St. Francis of Assisi, The Grotto, Portland, Oregon USA

The Grotto in Portland, Oregon has a number of wonderful sculptures in its gardens. This is one of St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of animals. It was a cool moist day when this was taken atop the bluff.

Sutter Buttes,California

The view from Arbuckle in Northern California of the Sutter Buttes on Thanksgiving 2015. The grapes in the foreground are turning color and losing leaves. A crisp fall day...

Mount Shasta

Happy Thanksgiving from Mount Shasta California

Taking pictures of pictures in Paris

In many museums around the world, you are not allowed to take photos of the art. Italian guards tell you to stop. Others might take your camera away. Not in Paris. You are welcome to take photos in the various galleries as long as you don't use a flash. We do not take the photos to copy them, but to celebrate them.

Lecco, Italy

 

 

Lecco as seen from the balcony of a bed and breakfast. We are looking across an arm of Lake Como.

Mr. and Mrs.Monet's Garden, Summer 2015

They designed and made it to be a place of art and it is even if just for photographs. 

These are taken by Marietta McLellan

Lions

 Florence, Italy

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris 

Old City Gate, Innsbruck, Austria

We enjoyed our time in Innsbruck. There is a lovely old town with a pedestrian mall, cafes and pretty monuments. There is underground parking if you have a car. The city, itself, sits in a beautiful bowl of mountains. It was the home of the Winter Olympics and you can visit that site.
     

Favorite Photos: Lake MacDonald, Glacier National Park

Photo by Mike McLellan

Cafe in Paris

My granddaughter and I sharing a bottle (of water) (Coke and wine come next) at a cafe in Paris in July not far from where the terrorist attacks happened in the 10 Ar.  It is strange how the tone of a place can change in a few short months. Yet, word is that Paris is still Paris.

Banff Hot Springs, Alberta, Canada

Over the years, we have been to many hot springs: Lassen Park, Hot Springs Arkansas, Radium Hot Springs Montana, some in Europe and elsewhere. They mostly smell like sulfur and look unpleasantly hot - although I really enjoyed swimming in Radium Hot Springs. These photos are of Banff Hot Springs which are no longer used for swimming - the pool is closed and bricked over. Still an interesting visit if you are in Banff.

Rome

This is the first photo I took, the first time in Rome, coming in from the airport. I was so excited about being there that I did not think to find out what it was or where it was. Travel for us is a like shooting up. It is tourist high.

It still stands for our friends cross the Atlantic. It points upward, skyward, to the heavens.

Paris is still the same when seen from Monmartre

It is forever a different city in the streets.

Paris is for lovers... so are Baghdad and Beirut

Friday night the peace was broken in the "city of lights" as it had been in other places hours before. There are people blaming the Bush Administration for destabilizing Iraq. Others blame British and French colonialism. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Blame is counter-productive. We are citizens of the world - not of our small section of it - and we need to evolve to a point where we see ourselves as global people whose job it is to make peace with the same passion as we make war.

Rouen Cathedral Light Show

Photos by Marietta McLellan

When is old new again? Well, in Rouen, France, the old cathedral is the center of a multi-media light show complete with images crawling up the sides and towers. After dark the old church becomes  canvas for computer generated graphics. Rouen's Joan of Arc Museum runs a technologically advanced program all day long. Rouen is every bit in the 21st Century.

Yellow Dublin Door

Every rowhouse door is a different color so you can tell which is your house

 when coming home from the pub

Veteran's Day 2015 - A rainy day in France

Taken in Normandy, France July 2015. Just one of many such places around the world.

Lake Garda, Italy

     There are not many places prettier than the Northern Italian Lakes. We have visited all of them in a trip from Verona up and around the Dolomites, Austria and Switzerland. Coming from Switzerland back to Verona, you see them all. We had not planned, however, on seeing Lake Garda. It was out of the way.  By our miscalculations we visited it twice seeing the eastern and southern coasts. We realize that many people do not have the time to see more than Venice, Florence and Rome. Yet, it is a shame not to take the opportunity to head north and see at least one of the Lakes. I think Garda may be the least pretty of the lakes, but well worth the trip.

Tide is out: Saint Mark's Square, Venice

Sometimes I wonder to myself about the reason I took a certain photo. Then, like the one above, I remember clearly that the day before when we were in Saint Mark's Square, the tide was in and the square was full of water. In order to get around then, workers put out these metal and wooden platforms making a raised sidewalk to get from place to place. On this day, the water was going down and the workers stacked the platforms ready for use next time. I have seen pictures where people are swimming or kayaking in the square with unusually high tides. The melting of the polar icecap means even higher levels in the future.

Sunday: Church Day

Saint Peter's, The Vatican -- people lined up to see an empty (but pretty) church. The restoration at center is now done.

Feldkirch, Austria - A surprise

Our non-planning of a trip lead us through Austria and toward Lichtenstein. Just before leaving Austria we stayed the night at Feldkirch. It just happened to be where we were at 4 p.m. the time to stop. That gives us about five hours of light (in the summer and that far north) to explore a town, have dinner, and maybe learn a little more about ourselves.  This town - especially the old center with its lovely buildings and nice bars and cafes was a real winner. We rank it very high in our surprise list. What a lovely place, and what a good visit.

Trevi Fountain Reopens

The Trevi Fountain that was closed for renovation has now reopened in Rome. Get your coins out so you can return. The interim small receptacle just didn't cut it.

Great sculpture all in one place

So, if you don't have time to make it all over the world to view great sculpture, just head to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The photo above was taken from a catwalk over the storage room. You can see that they have a copy of Michelangelo's David (the original is in the Accademia in Florence). The British went out to all of the countries and made castings or copies of the great art and brought them back.  Certainly the V&A has some great originals, but they have this whole room of copies. I found it surprising.

Paris is full of pointed objects (see this and last two posts)

The Pyramid at the Louvre brought out lots of criticism. It also is reversed below. It is, by the way, a major player in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code". It is  really not out of place. It calls attention to how Paris is both very old and young at the same time. Paris embraces the future although not without some complaining by some citizens. The best part of it all is that below the Pyramid entrance is a large area including a mall and food court. There are many state of the art contemporary shops. Fun.
     Travel hint: enter the Carousel Entrance (on Rue Rivoli) go down the escalator and through the mall to enter the Louvre. The lines are shorter, it is faster, and out of the elements.

Storm Clouds over Paris

Rainy Day

Today is rainy in California and we are glad to see it. The drought is not over by any stretch, but we need it. I have walked in the rain in Dublin, London, Paris, Rome and many other cities large and small and it has always seemed to me that the rain changes things. The cities are less busy. Things are quieter. People gather in cafes and coffee shops and are havens for new friends. The photo above is of an obvious landmark. It can be closed during thunderstorms, but is not awful in the rain as it is less crowded. Better yet is finding a nice cafe in which to sit and -- without apology -- to sip a Coffee Americano.

Oldest building in Honfleur, France

When we talk about the oldest building in our town (Tracy, California USA) we are talking about 1900. When you are in Boston it is centuries older. Here, in Honfleur, it is way older than that. Some date back to the 1200's. The other issue is that Honfleur is on the Normandy Coast and all of those towns took a beating during World War II. Caen, as an example, is nearly all new since 1945. You will note what I found interesting about this place. It as been retrofitted with lights and an alarm plus a new (?) second story.