Scotland

Two photos of the Firth of Forth railway bridge from the Edinburgh side.

I was standing at the quay ready to board a small boat to tour the area.

There is lots to see from fortified islands to sailboats to seals.

Fun experience if you are ever there.

 

Surprises good and bad

Wherever we have gone in Europe we have been surprised by art.

From a statue of Ronald Reagan in Slovakia to the great masters in Italy.

This statue, however had me wondering. It is just on the steps of the state museum in Munich.

I thought it odd and was surprised to be told to look closely.

Aha! It is Bacchus the god of wine and fertility.

I am not sure how attractive to women he is. 

 

 

A380 forward mounted camera

I take photos out of the windows of airplanes. The ones of Greenland look like a white circus tent.

When we fly overseas we usually leave at around 4pm. Thus we can see the Sierra and much of the upper Midwest. Out of San Francisco it is green, white, beige, green and would be blue over Hudson's Bay if it were not dark. Time to get some sleep, but photos of cities from 35,000 feet are cool.

The photo above was not taken out of the window.

The A380 has a down camera and a front focused one on the tail.

All you need to do is take a photo of the video screen on the seat in front of you.

An aside, unhappily Air France is stopping the use of the A380. 

 

Out our Paris window

Why a garbage truck?

My grandson loved garbage trucks at the time so I took photos of them in at least four countries.

This one also includes a small grocery store (behind the hood of the truck.. see fruit.).

We needed to go to the store regularly because we were cooking breakfast in our rented flat.

We have done this a number of times and because the flats have not had pepper for eggs

we brought home pepper shakers. Always white pepper.

The eggs were from free range chickens and the shells took a major whack to break them.

We did not bring any eggs back. 

 

Sex Workers

This may seem like a strange topic, but it is a collection of glimpses of the center of some cities.

Travelers know of the reputations of places like Bangkok and Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is in the final stages of moving their red light district out of the central city.

Amsterdam's district was a major tourist attraction.

But, there are also obvious other places where this sort of thing is seen.

My wife and I were having lunch it a plaza in Madrid. Two "lovely" young women dressed

for work made an office at the top of the local metro stairs. A man protectively watched the action from the shadows. Over a lunch hour, the woman took several walks with men who seemed to be strangers.

Prague has a large massage parlor very near the Municipal House (see above).

It is right in the famous plaza heralding the Astronomical Clock.  

Lots more sightings.

While seen in U.S. cities, it is more open in these European countries.

You don't have to look for  it, It finds you.

 

African safari

On safari you may not see all of the Big Five as leopards are hard to spot.

You can, however see the migration of Zebras or a tower (yes, that is what a group is called) of giraffes.

Later at the Chobe we watched the migration of hundreds of zebras going south.

VENICE on foot

 Excuse the lack of photo here. I seem to have misplaced my chip of Venice. However that does not change what I would like to say.

Venice is a wonderful visit and will be made more wonderful with the absence of the large passenger liners. The size of these ships changes the skyline and their movement erodes the piles which hold the city up. We suggest that without a cruise you will see more and do less damage. Plus you will see Venice without boat loads of people with cameras and wearing shorts. 

If the larger ships are in port you need to get up early and walk the streets and bridges before the cruise people come shore after their breakfast.  Take the vaporetto out to Murano or Burano during the day. In the evening after the people go back to the cruise ship come back to the city for dinner and wonderful long walks. The restaurants are busy at lunch. You will discover a small cafe with good food and wine in the evening. You will, however need to wait until after 8 pm when the Italians usually dine.

On our visit we discovered a good restaurant in The Ghetto (not what Americans think. It is Jewish). We waited until evening and walked back there from our hotel. The place attracted Italians. We then went for an evening stroll to the Opera House. Warning: the souvenir shops will be closed. Buy your glass on Murano.