Fuddland

Aside from the worrying vistas, I took some more pleasing [at least, to my eye] shots on my recent walkabout. [More of a walk-up-and-down actually, since it mostly involved climbing lots of stairs.]

This is the long stretch of steep stairs I climbed in order to photograph the cityscapes, made precarious by the smooth ice that covered most of them. More sure-footed people were using them as a gentle workout — upon reaching the top, they just turned around and began to descend, before heading back up again, and so on.

At the very top of the stairs, round the corner are … some more stairs. But at the very top of those stairs, stands a monument to something or other [around its base is a relief of toiling workers]. One day I might be able to translate the characters. [Actually, that sounds like a good project to be getting on with during my ample free time.]

Heading back down the stairs, I noticed that the pagoda standing halfway to the bottom wasn’t in the best condition; the plaque at the centre of the square is dated June 2005, and I can’t believe it has become so rundown in only nine months, but perhaps the weight of the recent snow had something to do with it.