These are some pictures I've taken or participated in :-) Fraser island is a UN World-heritage listed, largest sand island in the world. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlefish">Cuttlefish</a> are strange creatures... Sushi lovers may be familiar with them through sashimi of squids, to which they are related. It was a relatively rare encounter, when multiple cuttlefishes could be seen, unafraid of divers. Possibly they were mating. Cuttlefish are rapidly flushing colors, which are seen as rings running from inside to outside of their bodies (10 rings a second). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Rock,_Queensland">Wolf Rocks</a> are two 40 meters rocks barely seen from sea surface. It is said they are named after Captains Cook's crew, who first spotted them <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef">Ribbon Reefs</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef">Great Barrier Reef</a> (Port Douglas/Cairns) in Australia are great. I was surprised to discover that they are not substanitally impressive or different, compared to Red Sea reefs, if you dive off the boat from Sharem-al-Sheih. The pictures in this folder were made by myself, Julia Neystadt, Meir and Masha Pletinsky, Sergey, Inna and Danny Glozshtein. The journal from my trip to Kamchatka is available <a href="http://www.neystadt.org/john/kamchatka/kamchatka.htm">here</a>. Unfortunetely it is only Russian language at this moment. Where the hell is Kamchatka? See the <a href="/john/kamchatka/kamchatka.kmz">map</a> in the <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a>. Petropavlovk is a typical Russian far east town. All cars have steering wheel on the right-side. A mix of soviet 3 and 5 store block buildings adapted to modern retail nees with neon ads of casions. Lenin's momument still stays in the central plaza of the town. Well, we had no real use for the masks, but we couldn't miss the opportunity. Probbably significant amount of such a pictures were made that days... Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are called East Africa. The political borders are colonial scars, since ethnically, linguistically and geographically, there is not significant difference between the three. Well, all you have heard about black continent is true there: poverty, AIDS, tyrants, economic stalemate. What you may have not known, is that it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, well aware of ecological preservation and extremely comfortable for a white tourist. Kilimanjaro (<a href="http://www.neystadt.org/john/album/Tanzania-2003/Kilimanjaro/kilimanjaro.kmz">see it</a> on Google Earth) is "African Roof", the highest of the continent's three ice capped mountains. The glacier on the summit is melting and is supposed to disappear by 2020. A healthy amateur can reach the summit at 5895 meters. Two thirds of those who attempt, success. We did it in a six day climb. From Kili's slopes you can <a href="http://www.neystadt.org/john/album/Tanzania-2003/Kilimanjaro/MtMeru.kmz">see mount Meru</a>. Safari means "Voyage" in Swahili. Thanks to nature conservation measures, Tanzania has many National Parks, with unbelievably rich nature. Almost all the photos were taken from the moving car, you don't have to sit hours in bush to wait for opportunity to take a nice picture. I don't think it is possible to communicate visually, the pictures you see, when you travel Tanzania by car. I did not managed to do this and I never have seen this on TV. You see a sea of colors on two sides of the road. Colors, colors, colors. Below is the fraction of them. Sweden is amazing. They are complete opposite of americans. No fences. No junk food. Great unspoiled nature. No need to mention female sweds :-) Norway is similar to emmental cheese. Fjords are rising upto 2 km over water. Since they have biggest reserves of oil in western Europe, they have made probabbly almost 1000km of tunnels in the fjords. So between each 500 & 1000 person village you get a 10-15 km tunnel with car passsing only once a few minutes. Venice is amazing, but the carnival was a real surprise although our expectations were pretty high already. It was not too commercialized, very butiful and with completely unreal... This was our first trip with Gal. Initially we though a baby would be a burden,.. but it turned out to be a real fun!! Firenzia is a butiful place. The center of the town is a no cars, walking zone. Motorcycles are not cars however and whole town is full of their noise smell of gas. Venezia is the opposite. Because of all the bridges there is no single vehicle in the town, not only cars or motorcycles, but even no bicycles. Lago Di Como can be called siame Lakes. It is formed, by two beutiful oval lakes connected by their tops. On the peninsula, formed by the connection of the lakes, small town Bellagio is located. In my opinion it is one of most beutifull places in Italy. I've recently bough Niconos camera for underwater photography. These are my first attempts, But there is still long-long way to go for me there :) Lapland is located partly in Finland, partly in Norway. It is a country of snow, forest and reindeers. There are 1.5 million saunas in Finland. We have been about 150km norther than polar circle. Copenhagen is located on a few islands. There is a law from beggining of 20th century that prohibits building houses higher than 4 floors. So there is no downtown in Copenhagen Town of ... everything - beer, architecture, music, food, what not. Alpes is the best place in the world for skiing, is also not bad for picturing... We went to La-Plagne via Geneve. We went for few days to Sinai, and then later for 2 weeks trip to Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessi, USA. Nevada's mountains are similar to Red Mountains of Eilat, but Valley of Fire is even more special. Beyond hitech, that brings programmers there, Seattle has some additonal attractions.... Fore some unexplanable reason, until now I've placed in this album only non-Israel photos. Its not that there is nothing to picture here, may its because my vacations are usually spend outside of the country. Winter is borring, the only colors are white and black. On other side it can be fascinating. After living these years in Israel, you begin to forget that besides summer and winter, there are other seasons. Prague, solid green, becomes unbeleivable colorful in autumn... Leafs on the ground are aestic too... This was a dream vacation. Skiis, dogs sleigh, saunas, ice-holes, snow-mobiles, northen-lights... If you are not afraid of -30 degrees Celcius this place is for You. Ok, ok, I admit. I can't cook. I am not a wine, whiskey or even beer expert. I don't like chumus either. I just like to eat. Its better to be tasty also.