Camera Critters: Barcelona, 2008

The critter above welcomes visitors to Barcelona's waterfront, while the pigeons, below, aren't afraid this rearing steed will throw them off.

© Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, 2008

Posted for
Camera Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn.
Thanks, Misty.

Many shadows in one shot in Barcelona

                              Frederich Soler, a great exponent of Catalan romantic theatre.                                                     Photo by Richard Schear, Barcelona, 2008

During our week in the south of France in April, 2011, we weren't very far from Barcelona,
a city we really enjoyed when we stayed there in 2008.
We talked about taking a train from Perpignan to Barcelona, but never did. This shot is from '08.

Posted for  Shadow Shot Sunday, a lovely, shady meme

hosted every week by Tracy at Hey Harriet! Thanks, Tracy!

To see shadows from other parts of the world, please click

HERE!

B is for bicycle, backbone, borken ...huh? borken??

Bicycles in Beijing... cyclists in this Chinese metropolis are fearless, even when smog covers the city.
This photo, taken on our trip to China in 2008, was retouched to remove some of the smog, but it still isn't clear.

The backbone of a whale, just off the tourist pathway on the island of Fernandina in the Galapagos chain.
In this World Heritage Site, tourists are not allowed to touch any of the plants and animals, or their remains.
Tourists are always accompanied by a naturalist guide who informs them and reminds them not to touch.

Sometimes Dick's work involves him traveling to northern Alberta to see clients. Stopping to refuel on a recent trip,
he saw this sign on the gas pump. He couldn't use his credit card at the pump, so he had to go inside to pay.
(I'm so bad, I just love typos, except when I make them myself.)

Barcelona's beautiful waterfront, with the statue of Christopher Columbus.

The letter B appears twice, in this cloud above the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear.

Posted for ABC Wednesday's letter B.

To see where others around the world have found the letter B, or how they've used it, please click

HERE!

The letter S - Shopping for Spanish Seafood in Spain

Once again, the night market near La Rambla in Barcelona,

where my husband had a wonderful time with his camera.

Photos by Richard Schear

Posted for the letter S in the ABC Wednesday meme.

To see what others, from around the world, found to illustrate S, click

HERE

Last of Barcelona night market's mellow yellows: yellow yummies!

Our dog Lindy didn't want me to double up the Pet Pride and Mellow Yellow Monday memes because she says she isn't yellow. She's a strawberry blonde Golden Retriever, with a few yellowish hairs here and there. So here we have, again, the Barcelona night market, near the pedestrian thoroughfare La Rambla. There never was such a place for mellow yellows, at least in our experience.

To see more lovely mellow yellows from all around the world, please click

HERE

Skywatch Friday - nighttime in California, Mexico and Spain

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC 2006

SAN FELIPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA NORTE, MEXICO
Moon reflecting on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California)

CHRISTMAS EVE IN MADRID, SPAIN

CHRISTMAS SEASON, BARCELONA, SPAIN

Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies

Posted for Skywatch Friday meme,

for more pictures of skies around the world, please click

HERE

One tourist's trash is another one's treasure

Below, do any of these guys look familiar? The only one we're missing for Mellow Yellow Monday is Donovan.

There you go, take your wife one of these giant flowers and she won't need another one until Christmas (it was already December when we were there).

Tweety Bird looks pretty good with a festive imitation poinsettia between his feet, but who is the tall hombre with the cigarette?

Hey, guys, did you forget something important when you were packing? A corkscrew, perhaps, or a jackknife for fighting your way through the wilds of Catalonia?

My husband took these pictures of some of the "goodies" awaiting tourists near the popular Barcelona pedestrian thoroughfare La Rambla. While he did this, I was asleep in our hotel room after a long flight to London, a mad rush through Heathrow, and a flight to Barcelona. The unfittie here (that would be me) had insisted we get there a few days early for our Canary Islands cruise with Royal Caribbean in case I needed to rest. Next time we fly to Europe, we're stopping overnight in Toronto, then flying non-stop to Amsterdam, again at my insistence.

Posted for Mellow Yellow Monday by Kay Davies.

Photos by Richard Schear.

G is for Getting Around the World

Okay, so many people have commented on the size of the Giant Tortoise, I thought I'd just add another picture to show you how right you are. Here is a tortoise and a tourist. The adult person is closer to the camera than the tortoise is, so you can imagine how big these reptiles really get. Thanks for all your comments! -- Kay

From the top down:

G is for Galapagos Giant Tortoise, one of the animals the Charles Darwin Research Center in the Galapagos Islands is trying to save from extinction, as we found when we went for a Galapagos cruise on the MV Letty with Ecoventura.

G is for Gran Ventana Beach Resort, where we stayed in the Dominican Republic. I laughed when I saw the swim-up bar: I'd never seen one before. My husband enjoyed it.

G is for Antoni Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect whose buildings attract the attention of all the tourists in Barcelona.

G is for ...no, not garden, but it's a good guess ...G is for grateful to be home: home with my green lawn swing; home where the green arch over the sidewalk is slowly being pulled out of the ground by the aggresive honeysuckle.

Go to ABC Wednesday to find more great pictures.

http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear

Not Eggzactly as Instructed for E Week

Kneeling elephant at Ming Tombs, China. Above, with Dick on its leg. Below, with a sigh of relief.

Kay with marble elephants in China. Above, at Ming Tombs. Below, near the Great Wall.

Above, blue-footed booby with egg.

Below, Nazca booby with two eggs.

Above, blue-footed booby again, getting excited about protecting the egg. Below, two pictures of the statue of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) on the waterfront in Barcelona, Spain (España).

Found a site called 'ABC Wednesday' and as soon as I saw the picture of a Scrabble board, I knew that site was for me, but I overenthused (I do that a lot) and didn't post to it properly. Should have had an elephant picture because this week is 'E' week on ABC Wednesday.

So here are some Elephants, better late than never. And some Eggs. And a couple of pictures of the Columbus statue on the Barcelona waterfront in España and, if I haven't misunderstood something else, I still have some time to come up with the next letter in my ABCs.

http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/

You can also visit more sites (and sights) from around the world at My World Tuesday

Back to Barcelona?

Above, our hotel was in this beautiful palm-dotted square a short walk from La Rambla.

Below, Dick loved his first taste of European architecture.

Below, La Rambla (the area is often called 'Las Ramblas') was all lit up at night. The evening marketplace, which Dick explored with his camera and without me, was as colorful as the lights could ever be, with candy, fish and fruit.


Photos by Richard Schear.

My husband (that big healthy guy who drags me around the world by the scruff of my neck) has booked us a Tulips and Windmills cruise in The Netherlands and Belgium next spring, and, after eight days of driving around France, a week in a condo in the south of France. It is in the very south, so far south we'll be able to drive to Barcelona and back in a day. Possibly we'll be tempted to pop down there in our rental car just to see if it's still as wonderful as it was a few years ago when we stayed there prior to a Royal Caribbean Canary Islands cruise and a week of driving around Spain. We stayed just a short walk from the Columbus statue on the Barcelona waterfront, and an even shorter walk from the wonderfully entertaining thoroughfare known as La Rambla.

You can visit more sites from around the world at My World Tuesday