Le Gruyère: Cottage with Climbers

The beautiful climber embraces the whole expanse of the facade of the cottage. It lends a rare beauty to the simple windows.

Black-Hooded Oriole

In spring it is easy to sight Orioles. On 12th March, 2011'I could see a Golden Oriole, but could not snap it. After some time I could chase and photograph the Black-Hooded Oriole above. All of Spring is there in this bird.

Le Gruyère- Pastoral Scenes

One could see a small amount of snow in the photograph at the top at Le Gruyère. The Clock in the photo above shows the time at five past ten. The advantage of having clock towers around is that the time gets recorded in the snaps.

La Gruyère - The Cobble-stoned Road

The Cobble-stoned road above of La Gruyère seems to be long and undulating. Switzerland, everywhere has retained its original landscape.

La Gruyère Scenes

In the first photograph above one could see some gathered snow melting. Despite some cars being parked, the only sound one could hear in these photographs is silence.

La Gruyère Landscape

No doubt the snow s played truant. I could see some tufts of snow on the mountain tops. The landscape however is as beautiful as ever. To sum up in one word, idyllic.

Colour of Spring: African Tulip

Spring has made a powerful statement with the African Tulips blooming all over. This flowering tree is known as Spathodea Campanulata (The buds are Spathe or ladle shaped and the flowers are bell shaped). The bud contains water and if squeezed, the water squirts out. That is why it is called the Squirt Tree or Syringe tree.

The water is clear to the eye, but has a salty and mineral taste. The bell shaped flowers are upward pointing, hence the water is retained till the flowers drop down.Possibly in dry areas it provides water to birds and small life forms. This tree is also monotypic without any relatives.