The Canadian Rockies

 Outside Calgary. British Columbia, Canada - that is some mountain - Photo by Marietta McLellan

The City of Barcelona from the Fort

 

Language without borders

Venice has two ways of transport: a boat, your legs. You really need to walk a good deal. Notice to the upper left of the boat is a bridge.They are all foot bridges. Before going I realized that I would need to have the handrail side of any walk. I made sure I knew the word for "excuse me" (get out of my way, I am old) which is "permisso". In Venice it does no good.as hardly anyone speaks Italian. Most very one is a English speaker looking over thec railings into the water. If you want to mix with Italians, go out after 5 pm when everyone goes back to their ships for dinner.  Best time in Venice is around 9 pm for a stroll.

 

Elephant brought down with Canon Camera

 

Rather than shoot an elephant with gun, we chose a 35 mm camera. Instead of hurting him, he has been trained to lay down so people can pet him and in return gets lots of fruit. This photo is from a reserve in South Africa. The date (7/08/2017) indicates summer in the USA, but in South Africa it is the beginning of the dry session or Winter,

There is this waffle and pancake house just outside Anne Frank's House in Amsterdam

 My grandson, Lucas, made sure to have Belgian Waffles in Brussels and Dutch Pancakes in Amsterdam. In Brussels we hired a driver/guide for a full day of sightseeing and he knew great spots for Waffles and for the Belgian invention French Fries. In the Netherlands it was easy to find good pancakes in different varieties. Clockwise: Lucas had chocolate, his grandmother a local original and the photographer had an apple pancake. Lucas was 12 here and now has his driver's permit.

The Arena In Ronda, Spain

 

One of my favorite buildings in Paris

 

On the Seine, not far from our flat and the Louvre, it is the prison where Marie Antoinette was held. 

So where is the "big woman"?

 In the Verona, Italy Airport we dropped our car off at the rental agency (A nice black Mercedes) and asked where the Rental agency shuttle transferred passengers to Paris flights.

"Well," he worked Italian through his mind and put it against his limited English and announced, "Right by the big woman"

We caught the shuttle and right in front of their International Terminal was a "Big Woman" easy to spot at about thirty feet high. 

the way back North-west into Germany from Hungry on the Danube

 

Three Church Towers

Why do we keep going back to Europe?

Paris

Firth of Forth, Scotland

Budapest

      There are some wonderful things to experience in South and Central America. We have paid for and cancelled a major trip to Asia.  COVID-19 blocked our trip to the rain forest in Panama. We like history, but our interest is in European History. Somehow our dream trips came back focused on Europe. Too many places and not enough time. We needed to trim the list. 

Giant Sculture/Building in Seville Spain

 

Narrow passage in the Alhambra

Every inch of every wall a work of art.

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

 

Winter Olympic Site: Calgary, Canada

 

Neuschwanstein Castle from the village

A fairly long bus ride from Central Munich, the castle can be seen dominating the side of the valley. Huge building called the Fairy tale castle. Beautiful from any angle.

 

Another Church on the way to the Palace in Prague CZ

 

European Communications Towers

LONDON

MUNICH

Almost every large European City has a tower 

Waterton Lake, Canada

 Waterton lake, photo taken from The Prince of Wales Hotel. Canada in foreground USA in back.

Campfire on the Kalahari

 One thing to remember when flying to Africa from San Francisco for a Safari:

 Summer is Winter.

July is cool in Botswana. A good jacket is recommended. 

Campfires are welcome before a early bedtime. 

Glacier on road to Jasper, Canada

 

Pigeon Point, California coast

 

LOCH NESS

 

Dusk over the Willamette River, Portland, Oregon

Central to Portland, Oregon USA are the joining of two rivers: The Willamette and the Columbia.This photo is of the Willamette, looking South. At the left is an island,
 

Just South of Toledo Spain, A distance off the road, Surprise

     On the motorway, if you have good eyes and have a hint where to see them, there are some old wind mills. They appear to the west, just south of Toledo. The drive back is a little work, but the windmills and fort are pleasant to see.

 

Sailing in the desert

Sailboat on Lake Mead in Nevada U.S.A. 

near Las Vegas

 

Near Canon Beach on the West Coast of Oregon

 A beautiful day in the neighborhood

George Washington Outside the National Gallery in London

 

Honfluer, France: On Bastille Day

      Several times over the years we have found ourselves far from home on Independence Day (USA). Once we developed a low key party with a San Diego State student that we met July 4th in a B&B in Crail, Scotland.  In France you just wait a few days and join them in Bastille Day celebrations. The two celebrations look a good deal alike,  although the local French Fire Departments are usually in charge of their parties.  A few years back we were in Honfluer, France to share in their party: carnival, fireworks and more.

Which way is America?

      Near the ocean and boat landings in Barcelona, Spain there is a tall pillar with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top. The story goes that he is pointing to America (The West Indies) that he has discovered for Spain. In reality, he pointing to the water, or south toward Africa. Just about everyone knows about the error, but what is done is done.

Lion or lying

I actually took this photo from a safari vehicle while in a wildlife preserve in South Africa. The part I do not tell you is that between the lion and me is a metal fence. The lions were free range until a man, who should not be there, hopped the border fence and did not make it all the miles to the other side. So, they built an enclosure of several acres for the lions who ate the man. I simply put the lens through the opening in the fence so you cannot see it. The pride here was six females and two males. 
 

Knowing the language may or may not be of benefit

Verona, Italy is one of my favorite places. It has all of the interesting things you might wish to visit. We stayed at a converted monastery adjacent to an old cathedral. It was a big surprise in many ways. One way was that we asked the owner if there was a laundry close by. He was not clear about what we said nor we about what he said. We thought he said he was taking his own laundry over and would take ours too. We were low on clean clothing, having been on the move for over two weeks in Italy.

When we got back from visiting the city, everything was neatly cleaned, wrapped in brown paper or hung in our closet. When we asked how much, he was vague until we pinned him down. It seems that he did our laundry for us!

Upon leaving he did not want anything for the laundry, but he got paid nonetheless.