Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts from the ‘North America’ category

Aurora borealis, 49°N (11 Oct 2024)

Northern lights over New West

Notices quickly went out, even saw alerts from scientists whom I follow on social media. Big solar storm detected, big aurora display expected.

The colours: reds & blue-greens for oxygen & nitrogen, respectively.

Structure: pillars, curtains, wavy strands.

Location: New Westminster, BC 🇨🇦 ; 49.2° North, 122.9° West.

Time: from about 12am to 1am PDT (7 to 8h UTC), on 11 October 2024.

Northwest horizon, 0003h PDT. Visible: Vega (Lyra), Draco, Ursa Minor.
Northwest horizon, 0004h PDT.
East horizon, 0010h PDT. Visible: Jupiter, Aldebaran (Taurus), Pleiades, Cetus, Orion.
Overhead “radiant”, 0016h PDT.
Northeast horizon, 0027h PDT. Visible:
East horizon (towards the Port Mann Bridge), 0030h PDT.
Northeast horizon, 0039h PDT.
Northern horizon, 0045h PDT.

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 11 Oct 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Calgary: it’s only 50 years

It’s been a while

The last time I saw my aunt J in person was in Vancouver for Dad’s funeral ten years ago. The last time I set foot inside aunt J’s home in Calgary was in 1976, which by now is a mere hop for a 50-year anniversary.

My mum’s big sister is celebrating her 100th birthday this month, and many members of the extended family from across North America are gathering in Alberta’s most populous city for a momentous celebration.

My photographic traces of a late-summer morning and afternoon wandering the city centre is on display, “outlined” by various pieces of art and architecture.

Read more

10 years, to the place where I died

Seems like yesterday: ten years have disappeared in a flash. And yet, a hint of grief is as fresh, now as it was then.

Before dawn, I swear I heard his voice calling out to me. The official pronouncement: 610am, 9 August 2014. Ken Lee, dead at 82. I was afraid I had already forgotten his voice.

Northern summer will always have an air of finality, tainted by memories of frailty and inevitability: entropy at its absolute finest.

One day, I’m on the well-travelled stretch between Mannheim and Cologne, fiddling between an online ticket for an express train and an online (Deutschland-) ticket for the next regional train.

The next day, I’m in a Vancouver cemetery on a late Friday afternoon. I see only two to three other visitors out here. It is almost mid-August. Sun’s out, it’s almost 30C. Somewhere outside of this green patch of stone, metal, and flowers, life thrives and goes on. For me, I’ve come back to get “stuck”; I might as well be 8000 km away, back on the other side of the planet.

Up on the 10th floor is/was the palliative ward where Dad spent his final 2 weeks.
Ocean View Cemetery.
“Hey, Mom and Dad: it’s me …”

I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 9 Aug 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T01 The first day

Fly fly away

The first day of travel helps set the tone for the entire enchilada. I got lounge access at YVR airport, and a Premium Economy seat on the non-stop transatlantic hop with Condor to FRA. The company debut its fleet of A339neo planes last year, and while its Economy service was fine, I’m optimistic the seating class with increased seat pitch will provide enough comfort for actual sleep.

How about some planespotting from the Plaza Premium Lounge?

My summer “cup run” itinerary here.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 8 May 2024. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-skr.

Deutschland Ticket, for Canadian visitors (2024)

How-to buy guide, effective May to August 2024.

( 2025 note: On 18 September 2025, Bavarian state broadcaster BR24 reported the monthly price for the Deutschland-Ticket will go up by 5€ to 63€ , starting 1 January 2026. The price had already gone from 49€ to 58€ for the 2025 calendar year. My summer 2025 purchase went the same way as in 2024, whose details are described below. )

89 days within Europe includes by necessity substantial travel by train within Germany. I’ve already booked in advance a number of intercity express segments, but what about local transport and regional trains?

The “Deutschland Ticket” (D-Ticket) is a rail ticket for one person and costs 49€ per month on a rolling subscription. The ticket is generally valid for local transport (bus, tram, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, intracity ferry) and regional rail (RB, most RE, IRE), but not for long-distance IC and ICE routes. Intended primarily for commuters, visitors to Germany can also purchase these tickets.

It’s early-April 2024, and I’m about to buy the D-Ticket for 49€ for the entire month of May. The ticket’s “rolling subscription” means if I do nothing else before 10 May, I’ll also automatically purchase a D-Ticket for the month of June for 49€. I’ll need the D-Ticket for May, June, July, and August; but I can only buy one month at a time.

I choose Munich’s MVV-App, based on successes reported by other travellers. I’m only using the Munich app for ticket purchase, and I’m not planning to use public transport within Munich. To buy a D-Ticket, customers are neither limited by their choice of app/method, nor by the base/location where the app is based. My question is whether a Canadian-based credit card is an acceptable form of payment by the processing company in Germany for a German-based app.

Read more