Ed’s Sunday Stills: Billboards

This week’s challenge, Billboards and Road Advertisements, is quite a fun one. I have lots of pics of signs, although very few which would qualify as billboards.

I did spot these in London, and I thought this McDonalds one was quite good.

I might have hoped that this one was referring to me, until I saw the tall, blonde and gorgeous potato chips. 😦

This road sign in San Pedro looked quite promising.

That was until we saw the restaurant. 😦

If you happen to be looking for a majestic hotel in Bolivia, you’ve come to the right place. It looks like they have electricity. 🙂

New York City has billboards plastered all over the place,

and Times Square must be the ultimate billboard paradise, commanding the highest prices in the world for advertising there. Last year, Dunkin’ Donuts paid $3.6 million for one digital sign there.

I think the most iconic and well known billboard has to be the Hollywood sign, which was designed by an Englishman and constructed in 1923. It was originally meant to only last for 18 months until the lots for a new real estate development called ‘Hollywoodland’, were all sold. It’s undergone many changes and improvements over the years, and today, has its own trust fund and a ton of security which involves razor wire, infrared technology, 24 hour monitoring, motion sensors, alarms and helicopter patrols.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my billboards for Ed’s Sunday Stills Challenge. It’s open until next Sunday, so why not do your own billboard post?

WPC: Horizon gazing

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon, will find the right road.” ~ Doug Hammarskjold

This week, Sara Rosso has invited us to share a photo depicting ‘horizon’.

I have many, as I’m sure you all do, but here are just a few from my travels. I hope you enjoy these.

Looking across Table Bay, from the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, the sky seems to blend seamlessly with the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the road to Sun City, the luxury casino and resort which is about two hours’ drive from Johannesburg, in the North West Province of South Africa.

Hopping across to Cairns, Australia, here is a horizon view from the Kuranda Skyrail rainforest cableway.

We were on a round-the-world trip, so also got to gaze across the sparkling blue waters of Lake Titicaca from the top of Sun Island in Bolivia.

Now for something completely different, here’s a rather chilly spring horizon looking across the hot springs and geysers in Yellowstone Park.

To warm you up just a little, is a British summer horizon which I snapped through the car window, as we travelled through Cornwall in August this year. British summers aren’t what they used to be, but at least we had some blue sky,

which is more than can be said for the gloomy horizon, as we sailed into Rotterdam towards the end of our Rhine cruise later that month.

Have a great weekend.

To see more horizons, you can just click here.

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: The Witches’ Market

If you’re looking for magic potions, dried frogs, llama foetuses, and other weird and wonderful good luck charms, the place to visit is El Mercado de las Brujas in La Paz, Bolivia.

Now I’m off to create some of my own piano magic at our local mall.  See you later.

Wordless Wednesday: Three Cuties in Bolivia

Snapped on Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon), where according to Inca mythology, Viracocha, the great creator god, rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness, to bring forth light.

 

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Roads

Cee’s roads challenge this week, had me searching through a few of my albums for something different. I’ve travelled many roads, in many countries, and I do try not to snooze, just in case I miss something.

This long, narrow and very winding road up to Machu Picchu really kept my heart in my mouth. Not a chance I was going to fall asleep on that coach, as I had to keep breathing in every time I saw another vehicle coming towards us down the hill.

This is the road through the town at the bottom of the hill, also very narrow.

A dusty, stony road through Bolivia, made for quite a bumpy ride.

Another sand road through a Bolivian town. Tarmac would be a real luxury.

Back to the USA, and a drive down the highway in Montana under clear blue May skies, was far less stressful. We could see Yellowstone in the distance.

As we travelled through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming the weather became less Spring-like, and the road was quite slippery.

Back to civilisation, and Times Square is much more populated of course. You can hardly see the road for cars and people. 🙂

Here’s the Lincoln Tunnel, as we sped our way out of the city. No stopping allowed of course. 🙂

Hong Kong roads are also very busy, and quite hair-raising to cross.

In Xian, the roads were extremely congested, even though there weren’t many if any cars around.

Of course what ever road you may be travelling on, it’s always nice to ride in style, so from the ridiculous to the sublime. I was most impressed when our New York taxi arrived. I was expecting one of those yellow cabs.

To see more interpretations of Cee’s theme, just click here.

Jake’s Sunday Post theme: From a distance

Jake’s theme this week is a lovely one, and I have found a few photos to show you.

The first one is of Alcatraz Island, taken from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It’s often referred to as “The Rock,” and was firstly a military prison in 1868, and then a federal prison from 1933 until 1963. In 1972, it became a national recreation area and in 1986, was designated a National Historic landmark. I was reading some of the history of this island on Wiki, and it was so fascinating. One of the best know inmates was Al Capone, who was incarcerated there in 1934, for four and a half years.

I guess I had to include one sunset shot, and this photo was taken whilst crossing the Nile from Luxor. In the distance is the ‘Valley of the Kings’, where can be found the tombs of the Pharaohs and noblemen of ancient Egypt.

Back on dry land, you can see the pyramids way in the distance. You can tell how far away they were, because my teenage son looks so huge in comparison. 🙂

This photo, was taken whilst skimming across Lake Titicaca from Bolivia to Peru, in a high-speed Hydrofoil. We had a breathtaking view of the snow-capped Andes mountains in the far distance.

This last one was taken much closer to home; in fact from my bedroom window. If you look carefully, you will see a funnel-shaped cloud, which is a tornadic water-spout, way out at sea in the Indian Ocean. This is apparently quite a rare event, but not uncommon off our part of the South African coast towards the end of summer.

I hope you enjoyed my collection of “from a distance” photos. To see what other bloggers have come up with for Jake’s theme, click here.

Ships and boats from my travels.

Hi again, everyone. Whilst I was looking for photos for http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/sunday-post-vehicle/ “Vehicle,” and before I’d read the guidelines properly, I found some pics of boats that I’d seen or been on in the course of my travels. Sea-going vessels didn’t qualify for the theme, but I thought I’d just do a post about water transport. Of course I have a great variety of pics, but here are just a few of my favourites.

This is a Nile cruise ship just in front of ours, on our  trip which took us from Aswan to Luxor to see many of the temples, most notable of which were the Temple of Queen Hapshepsut, the Karnak temple complex at Luxor, and of course the Valley of the Kings, which was spectacular. Here, we were alongside the Kom Ombo temple. We spent a very happy and entertaining week aboard, and I even got to impersonate a belly dancer at the fancy dress party.

The hydrofoil across Lake Titicaca took us from a resort outside La Paz to Copacabana, with stop-offs at Moon Island and Sun Island on the way. As you can see, we were the only passengers, apart from our guide. It was a wonderful sensation, speeding across the glittering lake in the bright sunshine, with the snow-capped Andean mountains to our right

These long-tail boats, known as ‘Ruea Hang Yao’ in the Thai language, are on the beautiful Phi Phi Island in Thailand. We did a day trip to this paradise, from Club Med Phuket, which also included a visit to Kho Phi Phi where the film, “The Beach” was made. We didn’t see Leonardo diCaprio, or a giant Marijuana plant. We have another trip booked there for early next month, and I can’t wait.

Our Venetian gondola ride last year, was a real highlight of our Italian tour, mainly because it was so funny. As you can see, our gondolier doesn’t look like the happy, singing type, and certainly wouldn’t pass the audition for Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, “The Gondoliers.” We set off under the Bridge of Sighs, and as we sailed along, we asked our boatman to sing to us, but he said that would be extra. LOL! The guy in the gondola in front of ours started to sing “Buona serra senorita,” and ours joined in, albeit somewhat halfheartedly. A local man walking along the path, called out to us in Italian, “He can’t even sing. Why don’t you just tell him to shut up?” We creased ourselves laughing, but ‘Mr Sourpuss’ did NOT look amused.

Here is a vessel we intend to take a trip on when we return to Florida. We went boat watching one day earlier this year and saw the luxury motor boat, The Lady Delray, which takes one on a leisurely two-hour narrated tour from Veteran’s Park through the calm waters of the Intracoastal Waterway, and past some of the area’s most beautiful mansions. We’ll be able to see a variety of marine life in its natural habitat, and learn a little about the area’s history, all this whilst snacking on tasty morsels and sipping cocktails. I’m so looking forward to it.

This vessel in the play area of our local mall in Florida, might not be a real boat, but it does contain my two gorgeous little granddaughters, so I thought I’d put it in anyway.

Have a great day everyone. Chat again soon.

Jake’s Sunday Post “Vehicle.”

Jake’s Sunday Post theme, this week, is ‘Vehicle,’ so I decided to post a few pics of the more interesting vehicles I’ve seen and ridden in, on my travels.

“I left my heart in San Francisco,” a few years ago. What an interesting and fascinating city. We explored it mostly on foot, but of course you can’t visit this beautiful city without taking the opportunity  to leap onto one of these vintage trams. A really unique experience.

One day whilst driving on our way back to New York from Florida, via the scenic route, we stayed overnight in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was tickled pink to actually see the famous ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ which was made famous by Glen Miller and his Big Swing Band in 1941.

Here at Copacabana, the main Bolivian town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, we were intrigued to see buses and taxis, bedecked with ribbons, lined up outside a church, and waiting to be blessed by the priest, for a fee of course.

In Riobamba, Ecuador, the most popular ride is the idyllic trip called ‘Nariz Del Diablo’, (The Devil’s Nose.) It takes you through stunning natural areas in the Andes and is considered one of the best train rides in the world. Sitting on the roof of this freight train and absorbing the Andes must be very exciting if a little uncomfortable. I believe you can rent cushions. Hubby and I didn’t go on this train. It was crammed to the gills with exuberant youngsters, and their perches looked to be very precarious indeed.

We, being more mature and ‘dignified’, opted for the relative comfort of a specially adapted coach fitted with railway wheels. Here am I with our young guide and the driver, waiting for the exciting ride to begin. Some people did sit on the top, and for part of the journey, hubby was one of them. I was very relieved when he climbed back inside.

On our Italian tour last year, this cute little ‘train’ took us from the coach park to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

My last photo was taken in the car park at JFK on a rainy evening. This vehicle has to be the last word in luxury taxis.

The stretch Hummer Limo, has comfortable seating for up to 18 passengers, a full bar and entertainment centre, two fish tanks, hardwood floors, six flat screen TV’s, CD Player, DVD Player, and Surround Sound. I wonder who it was picking up. I just knew it wasn’t waiting for us.

This morning, I go for my first eye operation. I’m feeling very positive, but you may wish me luck, anyway.