Minoan wall paintings, pottery and king’s chair. a replica of which is used in the Hague.
Knossos Palace for MVB, Nov 8, 2024
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Approaching Chania (Crete)
Click on any photo to enlarge all.
Thursday Doors, Aug 22, 2019
Dieting and the Art of Romance
Photo by i yunmai on unsplash
Dieting and the Art of Romance
There’s a scintilla of a chance that I might still be kissed.
His arm around my shoulder, his hand gripping my wrist.
If it were to happen, I just might not take flight,
but claim that kiss with open lips, as though it were my right.
Just in case, I think I might just start on a new diet
so if the chance arises, I will have the nerve to try it.
Purple Thistle, Flower of the Day, Aug 21, 2019
The hills of Montenegro were filled with these flowers. They look like purple thistles…but I’m not sure that they were. The air was full of the fuzz that carried their seeds. Click on photos to enlarge.
Fire Hydrants
This hydrant was in the middle of a field in Wyoming.
Wouldn’t want the fire hydrant to get wet!!!
Day 5: Montenegro Mountain Adventure
Today we got up at the crack of dawn to see the beautiful entrance to Montenegro. A few hours later we were driving up to the very top of the mountains you see in the photos in a Land Cruiser with a driver and two other people. The road was very narrow and proved to be harrowing when trying to pass full-sized buses on hairpin curves with sheer drop-offs on the side I was riding on. Vertigo prevailed. Click on the first photo to view all and read commentary on some. Give a bit of time for photos to focus. They should all be in clear focus.
We entered the harbor at 6 AM to this enchanting view.
This tiny island was entirely composed of a Morrish-styled building.
Small boats cut through our wake
as we grew nearer to the town of Kotor.
Dobrodosli!!! The one word of Croation/Serbian I could remember.
The only English words I saw all day.
And finally, up the mountain
Our driver wasn’t very talkative, but he did tell us the story about the man who designed the 25-switchback road to the top of the mountain. This M curve seen from far above is the subject of a favorite local joke. It is said that the man who designed and built it had a girlfriend named Marianna and he designed this set of curves in her honor. Then it is added that the local citizens are all grateful her name wasn’t Olga!
We were in a convoy of 7 Land Cruisers with 4 passengers per car.
on a road where two cars could barely pass. Imagine the excitement when two full-sized buses tried to do so!
Yes, that is the Emerald Princess (the ship I’m traveling on) way down there center-harbor.
There were wildflowers in profusion and the air was full of their seed fuzz.
The farther up the mountain we went, the smaller the road became. I was on the outiside and for most of the way the drop was severe–with no siderails or walls or shoulders. Vertigo? Yes.
Our driver had no idea what this symbol meant.
At the very top, lunch of prosciutto, cheese and bread. The table next to us drank several rounds of grappa.Patti drank wine. I drank water. I had my responsibilites to think of: I had to backseat drive all the way home!
This wall surrounded the old city.
And I take it these were signal towers as two were in view within the part of the wall we could see.
Finally, back to earth
And five hours after we left, we were back aboard home sweet home.
Montenegro Mystery Flower of the Day, Aug 20, 2019
All day long, in between heart attacks peering down sheer cliffs that we were edges from the sides of (me in the seat closest to the drop-off) I kept seeing these lovely little flowers, but we were going too fast for me to get a shot of them. Then after a day of harrowing but beautiful mountain scenery, we were lined up to get on the little boat to go back to the ship and I saw this little posy stuck into the hatband of the woman in front of me. It was preordained. I got my shot! And survived the day’s ride. More photos coming up.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Ode to the Shipboard Buffet
Ode to the Shipboard Buffet
In the hierarchy of buffets, spaghetti is the king
no matter what competing dishes they may bring
to grace the laden, groaning boards: rich soups and shrimp and cheeses.
They advocate for salads, but somehow no Caesar pleases
half as much as pasta, well-laden with rich sauce:
ground beef, basil and parmesan, tinged with just a toss
of fennel and oregano. It simply has no peer.
We gobble it with cabernet, chianti or a beer.
We leave the smorgasbord serene, replete and full and sated.
Our emptiness has been fulfilled, our appetites abated.
No hunger pangs outlast thin noodles topped with smashed tomatoes.
Spaghetti beats out hamburgers and crisp French fried potatoes.
It beats out cured Virginia ham. It beats filet mignon.
It beats twice-baked potatoes and things put thereupon.
I’m sorely tempted by ice cream and pastries, cookies, tarts,
but such things aren’t exclusive of main courses that are starts.
A plate piled with spaghetti deserves a proper ending.
Just plan when loading up your plate. Dessert is also pending!
Words for the day are serene, advocate, hierarchy, outlast and spaghetti.
Day 2, Pompeii
Yesterday was hot and filled with a lot of walking, but as you can see from these shots of the ancient city of Pompeii, well worth it.
Here is a description of the destruction of Pompeii. Strangely enough, there was no lava flow. This is what caused the destruction:
The last days (of Pompeii) began on Aug. 24, 79 AD, the day after the Roman holiday of Volcanalia, dedicated to the god of fire. At noon Mount Vesuvius roared to life, spewing ash hundreds of feet into the air for 18 hours straight. The choking ash rained down on the cities in the surrounding countryside, filling courtyards, blocking doors, and collapsing roofs. In the only known eyewitness account to the eruption, Pliny the Younger reported on his uncle’s ill-fated foray into the thick of the ash from Misenum, on the north end of the bay:
… the buildings were now shaking with violent shocks, and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were torn from their foundations. Outside, on the other hand, there was the danger of failing pumice stones, even though these were light and porous; however, after comparing the risks they chose the latter. In my uncle’s case one reason outweighed the other, but for the others it was a choice of fears. As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths.
The next morning the cone of the volcano collapsed, triggering a hundred-mile-an-hour avalanche of mud and ash that flooded Pompeii, just a little over 5 miles away, destroying everything in its path. Pompeii and its smaller neighboring village of Herculaneum disappeared, and were only discovered by accident during the construction of Charles of Bourbon’s palace in 1738. Miraculously, the two cities were nearly perfectly preserved under layers of ash.
(Below are some of the photos I took yesterday. Click on first photo to enlarge all. There are a lot of photos, so If any photo is a bit fuzzy, please give it a few seconds to focus.)
Pompeii forum with Vesuvius in the background.
Remains of paint and plaster that once covered all of the walls
Streets
remains of painted plaster.
The remains of intricate patterns carvedand painted into the plaster.
Reliefs carved onto the walls of the bath house.
Locker spaces in the baths
Underflooring of the baths.
Vesuvius looming over the city she destroyed.
Cast remains of an unfortunate victim of the hot ash of Vesuvius.
Mt. Vesuvius
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 