Amateur Photography...

So of all the hundreds of photos I have taken I still believe in the general rule that if you take enough pictures you're bound to get a good one. I think when I get back home I'm going to have to look at scraft and see if they have a digital photography class. With the advent of 35mm CCD chips film photography is going the way of the dodo. But after a long discussion today with a colleague I think that this could be a nice (cheaper) hobby. Although it would mean me dropping a couple g's up front on a digital SLR and lenses. These past two weeks I haven't been doing much travelling or anything interesting so there haven't been so many photos. However, from the first nice day since I got back I did capture this gem. It's the view from my usual sitting spot for relaxing and people watching in the city center.
Wednesday when Kai and I were on walkabout she pointed out the following building (I've come to find out it is called the Triangle tower) as a good opportunity for a photo op and view of the city. We could have gone up it then, however, I left my camera in the car and I figured if it was that good, I would rather be able to share it with everyone than to go and look by myself.

She also pointed out a section of the remains of a 2000 year old roman wall that is conveniently located in an underground parking structure... hehe... The history is that the Romans built it to deter the natives across the river from attacking, yet at the time those natives did not even have the ability to build with stone... When we got there a guy was giving a guided tour and we stopped to bask in the history. He looked a little miffed and I was tempted to say, don't worry I have no clue what you're saying. After the tour moved on Kai said she was tempted to say, 'don't worry he can't understand you and I already know it...' hehe...
Yesterday was reasonably nice so I bailed on climbing solo to go on walkabout in town for the second day in a row and get to the Triangle tower. It was nice early winter weather where with a jacket standing in the sun I was warm enough. I took the €1.5 sub ride to get to the applehoffplatz which is the closest I can get to the city center without changing trains. It's about a 5-10 minute walk to get to the dom and mein platz. Regardless of the fact that I see the dom driving home every day it's still an amazing sight to behold. Every time I'm downtown I'm drawn to it and tend to go sit inside after I finish my rest at my seat. I like it second best after the Colosseum in Rome. I haven't been to Egypt yet, so I'm not sure if the pyramids at Giza or the sphinx is the best in the world, but right now my list for buildings is the Colosseum, Kölner Dom, with the Louvre in third.
After another 15 minute walk across the bridge to the bad side of the river I made it to the Triangle tower shown way above. A €3 ticket got me to the top. In retrospect a cloudy day or a time when the sun is not setting would have provided for much better pictures. Mostly due to glare from the sun and reflection of the building in the back on the glass enclosure that prevents people from falling. I took about 30 pictures from the top and had only 2 useful ones. Although the one above actually got a comment from a colleague of mine, 'what are you doing here? You should be a photographer.' After I explained why it was a technically good picture. He laughed and said there should be no technical discussion about pictures. The funny part is I have a similar shot that's not technically as good and when I said, ok pick which one your gut tells you is better. His choice was of course the one above. Also shown here is a nice view of the city slightly north of the dom. I don't know the name of any of the buildings, but that's the Rhine at the bottom. Hopefully everyone enjoys the pics. If not... I don't care :-) Cheers! heheh

Actually now that I looked at the thumbnails of the disputed pictures I like the other one better...