Cherrie and David Temple returned on the 17th February with talks promised from last year's Vice-Chairman's evening. Entitled "Visiting the Alps - part 2", Cherrie had prepared a visual journey through alpine Austria, the alpine regions around Zermatt and the French Alps near Monte Blanc. The journey commenced with a brief look at the Bishop's Palace in Salzburg, where visitors could be sprayed with water at various times. Unfortunately, the weather in the mountains can be unpredictable and our trip had a fair amount of rain at the start. However, this was an advantage in that the famous Krimmel waterfalls were magnificent after the rainfall, especially as the weather had improved. These falls cascade from a height of 380 metres via a series of spectacular stairs. Various stops were made at St Wolfgang, Zell am See and Zillertal on the brief tour of Austria and finished on the high ridge above Innsbruck. The images of the Zermatt regions included the iconic Matterhorn and many of the over 4000 metre high mountains of the region. The presentation finished with a number of images taken in the French Alps and which featured mainly Monte Blanc.
In contrast, David centred his talk on the paddle steamers of Dresden with stop offs on various quaysides along the River Elbe. The World's largest fleet of paddle steamers is berthed there, with nine currently running on the river and images of six had been captured. Today, these steamers bear the names of local towns. The oldest example is the Stadt Wehlen steamer, which was built in 1879 and still going strong. There were plenty of sites to be seen from the boats as we cruised towards the Czech border. Some amazing facts were recounted, including the extent of the flooding at Pillnitz Summer Palace and in the town of Koenigstein in August 2002. High above the Elbe, it was possible to see the natural fortress called the 'Bastei', and which we had also visited.

Cherrie Temple
Vice-Chairman