Wenchi Crater Lake became a desirable destination in the journey throughout Ethiopia, and we used our flight day home to take a day trip there. Not a simple task, as it takes 4 hours to reach there from Addis Abeba by a hired car.

The lake is located on a mountain range not far from the town of Ambo, at an altitude of about 3000 meters above sea level. The car drove us to the rim of the volcano, where we first got a glimpse of the lake, that turned out to be dotted with villages…

We then started a trek down to the lake surface, visiting village houses, and climbing the rim on the other side of the volcano, and picked up by the car.

A superb conclusion to the trip…

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An extreme weather system affected the southern areas of Israel on January 18th, 2010. The storm poured significant amounts of rain on vast areas of the Negev Desert, causing extensive flash floods. The wonderful sights of water in the desert were outstanding this time, and were captured on camera during a long journey through the Arava Rift Valley, Southern Negev and Eilat areas.

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Photos inspired by the presentation

Eilat Mountains is a beautiful mountain range located north west of the city of Eilat, in the southern tip of Israel. The ridge is made of a majestic mixture of granite, limestone and sandstone, creating extremely colorful formations. One of the unique places in the ridge is the "Red Canyon” – a canyon carved in a red sandstone. This is a popular hiking spot, dry most of the years, since a decent rain event occurs here only once in 15 years.

January 18th, 2010 was a rare day in this area. 20 millimeters of rain dropped in the area in just a few hours, creating flash floods that brought life to the desert.

In the following gallery, pictures from the rare flood event in the Red Canyon are presented. Note that you can hike inside the canyon which was full of gushing water in this unique rain event.

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The "Obelisk” is a recent addition to the main boulevard of the  Thechnion (Israel Institute of Technology) campus, which is located in mountainous city of Haifa. The Obelisk was conceived by the architect, engineer and sculptor Santiago Calatrava, who donated his design to the Technion. The Obelisk is dedicated to the memory of Russel Berrie, a humanitarian, sales entrepreneur and philanthropist.

In the following gallery the Obelisk can be seen in different climatic conditions as well as blending in the campus life and activities.

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The obelisk is a kinetik sculpture, which rises to a height of 28 meters (100 feet). It is composed of 224 steel ribs (28 ribs on each one of its eight levels), rotates on its axis and is illuminated at night. A motor is installed on the top level, which rotates the main axis of the sculpture in an elliptical orbit. The movement creates a feeling of a synodic wave and the obelisk appears to “breathe.” Each rib completes a full rotation in about 20 seconds.

“Technion City in Haifa looks like a large park,” stated Calatrava. “The center of the campus is an important place. I designed this vertical kinetic sculpture, which integrates beauty with technique and mechanics, such that it can be seen from every place.”

The initiative grew out of a contribution of $26 million made by the Russell Berrie Foundation for the establishment of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) at the Technion. The Israeli government matched this with an additional $26 million, and Technion Friends from around the world completed the sum for a total of $100 million.

RBNI

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Excerpts and photos that were not included in the presentation

I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy new 5770 year.
Let it be a year of health, fitness, fulfillment, tranquility, satisfaction and joy.
The Hebrew new year’s eve takes place on September 18th.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Additional collages of Israel’s natural treasures
are available in ISRAEL – Earth’s Microcosm mini-site.

We all like to admire places from viewpoints, whether natural or man made. This presentation is a journey-quiz through sights seen from man made towers in various countries.
First, you’ll see the place photographed from above. You’ll have to name the place and the tower from which it was photographed. The next slide will reveal the structure and the place. Three out of ten of the places included in the presentation appear below…

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Excerpts from the presentation

Red Sea Jazz Festival is perhaps the best music festival of Israel. the 23rd festival took place, this year, as usual, during the last week of August, in the Port of Eilat. The famous festival Jam Sessions were held in Almog Beach Isrotel Red Sea Hotel.

The festival grounds and venues’ location in the Port of Eilat, and Eilat’s special features of desert and sea, add to the unique atmosphere of the festival.

Take a look at some photos from the festival grounds and Jam Session, to get a taste of the event…

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Festival website

Throughout the years, I added rooms and halls myself. Web technologies developed, but I kept maintaining my home with HTML cement, mMaking it solid, but limited with services and modularity. It may looked clean, but in fact, my guests got lost, they didn’t even find the rest rooms! not to mention missing some attractive rooms hidden inside.

I therefore decided to start all over again, professionally. Hired an architect and a builder to plan and construct the new home. As the building took form, I kinda felt embarrassed… I am used to a small house with a nice courtyard… But soon I learned to enjoy the benefits of a centrally-controlled flexible modular building, that can grow without turning into a Tower of Babel. I hope not to feel too comfortable, cause I might end up spending too much time at home, instead of going out to the real world, the cause of building this home…

So welcome to the new home.
Feel free to roam around, check the rooms and halls, and comment.
The builders are still around to make corrections.

Yours,

Guy