Notre Dame (not the #daily photo)

Like many others, I was greatly saddened to see the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame, in the heart of Paris, badly damaged by fire this week.  I was there, on a grey and damp day, one year and one week ago.  What a privilege to have seen it as it was then.

Walking through the streets of the Île de la Cité towards the Cathedral

Approaching the main entrance. You can see the top of the spire between the towers

Main entrance

Some of the statues of the saints above the entrance

Part of the central section

One of the astonishingly beautiful rose windows

Europe 2018

In March and April, I once again took the (horrendously long) flight to the other side of the world, firstly to meet my new granddaughter in Barcelona, and then to spend time in a few places I hadn't been before. In all, I was away for nearly 6 weeks.

One of the things I badly wanted to do this time was go inside the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's astonishing as-yet-unfinished church in Barcelona. 

When I first visited Spain, in 2010, there was plenty to see outside this amazing building, but you couldn't go further in than a small area inside one of the doors.

 On later visits I just walked around outside, looking at the progress being made. 

The lines were too long to stand waiting in the hot sun!

This time, my son was very organised and had booked tickets online, so that we could

just go straight in at opening time. Here are some of the photos I took inside.
Please click on the photos to enlarge them!

By 1915, when the building was conceived, Gaudi was focused on an organic style, imitating the shapes of the natural world. He intended the interior to resemble a forest, with inclined columns like branching trees. He didn't like straight lines at all!  Natural forms can be seen everywhere you look.

There is masses of stained glass, usually progressing upwards from darker colours to lighter ones. The windows are not like traditional stained glass, but free-flowing in their designs, to demonstrate the beauty of the world.

One of the architect's dreams was that rays of light should bring the colours of the glass into the church, staining the air. You can see the effect he wanted here:

In this massive space, with so many wonderful things to look at, one of the most striking is the enormous figure of the crucified Christ, suspended in mid-air in the central spaces of the building:

Truly this is one of the greatest, most awe-inspiring man-made wonders of the world.

Non-summer

We are having the worst summer I can remember for a long time. Quite often December isn't great, but usually by now it's lovely and hot, to the extent that everyone complains about the heat and the dry conditions, lots of swimming happens, and I have to walk Manu at 6 am or else it's too hot for us both.

This year the main problem has been cold winds - weeks and weeks of strong blustery winds, sometimes gale force, from the south-west. Very little rain, though.

So to cheer myself up, here's some photos from my last big trip, of a lovely hot place I went to on my last big trip to Europe, 18 months ago.

This is a beach called Nazaré, in Portugal. 

We drove up to the top of a huge bluff to see this amazing view. 

Later, down in the town, we walked along the beachfront 

until we found a good place to have lunch and a cold drink. 

 

This was the view looking the other way, 

out to the Atlantic ocean.

Even up this high, there are pigeons...

I wouldn't mind being back there now, even though the average daily temperature in January is only about 13°C (55°F).

Hope the weather's good where you are!

Summer...

It's raining. Summer.

I am reliably informed that there are 15 more sleeps until Christmas.

I'm still dealing with birthdays - grandson's yesterday, daughter's coming up on Monday.

I have done no Christmas shopping, neither presents or food. 

I am hosting Christmas dinner this year.

Mr A has shingles. Not too badly it seems, at the moment, but even so - shingles.

I have been working full-time as a national examination centre manager for the last six weeks (finished now, thank heavens!)

Yup - it's the festive season.

Reflective: TP 379

Carmi's new Thematic Photographic topic is 'Reflective' (see here).

This time last year I was in Scotland, and I've been reflecting on how very much I would like to be back there, instead of here in month 3 of a southern hemisphere winter! (Although if I'm honest, it's about the same temperature here now as it was there last year...)

You've probably all seen the one of the colourful buildings in Tobermory, on Mull, 

but having taken it myself makes it special:

More shots of the beautiful Scottish countryside. The first two were taken travelling 

between Thurso and Skye, the other on Skye.

I'm glad it wasn't bright blue and sunny - that wouldn't have 

been how I have always imagined Scotland.

 

 

 

And the photographer - being reflective.

THematic Photographic: Lightbulbs

I haven't taken part in Carmi's Thematic Photographic for some time. Must try harder!

The latest theme is Lightbulbs, so I found some bulbs to show you.

 

This bulb would light up quite a few homes at once:

Awhitu Lighthouse, New Zealand

Lots of little bulbs can be effective, too:

Westfield Mall, Shepherd's Bush, London

 

 

 

 

 

A fantastic lit-up slogan for a brilliant museum:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

University students singing by the banks of the River Douro:

Porto, Portugal

And beautiful lightbulbs in Casablanca, Morocco:

Mosque of Hassan II

For some more lightbulbs, visit Written.Inc

Wellington

The capital city of this small country is one of my favourite places, and I visit as often as I can.
I'd live there if I could. The city is small and intimate, virtually everything interesting is within walking distance, the traffic's not (really) horrendous, and it's a very vibrant, art-filled and interesting place, with an excellent university.


I was there a few weeks ago. As usual, I paid a visit to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. It's a stunning building, full of interesting spaces and excellent exhibitions.

In the entrance foyer, there's a huge escapee from the Lord of the Rings movies - Wellington is also the home of Weta Workshops, responsible for special effects for Avatar, Mad Max Fury Road and so many other films - see here.

This enormous artwork greets you at the entrance to the hall of Maori history:

I could spend all day on the top floors, which are given over to art:

 

My other must-visit is to Zealandia, a 225 ha (556 acres) wildlife reserve 10 minutes drive from the centre of the city. The highlight of this visit was meeting a pair of takahe (Notornis) which live there. Takahe were thought to be extinct until being rediscovered in a remote valley in 1948. In 1981 there were known to be only 112 birds; today there are 225. 

Puffin and T2 are now too old to breed, and live happily at Zealandia. In captivity the birds have been known to live over 20 years. Adults can weigh over 3 kg (7lb), and stand 50cm (20 inches) tall.

They are very tame - T2, the male, came right up to me as I sat on a bench.

Holiday Memories 2

    The last country I visited was Scotland, and the city I stayed in before flying home was Glasgow.

The weather was just as you'd expect - cold, windy, damp and/or raining for the 5 days I was there. 

It was mid-July. I did enjoy my time there - especially the people-watching!

Everyone has seen this picture - the Duke of Wellington with his orange road cone, 

outside the Gallery of Modern Art:

I loved the Princes Square shopping centre, so different from the usual plastic malls:

On a dull day, these planters provided lovely colour:

Lastly, a reminder of the Commonwealth Games held in the city last year:

"The Glasgow invention of square-toed shoes was to enable 

the Glasgow man to get closer to the bar."
 

~ Jack House

Holiday Memories

Earlier this year, I spent nearly 3 months in Europe: my retirement present to myself.  

I have posted quite a lot of photos since I got back, but there are many more which I would like to have see the light of day, so I'm going to try to publish a few every day or two. 

Today's are from Barcelona. 

My son and his girlfriend have lived there for about seven years now, 

and I've been there before; it's one of my favourite cities, 

especially away from the crowded sightseeing spots.

This peaceful spot is the little plaça which my son's apartment overlooks. 

No cars are allowed, and the trees provide much-needed shade. 

The people of the neighbourhood meet for coffee and conversation while

the kids play, there is a community vegetable garden...

On one walk, we paid a visit to the enormous Cementiri de Montjuïc:

"In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world."

~ Federico Garcia Lorca

Wildlife and other Critters

Thematic Photographic 349 is Wildlife.  

Here's some of the wildlife I saw in Europe this northern summer...

(Please click to enlarge)

Storks, in Morocco

I love storks...

The heron is my new header photo above.
He was near Volendam, in The Netherlands:





This swan was one of the many on the canals in Amsterdam

and these were in Bruges, one of my favourite cities ever

 

You may already have seen this Canadian Goose in an earlier post. 

It gave me the eye at Leeds Castle.

At Dunrobin Castle, in Scotland, I saw a fascinating demonstration
by the resident falconer. There were falcons, hawks, and an owl - brilliant.

You can see other people's photos if you visit Carmi Levy's Written.Inc

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books."

- Sir John Lubbock

- See more at: http://wilderness.org/article/famous-quotes#sthash.9iDczeJY.dpuf

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books."

- Sir John Lubbock

- See more at: http://wilderness.org/article/famous-quotes#sthash.9iDczeJY.dpuf

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books."

- Sir John Lubbock

- See more at: http://wilderness.org/article/famous-quotes#sthash.9iDczeJY.dpuf