Luxor | Anotherdayinparadise2's Blog

Michelle’s challenge this week is to share a photo that says, “Forward.” I love her pic of a 12th century path at the beautiful Alhambra Palace.

Now, unless you’re new to my blog, you will know that I can rarely stop at one photo, except maybe for ‘Wordless Wednesday’. 😕 So here are a few pics from my travels which say “Forward” to me.

This massive unfinished obelisk was discovered in the stone quarries of ancient Egypt near Aswan. If it had been finished, it would have been 42 metres high and would have weighed nearly 1,200 tons. It was being carved directly out of the rock when cracks appeared in the granite and it was abandoned, still attached to the bedrock. Just imagine all that hard work for nothing! I found it really thrilling to be able to walk forward along the entire length of it, and imagine those quarry workers chiselling away with their small Diorite stone tools. What a mammoth task.

We were on a Nile cruise in Egypt, and here is a photo taken whilst our ship was waiting patiently to go forward through the Esna lock, on our way to Luxor.

From the heat of Egypt in July, to the freezing cold of Wyoming in early spring. We stopped in a lay-bye to take some pics, and then it was time to press on forward to our destination, which was Yellowstone National Park.

In the park, there was so much to see, but the temperatures were well below freezing. Hubby had left me in the relative warmth of the car whilst he went off to explore, but when he returned with tales of icicle-ringed hot geysers, my curiosity got the better of me. I wrapped myself up so well that even my own mother wouldn’t have recognised me, and bravely sallied forth to see for myself. Here I’m shivering my way forward over the slippery boardwalk. The amazing sights I saw were definitely worth enduring the cold for.

To see links to more bloggers’ interpretations of the theme, Just click here.

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.