cable car, coffee flavor and seagulls

Waiting at the cable-car stop, which was at the bottom-end of a long slope near San Francisco Bay area, I felt a little bit chilly even though it was in the middle of August. Maybe, inside this foggy town, this kind of cold summer was not special, but seems to be a part of everyday life. It was in the evening, and I was standing in the long line waiting for this famous cable-car going over steep slopes ranging north, south, west and east, whatever.

Some people in the line sipping on cups of coffee, which apparently they took from the Starbucks located in front of this stop. As usual in this cold evening, the Starbucks kept giving off the familiar roasted beans flavor. Then, I decided what I would do. So, turning back and checking how many people coming after me, I found not so many were there and I just left from the line and came to the Starbucks. Until I sipped on my cup of coffee, and took my first bite out of a marble pound cake, some seagulls were flying and mewing above people still waiting for the cable-car. The evening came deep at the time, and the gulls looked like swimming in the sea of orange twilight.  

San Fransisco, California.

a restaurant on an island in a pond

Sometimes , I saw a couple of horses in the Cambre forest at the weekend, especially in autumn. Of course, they were not the wild ones, and it was doubtlessly strong probabilities that when seeing horses on Sunday, sunny afternoon, you would also find several horse-carrier bonded firmly with tails of large sized vehicles.

I was just running around the main road, which was extended just like number "8" shape in the forest, and one of its two loops had a relatively large sized pond at its center. This pond was so large that it had its own island, again at its center, on which a casual restaurant was located and I heard that it had a good reputation through the Internet. 

The problem in here was that there was no bridge to reach there. Running around the pond, and wondering how people would react if they face the unchangeable fact that they might have no mean to reach the restaurant, but prepare to swim, after making a reservation. So, I just had a sigh of relief, when I found there were two rafts, fixed at piers, waiting for the season opening, maybe, at the beginning of the next spring, when all ices on the pond will be broken and melted completely.
 
 Here was in the Cambre forest, Brussels.

vineyard and swimming pool in the bourgone

It was in the middle of summer, several years ago. At the time, my GPS was suddenly frozen and oddly stopped catching signals from a satellite. I drove my beloved blue Peugeot 207 on a highway going to Beaune from Dijon, where I never came before, thus, doubtlessly I was a new comer knowing nothing which exits or routes I should go without my mighty GPS. So, quite naturally, I had no choice but took first exit I found after having lost any GPS-signals, and entered an unknown small town in the Bourgogne region.

The town was located between gentle hills covered with quasi-ever green, most parts of which were, of course, vineyards. I drove around this small town for looking for a parking space, where I stopped my Peugeot in order to figure out what was going on with my GPS. The town was so small that in fact, I hardly found any parking lots, so, made a short stop on a small open space in front of a high school. 

To say precisely, it was in front of the school's outside swimming-pool, so, while waiting for my GPS coming normal after completing shutdown and restart operation, I just listened to joyful cheers of students enjoying their swimming lessen in the summer afternoon. I felt dry and gentle breezes coming from my car window, and they also went inside an old three-story apartment next to the high school, opened its windows widely.

Here was in the small town, Bourgogne, France.

near the central station in winter

Several years ago, I was walking around the central station of Copenhagen city, looking for nothing particular, but just enjoying pieces of winter scenery of this northern harbor-city, after checking-in a business hotel near there. It was in the middle of the Christmas holidays, so, I hardly found shops, stores, even restaurants opened around the station, and as a consequence, people waiting for a train, coming from the station for passing the time, soon went back to platforms with empty hands. 

On the other, the historic amusement park, Tivoli Gardens, located literally next to the station, was opened and endlessly attracted families with little kids, even after dark and flakes of snow falling. While walking around the historical old town, its harbor, the main shopping streets and the solemn palace, I finally came to feel chilly and hungry, so, naturally looking for any cafes or restaurants, hopefully for having Danish local specialities. 

An hour later, I was in the restaurant, the Hard Rock Cafe, which was all I found in this city under cover of this snowy night, and I was warmly welcomed there by the cheerful Danish staffs. While waiting for my tender steak, I sipped beer from a glass, then, remembered that one of my colleagues at the time collected Hard Rock Cafe's T shirts printed local logos, when traveling around the US or foreign countries. 

Here was in the winter Denmark, still I saw snow flakes kept falling.

remnant of arizona twilight

At the end of the summer, I was just running along with an ever lasting straight avenue next to Phoenix airport, listening to the local radio news with grabbing my well-used portable radio. It was, of course, in the evening, 'cause running under the daylight in here was not an option, doing so, maybe, would easily make any runners extremely thirsty within minutes. Even in the evening, the breeze was not nice, but so warm that I felt breaking a sweat soon after coming from the hotel I checked in near here, and slowly starting jogging. 

The remnant of the Arizona twilight was getting mixed of light orange and dark water-blue just like colors in the not-so-deep sea. At the airport, small lights from several airplanes looked like stars at dusk. The straight road I kept following was not the never-ending straight, so, I finally found a slow curve to turn to the right. At the corner, there was a gas station, where a man in middle age with a worn-out baseball cap tried to fill the tank of his pickup truck with gas, and next to it, the franchise restaurant, Ruby-Tuesday, was there with a vividly red signboard on its front. A couple of families of four were waiting for their tables around the parking, and several kids from different families seemed to invent new game to play there. While running, I listened to the radio and noises kids made for passing the time. 

Here was in the middle of summer night heat, Phoenix, Arizona