Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair

Thank you 'Zasa Lein' for the great swaps :D

I have not visited this place but I should go there and for sure after seeing the postcards that I have. Many years ago I have seen a TV series about Charlemagne and I am fascinated by him and for me, too see places related to him is great even though maybe he has no connection, only the influence of his power.

Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair was established ca. 780 under orders from Charlemagne. Because of its exceptionally well-preserved heritage of Carolingian art, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. It is located in the upper valley of the Canton of Grisons in Switzerland (close to Davos and St. Moritz and just a hair distance to Italy) and it has a great series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes. During the 20th-century restoration works, some of that frescoes from the 1160s were discovered here. Scenes from the life of King David are painted and also scenes from the youth, life, and Passion of Christ. On the bottom row of the paintings we can see the crucifixion of St. Andreas. On 20 January 1499, Habsburg troops occupied the surrounding valley and plundered the convent, but were soon driven back by the forces of the Three Leagues at the Battle of Calven. Following the raid, an armistice was signed between the Habsburgs and the Three Leagues. However this armistice only lasted a few days before the conflicts broke out between the Three Leagues' Old Swiss Confederacy allies and the Habsburg troops. These raids quickly escalated into the Swabian War, which ended in September 1499 with the Treaty of Basel granting virtual independence to the Swiss Confederacy. About 1500 the convent church was modified from a single-nave Carolingian construction into a three-nave late gothic church. Within the enclosure walls of the monastery are found other early elements, among them, in particular, in the north-west quarter, the residence of Bishop Norbert with its remarkable decor of frescoes and stucco-work in the two-storey chapel.

46.629798,10.448496 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Switzerland For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Amazing Tilt-Shift Video of Swiss Landscape and Trains

Some of you, amateur world photographers, have probably heard about "tilt-shift" photography. It's a special technique, which allows you to focus only on specific parts of the picture, to emphasize its particularity. And the results, well - you can see an amazing example here:

First time I saw it, I thought: "Hey, those are toy trains!" and I bet I'm not the only one to think this way.
The truth is, this is a photo of a real train made using the "tilt-shift" technique.

This movie project is particularly interesting - it's all about beautiful Swiss countryside (villages of Sisikon and Göschenen) and its magnificent, legendary trains. If you had any doubts whether you should visit Switzerland and take a ride - I think the short movie below might be a nudge in the right direction for you. it is a project filmed by Andi Leemann and Jeri Peier (if you're interested in technicalities: they used two EOS 5D Mark II cameras, a Canon 90mm TS-E f/2.8 and a Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 combined with a 1.4x converter, woohoo!).


And now, sit back and enjoy the amazing views of Swiss Trains from an amazing perspective:

gottardo nord from fb1 visuals on Vimeo.

Hope you like it as much as I do :)

Source: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/

Jungfraujong - at the top of Europe

The Ice Palace

Getting to the top of Europe at 11,333 feet - Jungfrau

Enroute to Jungfrau -Interlaken ,Lauterbrunnen and views from train





They say the best is always served at the last ..Well, and Jungfrau was our last destination before we left Europe. I will however reserve Jungfrau pics as my last post in this series ..but before that, it will not be fair if I dont talk about the journey and the views ..though pale in comparison to the snow clad peaks and glaciers, the journey is an experience in itself




Jungfrau in German means maiden or virgin and this peak is at 12,000 feet , right on top of Europe. The most spectacular aspect is that the Jungfraubahn cog railway which literally takes you right through the mountain to the doorstep of the peaks and glaciers . The railway station is at the heighest point in Europe .





Zurich was our base as we did not want to spend the last couple of days in Switzerland lugging our luggage..So, on the last day, we left early enough and took a train to Interlaken . It was beautiful out there , but we were not patient enough to take in the sights. So we took a ticket via Lauterbrunnen to the Jungfrau . The other option is to go to Griendelwald which is a glacier and resort town which is flocked by tourists .







Our fairy tale train took us through Lauterbrunnen where we shot these pictures with lots of glares and reflections and reached Kleine Scheidegg . This is the point from where the Jungfraubahn railway starts its steep climb into the mountains meandering through a long 7 km tunnel .There are two stops. One at the Eiger and the other at Eismeer which means sea of ice .The entire journey is a little less than an hour and the return about half an hour . The Aletsch glacier beckons you and you can freeze in an Ice Palace amongst other attractions or just refresh yourself in the restaurants ..Can you believe it, there is one called Bollywood out there ? It was closed though and I wouldnt be surprised if Yash Chopra has anything to do with it !






At Jungfrau station




Next : Pics of Jungfraujong and no text ..and Happy Deepavali