On The Road

A few pics of one of the more visited sights in Mallorca, the Catedral de Santa María de Palma de Mallorca. Begun in 1229 by Jaume I (King James I of Aragon) it was not finished until 1601. Repairs began in 1602 and continue to this day. From Wikipedia:

*”Built by the Crown of Aragon on the site of a Moorish-era mosque, the cathedral is 121 metres long, 55 metres wide and its nave is 44 metres tall. By way of comparison, the height of the central nave reaches 33m in Notre Dame de Paris , 38m in Reims, 42m in Notre-Dame d’Amiens and 48m in Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, the highest of all Gothic cathedrals.”*

I’ve seen all of those in France, but never made it to Spain or any Mediterranean islands.

The 1st pic is of the front of the Cathedral, and the 2nd is a close up of
the same doors showing a little bit of the mastery of the stone carvers
that I have found throughout my wanderings about this fabled isle.

The 3rd pic is of the nave, where resides the main altar, as well as the
Rose Window and a…. candelabra? whose purpose I am unsure of. (take note
of the X-mas tree laying on the floor awaiting…. erection)

Just…wow! Such a great photograph in a challenging environment!

The 4th pic is of one of the many crypts in the floor of the cathedral.
There were many crypts in the cathedral, both above and below the floor. A
number of the ones in the floor bore the “skull and crossbones”. Due to the
eras this church was built, I theorize that it is because they were plague
victims, but for all I know it is actually indicative of a curse being put
upon the inhabitant or those who might disturb the bones of those there
interred.

The 5th pic is of a “relic”, the ulna of a martyr or a saint. I do not
remember who it was (nor do I care, the Church has a Saint/martyr for every
season and every reason, usually more than one) and obviously enough, to
Catholics at least, the words “Rest in Peace” mean nothing. To me it means
Catholics are really weird. But as a failed Catholic, I already knew that.

Neat! I’ve only seen dark, semi-coagulated phials of ancient blood.

The last 2, are of the Cathedral from the far side of the man made lake
underneath the old sea wall, one in day light, and one from during my
previously mentioned 3 am stroll around the bay. The first is by far the
better picture, but the 2nd…. there is something about the lighting that
captures my imagination. I see things.

Thank you OzarkHillbilly, and do send more. I’m sorry it took so long to get to these magnificent pictures! Folks, he went through over 700 shots to amass this great contribution!

As always, we welcome your pictures, and have a wonderful day, whether you’re travelling the world or just your front yard!

More great stuff from Le Comte de Monte Crist fka Edmund Dantes:

This was a nice little snorkel trip and rest stop at a place accessible only by boat, as I remember.

My camera battery kept crapping out (didn’t do it anywhere else on the trip, just in the catacombs). Once the Paris cemeteries filled up, all the older bodies were exhumed and the bones lined up underground in a macabre setting. I took several lousy dark photos without flash (camera lighting is prohibited in order to preserve the bones), but with the battery issues the camera shut down on me. The first time it happened, I didn’t think to check the settings on restore, and it defaulted to flash. This is my single illegal photo, one which actually shows the walls as they are.

 

When: April 2010
Where: St Sulpice

This is the plaque marking the Rose Line (the old Prime Meridian) in This classic Paris church. This was featured in the DaVinci Code.

Funny story – I got to see the gypsy shift change here. My wife and her sister had gone to meet their aunt and her husband at the Pompidou for lunch and to arrange a dinner time family get-together (they lived in Igny at the time, and have sense moved to Strasbourg).  Me, the brother in law and kids were supposed to catch up with them at St Sulpice and got the schedule botched. Our first try at the church it was 2 pm, we saw a woman begging with an English lettered beggar sign, and she had a child that was filthy, two or three years old that you would not want anywhere close to your pockets (I watched the kid scrabbling at tourist pockets).  Anyway, shortly before 3 pm, we came back. At a couple of minutes before three, we are standing outside. Up comes a hound gypsy woman with a hand lettered beggar sign in English. First gypsy girl leaves and the second one takes her place. Kid does a double shift.

Too damned funny.

 

When – August 2012
Where: Key West

This was on the Western Union, a cable layer which no longer sails. I was on a guy’s diving trip.
Evenings aboard her were magical. They’d serve food and drinks and play sea chantys.
That evening, while stars were in the sky, we saw a thunderstorm about 10 nm away.

 

When – October 2009 (I think)
Where- Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
This was a Natural Habitat trip. It was kind of a beast to get to – it was as far to Churchill as it is from home to Venezuela.  It isn’t quite to the Arctic Circle, but it is on the Churchill River/Hudson Bay confluence just south of the boundary to Nunavut.
In Churchill prior to the ice forming on Hudsons Bay, the polar bears get super hungry. They come into town to scavenge.  When that happens, they tranquilize them and helicopter them about 50 miles away. There was a mother and child this time dangling under the helo.

 

Much more tomorrow and later this week. Have a good one, travel safely, and do send in pictures from your adventures and the sights you see. We all grow from that sharing.

First up, from RLChina:

 

Where: XiChan Temple Fuzhou China
When: Sat Feb 25, 2017

….taken by [email protected] – the Mrs is featured in the pic

 

Next, from mostly lurker PaulB:

 

Where it was taken: Tel Aviv
When: December, 2013
Other notes or info about the picture: Taken from a window of the Tel Aviv Hilton

 

Just…WOW – thank you, and please send more.

 

Travel well y’all – there are lots more pictures tomorrow, but I’m running out, so if you haven’t yet sent anything in, or seldom do, please send us some joy!

Especially if it’s just a picture or two, please share your world so we all can see. Let’s make our world just a little bit tighter…

Today, from BillinGlendaleCA:

Where it was taken: Eaton Saddle, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This is San Gabriel Peak, the trail we’ll be taking goes across the center of the photo.  San Gabriel Peak is the second highest peak in the front range of the San Gabriel mountains(Strawberry peak is a few feet higher).

 

Where it was taken: Eaton Saddle, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This is Mt. Markham which is north of our eventual destination, Mt. Lowe and a bit higher than Mt. Lowe.

 

Where it was taken: South Face of San Gabriel Peak at the east portal of Mueller Tunnel, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: At my advanced age it’s always good to have a nurse accompany me into the wilderness(aka my step-daughter in front of Mueller Tunnel).

 

Where it was taken: South Face of San Gabriel, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: Eaton Canyon that ends up where the display the Rose Parade floats after the Parade.

Where it was taken: West face of Mt. Markham, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: Bear Canyon that’s the start of Arroyo Seco which ends up flowing past the Rose Bowl and down to the LA River.

Where it was taken: Markham Saddle, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: Looking across Eaton Canyon towards Mt. Wilson in infrared.

Where it was taken: Summit of Mt. Lowe, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: The original plan was to build a railroad from Ye Ol’ Tavern at the southern base of Mt. Lowe to the summit but Professor Lowe ran out of money.

 

Where it was taken: Summit of Mt. Lowe, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
When: March 25, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: Your humble commenter on the summit of Mt. Lowe with San Gabriel Peak in the background.

 

Thanks so much for all those pictures, and so wonderful for me (and I assume, so many of us) to see your face and hiking regalia! Do send more…

 

Many more tomorrow folks – have a great day and enjoy this beautiful world!

First up, from Phylllis:

Where it was taken: Augusta National Golf Course
When: Drive Chip & Putt competition on Sunday, April 2nd
Other notes or info about the picture: Wish I had taken pictures of the mob in the gift
shop losing their collective minds and indiscriminately grabbing sh*t just because it had a Masters logo on it.

 

Next up, from Carol Ryan, a view of from heaven-on-Earth:

Where it was taken: Maui
When: March 31, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This was taken at the top of the tallest peak of Haleakalā (“house of the sun”), at 10,023 feet.

 

Thanks Carol and Phyllis, do send more!!

 

Next up, an omission from yesterday’s otmar pictures:

Where it was taken: ‎Vienna, Votivkirche
When:now. (last) Tuesday noon
Other notes or info about the picture: On the way back to the office from a meeting with ISPs, relaxing a few minutes in the park.
The church is not really Gothic, but built much later in neo-Gothic style.

 

Wow –   thanks as always!

 

Next up, from Tenar Arha:

Where it was taken: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA
When: Sunday, 4/2/2017
Other notes or info about the pictures: Every year the ISGM puts out these
beautiful hanging nasturtiums in the indoor courtyard garden. These are
definitely my #firstflowers for 2017.
Views:
-flowers in their pots on the 3rd floor
– the interplay between the shadows & the?
-flowers from courtyard floor

 

 

Just gorgeous, thank you so much for these!

 

I’ve got enough pictures in the inbox to get through this week, perhaps Monday next. But, we’ll be needing some new material by then! Hopefully some of you are galavanting around right now and will send pictures!  To preserve your privacy, when pictures are uploaded to the site, they are stripped of all EXIF data so that your privacy is preserved. This does mean that we lose location and date info, FYI.

A short set from otmar to start out the week:

Where it was taken: Prague
When: last Sunday
Other notes or info about the picture: Last year’s Christmas gift to my wife was a weekend trip to Prague. The train from Vienna takes about 4 hours, so we spent almost two full days sightseeing. This set of pictures is from Sunday noon, where we toured the Jewish quarter of the old town.
1: Cemetery
2: Klaus Synagogue
3: Oldnew Synagogue
4: Spanish Synagogue

And I likely messed up the pictures vs descriptions. Except for the first one; I’m somewhat confident that it is, indeed, a cemetery.

 

Thanks otmar, I know many of us look forward to your next set.

Much more tomorrow – have a great Monday, and for those observing Passover on Tuesday, Chag Sameach!