Appenzeller Land

A mountain range called Alpstein occupies most of the canton of Appenzell. We took the cable car from Brülisau up to the Hohen Kasten. The recently renovation included a revolving restaurant. After checking out the view we started hiking towards Staubern, where the Drei Faltigkeiten can be seen on the other side of the range and then continued to the Saxer Lücke, where the Kreuzberge stand out like shark teeth. To the left, it goes down to the Rhine valley and the mountains on the other side are located in Austria. From here it goes down to the lodge Bollenwese at the Fälensee. After a well deserved bier we headed back to Brülisau.

Hoher Kasten

Staubern

Drei Faltigkeiten

Kreuzberge from Saxer Lücke

Bollenwese

Fälensee

When we arrive in Brülisau we proudly look up where we started earlier this morning. We are tired and are so glad to be able to take of our hiking boots.

 

Hoher Kasten from Brülisau

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Venice

In order to really understand and enjoy the essence of Venice, I recommend staying in one of the many hotels on the island itself and yes, it is going to be more expensive, but it is so nice to walk "home" after a day of exploring the walkways, bridges and canals.

Walking along the water front at Piazza San Marco, we noticed the gondolas bobbing up an down. It ended up as a perfect image representing Venice.

One one of our strolls we found a local artist making glass art, for which the entire area is known for. We watch the artist for a while before we found a crab that he made. It's has a new home now. 

Because we are very interested in any glass art we went on a day trip to Murano by using a bus ferry, like everyone else. Here we checked out the glass factories where they create their beautiful artwork. It is absolutely stunning what can be done with such a fragile material.

We continued on to Burano, by using a bus ferry, like everyone else. The houses are very colorful and it make a quiet village look upbeat and cheerful.

This was a fantastic trip to one of probably most unique destinations in the world. It's easy to see why it is on the bucket list for so many people.

Fiji

We are very excited to go back to Fiji and spend a week on the Nai'a, Since there is a direct flight from LAX, it's not really a big deal. It makes up for one of the best diving locations on this planet.

Even though the visibility was not as great as it was last year we got some good shots, such as from the lion fish. Looking up from the view finder after taking the image, I realized that it was right in front of me, starring back at me and not retreating even one inch.

One dive that I missed last time was Kansas and this time I paid attention and took the right turn and it was absolutely great. Now, I even know why this dive is called Kansas.

Live on board was great and there was even video photographer Nick Hope on board, who documented all the dives. This video from BubbleVision has footage from our trip.

It is one of the many traditions of Fiji, as a welcome of other important occasions to partake in a traditional kava ceremony and who would refuse such an invitation, where the entire crew sings local folklore and we all drank freshly made Kava, a brownish liquid - the kava gold.