Christchurch visit: Holes, carparks and damaged buildings

Having not been to Christchurch since the big earthquakes, there were a few things that stuck me as 'very odd indeed' in a city.

The first was the number of still cordoned off buildings. It's a bit weird to think that a couple of years after the earthquakes, there are still a many buildings which are cordoned off, doomed to destruction or awaiting a decision about whether to try and save them. On one hand it seems very slow 'progress'... on the other, it was a huge event, so it's not surprising.

Secondly, there are a lot of carparks! Sad when you think that there used to be buildings on these spots, but I guess at least the space is being used.

Next up are the number of holes where buildings used to stand. Some of these have been 'remediated' as best as I guess they can for now, and some of them have just had the rubble removed, but the remains of the basement structure left.

One place I should have taken photos of but didn't was the 'restart mall', which comprises a lot of [heavily modified] shipping containers... lots of higher-end shops, plus banks, food outlets and the like - pretty much everything you would expect to see in a city mall.

Anyway, here are the photos... hopefully fairly self-explanatory...

Christchurch visit: The Cathedral

I visited Christchurch yesterday, and thanks to my 'tour guides' Mel and Andrew, I got a good look around. I hadn't been to Christchurch for many years [and certainly well before the big earthquakes in 2010 and 2011], so I was very interested to see the CBD and surrounds.

This first post shows the damage to the old cathedral in Cathedral Square. It's just like the pictures in the media, although somewhat larger when I'm standing right there.

The first photo is the entrance to the viewing area at the front of the cathedral. The next two are the cathedral itself. The final picture is the temporary 'cardboard cathedral'... looking good!

The Brooklyn Wind Turbine

It's a public holiday today and despite the less than ideal weather, I decided to get out of the house and go do something. This ended up being a visit to the Brooklyn Wind Turbine.

You'll see a couple of things from the photos... I'm not particularly skilled at photographing the scenery nor coping with bad light [I think I do much better with photographing planes...!].

Anyway, the Brooklyn Wind Turbine was [according to its owner, Meridian Energy] New Zealand's first viable commercial turbine. As you see in the photos, there is a small information display and a bit of shelter for when it's windy [which is most days...] :-)

Europe Trip 2013: Tallinna Teletorn

In addition to Fat Margaret and the other attractions I visited yesterday, I visited the "Tallinna Teletorn", or Tallinn TV Tower. The Teletorn is about 30 minutes on one of the Hop-On Hop-Off bus routes and despite being so far out of town, it offers great views back to Tallinn and the surrounding areas. The tower was started in 1975 and finished in 1979, in time for the 1980 Olympics. This of course was during the occupation by the soviets. The tower was shut for a few years recently when it was refurbished.

Anyway, on to the photos. They are fairly self explanatory. The carpet was woven with names and distances to capital cities around the world, hence the picture of the carpet with "Wellington" in it.

Europe Trip 2013: Fat Margaret [& the Maritime Museum], St Olavs and the Old Town Centre

I went to see Fat Margaret today. No, I didn't get slapped! "Fat Margaret" is the name of one of the old buildings in the Old Town centre :-) You can see it on the left side of the first picture :-)

Inside Fat Margaret is the Estonian Maritime Museum. I'm not really overly interested in maritime stuff, but it was nice to have a look around, only EUR4 [or was it EUR6?], either way, cheap as, and there was some interesting stuff to look at. Perhaps most interesting was that you could get onto the roof and get a good look around the city - particularly the port and the Old Town. Well worth the money even if boats are not your thing!

Next up was a bit of walking through the city then in to St Olav's. The church itself was closed due to a funeral but for just EUR2 visitors can walk up to the 60 meter high "viewing area". To say it was a hard climb, would be understating it somewhat. The steps are narrow, there's only one "rest area" about 45 meters up and traffic is in both directions! The viewing area is extremely narrow but the views are amazing.

Lastly I have a few photos of the Old Town [there are a lot more I might just publish one day], the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus [more on the bus tour later] and an odd one, the "Hawaii Express" [still no idea what it was for...] :-)

Europe Trip 2013: Visiting Tallinn

Two days ago I started looking around Tallinn and took the opportunity to have a quick walk around part of the Old Town centre, then get a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus for a look at the wider city area. I was particularly interested in seeing the Seaplane Harbour Museum, so I stopped off there also.

The Old Town city area was interesting, and you'll see from the pictures from that follow and old city wall, the central garden area as well as a city tram. Following this are are few general pictures from the bus tour and then from the Seaplane Harbour Museum.

I have to say the Seaplane Harbour Museum was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting to see some seaplanes, but instead it was more of a maritime museum with only a single replica seaplane and lots of ships, a submarine, some tanks. There was a moving simulator plane which was a bit of fun... loops and rolls etc :-) At least the submarine was interesting, and I was able to walk through it. The "Lembit" was launched in 1936 and was built by Vickers and Armstrongs in Great Britain.

Anyway, here are some photos. My next post will have a lot more from the old town centre and some of the attractions in there... Enjoy!