the most british toilet sign i've ever come across

at the Emmanuel Centre, London

way too much rain...!

From the recycled pot..

of a miniature pine tree seedling, grew an amazing umbrella looking mushroom! 

a gift from rain

It's been a while. Think I deserve some distractions from the never ending bits of work waiting to be done...
To start with, here's an iphone photo of the day -

The lack of chicken poo....

Wonky organic carrots and beetroot recently picked from the garden! Probably need a bit more poo as they could have been bigger :) Here's dad with a courgette.

 

And some more produce from the veggy patch..

Fennel Flower

Purple basil

Super sweet corn

Oversized courgettes

Leeks

Premature plum tomatoes

Potsdam Biosphere, Germany

During our recent trip to Germany to attend James and Lea's wedding, we happened to stop by Potsdam  about 15 miles to the southwest of Berlin, initally to visit the World Heritage site of Sanssouci. But due to extremely crap weather we decided to consult the gps for alternative indoor touristy sites nearby, not expecting much as it was only a 'trusty' gps that attempted to take us to the wrong side of Berlin for the wedding the day before! The only suggestion that popped up was a biosphere which we were slightly skeptical about, but nevertheless thought to give it a go...and what a pleasent surprise we got!

The Potsdam Biosphere is basically a massive green house/museum full of plants and small animals, the temperature and humidity within the building is constantly controlled to mimic the conditions of a tropical rainforest (even complete with hourly thunderstorms) so that more than 20,000 tropical species can survive in this rather un-tropical part of the world.

Everyone visiting the biosphere had to watch a kiddy short video on evolution of living organisms in a lecture-y room before being ushered into one of the two lifts going up to the main display area. The whole trail (as shown in the map below) takes about1-2 hours to complete and included loads of small activity area for kids to get involve. In addition to the main plant displays, there was also a butterfly room, a bird area, a canopy walk and a mini aquarium in the style of a submarine housing small tropical fishes and corals.

The whole experience was set out in a very educational manner for young local children, so although the variety of species they host wasn't as impressive as expected it didn't appear lacking or inappropriate. We spent a very enjoyable (albiet slightly kiddy) afternoon in the building, and here are some of the photos taken...

 

 

small tortoise perched on a branch

green froggy

during one of the tropcial rain sessions..

 

baby nemos

the very cute mimic filefish

child playing with my favorite fish of all - the porcupine fish!

The forest cafe that does good cakes!

The wondrous world of green holidaying

The green bridge at Sipadan Kapalai Resort, Malaysia

During my recent research into potential travel destinations I was intrigued by the concept of green travelling, and in particular ecolodges. Ecolodges are holiday accommodations that have been constructed (or at least they market themselves as such) with lower negative impacts towards the environment compared to conventional resorts and hotels. 

A lot of the ones I came across have been designed in a way that are un-intrusive and sympathetic to the natural landscapes they are in, typically built using locally sourced sustainable materials, utilizing some sort of renewable energy generated from wind turbines or solar panels, and have their own waste and wastewater treatment systems. Ecolodges are also mostly situated at more isolated spots away from touristy resorts, hence probably providing a more 'authentic' experience to their guests.


I'll be looking into these further and hopefully in the upcoming posts will be able to share some of the cool green holiday accommodations around. For the time being check out - 


Inspirational travel website of the week: 

 World's Top 50 Ecolodges, National Geographic (click on text to view)