There's more to Disney than the mouse house...

The swoops and swags of the Disney Concert Hall's exterior -- iconic. I didn't grab an exterior shot because we were kind of pressed for time both pre and post concert (Cal Phil doing "Swords and Chivalry" -- excellent! And this place has unbelievable acoustics.).

You can see it here: http://www.laphil.com/about/wdch_overview.cfm

And if you ever get the chance to hear a concert there -- don't miss it!

I did pull off a couple of interior shots during intermission...like this Escher-esque stairwell:

And these beautiful supports:

A friend of ours worked on the design team for this project. I have so many questions I wish that I could ask him, now that I've seen (and heard) it for myself. But he's gone now. Damn cancer.

Ya done good, Scott.

Tranquility

Cruising through the Lesser Gorges off the Yangtze was a breathtaking way to spend a leisurely morning.

God Bless America!

Land that I love.....

Want to Feel Really Small?

Stand on something really really BIG!

Like the Great Wall of China. This photo was taken on the Wall at Badaling. One more for the bucket!

Because it has to be said....

One inescapable fact of foreign travel, especially in Asia for some reason (but not exclusively there), is the scarcity of what is delicately described as "Western facilities".

Now, in my own defense, my need for the Western-style 'throne' is purely physiological...I simply cannot easily arise from a squatting position. Simply stated: weak knees + fat ass. And since the women in my travels are for the most part strangers, and would frown on my husband coming in to help me up....there you have it.

Fortunately, our guides have always been most helpful in identifying 'acceptible' facilities. In China, we had a rating system:
5-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper, seat covers
4-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper
3-Star: clean, Western 'throne'

I never went below 3-Stars. I do carry my own travel kit of seat covers and travel TP (after a particularly traumatic experience in Moscow years ago).

I asked our guide if they (the guides) all thought that all of we female Western tourists (a) had extraordinarily weak bladders because we were always taking advantage of stops and (b) were incredibly picky. He politely dodged the question.

Here's a shot taken in a 4-Star. It isn't particularly well composed, because when you are taking a photograph inside a ladies restroom it's best to start with a vacant one and take the shot really fast, lest someone come in and think you a pervert.

The sign on the right means 'for mom's - has changing table'. The next is, of course, the 'Western throne' and rest are all the more traditional 'squat' toilets.

To be fair, they were all quite clean...everywhere we went. And I really think that we're being the picky ones. And I totally appreciate the fact that other societies are indulging us our weakness.

And I'm still peeved that men don't even have to think about this stuff!!!!!

Just a couple of days in Beijing...

Here is one of the buildings in the Lama Temple. It's actually a series of buildings containing many variants on the Buddah, including an amazing 26 meter statue of Maitreya (the future Buddah) that is impossible to photograph.


My niece recommended that we visit Lama, and it wasn't on our tour itinerary, so we made sure to include it on our first self-tour day. It was a spiritual way to launch our exploration -- a really peaceful place within a bustling Beijing.

This is the detail on one of the archways to the Lama Temple. The detail was very impressive.


Our next day of self-touring started off with the daunting Temple of Heaven complex. Not just a single building, but two main structures and several adjunct buildings for each, plus a prayer mound...none of which are actually called the Temple of Heaven. The iconic focal point is the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest:

Each of the points of interest in the complex had it's own entry arches.

And the interiors of the two central structures are as fascinating and intricately done as the exteriors.


We then went for a walk along the Ming city wall in Beijing...enjoying the (somewhat rare) blue sky.


More to follow...

Best. Feetshot. Ever.

Just got back from 2 weeks touring China and haven't had time yet to sort the 1200+ photos I took, but had to get this one up as soon as I could...it's just so cool!

This was taken while I was standing on a glass platform in the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower...I was about 800 feet above the traffic. Very weird feeling!

Here's the Tower from the ground up -- the platform I was standing out on is at the base of the second "pearl" (this also shows that it was raining that day -- the only real rain we experienced over the whole 2 weeks.)

We were very busy the entire time seeing things like the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Lama Temple (Yonghegong) in Beijing, the Xian terracotta warriors, Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, and the beautiful gorges along the Yangtze River, to mention a few.

More photos to come (after I get caught up at work and get some laundry done)!

On the road agaiiiinnnn...

You know that vacation I need? Getting there...see you later. Film at 11!

I think I need a vacation...

...or at least a local kine photo safari. Just haven't taken any new photos of note lately. So I dug into the archives (circa early 2006) to find one that captures my current mood -- I want to be on a ship!

This particular shot is in St Thomas, but I'll take any ol cruise, thankyouverymuch).

This is my wallpaper shot for a reason. A couple of them, actually.

Nothing artsy

Just some really pretty plumeria. You can almost smell them...

Welcome back!

After a massive renovation, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel will reopen this weekend. We spent our wedding night there. Unfortunately, after the renovation we can't afford even the one night now!

Shine a light, shine a light...

I love lighthouses. There's just something kind of romantic about them.

Near my hometown is the Ponce Inlet - a particularly treacherous passage -- and the lighthouse there has fascinated me since childhood.

They've done a terrific job of maintaining it and turning it into a really interesting museum of the history of that part of Florida and the life of the lighthouse keepers and their families.

If you're interested, their website is http://www.ponceinlet.org/

And yes, I have climbed to the top, but not in a long, long time.

A little bit of Odessa

I thought of our brief time in Odessa last summer when I saw the Ukraine in the news again today. The buildings in downtown Odessa looked like they were crafted by Wedgewood. I liked this detail.

New Beginnings

There is nothing like the promise of a new year...no matter the clouds, when hope shines through.

"To Gnome is to Love Me"

Happy Birthday, kiddo. I miss you.

Mele Kalikimaka

Santa and Tutu Mele say Merry Christmas, Hawaii kine!

Too postcard-y?

Maybe. A little too "stock beach photo". But the weekend I took it (on Waikiki playing tourist) it just looked so right!

BOO !!

I so very much love Halloween. It's the one time of year that I wish I was still a kid. We had such a great fun in our neighborhood. Innocence, spookiness and candy. Good times.

Moving a Museum

Having the good fortune to attend a meeting in NJ with this spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline, I was doubly blessed to be able to see them bringing the USS Intrepid back into the harbor after her makeover. (Nice of them to do it on our lunch break too!)

A moment...

...to remember.