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Friday

adventures / Friday / links / London / memories / photo — Comments Off
10
Jul 15

In Tower Bridge

Here are a few photos from a terrific day in London. See more of it here.

Except for the pedestrian sidewalk, I did not know you could walk across the Tower Bridge. You can do it indoors, across the top. And there are places where you can stand on a window and look down at the bridge and the Thames:

She did a handstand there, but I don’t have a copy of those pictures.

We walked across the pedestrian part of the bridge, too. Got photobombed for our troubles:

And here’s the bridge in the background, as seen from London Tower:

family / Friday / photo — Comments Off
3
Jul 15

More family visiting

Yesterday I completed the family circuit and hit my other grandparents’ home.

I walked around outside in the woods, as I did as a child. I got eaten up by mosquitos, as I did as a child. I was not told to be careful of snakes, as I was as a child. But probably only because my grandmother wasn’t home just then to warn and worry. She was at a funeral and I was killing time playing in the woods.

And then she came home and fussed at me, as she did when I was a child. And pretty much every day of my life she’s seen me.

It is a wonderful thing to be fussed at.

She’d had a big day so she had an early night last night. I played the Facebook where-are-they-now game. This is difficult to do in a place with limited cell phone service. It is even more challenging in a bedroom with only one electrical outlet, which is as far away from the bed as possible. These things didn’t matter much in the 60s, I guess, when the house was built.

Also, the mattress might be that old, too. And while I’m not that old, I always feel like it after a night in the back room.

But a lovely morning today. Huge breakfast. I washed dishes. More visiting and then this afternoon was timed to get on the road before the rain.

So with more traveling and visiting, I’ll just point out the obvious: when eight of 11 words on a label are that important, you pour yourself a big serving.

adventures / Friday / Germany / history / memories / photo — Comments Off
19
Jun 15

A few Berlin postcards

(Extra material from our trip to Germany.)

This wall relief is on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin:

It is from the temple-palace at Tell Halaf and was made from basalt and limestone.

Tell Halaf is a dig site in northeastern Syria, near the Turkish frontier and was the first find of a Neolithic culture, dating to the 6th millennium BC. The name Tell Halaf is a modern name. Tell means “hill” and Halaf meaning “made of former city.” The original name is unknown.

Max von Oppenheim excavated the site at the turn into the 20th century. Some of his finds were destroyed while on display during World War II. The surviving pieces went into storage until the beginning of the 21st century. Now more than 30 sculptures are on display.

This is a panorama. We got to climb to the top of the rotunda of the Berlin Cathedral, prominently featuring the iconic Fernsehturm:

Click the image to embiggen!

adventures / Friday / photo — Comments Off
12
Jun 15

On the road again

I love little things like this. I never notice them until some unusual moment, like standing on the top stair, catching my breath while loading luggage.

What news, what happiness has come through the pressing of that doorbell over the years? How many times has it chimed inside? How many of the people who stood there and pressed that button where trying to sell something?

We’re heading home. The good news is that the black cat is traveling with us:

The bad news is that Allie has to spend the best part of a day in the car:

She’s an excellent passenger, though. Probably better than we are.

There are only so many rounds of “I Spy” you can play in the mountains.

“Something green!”

And we learned we’re both pretty bad at 20 questions. We couldn’t especially remember the rules and had a hard time keeping count, which sort of blunts the purpose of the game.

But we are home at last. Our doorbell button looks undisturbed.

adventures / Friday / photo — Comments Off
5
Jun 15

We’re back in the US

And it is also National Donut Day.

So we celebrated by having donuts in two countries. Germany on the left, and in Connecticut, after a long day, on the right.

Our flight went through Amsterdam. Sadly, their airport does not have a Dunkin Donuts. How awesome would it have been to have donuts in three countries?

And, now, to sleep for about three days.