Shadow Shot Sunday: the Catherine Palace

The intriguing intricacies and intricate intrigues of the lush Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, have left many shadows of one sort or another—on the walls, on the floors, or in the history books.
My husband toured this huge, beautiful palace without me during our August holiday last year. My sore feet were happy to miss all the walking, but I was sorry to miss such beauty—however, my husband got some wonderful shadow shots!

© Photos by Richard Schear, August, 2011

This lovely lady seems oblivious to all the water pouring from her jug as she relaxes in her shadowy niche on an outside wall of the Catherine Palace.

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2
To see other shadows shot by other bloggers and/or their intrepid photographers,
please click  HERE!

Watery Wednesday: ship to ship to shore

© Photo by Kay Davies

On the first day of our visit to Russia this past August, my husband insisted upon going ashore to explore. I chose to nap but, when I woke up, I amused myself by taking photos through our open cabin window. This is obviously the place for cruise ships to dock in St. Petersburg. We had crossed this bridge a few hours earlier on the bus Viking River Cruises sent to pick up passengers from the airport. A Russian guide was on the bus with us, so we had a guided tour before we ever boarded the Viking Surkov.

Posted for Watery Wednesday,
the meme where 2sweetnsaxy invites us to "get our eyes wet"!
To see what wetted the eyes of other photo-bloggers, please click
HERE!

Weekend Reflections and Shadow Shot Sunday

A shadowy cove behind this channel marker on the Volga-Baltic waterway, between Kizhi and Kuzino, during our Waterways of the Czars cruise from Saint Petersburg to Moscow with Viking River Cruises.

© Photos by Richard Schear, from our vantage point aboard the Viking Surkov, August, 2011.

Posted for
Weekend Reflections
hosted every week by James in California. Thanks, James!
To see other reflections from other lenses, please click HERE!

Posted also for Shadow Shot Sunday
hosted by Tracy at her Hey Harriet! blog. Thanks, Tracy.

To see shadows sought by other shadow-seekers, please click HERE!

Thursday Theme Song: back from the...

Flew Lufthansa out of Do-mo-de-do-vo
Didn't get to sleep last night
On the way we changed to three or four
       more planes
Man, we had a dreadful flight.

We're back from the USSR
But luckily it's just Russia now, boy,
It's not the USSR,
Not the USS,
Not the USS,
It's not the USSR.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxyISsA0Oh0

© Photos by Richard Schear, August, 2011

Posted for Thursday Theme Song, Hootin' Anni's

most musical, amusing meme. Thanks, Anni, I love it!

To see what songs inspired other musical photo-bloggers,

please click HERE!