Thursday Theme Song: I'd like to get you...

There is no verse to this song,

'Cause I don't wanna wait a moment too long

To say that...

I'd love to get you on a Slow Boat to China

All to myself alone.

Get you and keep you in my arms evermore,

Leave all your lovers

Weeping on a far away shore.

Out on the briney

With the moon big and shiney

Melting your heart of stone

I'd love to get you on a Slow Boat to China

All to myself alone.

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear on our cruise-tour of China with Viking River Cruises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTyZAM4ROQQ

This is one of the, if not the first song I ever remember hearing. It was definitely the Kay Kayser version, and I know when it was recorded, so I was two years old, perhaps three by the time I realized I was listening to music.

Born (in a hospital) on the bank of British Columbia's mighty Fraser River, within spitting distance of the Pacific Ocean, I have always had an interest in things nautical and things related to fishing. The next two songs I remember hearing were Red Sails in the Sunset, and The Shrimp Boats are Coming.

Posted for Hootin' Anni's musical meme

Thursday Theme Song

in which I may not be able to participate next week, depending on my social schedule while I'm back home on the west coast visiting my family.

Keep up the good work, however, troops. This is my favorite meme. Thanks a lot, Anni.

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!

ABC Wednesday: B is for Brugge, Belgium

My intrepid photographer and his long lens capturing other tourists in a small boat.

© Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear

Theatrical release photo from Wikipedia.

After seeing the 2008 comedy crime drama In Bruges starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, we were determined to visit this lovely city in Belgium. We enjoyed the movie but we enjoyed the scenery even more.  It was actually one of the reasons we chose last year's Tulips and Windmills Cruise with Viking River Cruises. The reality did not disappoint, but unfortunately I was very ill the day we visited. Nevertheless, I took more than 150 photos and I don't know how many Dick took. The canals...the medieval architecture...the skies in varying shades of blue...we loved it all.

The English spelling Bruges was used in the movie, but the Belgian spelling is Brugge, which is now more familiar to us. A longtime friend from the Netherlands told me, before we went, about the port city called Zeebrugge, some 15km away. However, river cruise ships don't go to sea, but stop in Antwerp, about 100km distant. The Viking Pride tour-guides took passengers to Brugge by bus. I still think I would have felt better if it hadn't been for that hour or more traveling by bus. Give me water travel any time.

Posted for

ABC Wednesday

Mrs. Nesbitt's alphabetical meme, hosted by her capable team.

Saturday's Photo Hunting: animals this week

I'm a bit late for our friend Gattina's Saturday Photo Hunting, but I couldn't make up my mind what to do. The theme this week is animals, and of course I immediately think of Lindy, but I wanted something different.
I've decided to show you these animals (and a couple of people) we saw in Russia last summer. These shots are taken from the deck of the river cruise ship Viking Surkov after our visit to Mandrogy.

Cattle and sheep.

A billy-goat and his family.

A dog and his human companion.

Photo hunting can be fun. The theme is different every week. I hope to see many more of you join us—preferably on Saturday instead of Sunday, because when it's Sunday afternoon here, it's already the middle of the night in Europe, and Monday in Australia!
Thanks, Gattina!

A is for Arnhem: A Bridge Too Far

On 17 September 1944 thousands of paratroopers descended from the sky by parachute or glider up to 150 km behind enemy lines. Their goal: to secure to bridges across the rivers in Holland so that the Allied army could advance rapidly northwards and turn right into the lowlands of Germany, hereby skirting around the Siegfried line, the German defence line. If all carried out as planned it should have ended the war by Christmas 1944.

Unfortunately this daring plan, named Operation Market Garden, didn't have the expected outcome. The bridge at Arnhem proved to be 'a bridge too far'. After 10 days of bitter fighting the operation ended with the evacuation of the remainder of the 1st British Airborne Division from the Arnhem area.

http://www.rememberseptember44.com

During our cruise in spring, 2011, with Viking River Cruises, we visited the city of Arnhem in The Netherlands. Our ship, the Viking Pride was berthed in full view of the bridge whose loss meant so much in the second World War.

Posted for the letter A
in Mrs. Nesbitt's alphabetical meme
ABC Wednesday
To see how other bloggers used the letter A, please click  HERE!

Stairway Reflections and Shadows, Antwerp

© Photo by Richard Schear 

This fascinating winding stairway in Antwerp isn't something I would care to climb! However, during our spring cruise in Belgium and The Netherlands with Viking River Cruises, my husband knew I'd love the stairway's shadows and its reflections in the doors, as well as other reflections in this shot of Belgian brick architecture. There are even shadows and reflections in the lamp post!

Posted for

Weekend Reflections

and also for

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Camera Critters: Yaroslavl

It hasn't been easy for me to post photos from the city of Yaroslavl, Russia. We hadn't been home very long after our Waterways of the Czars cruise when that city's entire ice hockey team was lost as their chartered plane crashed into the bank of the Volga River. It was a terrible tragedy for the people of Russia, and for hockey fans the world over. Some of the players were well known in North America's National Hockey League, including the coach, who once played for Dick's favorite team, the Calgary Flames, and a talented forward who had played for my home team, the Vancouver Canucks. (Click the link above to see my post from after the accident.)

Now, however, (with the letter Y coming up soon on the ABC Wednesday meme,  for one thing) I've been thinking about Yaroslavl and about the things we saw there, including these unusual Camera Critters in a public garden where I rested by the fountain after visiting the city's public market.

Then our group went to visit a display of iconic Russian lacquered boxes, by the artists who had painted them. Dick and I both gravitated toward the boxes decorated with cats and dogs, but couldn't decide which we liked best, so came home without one.

Thanks to Misty for the Camera Critters meme, and Happy New Year, all!

See you later, alligator!

Bear backside.

© Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies, August, 2011

While the cats sleep, the mice will...

I didn't buy this shirt at the public market because I was afraid of the answers I'd get.

X is for Xylophone Soloist in Moscow

One of the most energetic musicians we've ever seen was this amazing young percussionist performing with the Russian Folk Orchestra Moskva when we visited Moscow during our August vacation.
He played a traditional wooden xylophone (the Greek word for wood is xylon) so fast, and moved so fast,  and so did the conductor, most of our photos of them were out of focus (see second photo).

© Richard Schear photos, above

Bolshoi Hall, the main performance auditorium of the Moscow Conservatory where, in recent times there has been a movement by musicologists to study and reproduce authentic folk music in an authentic performance style on the concert stage. Photo courtesy of Mr. Google.

Posted for the letter X
at ABC Wednesday
To see how the letter X was used by other bloggers, please click  HERE!

ABC Wednesday: V is for Vacation

What else is the author of a travel blog supposed to do with the letter V? I've used my home city, Vancouver, before, and Leslie is using it today, which is fine by me as I have an embarrassingly small number of photos of Vancouver.
However, I have a large (perhaps equally embarrassing) number of vacation photos. Here are a few, starting with the letter V lying on its side in the sky. If I rotated the photo, it would look like the Roman numeral for four.

Posted for  ABC Wednesday 
To see how others see the letter V, please click  HERE!

Viking Century Sky, on the Yangtze River, China.

Left, chandelier in Las Vegas.

Right, tea on the Volga River

with

Viking River Cruises.

Vendors and customers at market in Marseille, France.

Vermeer painting in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

U is for Uglich, Russia on ABC Wednesday

On the way to Uglich aboard the Viking Surkov.

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear on our August 2011 visit to the city of Uglich, Russia,
during our Waterways of the Czars cruise with Viking River Cruises.

Posted for ABC Wednesday

To see how other photo-bloggers used the letter U, please click  HERE!

SkyWatch Friday: Kizhi to Kuzino, Russia

© Photos by Richard Schear, August, 2011

Posted for

SkyWatch Friday

Taken during our August holiday with Viking River Cruises.

To see other skies from around the world, please click

HERE!