Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí), Prague, Czech Republic

     So, we were walking along attempting to find a theater where we could experience black light. We went a block too far and had to turn around. Where we turned around was a busy place and I took a photo. The next evening we thought we might go to Wenceslas Square, but thought it too far to walk. After arriving we realized we had already been there! The center of Prague is very compact with both old and newer buildings --  new being anything less than a hundred years old.

Paris as seen from the roof top of Galleries Lafayette

The best show in town. It is free. Just take the escalator up. Have a drink and see the city.

Here is the Grand Palace, the Eiffel Tower and more.

The Dolomites of the Sud Tyrol Italian Alps

The Dolomites were number one on my bucket list some ten years ago.

They were well worth the trip.

The only problem was I had to add another destination to my bucket list.

The Thinker at 4:00 pm

The Thinker in the garden of the Rodin Museum, Paris 

People we met in Botswana

Top: Wood carver. Bottom: boy who was showing us around his village.

Ready to book next flight

Always ready to take off. This time it is the Rain Forest of Central America.

Red Rock Area South of Sedona, Arizona

Coming into the Red rock Area from the South, the amazing landscape features begin to appear. 

A messa here and a castle there stand to greet you. Travel along until the red rocks 

completely surround you and you will know that you are there.

Equal time: The Oregon Coast

Not sure which better. The California Coast and the Oregon Coast are just different.

Looking out from Pigeon Point, California Coast

      At the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, there is a nice deck behind the museum and on the side by the ocean. The Pacific is not very pacific in this area. There are sea lions on the rocks and whales going by North or South depending on the time of year. As part of the lighthouse grounds is a hostel.
      We like to drive along the coast from Half Moon Bay and stop at the lighthouse. We walk out on the deck and sit on the benches and watch for anything we can see. There is always something. I often think about how often we get in a jet and fly half way around the globe when we could just drive a couple hours (in traffic) from our house.

The beginning of the Crusades

     Standing in the window of the Al Khazar in Segovia one can look out out a wide expanse of dusty brush. In the foreground of this not very attractive ground is a very old church. It is said to have been the place where the Knights Templar decided to oust the Moors from Spain and chase them back to Africa. Not sure of the story, but the Crusades had to begin somewhere with some sort of decision.

     All-in-all, the Al Khazar and the city of Segovia is a great place to savor some of the old Spain.

Not On My Map: Ireland

Zipping along the Ireland Country side, my limited map of Ireland showed little.

On a long straight-away I saw this castle. It had everything a castle in supposed to have: walls, tower, defendable entry. Wow. Not having much time I stopped for a photo and then continued
Not sure of its name. Lovely setting.

Eiffel Tower

Trying to be artistic with the tower and did not succeed.

Astronomical Clock, Prague

The clock was first installed in 1410,and completely restored in 2018. We visited it in 2019. Multiple faces provide times, seasons, moon phases and a pretty chime. It is mounted on the Old City Hall (go in and visit it too) in Prague.

View of Budapest

A view of Budda from the Pest side. Together they are Budapest.

Note that the Danube is blue here.

Budapest is a beautiful and amazing city.

Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland

    Temple Bar is not only the name of a pub, but it is also the name of an area of Dublin over the Half Penny Bridge. Lots of fun in the day time and come alive at night, Do not expect good wine in every place.

Valentine's Day Post

Madrid Spain

Gibraltar

Looking at Africa from Gibraltar.

Photo by Marietta McLellan

They hardly contemplate a great piece of art

My photo to prove my point. Just outside the room containing The Mona Lisa AND the Raphael, the people are all checking how to get to somewhere to see something  and no one is looking on the art on those walls

The Louvre - Turn around and look up!

This is the picture on the other side of the room from The Mona Lisa in the Louvre. No one sees it. It is by Raphael. The bottom photo is the wall tag. 

I did not want to fight my way through to The Mona Lisa  (although my wife did and got a photo) so I looked at the opposite end of the room. People ran passed me having photographed Mona and were off and running to see the Venus de Milo. In the hallway these folks passed other tourists looking down at their cell phones or searching the guide to find Winged Victory. If they would only look up at the ceilings!

Raphael for crying out loud is no second rate painter.

How'd they do that?

 

     In a visit to the Louvre in Paris you encounter so many wonderful objects that you may become a little jaded. "O, just another work of Michelangelo."  Let me help you encounter this object. Forget who did it, take it on face value. It is a sculpture of a man. The man is obviously in pain or just getting up in the morning. What do you see? He forgot his pants like many sculptures of the time.

    Now, let me look at it as an artist. The artist had to go out to a quarry to buy the marble. It had to be without a crack or imperfection. It would be expensive. Then, he had to get it to his studio. Setting it up (after making the bottom perfectly flat) he took his tools (not electric in those days) and removed all the stone that did not look like this. Really? It is not making clay into something by added clay piece after piece. It is taking away. It is seeing a figure in stone and liberating it.

     This is marvelous and worth at least an hour looking at and studying it.

     This is why the Louvre is a multiple day visit and more than Mons Lisa, The Winged Victory and Venus d' Milo.

Site of the Brussels Olympics

Lucas (now two years older) visits the site of the Olympics in Brussels. He is seen in MiniEurope a  set of scale-models of the famous cities in Europe.  

Flight from Johannesburg to Zambia/ Zimbabwe (Kasane Airport)

These photos are looking out of the plane window at northern Botswana. From the air one cannot make out if the area is a lake or a dry lake bed. We were flying over in their Winter which is not actually cold, but "dry". Their year is wet season and dry season. I will guess that this shows both dry and wet lakes.  The point is that Africa from the air is an amazing thing to see. At 20,000 feet you can see vast expanses and at 5,000 and below (taking off or landing) you can see individual animals or herds.

CHANGE OF PLANS

     We have been working on a long trip to China. Our plans were to fly North-South-East-and-West. Then, after political issues came the virus and State Department warnings. It might have been fine by the time we would go, but we were not sure.
     So, we got out the Atlas and are going to the rain forests of Panama. We will chase monkeys and a few sloth... I get the sloths. We will visit indigenous people and snorkel. It would not be summer without getting on a plane. (It will not be an A380 Air France, however.)

A photo from Safari in Africa

 I like the zebra, but I really like the tree.

Looking out toward the bay and the Atlantic Ocean From Castle Douglas Ireland

     Don't pity these cows. They get to look off the green of Ireland to the blue of the Atlantic Ocean. This scene was taken from a point just across the road from our B&B in Castle Douglas. It was in this B&B that we met a couple from Shannon and had a small, but amusing word duel over two days. It was delightful, but ended with my wife, Marietta, being victorious. There is fun all over Ireland. We met a large group of new friends there even if I had  no "All Ireland Parking Permit".  You had to be there. Why don't you go?

The Unbeaten Path, Neuschwanstein Hill, Bavaria Germany

   Fall in Bavaria and the unpaved path to the top of the hill and Neuschwanstein Castle shows how many people use that route. I am taking this photo from the paved road that curves downward from the castle to the hotels at the bottom.  That is some pile to rake.

The Chain Bridge at Night from the Pest side of the Danube

Photo by Mike McLellan

Fall in Bavaria Germany

Quick shot by Mike McLellan