As you all know, Berlin was divided until the wall came down in 1989. And to celebrate the fall of the wall, the city got thousands of cherry trees as a gift by the Japanese people. These cherry trees were planted along the former Berlin wall strip. And what was once a place of guns, barbed wire and shooting orders, it is now a peaceful alley where people walk leisurely, picnic under the trees, hold hands. A sign of hope in this troubled world.

And in one of these alleys I photographed Luise and these are the pictures I show you today.

The Abbey

At the end of the Royal Mile, opposite the massive Edinburgh Castle, is the Palace of Holyroodhouse. When the Queen is not "at home", you can visit it, go inside and walk around the Gardens. Attached to the palace are the ruins of an ancient abbey. Being over 800 years old - what stories it could tell...

Actually I wanted to make only one post about the palace and take you with me on a tour through the gardens. While I edited the pictures, I realised how much I liked the black and white versions of the abbey. Only some days ago I watched a documentary about Henry Cartier-Bresson. I love his work, but I was never someone for black and white in my own pictures. But in the interview he said something like, that colours in a picture distracts the viewer from recognising the geometry of the whole. This geometry-thought didn't leave me and I definitely see his point. Anyway, if by chance or because somewhere in the back of my head Bresson's view manifested itself ....I couldn't bring colour to the abbey. Its mystery and age and hidden tales lie in the shadows and the grey.