxes, ptarmigan, seal, though no polar bear), many dogs, a lot of scenery (though Tempelfjorden might get repetitive if you visit it on three of four tours) and spent some nights in an old sailing ship in the ice. http://www.grimble.de/Svalbard2011/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Svalbard2011/index.html Went to Turin in February 2011, but I didn't have any spare time to do anything touristic. But I flew to Turin two days early, so I had some time to travel to Pragelato and do some cross country skiing. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Snapshot.html#pragelato http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Snapshot.html#pragelato Since I didn't do any real travel for quite some time, I took a couple of days of vacation and went to Lofoten Islands in Norway. Didn't do any interesting activities there, just looking at the landscape while walking and driving around. It was pretty much an off-season visit, too late for the busy summer season, too early for winter activities, so the pace was fairly relaxed. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Lofoten/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Lofoten/index.html Another activity that does not really count as travel, but was fun to do nonetheless. As a birthday present, I got a 'stunt course' or 'action weekend' where I got to do such things as choreographed fighting, a fire stunt, a car stunt and some abseiling. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Stunts2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Stunts2010/index.html Visit to the annual exhibition of sand sculptures in Berlin. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/sand2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/sand2010/index.html On my 50th birthday, I was looking for something interesting to do and chartered two balloons to invide a couple of friends for a sightseeing flight south of Berlin. Since the date was (obviously) fixed, we had to take the weather conditions as they were on that day, which were less favourable than hoped for, but sufficiently good to allow the trip to take place. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Up2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Up2010/index.html After only two months, I found myself back in the UK. After some time near Norwich (where I did go on a rope climbing course), I went to Wales for the first time and visited Portmeirion and the Snowdonia Range before finishing the trip in Windsor. http://www.grimble.de/UK2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/UK2010/index.html Since I really liked going dogsledding in Canada the previous year, I wanted to do that again. And since going to Canada for just a week of dogsledding is not really practical, I added a week of snowmobiling to that, so I got a nice vacation out of it with lots of playing around in the snow. http://www.grimble.de/Canada2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Canada2010/index.html After not having been to London for quite some time, I did more touristic things this time than I used to do when I was visiting there more regularly. So in addition to re-visiting the London Eye, I also managed to visit Battersea Park and Greenwich, which I had never visited before. http://www.grimble.de/London2010/index.html http://www.grimble.de/London2010/index.html While there have been a number of sand sculpture exhibitions in Berlin, in December 2009 there was also an exhibition of ice sculptures. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Ice2009/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Ice2009/index.html Heading south of the equator again, I visitied the town of Maputo and the island of Bazaruto in Mozambique. I did some fun things like snorkeling at two reefs, dune boarding and sea kayaking, and it was pretty much a 'dream vacation', but it was probably somebody else's dream. http://www.grimble.de/Mozambique09/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Mozambique09/index.html Some sightseeing in the south of Germany, including a flight with a Zeppelin NT and driving around with a Caterham Seven. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Bodensee/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Bodensee/index.html Only three weeks after being in a Stampe SV-4, I was sitting again in an open biplane, this time in a seventy year old Tiger Moth. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/TigerMoth/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/TigerMoth/index.html Exactly nine years after having a sightseeing flight in a biplane, I was in a biplane again. This time, it was much smaller (just a two seater) Stampe SV-4. And this time there was no roof above me, since this was an open plane. I also got to wear a rather goofy looking leather helmet with goggles. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/flight2009/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/flight2009/index.html Visited an exhibition of sand sculptures In Berlin and added the annual photos for that. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/sand2009/index.html http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/sand2009/index.html In May, I got to visit Paris. But since it was only a short trip and I mostly just walked around, there's not much to show or write about, so there are just four images available on the travel overview page. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Snapshot.html#paris08 http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/Snapshot.html#paris08 About two years after travelling as a passenger on a dog sled over sea ice, I was on another dog sled on sea ice, but this time I was in control. (Well, as much control as you can have as a novice over a team of ten experienced dogs.) This time the scenery was in northern Canada, at the northern end of the Yukon Territory, driving the dog sled from Herschel Island to Aklavik. something I had tried to do without success the previous year. http://www.grimble.de/Herschel/ http://www.grimble.de/Herschel/ Much sooner than expected, I was back in Brazil. I had only been there three months earlier. This time, it was a fairly sandless visit. I didn't have any time for beaches or the dunes. But I did manage to do some walking around in Fortaleza and Sao Luis - and, more interestingly, I also visited the cave in the Ubajara National Park, something I had tried to do without success the previous year. http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/BrazilDec08/ http://www.grimble.de/Snapshots/BrazilDec08/