Step by Step: Away

I got the idea for this post from that wonderful photographer, Steve McCurry. 

Of course, his work far outclasses any of my holiday shots, but I looked through and found a number of walking photos that I wanted to post. So many that I've divided them into this post - the overseas ones - and the New Zealand ones, which I shall save for another time.

"Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth."

~ Rebecca Solnit

Santa Margharita, Italy

Taormina, Sicily

"Architecture limits where one can walk,
but the walker invents other ways to go."
~ Rebecca Solnit

Syracuse, Sicily

Parma, Italy

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."

  ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Parma

Parma

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction"

 ~ Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Capri

"The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms."

~ Thích Nhất Hạnh

Cinque Terre, Italy

"Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time."

~ Stephen Wright

Ankara

Bolivia

"There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country.
A fine landscape is like a piece of music;
it must be taken at the right tempo."
  ~ Paul Scott Mowrer

Athens

"Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act."

~ Dr. Seuss

Barcelona

Travel, travel

Over at Carmi's blog, Written.Inc, people are posting fantastic travel pics for this week's Thematic Photographic theme.

Travelling is one of my very favourite things, so I found this topic rather daunting. I have so many photos - where should I go with this? 

I spend my working days with teenagers, and so eventually I decided to go with travel shots in which I've taken children and teenagers. Some I've posted before, some I haven't...

In 2005 I was lucky enough to take a group of students  to Shanghai. 

The Chinese exchange group came to New Zealand for 2 weeks, 

then about a month later we went there for 2 weeks. 

School was very different -

But McD's tastes the same wherever you go:

By the time we left to come home, the kids and their billets had become  good friends, 

and there were some very tearful farewell huddles:

In 2010 I was in Greece.

I was delighted by this beautiful bronze boy in 

the National Archaeological Museum in Athens

My favourite kid shots from my trip to Turkey are this one in Istanbul  

of a little boy celebrating his circumcision day:

and this group of children at the Mausoleum of Ataturk, in Ankara:

Italy, 2011. This is the Fontana del Panthon, in Rome

and I love the expressions in this school group photo in the Naples Museum

A little girl on Capri

and a less fortunate child, in a shed of other relics, at Pompeii

One of my all-time top 10 kid photos - two cherubs, in St Peter's Basilica in Rome

 

Lastly, two more school groups, one waiting to enter the Duomo, in Milan:

and the other in Vernazza on the Cinque Terre:

Hope you enjoyed some of my kids-around-the-world photos. 

Bon voyage!

Thematic Photographic 179 - Glow

What a great theme for this week! I used up a lot of my night pictures for the 

After Dark theme, so these are going to be about glowing light, rather than glowing lights.

The official cat of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, basks in the warm glow of the sunlight coming through the windows. According to our guide, this cat is "famous throughout the world", because President Obama admired and patted it when he visited.

 In Gordion, also in Turkey, one walks through this tunnel into the 

 (possible) tomb of King Midas

In Santa Margharita, on the Italian 'riviera', the rising sun made the houses 

on the hillside opposite my hotel window glow

And in another early morning shot, the sun made the walls of the Vatican City 

a lovely mellow colour

 Closer to home, it was late afternoon sun on the Great Ocean Road coast of Victoria, Australia, which made the cliffsides and standing rocks named The Twelve Apostles a warm shade of glow

 

To see what others have posted for this theme, and maybe to take part, go here.

Best of 2011 #3

In April of 2011 I spent 3 weeks in Italy. 

I posted this pic last year, of two little cherubs in St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Another flash or two...

I had to have a second go at this theme.

I've been searching through my travel albums for some more flashes of colour:

At a rice farm in Tuscany

Pink meerkats in Portofino

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

In a vineyard near Parma

Detail of a window in the Duomo, Milan

A taxi in Palermo, Sicily

Jiading, China

I didn't dare go near my Turkish albums - otherwise this post might go on forever! 

For more flashes of colour, go here.

Bricks and Mortar

A new TP - and this time it's Bricks and Mortar. This is great - I get another chance to post some of the beautiful structures I've seen in Europe over the last couple of years.

Firstly off to Montserrat, north of Barcelona in Spain. The beautiful Benedictine monastery and church are on the top of a mountain 1236 meters (4055 ft) above the valley floor. Montserrat is the highest point of the Catalan lowlands, and is an important shrine to the Catalonian people. I was there at Easter last year, and although I'm not Catholic I loved the spiritual atmosphere of this beautiful spot. 

 

My second stop is Meteora, in the north of Greece, which I visited on the same trip. The area is famous for the monasteries which sit perched on the very top of high mountains. It is an amazing place.
At Varlaam Monastery, built in 1350, they used to winch supplies up to the monks - it took 22 years to hoist all of the building materials for the three churches, the monks' cells - and a water tank.
Seven monks live there today.

This lovely little chapel is at another Meteora monastery, St Stephen's, built around 1400. 

It is now a nunnery.

This year I visited Milan; these two piles of bricks and mortar are both part of the Castello Sforzesco,  

once the seat of the Duchy of Milan, now a museum and art gallery.

While in Italy I also went to Lucca, and it was one of the highlights of my trip. Here are two 

not-so-majestic bricks and mortar pictures:

 

Thanks for re-visiting these lovely places with me; looking back on travel pictures immediately takes me back to the moment, the feelings, the atmosphere. Thanks to Carmi at Written Inc for this Thematic Photographic opportunity!