The Redwood Valley Railway in Tilden Park above Berkeley is just the cutest ride! You can get a 5 ride ticket for $12 and ride the genuine, small scale steam train through a landscape that feels authentic Wild West. The conductor shouts ‘Aaaaall aboard!, the whistle blows, people holler when you go through the tunnel and the ride is about 10 minutes long – best value for money in the Bay Area!
Tilden Park runs almost the length of Oakland, the East Bay. Basically you turn left off the freeway and keep going until you go up, up, up, and you’ll find yourself almost up in the clouds (on some days in the clouds) with all the Bay spread out far beneath you.
The park covers a huge area and include a vintage carrousel, a swimming lake, a small farm and an activity center. Plus the small scale steam trains! If you have children along, take them here for the carousel rather than pay over the top for the one at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Being a tourist in San Francisco is pretty boring. Surprised? Well, you walk around with all the other tourists looking at Union Square, try to find a decent meal at Fisherman’s Wharf and miss all the fun. I’m sure I would never have discovered Hyde Street and Polk Street if it wasn’t because I found friends on Hyde Street I could stay with. And we would never have discovered Tilden Park if we hadn’t been travelling with a 2.5 year old toddler. More tomorrow but here is what one of the main attractions of Tilden Park looks like…
Eurovision Song Contest – ever heard of that? 37 countries from UK to Belarus meet once a year to battle over who presents the best song.
This is not a talent show. Each country holds a competition to determine who should represent them this year. It’s been running for over 50 years, at first with a lot fewer countries. By now there are two semi finals before the big night because there are just too many counties who wants to be part of the event.
Mostly it’s a kitsch event. There’s glitter, wind machines and songs that never would never have been played twice on the radio. Denmark has won three times only. In 1963, 2000 and last year, 2013. This means that we are hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Right here in Copenhagen, just a few miles from my home.
Guess what – I want to goooo. Not to watch the show. No, who cares… But to take pictures. To be able to walk around in as many places as possible (preferably in all the hidden ones), take pictures and tell stories. And guess what – I am going, with my camera. In my capacity of volunteer photographer for the very local newspaper my application for accreditations got approved. OMG, it’s going to be so much fun. There must be so many images to capture.
The image at the top of this post is not from a song contest. It’s from my on-going project, portraying the dance teams at local school clubs as they compete against each other. So is this second image. I hope I will be able to shoot something remotely like this in May 🙂
Last toilet shot 🙂 I’ve submitted this a couple of times with the title “Attention!” (add military accent…). Hasn’t been accepted yet.
Close up of the pipes… Not a place to linger, though 🙂
This is where my husband starting pulling at me and hiss that I couldn’t just keeping taking photos in a bathroom people were using. Duh? Look at those pipes for the flushing. And the light bulbs. How could I pass this up? Even if I did climb on a stool to shoot it. At least I didn’t take pictures of people in the loo (well, I did take a few shots of rows of feet but I’m not posting them…)
Another detail from the community bathroom that time forgot…
The large community bathroom at Headlands Center for the Arts was an amazing location. Worn down and ever so photogenic…
It was freezing, though, even in the middle of the summer. San Francisco is not a warm place that time of year and Marin Headlands is often more chilly. I would not want to have to shower in a large concrete room so drafty it was almost an open air shower.
I am aware that my family is not always crazy about me being into photography. I wander off, I fall behind, I pose in strange ways to catch just the right angle, but this visit to the Headlands Center of the Arts probably hit a new high of embarrassment for my dear ones.
I swear we had no idea we had wandered into the bathroom. We were just looking around the halls, following the trickle of people and without even opening a door we found ourselves in this amazing room that used to be the toilet and shower facilities when the buildings housed military units. I whipped out the camera and went to work – only to be passed more than once by people in need of these particular toilets…
Karins Fotos 