Top Ten Thursday - February Photo Scavenger Hunt

Welcome back to Top Ten Thursday!

In January we went through life with a list of ten items we were supposed to photograph. Today we're going another round:

1. Buddha 
2. Salt & Pepper
3. Calm
4. Phone Booth
5. Harbor
6. Stop
7. Devotion
8. Vitamins
9. Cart
10. Friendship

Let's dive right into my ten pictures! 

This Buddha welcomes hungry guests to the Mongolian BBQ place we like to frequent from time to time. The buffet offers lots of veggies, meats and seafoods that you pile onto your plate and drizzle with a pre-cooking sauce of your choice. Then you hand it over to the chef who will cook it for you while you watch. With the finished plate you proceed to the after-cooking sauce station where you may help yourself to some steamed rice, sesame seeds and the like.

Franky I thought Salt & Pepper was going to be the no-brainer among the assigned items. After all they're everywhere, right? You know what? Restaurants must have replaced their fancy ones by generic ones because the designer salt shakers and pepper mills seemed to keep disappearing. I was lucky to not only find these, but they also came with a fabulous view. It is in the Hamburg "Speicherstadt" district, very close to the new opera house and Miniaturwunderland. Check out my Hamburg post if you want to learn more about this great city.

Calm - to me it doesn't get calmer than at the shore of a lake. This is Lake Zug, the city where Colin plays hockey, so naturally I spend a lot of time. On this particular day I met with an old friend for happy hour at the Sky Lounge. If we were not mistaken it had been a good ten years since we last saw each other. We sat on the top floor of the high rise building next to the hockey arena.

As everywhere in the world classic phone booths have mostly disappeared because verybody has a mobile phone. This one is in my town. It has been repurposed and serves as a book drop / pickup place, I understand it's called little free library. Even though I love the idea, up to this day I haven't used it - they day I will they need to set up a proper building, a measly phone booth won't be able to hold all of my old books.

I expected to take the guided harbor tour in Hamburg, but we ended up not doing it due to the cold temperatures. So during yet another one of C's practice hours I took a walk at Lake Zug's little yacht harbor. Most boats were covered with their winter canvas, but this beauty looked like it was ready for departure. Don't let the wonderful blue sky fool you, though. It was below freezing point that day.

Stop was such a no-brainer that I actually missed taking a picture and had to sneak out of the office to get to what I believe is the only stop around here. It's pretty, I like the cobble stones. We have a lot of roundabouts and right of way situations. Also in our immediate village that is currently inhabited by 3,200 citizens there is only one pedestrian crossing. That's how quaintly we live!

I struggled with "devotion". For some reason I thought I had to take a picture of a church or even go inside one. Devotion may also stand for being very dedicated to do a perfect job at something, right? The people working for Miniaturwunderland are certainly very devoted and dedicated to their work and probably consider their jobs their passion. This is a miniature scene out of Pippi Longstockings, isn't it adorable? 

Vitamins at the gas station, certainly worth a picture! Besides all the unhealthy convenience food, they also offer freshly squeezed orange juice, and it's you, the customer, who gets to squeeze. Well, you press a button. No cleaning involved - I like! At this point I'd like to mention that during this awful flu season, while everyone was sneezing, sniffing, coughing and staying in bed, Colin and I managed to stay healthy! Thank you, Vitamin C boosters!

I like that our main grocery chains offer shopping carts for all needs: regular, kids sized, for people who can't reach down well, the only catch is you need a coin to release your cart! (They do it to make sure you return your cart to the station so they don't have to collect them all over the parking lot.) That's why I carry a fake coin on my key chain.

This is the first picture of my son Colin (on the right side of the upper picture, on the left on the lower) and Eric. They were 13, respectively 20 months old when they first met. Now they're in 4th grade and still friends. Also, shortly after the baby picture was taken, Eric got a baby brother, Vincent who's been part of the friendship ever since. Their Mom and I like to share a glass of bubbly or three, and we may or may not have smuggled canned Prosecco into Burger King one night...)

What a collection of pictures! Do you have a favorite? Can't wait to see yours, please link up. 

What's next?

March 1st let's imagine you're an actor who plays a Disney character at one of the theme parks, think Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or the little Mermaid. In ten sentences (or paragraphs, by all means) tell us about a day in the life of your role. Sign up here.

Photo Credit

The week after, Thursday, March 8,  let's put together the top ten curiosities / oddnesses / scurrilities we've come across lately: news, stories, items, people, signs... Sign up here.