photos – Page 19 – Andrew Spittle

October 3, 2011

Marseille Graffiti – Travel Log, Day 8

Yesterday the plan was to see a few museums and then head out to Olympique de Marseille to watch the match against Brest. For some reason the two museums I wanted to catch weren’t open despite their hours clearly stating that they were.

Instead I walked around and snapped some photos of the graffiti stores put on their shutters. It’s kind of a bonus ad for when your business is closed. Even the Leica shop got into it. Pretty cool.

Photos, and hopefully some video, from the football match will be coming later.

October 3, 2011

Château d’If & Frioul Islands – Travel Log, Day 7

I spent my second day in Marseille out on a series of islands that are a 20 minute boat ride away. The first island barely fits the Château d’If that perches on top of it. The castle itself is relatively basic and bare but it gives some great views back to Marseille and the surrounding islands.

From there my brother and I headed to the nearby Frioul islands. These have a few forts on them and include a hospital that was used for plague patients a few centuries ago. The water is gorgeous and we found a quiet cove to just hang out in. I got some great reading time in too.

After that we headed back to Marseille. The boat ride back had cool views of the harbor and surrounding buildings that you don’t see from land.

October 1, 2011

Marseille – Travel Log, Day 6

My first full day in Marseille was split between being out near my brother’s university and wandering around the city. My hotel is right in Vieux Port which is terrific. Tons of restaurants, bars, and shopping right nearby and easy access to metro and busses.

In the morning I headed out toward the southeast where my brother’s staying this semester. We hiked out to the nearby calanques. These were gorgeous and just a 30 minute hike from his school.

We hung out on the rocks at the bottom here where there were a series of coves you could swim in. There was also the occasional tour boat of people but they didn’t come too far into the cove.

After getting back into Marseille I headed out to the Cathédrale de la Major. It’s a fantastic domed cathedral that was practically empty when I went in.

I forget who this statue is off but it’s just off to the side of the cathedral.

From there I wandered around the harbor and surrounding neighborhoods a lot. My Fitbit is quite happy with the number of steps I’ve taken.

September 26, 2011

San Sebastián – Travel Log, Day 1

20+ hours in airports filled yesterday but it was all worth it. I got into San Sebastián around 2:30pm and was meeting up with Cam at 7 so I had some time to kill.

I headed down to old town and then up to the top of Castillo de Santa Cruz de la Mota. From the top you got some terrific views of the harbor and beaches below.

The castle peninsula splits the two beaches in San Sebastián. Both are gorgeous beaches with surprisingly warm water for the Atlantic. The beach to the left of the castle also has some pretty decent surfing.

There are also a few sail boats and smaller motorized ones going around the harbor. It looks like an awesome place to enjoy some sailing. Will have to wait for next time.

More photos to come later but that’s a taste for now.

September 13, 2011

Vladimir Putin, Action Man. Such an awesome stream of images. It’s fun to scroll through and think of alternate captions for them. Talk about a Renaissance man. 😉

August 22, 2011

Three Sisters Wilderness

I spent last Thursday through Saturday hiking through the Three Sisters Wilderness with Leah and our friend Luke. It was an absolute blast. My iPhone was in airplane mode the whole time and the only thing electronic I touched was my camera.

The weather was gorgeous and we got 4 hikes in. We covered Obsidian Falls, Horse Pasture Mountain, Hand Lake, and Sahalie Falls. My Fitbit tells me it was over 33 miles of hiking. I’ve kind of thrown off my weekly averages there.

August 22, 2011

St. Louis Happiness Team Meetup

I spent August 4th through the 11th in St. Louis with the rest of the Happiness Team at Automattic. We had a great time, got a lot of good things done, and enjoyed a couple Cardinals games against the Brewers.

After that it was off to San Francisco for WordCamp where I helped organize two new user workshops. Those were extremely enlightening and I’ll have more coming on those later.

July 21, 2011

Hiking through Yosemite

I took a long weekend and headed home for a few days. The snowpack this winter was one of the best in the last decade or so which means the waterfalls in Yosemite are tremendous.

Saturday was filled with the 4 Mile Trail (the name’s a lie, really 4.7 miles each way). It’s an awesome trail with great views of the valley, Yosemite Falls, and a wonderful panorama from Glacier Point. It’s also 3,200 feet of elevation gain.

Monday I headed up to the high country and did a much shorter 5+ mile hike out Tamarack Creek. Pretty easy compared to Saturday but it ended with some great cascades. It was also great because over 5 miles we saw only a half dozen people, something that’s really rare for Yosemite in July.