Grand Fireworks Display at the Geneva Festival 2013

GRAND FEU D’ARTIFICE DES FÊTES DE GENÈVE

The Grand Fireworks Display of the Geneva Festival - Saturday 10 August, 2013 10pm

I made my way down to the lake. The crowds were incredibly large. I should have secured a better spot several hours beforehand.  All of the roads around the lake were closed and were filled with tens of thousands of spectators who had come to view the festival's grand finale. Groups of people kept bumping into the legs of my camera tripod while the sensor was exposing.

I found a spot on the Pont de Bergues which spans the Rhone river and connects the Ile Rousseau with the mainland. Feeling a bit claustrophobic I decided to pack things up and find another location.  I walked over to the Square de Alps, a small park along the water and found a place to sit on the grass and shot these images from there.

 


Proceedings were opened by the Portuguese company Grupo LUSO Pirotecnia de Almada with a journey through traditional and contemporary music characteristic of Portugal. The second half  was staged by the Pyrostars de Genève company on the theme “Conquests and Conquerors’’.

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Fêtes de Genève

The Geneva Festival (Fêtes de Genève) is the height of summer activities for the city of Geneva. With millions of visitors enjoying the beautiful weather, live music, arts, fireworks, wine and French food on Lake Geneva.



Every evening the crowds gather at one of the 3 main stages in parks which line the lake to listen to the live musicians perform and to sample the eclectic mix of food available from vendors.



The summer weather does not last long and the Swiss and French people make the most of it while the can.



Ships and planes past the Jet d'Deau on Lake Geneva during the festival. More information along with the program can be found on the festival's official website. http://www.fetesdegeneve.ch

Scenes from Geneva, Switzerland

The city of Geneva is located on the banks of Lake Geneva at the mouth of the Rhone river nestled among the Alps.

The Paquis District from Lake Geneva 

The food, languages, people and architecture could not be any different than those of my adopted home city in Bangkok.

Gare de Cornivan

Sometimes when I have free time away from work I wonder the streets past the train station down to the lake. 

Rue de Laussanne near the Gare de Cornivan 

The lake is calm and the people gather at its shores to drink wine and eat french food. The eclectic mix of people and their openness to culture and language is very different from my life in Asia. 

Jet d'Eau on Lake Geneva 

As time permits, I will explore the city and document her streets, people and culture with my camera and posts those images here. 

The Grottes Apartments 

The architecture is quite beautiful here and the green space, clean air and beautiful mountain scenery is something that I am not used to. 

The Broken Chair 

I enjoy the fact that the city welcomes people from all over the world. There is artwork all over the city.



The city is orderly and runs like clockwork. There are no traffic jams and the public transportation is efficient and trustworthy. The city provides free public transportation cards and my commute to and from work costs less than it does in Bangkok.

Street art in Geneva

I have only just begun to explore this great city and country and hopefully will be able to provide a series of images illustrating the beauty of this peaceful city and country.




Perhaps it is the cool weather that summers in Switzerland offer which is the biggest draw. I ponder how life must be here in the winter. For now I will enjoy my time and document the city.

View of Lake Geneva 

Rue de Lausanne, Geneva

Due to professional commitments I have only begun to explore the city of Geneva and will do so at greater depth over the coming weeks. Here is the view of my current location near the Gare de Cornavin train station in central Geneva. 

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Jet d'Eau, Lake Geneva

Jet d'Eau, Geneva Switzerland © 2013 Michael LaPalme

The Jet d'Eau is a large fountain in Geneva, Switzerland, and is one of the city's most famous landmarks. I have had the good fortune to be able to spend some time this summer in this beautiful city working on a software development project for a client. Hopefully I will have some time in the coming weeks to explore and photograph this city in greater depth.

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Cosplay

Oishi Cosplay Fantastic 7 

World Cosplay Summit 2013 Thai Preliminary Round at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong, Bangkok, Thailand  เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์. 

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Thai Cosplay at Central World Plaza, Ratchaprasong

Vesak Full Moon 2013 in Nakorn Pathom

Thai Candle Procession (Wian Tian) - Carrying carrying candles, joss sticks and incense 3 times around the standing Buddha in Nakorn Pathom to make merit.

Yesterday was a the "Vesak" public holiday here in Thailand. I took a taxi out to Phutthamonton park in Nakorn Pathom province in order to photograph the candle procession at the large standing Buddha.

On Vesākha day, devout Buddhists and followers bring simple offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks and perform at candle procession (Wian Tian) by walking 3 times around the standing Buddha. There were literally thousands of people out there making merit.

I have attempted to photograph the same ceremony at various temples in and around Bangkok with varying degrees of success.

I  have found that the "lake of  fire" affect is greatest here due to the sheer volume of people carrying candles. An evening thunderstorm came blowing in from the west and a single streak of lightning was caught in this frame. I was only out there for about an our before the rains forced me to return back to the city.



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วันวิสาขบูชา หรือ วันเพ็ญเดือน 6 นับเป็นวันที่สำคัญที่สุดในพระพุทธศาสนาเพราะเป็นวันคล้ายวันที่เกิดเหตุการณ์สำคัญของพระพุทธศาสนามากถึง 3 เหตุการณ์ คือ เป็นวันคล้ายวันประสูติ, ตรัสรู้ และปรินิพพานขององค์สมเด็จพระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้า ดังนั้นจึงมีคำเรียกวันนี้อีกอย่างหนึ่งว่า "วันพระพุทธเจ้า"