A handful of out-of-the ordinary signs and sights spotted on my travels. UPDATED with Lenin endorsing Coca-Cola!

19 shots taken on a glorious winter's day during a cruise on Windermere.

Morecambe Bay gained an unwanted notoriety on 6 February 2004 with the drowning of at least 20 Chinese cocklers. Although the Bay has claimed many lives over the years, this must have been one of the worst single disasters. We locals respect the Bay for its dangers - fast-rising tides, deep and constantly varying channels, quicksands, and mists. But we also love its beauty and its birdlife. My photos which attempt to show both sides of the Bay's character. Most have been taken since 2000 from Hest Bank or Bolton-le-Sands, on the eastern side of the Bay.

56 pictures taken in July 2006 of Amiens (mainly the cathedral) and the 1916 Somme battlefield, concentrating on Thiepval.

18 pictures taken in 2004 and 2005, none of the Eiffel Tower! Three were taken inside the glorious Sainte Chapelle. Most of the rest were taken in Montmartre and include the greengrocer where Amelie bought 3 hazelnuts and an artichoke, and the bar where she worked. Another shows where Princess Diana died.

54 pictures of the French Riviera in an east-west sequence, looking at the Cote d'Azur from Menton through Monaco and Nice to Cannes, then at Port Grimaud and St Tropez, and finishing at the medieval walled city of Carcassonne and Montsegur Castle, stonghold of the Cathar heretics. All the photos were taken in 2003, except for those of Monaco, which date from 1997.

4 pictures from 2000 of the famous high security prisoner of war camp, and 15 pictures taken in June 2004 of the fairy tale castles in Bavaria

23 photos taken on the streets of Nuremberg during the 2006 soccer World Cup.

31 pictures of the Allgau in the south of Bavaria, Bamberg, Frankfurt am Main, the Harz mountains with the Brocken and Wernigerode, the small brewing town of Kulmbach in upper Franconia, Nuremberg, and 'Valhalla' near Regensburg. Most were taken in 2004, but some date from 2000 or 2003.

23 pictures taken in June 2004, mostly of the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp.

Photos taken during a very pleasant holiday over Christmas and New Year 2008-9 on this Aegean island just off the Turkish coast. Although there were a couple of days of cloud and rain, the sun generally shone, albeit with an icy wind. We needed our fleeces!

11 photos from 2007 of Naples and its glorious bay.

29 photos from 2007 of Nepalese people at work. It is no accident that most of the photos feature women and girls; they play a major part in Nepalese village life.

Photos taken in November 1990 during a trek from Lukla to Kala Patar (5545m) for stunning views of Mount Everest

Photos of the western and central Nepalese Himalaya taken in November - December 2007. They range from Dhaulagiri in the west to the Langtang Himal, but concentrate on the Annapurna and Manaslu groups. In general the mountains were photographed from distances of about 70km / 40 miles, but about 40km / 25 miles for the Annapurnas from around Pokhare.

61 photos of the Himalayas taken during a flight from Kathmandu to Everest on 9 December 2007. We had the bonus of a diversion to Pokhare on the way back, so we saw more of the Himalayas than usual.

11 panoramic aerial shots of the Himalayas, photographed during the mountain flight from Kathmandu to Everest but presented here in a single 450km / 300 mile geographical sequence from east to west. Eight of the 8000m giants in or near Nepal are covered: Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Lhotse, Everest, Cho Oyo, Shisha Pangma, Manaslu and Annapurna, with a terrestial shot of the ninth, Dhaulagiri.

Photos of street scenes and traffic taken in Nepal in November and December 2007, most of them from inside a tour bus.

20 photos of Norway's second city, taken in June 2008.

15 photos of QE2's first ever - and last - visit to Gravdal, on the Lofoten island of Vestvagoy, followed by shots of the midnight sun taken during the long haul north to Spitzbergen.

21 photos of this charming and historic city, taken in June 2008.

11 pictures taken in September 2004 from the 29th floor of the Ukraine Hotel, located on the west side of Moscow. The pictures follow a counter-clockwise sequence, from south to south west.

16 photographs from September 2004 of the Bolshoi Theatre, curtain calls after a performance of Sleeping Beauty, and of Moscow city lights seen on the walk back to the Ukraine Hotel.

Nine photos from September 2004 of the 16th - 17th century Novodevich Convent, and 13 one-off pictures of notable Moscow sights including the bold new British Embassy and the notorious Lubyanka.

37 pictures taken in September 2004 of Red Square and the Kremlin (= Citadel), 60 acres of cathedrals and churches, government buildings and museums surrounded by a wall 1.5 miles long protected by 19 towers.

The Kremlin occupies a triangular site, with its east side fronting Red Square (krasnaya ploschad') and its south side on the Moscow River. Its wall and towers were built 1485-1495, when the principality of Moscow was expanding under Ivan III to become the state of Muscovy. Italian architects invited to Moscow by Ivan III supervised the building of the walls and towers, and also some of the buildings erected in the Kremlin around this time.

In complete contrast to the grim connotations of the word 'Kremlin', the site is actually a phenomenally rich treasure house of art, culture and history. I hope my photos give some indication of this.

16 pictures taken in September 2004 of some of Moscow's Stalin-era skyscrapers and metro stations, showing their 'Social Realist' architecture and decoration.

15 pictures taken in September 2004 of the cathedral, prison and fortress all named after Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

30 pictures from September 2004 of this palace, situated on the Gulf of Finland 20 miles west of St Petersburg, and renowned for its fountains and cascades. The Germans occupied it during World War 2 and reduced it to little more than charred rubble. It has been magnificently restored - clearly no expense has been spared. How ironic, then, that it is still best known by its German name.

32 pictures, inside and outside, of the Winter Palace and Hermitage complex.

A single shot of the Rhine at Basel, and 12 pictures of the city and lake of Lucerne. All were taken in June 2004.

33 pictures taken in June 2004 during a train trip to the 'Top of Europe' Jungfraujoch, and of the mighty Jungfrau (Maiden), Monch (Monk) and Eiger (Ogre) mountains.

12 pictures taken in June 2004 of a trip by four separate cablecars to the revolving restaurant on top of the Schilthorn, setting for the James Bond film 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. See what was being filmed in 2004!

12 photos taken in June 2004 of Lake Brienz and a trip on the Brienzer Rothorn steam railway, plus two of Castle Oberhofen on Lake Thun.

18 photos of the mighty Matterhorn and its Alpine neighbours on the Swiss-Italian border, including Monte Rosa. They were taken in 2003 and 2004.

28 photos taken in September 2006 at various points on the South Rim from Desert View to Hermit's Rest, 35 miles to the west.

29 photos of a two-day hike from South to North Rim: 23.4 miles, with 4640 feet of descent and 5850 feet of ascent.

33 photos of this famous Western location, taken in September 2006. Monument Valley has an elevation of 5500 feet.

51 photos taken in September 2006 during a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in southern California.

Mesa Verde (=Green Table) has an elevation of 7000 - 8500 feet. It is best known for its spectacular Native American archaelogical remains, especially cliff dwellings. There are over 4000 sites. Here are 23 photos taken in September 2006.

46 photos of this amazing city.

60 photos taken in September 2005.

30 photos from September 2006 of the spectacular landforms which give this park its name. Arches lies at an elevation of 4000 feet or more.

23 photos from September 2006 of the canyon and its strange and colourful landforms ('hoodoos'). Bryce has an elevation of almost 8000 feet.

34 photos of the soaring cliffs of this desert canyon, named Zion (= Heavenly City) by Mormon settlers because it has water (the Virgin River). The floor of Zion Canyon has an elevation of 4000 feet or more.