Weekend Exposure Heidelberg Teil Zwei (Part Two)

I've already posted some pictures of Heidelberg, Germany, here.  But we visited the town - and more specifically, the castle - again recently, and I liked the resulting new pictures so much that I felt compelled to post again.  Sorry for the deja vu!

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Foto-Friday - Wildpark Potzberg, Germany

  The 62 acre Potzberg animal park is home to about 70 raptors, some of which provide an incredible daily show.  There are also two and a half miles of walking trails, meandering through what amounts to a petting zoo and game preserve.  The bird show is the highli …

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Foto-Friday Sights Along the Rhein River

  The Rhein River (or Rhine, or Rijn) has its headwaters in the Swiss Alps and flows 766 miles to the North Sea in the Netherlands.  It is the longest river in Germany and is navigable from Rotterdam to Basel, Switzerland.  The river is used to move natural resour …

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

  I love deserts for their loneliness, desolation and beauty.  Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, part of the Mojave, lies just outside Las Vegas, Nevada and was established in 1935.  It is named for its predominate red rocks, remnants of 150 million-year-old s …

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Weekend Exposure - Metz, France

Located near the confluence of the Seille and Moselle Rivers in northeastern France, Metz dates to the 5th century BC.  It's the capital of the Lorraine Region and is home to a multitude of historic sites.  We decided to take a ride and spend the afterno …

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Foto-Friday Heidelberg, Germany

Home to the oldest university in Germany, and still a bustling college town today, Heidelberg is nestled along the Neckar River valley.  Cobblestone streets snake among centuries-old baroque buildings, many of which contain streetside cafes, pubs and coffee shops.  …

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Missing Home

We shall not cease from our explorationAnd at the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time T. S. Eliot I spent the first 22 years of my life in the same small city.  In its day it had been a fairly active factory town,  …

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Foto-Friday - Berlin, Germany

I'm not real satisfied with the pictures we have from Berlin.  I didn't take enough, and the ones I did take aren't that great.  We actually went there because our son was supposed to compete for his swim team in the league championships.  While there, we took a t …

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Photo Challenge - Buildings and Architecture (Europe)

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Geography Quiz - Part IV

1.  Recently surpassed by Taipei 101 (2003) and Burj Khalifa (2010), Petronas Towers (1998) are the third tallest buildings in the world, and the tallest of this Southeast Asian capital city. 2.  At 595,000 acres, this partially brackish Louisiana estuary forms th …

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Geography Quiz Part III

Light travels at an approximate rate of 300,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles per second).  If you could travel at that rate you could circle the earth at the equator nearly eight times in the blink of an eye.  You could travel to the sun and back in the time it …

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Foto-Friday Riga, Latvia

  Although I’ve placed pictures of Riga on previous posts, it occurred to me that I’ve never posted a whole set.  This is from a brief trip I took in the summer of 2010.  Latvia is one of three Baltic states that gained independence from the  …

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Geography Quiz Part II

This is a follow up from a previous post, for any and all geography geeks.  I'll let it run for a couple of days before posting answers.  Enjoy... 1.

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Foto-Friday - Trier, Germany

Germany's oldest city, Trier pre-dates the Roman Empire and is home to a variety of sites, including the Porta Nigra (black gate), the one remaining of four gates that once provided entrance through the city's walls.  The Porta Nigra overlooks one of the city's ma …

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Weekend Exposure - Biking for Beer in Germany

  December probably isn't the time to post something like this, but what the hell...

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Geography Quiz

I’m not sure why, but something made me want to post a geography quiz.  I love geography, though studies show that most Americans don’t find it relevant as a study topic.  “Only 20% of American twelfth graders were shown to be ‘proficient’ …

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Weekend Exposure - Saturday Afternoon Sights Around Strasbourg, France

Situated in eastern France, near the German border, Strasbourg is the largest city of the Alsace region.  Germany and France have each claimed the city as its own at different times over the years, and the influence of both countries is readily apparent in a walk aroun …

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Some Thoughts on the Environment from a Tree Hugger

Imagine for a moment that you’re thirsty and someone places two glasses of water before you.  You’re told that one is fresh, pure H2O, while the other contains x parts per million of arsenic.  From which glass do you take a drink?  Even if you were show …

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Foto-Friday Ephesus, Turkey

"The ancient city of Ephesus (Turkish: Efes), located near the Aegean Sea in modern day Turkey, was one of the great cities of the Greeks in Asia Minor and home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

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Good News Wednesday Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

We just returned from our second trip to Ireland's Dingle Peninsula (liked it so much the first time we had to go back).  The Dingle Peninsula is situated in southwest Ireland and bordered by Tralee Bay to the north and Dingle Bay to the south.  It's home to stunning b …

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Foto-Friday European Travels VI

Just another random sample of travel photos. I know Turkey's not part of Europe, but I thought I'd include it anyway. Happy Friday.

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Weekend Exposure - Rocky Mountain National Park

I had the opportunity recently, after living in Germany for over two years, to fly home to the US. I had to drop my son off in Maryland for a week-long camp, then drove a rental car up to western NY. As you may have guessed, none of these pictures have anything to do with that.

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Foto-Friday European Travels V

Pictures from a tour of Italy, August 2009.  Everyone said, "Ya gotta go see Rome... It's beautiful."  Seriously, the whole place is in ruins.

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Foto-Friday European Travels IV

Photo one: Ok, so we got up early and travelled to Burg Eltz, an 800-year-old castle that's been in the same family for 33 generations.  It's beautifully preserved and thought it would be a great photo opportunity.  But when we got there, half the structure was covered …

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Foto-Friday European Travels III

Photo One: Reims Cathedral in the Champagne region of France.  We stopped by there on our way back from a trip to Paris.  I'm always amazed at how intricately the facades of places like this are adorned.  It was completed in the 13th century, and was once the plac …

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